User talk:210.168.185.68

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Please do not add nonsense to Wikipedia, as you did to the Kansai Gaidai University page. It is considered vandalism. If you would like to experiment, use the sandbox. Thank you. Angelbo Talk / Contribs 00:43, 3 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] reply to person who edited Kansai Gaidai University

Dear Teacher
To answer your first question, yes a user talk page is the correct place to make contact with a particular user/editor. I am curious to know what university subject requires wiki editing? Have you considered getting an account?
Best regards Mads Angelbo Talk / Contribs 17:45, 4 October 2007 (UTC)
(This reply is also posted at my talk page)

[edit] Reply to Angelbo

Thank you for the reply. I do have an account, and will be happy to let you know what it is privately, but I'm not entirely sure how to do that.

The day I made that change I wasn't logged in, because I wanted to show my students just how easy it is for anyone to add information. In retrospect, it was ill-advised for me to make the addition a joke--again, sorry about that--but rest assured that I do highlight the point that students need to be responsible when editing information.

To answer your other question, I teach literature. My students often turn to Wikipedia first when they are working on a research paper. Unlike some other academics, I don't think this is a bad thing, in fact I encourage it; however, Japanese students do tend to be somewhat naively trusting of *any* published material, so I was highlighting the fact that, because Wikis are cooperative, one can't always assume that articles are written and carefully edited by experts in the field.

In other courses, in which I teach EFL, I have assigned projects where students must add to or create a new page on a Japan-related subject which they know well. It's a great way to get them to use English in an authentic way.

Thanks for the interest, and best regards!