Veni, Vidi, Vicipaedia: Using the Latin Wikipedia in an Advanced Latin Classroom

Vicipaedia, the Latin Wikipedia, offers instructors an easy and flexible way to integrate composition assignments into a course. The high profile and immediacy of the site makes it uniquely attractive to students while the collaborative nature and complete transparency of the editing process recommend it to instructors. This paper documents the way Vicipaedia was incorporated into one advanced Latin class as a rich learning experience that resulted in better translation and increased understanding of the language. The students’ enthusiastic engagement with a broader, digital community also generated significant outcomes beyond those related to Latin language acquisition, ones that benefited not only the students themselves but also the instructor, the department, and the discipline.