[MM] Prospect Heights Campus students create their school's Wikipedia entry
Below is the story that was in NML's latest e-newsletter, from researcher Flourish Klink observing Global Kids' Media Masters program and the student's of Prospect Heights Campus working to create their school's Wikipedia entry.
In Brooklyn, New York, in the first school in the United States to need metal detectors to keep its students safe, some students in an after-school classroom are preparing to make an impact on their world. Most of them use Wikipedia already, but now they've written their own Wikipedia entry - one that's about their high school. They've thought about its troubled history, they've used their New Media Literacy skills to their fullest, and they've pooled their thoughts in chat rooms and co-edited online documents. All that's left to do is put it up online and let other Wikipedians help make it even better. Some of the students say that now they're more likely to edit other Wikipedia pages themselves, correcting them when they see errors. But they're all just a little nervous, excited to see their work go live.It takes some time before anyone's brave enough, but finally one student comes up and clicks "save page." Now Wikipedia has an entry about "Prospect Heights Campus." None of the students alone could have gathered the information necessary; none of the students alone could have brought the project to fruition. Together, they made it happen - and now they are all a little more empowered, a little more prepared to extend those collaboration skills into the world outside the classroom.
To read the Prospect Heights Campus wikipedia entry, click here.
