Public Scholarship Gets Dirty: Leveraging Open Soil Science Resources and Wikipedia for Authentic Student Learning and Knowledge Dissemination.

SoilWeb200 (http://soilweb200.landfood.ubc.ca/ ) is an open, online, multimedia learning resource that supports introductory soil science post-secondary courses in Canada and internationally. The next development phase of the SoilWeb200 project constitutes a shift to: (i) allow undergraduate students to not only be consumers of the resource, but also public scholars and creators who are able to contribute their growing soil perspectives and experience to it; and (ii) broadly disseminate soil science knowledge and resources through Wikipedia, one of the most popular information platforms on the Internet. SoilWeb200 will be augmented with open, scholarly pedagogies that encourage students to connect course content with real-world applications and to share their knowledge with authentic audiences. The project will provide the technical infrastructure for students to explore the relevance of soil in a variety of global issues (food security, climate change, biodiversity, air and water pollution). Additionally, as part of the project, we are planning to organize a coordinated “International Soil Science Edit-a-thon”, where knowledge-holders and students work simultaneously to edit and update soil science information on Wikipedia, particularly where knowledge gaps currently exist. The Soil Science Edit-a-Thon is proposed to take place on World Soil Day, December 5, 2017, as a celebration of the International Decade of Soils (2015-2024) and it will be incorporated as part of a learning activity in an introductory soil science course at the University of British Columbia, Canada. To properly collect student discussion and feedback on integration points between SoilWeb200 and Wikipedia content, the project and related UBC courses will also implement student discussion, ideas and reflections on the subject of Soil Science.