Factors that influence the teaching use of Wikipedia in Higher Education

Abstract

A key impact the Internet is having on university teaching involves the new choices being provided because of open educational content. Wikipedia is a clear example of these new options. Not only is it a gigantic open repository of knowledge and information, it can also be considered a technological platform that facilitates collaboration for knowledge creation and dissemination.

Our research objective is to understand what the main factors are that influence the teaching uses of Wikipedia among university faculty. Based on a Technology Acceptance Model, and using data from an online survey sent to all faculty members of the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, we analyze the relationships within the internal and external constructs of the model.

We found that both the perception of colleagues¿ opinion about Wikipedia and the perceived quality of the information in Wikipedia play a central role in our model. These two constructs have a significant direct impact on the perceived usefulness of Wikipedia. This perceived usefulness affects, mediated by the behavioral intention of using Wikipedia, the effective use behavior of the encyclopedia. The degree to which an individual considers it is important to participate in open collaborative environments and the 2.0 profile of the faculty members also play an important role in our model.