Replication Data for: Civic Engagement Meets Service Learning: Improving Wikipedia’s Coverage of State Government Officials

Service-learning projects have a robust and positive impact on student learning. However, when incorporated into an introductory American government course, these projects may well require students to engage in expressly political activity, rather than emphasizing the mechanisms for and value of civic engagement. Engaging students in improving Wikipedia’s coverage of state-level elected officials offers a nonpartisan service-learning option that yields multiple positive benefits to students’ learning. Today’s media landscape, most notable for the decline in coverage of state and local politics, often fails to provide citizens with the information necessary to engage competently with elected officials. Wikipedia’s status as a top-20 Internet site offers meaningful opportunities to remedy this information gap. This paper describes a year-long Wikipedia editing project incorporated into an introductory American government course. Students had a substantive impact on Wikipedia’s coverage of state-level elected officials and gained useful skills in the process.