User:Tburress/Become a Wikipedian

Course name

Become a Wikipedian

Institution

New College of Florida

Instructor

Theresa Burress

Subject

Independent Study Project (ISP)

Course dates

2015-01-05 – 2015-01-31

Approximate number of student editors

3

This course is an Independent Study Project (ISP) that will explore the evolution of Wikipedia, focusing on the collaborative technology that is the underlying structure of Wikipedia as well as the fundamental principles and policies that are necessary to maintain the integrity and usefulness of the resource. Students will choose an area of interest on which they wish to focus, critically analyze relevant articles, conduct a literature review to identify information gaps, add new content using WikiCode, and develop a deeper understanding of collaborative scholarship.

Students will develop knowledge in their chosen area of interest (e.g., sea-level rise and history of mathematics are two possible topics) by conducting extensive secondary research, compile a robust bibliography and add to existing articles or develop new articles, create a Wikipedia portfolio, and give an oral presentation on their experience.

Timeline

Week 1 (2015-01-05): Wikipedia essentials, editing basics, exploring the topic area

Assignment (due Week 1)

Before Wednesday's meeting:

• Create an account and then complete the online training for students. During this training, you will make edits in a sandbox and learn the basic rules of Wikipedia.

• Create a User page, and then click the "enroll" button on the top left of this course page.

• To practice editing and communicating on Wikipedia, introduce yourself on the user talk page of one of your classmates, who should also be enrolled in the table at the bottom of the page.

• Read through this brochure on evaluating Wikipedia articles, especially pages 4-7. This will give you a good, brief overview of what to look for in other articles, and what other people will look for in your own.

• Identify 2-3 existing Wikipedia articles of interest, and post links to them on your talk pages along with a brief summary of your topic by midnight on Tuesday, January 7.

• Read Veletsianos and Kimmons views on networked participatory scholarship.

Course meetings

Wednesday, 7 January 2015

In class

• Introducing the Wikipedia community: its rules, expectations, and etiquette
• Handout: Editing Wikipedia (available in print or online from the Wiki Education Foundation)

• Basics of editing
• Anatomy of Wikipedia articles, what makes a good article, how to distinguish between good and bad articles
• Collaborating and engaging with the Wiki editing community
• Tips on finding the best articles to work on for class assignments
• Handouts: Using Talk Pages handout and Evaluating Wikipedia brochure

Assignment (due Week 1)

By Friday night at midnight:

• Finalize the selection of articles you will be editing, removing the rest from your user page. Add your article(s) to the class’s course page.
• Evaluate your chosen Wikipedia articles, and leave suggestions for improving them on each article's talk page.
  • A few questions to consider (don't feel limited to these):
    • Is everything in the article relevant to the article topic? Is there anything that distracted you?
    • Is each fact referenced with an appropriate, reliable reference?
    • Is the article neutral? Are there any claims that appear biased to one side or an other?
    • Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented?
    • What's missing that could be added?
    • Check a few citations. Is there any close paraphrasing or plagiarism in the article?

Milestones

• All students have Wikipedia user accounts and are listed on the course page.
• All students have chosen their articles of interest and have begun evaluating them.

Week 2 (2015-01-12): Literature Review and Bibliography

Assignment (due Week 2)

Before Wednesday's class:

• Mark your article(s) talk pages with a banner to let other editors know you're working on it. Add this code in the top section of the talk page:

{{course assignment | course = User:Tburress/Become a Wikipedian | term = Spring 2015 }}

• Communicate questions and comments using talk pages.

• Read through Machi and McEvoy to gain an understanding of the mechanics of conducting a literature review. This book is available on reserve at the circulation desk of Cook Library.

Course meetings

Wednesday, 14 January 2015

In class

• Bring your laptop for the research workshop.
• Establish a Refworks (or other citation management) account, and begin secondary research.
• Handouts: Citing sources on Wikipedia and Avoiding plagiarism on Wikipedia.
• Be prepared to explain close paraphrasing, plagiarism, and copyright violations on Wikipedia.

Assignment (due Week 2)

By Friday night at midnight:

• Compile a bibliography of relevant, reliable sources and post it to the talk page of the article you are working on. Begin reading the sources. Make sure to check in on the talk page (or watchlist) to see if anyone has advice on your bibliography.

Milestones

• All students have started editing articles or drafts on Wikipedia.
• All students have posted bibliographies to the talk pages of their chosen article or to their own talk pages for review.

Week 3 (2015-01-20): Writing, revising, and peer review

No class meetings this week. Schedule a time to meet one-on-one with the instructor. Also visit the Writing Resource Center.

Assignment (due Week 3)

By Wednesday at midnight:

• Move sandbox articles into main space. View handout Moving out of your sandbox for instructions.
  • If you are expanding an existing article, copy your edit into the article. If you are making many small edits, save after each edit before you make the next one. Do NOT paste over the entire existing article, or large sections of the existing article.
  • If you are creating a new article, do NOT copy and paste your text, or there will be no record of your work history. Follow these instructions on how to move your work.

• Optional: For new articles or qualifying expansions of stubs, compose a one-sentence “hook,” nominate it for “Did you know,” (see detailed instructions) and monitor the nomination for any issues identified by other editors. Wiki Education Foundation staff can provide support for this process.

• Begin expanding your article into a comprehensive treatment of the topic.
• Share experiences and discuss problems via talk pages.
• Handouts: "Uploading images" and "Evaluating Wikipedia article quality" (handed out originally earlier in the course)

Assignment (due Week 3)

By Friday at midnight:

• Select a classmate's article to review and copyedit.

• Expand your article into an initial draft of a comprehensive treatment of the topic.

• Peer review your classmate's article. Leave suggestions on the article talk page.
• Copy-edit the reviewed article.

Milestones

• All students have moved their articles into the main space of Wikipedia.
• All students have peer reviewed a classmate's article

Week 4 (2015-01-26): Finalize project and oral presentation

Course meetings

Wednesday, 28 January 2015

In class

• Oral presentations
• Final discussion on Wikipedia, including neutrality, media fluency, impacts and limits of Wikipedia.
• Any final questions regarding completion of Wikipedia portfolios.

Assignment (due Week 4)

By Friday night at midnight:

• Finalize your Wikipedia portfolio and submit via email, including appropriate links to the completed articles.

Grading

The narrative evaluation will be based on your final portfolio of Wikipedia articles, your oral presentation, your workshop attendance, participation, and completion of training:

  50%  

   Quality of your main Wikipedia contributions

  20%  

   Quality of bibliography and outline

  10%  

   Oral presentation

  10%  

   Completion of Wikipedia training and readings

  10%  

   Peer reviews and collaboration