Professor Rafael Pezzi, a professor at the Universidade Federal
do Rio Grande do Sul, read about a new program to support
university faculty members in Brazil who were interested in
incorporating Wikipedia editing into students’ assignments.
Rafael was intrigued by the idea, and thought it might be a good
idea for his physics course for engineering students. “Wikipedia
makes it explicit how knowledge is built: a never-ending dynamic
process with conflicting opinions in a lively discussion,” he
says. “Although this process is fundamental, it is ignored in
the standard textbook-based class where knowledge is just given,
considered as an absolute truth.” Rafael was impressed with the
level of support he received in the program, both from
colleagues and from the Wikipedia community. Fabio Azevedo and
Israel Rocha served as Wikipedia Ambassadors for his class. They
introduced Wikipedia and motivated the students to participate
in the assignment. They were also very supportive on-line,
clarifying technicalities of