Technical Vocabulary learning using Wikipedia

Alex Yu

The problem domain: technical words

http://www.freezoneamerica.org/Clearbird/study2004/manual/21study_2.htm

We look up words on the Internet

http://www.stefanoforenza.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/wikipedia-logo-jpg.jpg

Why does Wikipedia dominate Google?

• Targeted webpages for key terms• Great internal linking structure

Wikifying technical words

Text Wikified text

Wikification

An example of wikified text

When compiling, the compiler translates your source code into Microsoft Common Intermediate Language (MSIL), which is a CPU independent set of instructions that can be efficiently converted to native code.

An example of wikified text

When compiling, the compiler translates your source code into Microsoft Common Intermediate Language (MSIL), which is a CPU-independent set of instructions that can be efficiently converted to native code.

Using FLAX to wikify text

copy & paste text here

Add a URL in Moodle

The student view

Wikipedia page for “Compiler”

Quiz questions for the reading

Readings and quizzes

10 readings• 2 – 5 paragraphs

10 quizzes• 3 – 6 questions

Quiz results vs. course grades

1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 290

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100

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Course final

Quizzes

1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 290

20

40

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36.9

2

41.335.9 34.6

Course final50

Are the readings and quizzes helpful?

Helpful Not sure Didn't help much

0

2

4

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12

14

Chart Title

Series1

Example responses to the survey

• “Helps to learn from a common and reliable source”

• “Provided insight into topics”• “Helped a bit but doing things is better

than reading things”

Limitation and observation

• Not all words or phrases that you can find entries of in the Wikipedia

• Students’ confusion over when to stop in probing the Wikipedia pages

References

• http://flax.nzdl.org• http

://econsultancy.com/nz/blog/9009-why-wikipedia-is-top-on-google-the-seo-truth-no-one-wants-to-hear

• http://www.simplyzesty.com/Blog/Article/February-2012/Why-Does-Wikipedia-Rank-So-Highly-in-Google-Search

• Wikipedia: Page one of Google UK for 99% of searches, http://www.intelligentpositioning.com/blog/2012/02/wikipedia-page-one-of-google-uk-for-99-of-searches/

Thank

you!