Wikipedia in academia as a teaching tool: from averse to proactive faculty profiles

TL;DR

This study explores how faculty in higher education use Wikipedia as a teaching tool, identifying different user profiles and factors influencing their adoption, challenging the stereotype of faculty skepticism towards Wikipedia.

Contribution

It classifies faculty into four distinct profiles based on their Wikipedia usage and perceptions, highlighting environmental factors over personal traits in adoption.

Findings

Proactive faculty are mainly men in STEM fields.

Averse faculty are mostly women in non-STEM fields.

Positive perceptions correlate with higher usage frequency.

Abstract

This study concerned the active use of Wikipedia as a teaching tool in the classroom in higher education, trying to identify different usage profiles and their characterization. A questionnaire survey was administrated to all full-time and part-time teachers at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya and the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, both in Barcelona, Spain. The questionnaire was designed using the Technology Acceptance Model as a reference, including items about teachers web 2.0 profile, Wikipedia usage, expertise, perceived usefulness, easiness of use, visibility and quality, as well as Wikipedia status among colleagues and incentives to use it more actively. Clustering and statistical analysis were carried out using the k-medoids algorithm and differences between clusters were assessed by means of contingency tables and generalized linear models (logit). The respondents were classified in four clusters, from less to more likely to adopt and use Wikipedia in the classroom, namely averse (25.4%), reluctant (17.9%), open (29.5%) and proactive (27.2%). Proactive faculty are mostly men teaching part-time in STEM fields, mainly engineering, while averse faculty are mostly women teaching full-time in non-STEM fields. Nevertheless, questionnaire items related to visibility, quality, image, usefulness and expertise determine the main differences between clusters, rather than age, gender or domain. Clusters involving a positive view of Wikipedia and at least some frequency of use clearly outnumber those with a strictly negative stance. This goes against the common view that faculty members are mostly sceptical about Wikipedia. Environmental factors such as academic culture and colleagues opinion are more important than faculty personal characteristics, especially with respect to what they think about Wikipedia quality.