Wikipedia as a Tool for Active Learning. Experience Gained within the Framework of the Wikifabricación Project

Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, is one of the most visited websites on the Internet and it is a tool which students often use in their assignments, although they do not usually understand the basics underlying it. To overcome this limitation and promote the active learning approach in our courses, last year an educational innovation project was carried out that was aimed mainly at improving students skills in technical writing as well as their ability to review the technical contents of the Wikipedias. Additionally, it sought to explore new opportunities that these tools can offer both teachers and students. This paper describes the experiment carried out in a second-year undergraduate engineering course, the results of which show that introducing activities such as edition and revision within Wikipedia is an interesting way to enhance transversal competencies as well as others related to the main contents of the course.