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