Since 2009, Algonquin students have made the most contributions to the self-help site WikiHow by amassing over 500,000 views.
Colin Owler, a computer-programming student, is one of those students, and he wrote an article for WikiHow last fall for his communications class.
“I was thinking that I’d get the article written for my class project and then never think about it again,” said Owler.
“It completely blindsided me when I got a message from one of the WikiHow support staff saying they’d recommended my article as a ‘rising star.’”
Owler’s article gathered over 10,000 views in just over three weeks and made it onto the front page. He is not the only Algonquin student to do so.
Leeann Nicholson, a professor in the applied science and environmental technology department, spearheaded the WikiHow movement.
“I started this just trying to think of a good assignment to do for an online class,” said Nicholson. “I wanted to give them something practical to put on their resumés.”
Thanks to her efforts, several students now have articles with tens of thousands of views to show to future potential employers.
WikiHow has been ecstatic to add a new section on their website, a section that is entirely dedicated to Algonquin students.
This is absolutely paramount because in the past articles have never had a sole author, until now.
Writing “how to’s” has proven to be an exciting way to engage students who otherwise would be uninterested in writing.
Nicholson hopes that this idea will become popular elsewhere and that the contributions to WikiHow will continue, for all of our benefit.
“I don’t think there are any colleges or universities in the world that have contributed like this.”