"Do not use Wikipedia!"

OpenCourseWare should be implemented within educational pedagogies to empower students to reach resources while ensuring these resources are accessible to all learners (Caswell et al., 2008). OCWs sound like a promising way to engage learners in a productive way in the 21st Century. While this remains true, I do not forget the number of times I was in class in elementary, middle, and highschool, and our teachers told us never to use anything form of information unless gathered from a scholarly source. ESPECIALLY NOT WIKIPEDIA. So, what balance exists, or not, in utilizing online sources?

Using resources such as Wikipedia is not a bad thing, in my own opinion, as a quick educational opportunity on a topic I may be curious about. For example, if I am trying to understand how lava lamps are invited, I am going to hop onto Wikipedia or Youtube for a quick explanation. However, if I am writing a paper on lava lamps and labor laws, I will likely not be going anywhere near Wikipedia. Why? Because I have been conditioned to stay away from it. Regardless, I am sure that at least a few of the resources I will go on to use in my scholarly paper will also exist within the references on the Wikipedia page. This is reflecting the fact that sources like Wikipedia have the intention, to provide knowledge. Sometimes false, often times true, Wikipedia, and other online education sources, have the capacity to bring education to any learner, and that is an incredible gift. I hope that as we continue to develop open education/access, we are able to cultivate communities in which spaces like Wikipedia and scholarly spaces, alike, are open access.

Caswell, T., Henson, S., Jensen, M., & Wiley, D. (2008). Open educational resources: Enabling universal             education.Links to an external site. International Review of Research in Open and Distance                  Learning, 9(1), 1-11.