Professional Librarian Papers and Research
http://hdl.handle.net/10464/2838
2024-03-18T23:16:55ZLeveraging Wikipedia in undergraduate health sciences education: a key tool for information literacy and knowledge translation
http://hdl.handle.net/10464/18243
Leveraging Wikipedia in undergraduate health sciences education: a key tool for information literacy and knowledge translation
Smith, Denise
Background: Academic institutions and libraries are familiar with Wikipedia. There is growing momentum in higher education for using Wikipedia as a learning tool in various contexts. These include, but are not limited to, the use of Wikipedia-based assignments to teach information literacy, science communication, evidence-based practice, and more. Although there is growing acceptance of Wikipedia’s value in the classroom, there are limited exemplars available for how it is applied in undergraduate health sciences education.
Description: This program description describes a librarian instructed course in the Bachelor of Health Sciences Program at McMaster University in which students dedicate one academic term to learning about Wikipedia content production and making contributions to a health-related Wikipedia article of their choice.
Outcomes: In the five iterations of this course that have been offered, undergraduate health sciences students have made significant contributions to 25 health-related articles in Wikipedia. They have added more than 120,000 words and over 2,000 references to high-quality literature. In class, conversations emerged about the meaningfulness of the editing Wikipedia, information literacy, and knowledge translation.
2023-12-01T00:00:00Z“I’m comfortable with it”: User stories of health information on Wikipedia
http://hdl.handle.net/10464/17983
“I’m comfortable with it”: User stories of health information on Wikipedia
Smith, Denise A.
Applying a critical-constructivist approach, 21 semi-structured interviews conducted from June to October 2021 were analyzed thematically. Qualitative analysis suggests that users reported that Wikipedia’s health content can facilitate personal agency, is familiar and convenient to access, and that individuals’ trust in Wikipedia is contextual, conditional, and framed by their personal experiences.
2023-08-12T00:00:00ZScaffolded, embedded required: information literacy education in undergraduate health sciences
http://hdl.handle.net/10464/17943
Scaffolded, embedded required: information literacy education in undergraduate health sciences
Smith, Denise A.; Sanger, Stephanie
Background: The Health Sciences Library and the Bachelor of Health Sciences (Honours) Program (BHSc) at McMaster University worked together to build a multi-year information literacy (IL) curriculum embedded within the program under a suite of courses called Praxis Pathways.
Description: Praxis Pathways consists of four Threads. Thread 4: Information Literacy is the focus of this case report. The authors will describe the multi-year embedded IL curriculum, which is scaffolded to build both IL skills, such as database searching, and introduce students to key conceptual conversations in IL, production and dissemination.
Outcomes: BHSc program graduates in 2023 will be the first to have completed all four years of the Praxis Pathways courses, including the IL program developed and delivered by the library. The authors will describe how the impact of the program will be evaluated qualitatively and quantitatively going forward.
Conclusion: Embedded librarianship for multi-year, scaffolded IL education in undergraduate programs continues to be a rarity, despite the acknowledgement that one-shot instruction has several limitations. The authors present this case report to share how they embedded a for-cred IL curriculum in an undergraduate program that looks beyond the one-shot, skill-based tutorial and focuses on developing adaptive, information-literate lifelong learners.
2023-08-01T00:00:00ZIt’s Time to Recognize Wikipedia as a Health Information Resource
http://hdl.handle.net/10464/17862
It’s Time to Recognize Wikipedia as a Health Information Resource
Smith, Denise A
With more than 300 language editions, Wikipedia offers accessible health information written in plain language to a wide audience. Having survived more than twenty years, it is broadly considered the “grown-up” of the internet due to its sheer longevity and maturity. Along with evidence that Wikipedia is more reliable than widely believed, it has emerged as the most frequently accessed web site for health information despite a lingering stigma. Grounded in real-life examples of health events, the author reinforces Wikipedia as a tool for public health education. With wider acceptance of Wikipedia as a health information resource, existing opportunities for education, investment, and improvement of the world’s largest encyclopedia can be cultivated.
Editorial: Patient Education Column
2023-05-26T00:00:00Z