Learning to become an online editor: the editathon as a learning environment

ABSTRACT

This study explores Wikipedia as a site for learning. It traces how people learn to become Wikipedia editors through engagement in an editathon, a training event for people who want to become a volunteer editor. The study is original in its emphasis on the various types of knowledge editors acquire as they develop expertise. Determining the knowledge needed to contribute to Wikipedia is significant in terms of understanding Wikipedia as a site for learning. Data was gathered from nine participants who took part in an “editathon” event. The study used a rigorous methodology, combining quantitative social network analysis, documenting the online activity of participants as they created and edited Wikipedia pages, with qualitative interviews about participants’ lived experiences during the editathon. Conceptual and procedural knowledge are representative of the foundational knowledge needed to contribute to Wikipedia actively as an editor. However, these knowledge types on their own are not sufficient. Editors also develop socio-cultural and relational forms of knowledge to enable them to operate and problem-solve effectively. The relationship between the physical and the digital is important, since socio-cultural and relational knowledge are developed through active experimentation as the editathon engage with physical objects to create the online wiki pages.

KEYWORDS:

• Professional learning
• social network
• social media
• online editing
• Wikipedia environment

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Allison Littlejohn

Allison Littlejohn is Dean for Learning and Teaching within the College of Social Sciences and a Professor of Education at the University of Glasgow, UK. Her research chiefly focuses on Professional and Digital Learning, examining how learning supports global challenges.

Nina Hood

Nina Hood is a Lecturer at the Faculty of Education, University of Auckland. She is also CEO of the Education Hub in New Zealand. Her research chiefly examines the role that digital technologies can play in supporting and enhancing education, and in particular facilitating professional learning opportunities and knowledge mobilisation.

Martin Rehm

Martin Rehm is a postdoctoral fellow in Educational Media & Knowledge Management at the University Duisburg Essen, Germany. His research interests include social networking, social capital theory, the role of social capital in social networking sites, online collaborative learning, web 2.0 for education, distribution of innovation within learning networks and Communities of Learning (CoL).

Lou McGill

Lou McGill is an e-learning consultant who has led work for the Jisc, Commonwealth Digital and Scottish Autism. Lou’s research interests include Open Educational Resources, Open educational Practice and Digital Literacies.

Bart Rienties

Bart Rienties is Professor of Learning Analytics at the Institute of Education, Open University, UK. His primary research interests are focussed on Learning Analytics, Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning, and the role of motivation in learning.

Melissa Highton

Melissa Highton is Director of the Learning, Teaching and Web Services Division (LTW). She has particular interests in digital skills, twenty-first century curricula, open educational resources, research led teaching and online media.