The use of Wikipedia in education is a controversial topic with a polarizing effect in the education community. Without getting into the nuts and bolts of this heated discussion, we do harbour a positive stance towards this collaborative platform and view it as an interesting starting place and a springboard for researching any given topic. More specifically, the reference section at the end of Wikipedia’s articles, besides being a gold mine of information in and by itself, can provide students with useful links to help them with furthering their research. That being said, we are introducing you today to some handy Chrome extensions to help you make the best of Wikipedia. Check them out and share with your students:
1- Wikipedia Quick Hints
‘With Wikipedia Quick Hints getting definitions of unknown terms has become as simple as just hovering the cursor over a respective link. The definition pops up automatically. Images zooming is another useful feature of the extension.’
2- Readable Wikipedia
‘Wikipedia Readability improves the readability of wikipedia by reducing the number of distractions on the page and improving the readability of the type. This extension attempts to keep the distinctive Wikipedia look while adding usability and readability improvements.’
3- Wikipedia Search
‘Wikipedia Search allows you to type the word 'wiki' into your browser's search bar, press the space key, and search for an article on Wikipedia. You can also select any word or phrase on the web, right-click, and search it in Wikipedia. If you have Awesome New Tab Page installed, there's even a widget for that built-in. Instant access to the millions of articles of articles on Wikipedia.’
4- Wikiwand: Wikipedia Modernized
‘Wikiwand is a new award-winning interface that optimizes Wikipedia's amazing content for a quicker and significantly improved reading experience!…Some of its features include:New clean layout for optimal readability, great modern typography, convenient fixed table-of-contents, quick preview when hovering over links, multi-language search with thumbnails, beautiful, immersive cover photos, larger photos and better media gallery, easy article narration and audio playback, color, font and layout personalization…’
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