NIOSH, Wiki Education Foundation, and Harvard University Work Together to Make Occupational Safety and Health Content Accessible to All

January 24, 2019 by Diana Ceballos, PhD, MS, CIH; Thais Morata, PhD; and John P. Sadowski, PhD

Choosing the right final project for a graduate level course can be a daunting responsibility for any instructor. Harvard Research Scientist and Instructor Dr. Diana Ceballos heard NIOSH researcher Dr. Thais Morata share details at a NORA conference about NIOSH’s collaboration with academia and Wikipedia to teach students science translation and knew it was a perfect match. After just a few emails and quickly enrolling to use the Wiki Education Foundation platform, an incredible new way of teaching had begun.

The partnerships created between NIOSH, Wiki Education Foundation, and university programs to expand and improve occupational safety and health content in Wikipedia were introduced in an earlier NIOSH Science Blog, The Powerhouse: Students’ contributions towards expanding and improving occupational safety and health content in Wikipedia (July 30, 2018). In this blog we will give you behind-the-scenes details on the steps taken by the students, and some of the lessons learned.

Dr. Ceballos used the Wiki Education Foundation platform during two of the years she taught the graduate course EH262, Introduction to the Work Environment, at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. During the first year, in the fall of 2017 , she asked students to add or improve occupational health content to existing Wikipedia pages, as a group assignment. In the fall of 2018 Dr. Ceballos asked the students to perform individual projects. The most recent effort was highlighted in a Harvard T.H. Chan news article, “Course uses Wikipedia as tool for teaching science translation .”

The Wiki Education Foundation platform is easy to use and customize. The resources and training materials are of excellent quality, and the support provided by the staff is prompt. Instructors can continue to focus on the subject matter of their course and the principles of scientific writing, and count on the support of the Wiki Education Foundation staff to help with the mechanics of writing for Wikipedia. The involvement of NIOSH added an extra layer of support. Students who needed help to select topics to write about found plenty of suggestions at the WikiProject on Occupational Safety and Health . NIOSH staff were available to provide suggestions and additional training, and followed up with the students as needed. Their involvement gave the students a sense that their work was valued, worth their time, and needed by the community. That probably explains their enthusiasm towards the project, along with the knowledge that their article would showcase their science communication skills, which may come in handy when interacting with future employers.