Jiawei Xing (PhD candidate, English Composition and Applied Linguistics) and Matt Vetter (faculty, English Composition and Applied Linguistics) have published an article in the journal First Monday.
"" reports on a survey of over 100 instructors engaged in Wikipedia-based education practices in order to contribute a cross-disciplinary picture of instructor motivations.
Their findings suggest that instructors take up Wikipedia-based assignments for a number of reasons beyond learning objectives: including social influence (being inspired by others), providing students an opportunity to contribute to public knowledge, and motivations related to addressing social equity.
Participants who are directly motivated to address issues of social equity rationalize their pedagogy as opportunities for activism or advocacy, professional identity, and critical pedagogy.
This article provides recommendations to Wikipedia education stakeholders in regards to the finding that instructors' professional identities play a significant role in their motivation to address issues of social equity.