Dr. Lecturer Ayla Arslan from Üsküdar Üniversitesi Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics attended the 'EduWiki 2023' conference organized by the Wikimedia Foundation in Belgrade. Dr. Lecturer Arslan gave a presentation on 'Service-learning and Wikipedia authorship as a pedagogical tool in higher education' within the framework of international support. Dr. Arslan stated that a change in perspective towards Wikipedia is necessary among academics and higher education institutions.
Dr. Lecturer Ayla Arslan: ''Critically important for the realization of its third mission...''
In her presentation, Dr. Lecturer Arslan emphasized the importance of universities effectively contributing to society from a social perspective, stating that it 'is critically important for the realization of the university's 'third mission''. Dr. Lecturer Arslan pointed out that despite Wikipedia, a non-profit and open-source encyclopedia, emerging as one of the top ten most visited websites worldwide, higher education institutions have not shown sufficient interest in this phenomenon.
Dr. Lecturer Ayla Arslan: "A change in perspective towards Wikipedia is necessary."
Dr. Arslan stated that a change in perspective towards Wikipedia is necessary among academics and higher education institutions. Dr. Lecturer Arslan stated that through the service-learning method, an academic teaching methodology that combines meaningful service to society with curriculum-based learning, students contribute to the development of Wikipedia articles by engaging in Wikipedia authorship in areas related to their course topics, which contributes to both community service and the students' development and their acquisition of skills such as information literacy, necessary for the 21st century.