Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/Lesley University/From Batman to Broad City (Fall 2016)
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- Course name
- From Batman to Broad City
- Institution
- Lesley University
- Instructor
- Diana Direiter
- Wikipedia Expert
- Ian (Wiki Ed)
- Subject
- Psychology
- Course dates
- 2016-09-12 00:00:00 UTC – 2016-12-23 23:59:59 UTC
- Approximate number of student editors
- 19
Course description
The question of whether societal norms and expectations are shaped by the media we consume or vice versa is a classic chicken or egg debate. Because gender is a social construction, our interpretation of its performativity is heavily influenced by the messages chosen, approved of and disseminated by mass media.
This course will examine the relationship of gender to the production, consumption and representation processes of culture, which, in turn, influences individual, group and system behavior. We will be analyzing these relationships and constructions through the forms of media that are the most ubiquitous and, in many ways, almost insidious in that their profound influence is easily dismissed – that of pop culture, including movies, television (scripted and “reality”), music, superheroes/comic books, social media and video games. The concept and representations of “gender” offered will focus on the social constructionist aspects of it and will include female, male, transgender and genderqueer populations.
Assignment description
For this assignment, you will work in one of four groups to update or create a Wikipedia article in your topic area. Each group should coincide with one the 4 areas of gender we are covering (female, male, transgender, and genderqueer).
Grading description
This project is worth 40% of your overall grade. You will be graded on the following:
- Training: 6% - one percentage point for each of the 6 assigned trainings
- Critique an article: 4%
- Peer review: 10%
- Draft: 10%
- Contribution critique: 10%
- Overall portfolio: 40%
To get full credit your portfolio should include clearly labeled sections that cover the following:
-Section 1, Critique an Article: 2-3 paragraphs highlighting your personal article critique. Select 2-3 of the prompt questions and expand upon them here. You can use your group notes.
-Section 2, Peer Review: 2-3 paragraphs describing your peer review process. One paragraph should discuss which groups article you selected, and what comments you left and why. Another should address the comments you received on your group's draft and which improvements you decided to implement and why.
-Section 3, Draft: A copy of your first group draft (you can print the version in your group sandbox space) highlighting which portions you directly contributed to. This should also include a print out of the "Edit History" of your group sandbox space, again highlighting which portions you directly contributed to.
-Section 4, Contribution critique: A final print out of your completed/current Wikipedia article. If your group improved an existing article, include a in 1-2 paragraphs summary of why the contributions your group made were valuable and what they contributed to open scholarship and expanding the publics understanding of gender. If your group created a new article, include, in your own words, 1-2 paragraphs about why you felt this topic was important to add to Wikipedia and what you felt it offered in expanding the publics understanding of gender.
Timeline
Week 1
- Course meetings
-
- Monday, 31 October 2016
- Assignment - Introduction to the Wikipedia project
Welcome to your Wikipedia project's course timeline. This page will guide you through the Wikipedia project for your course. Be sure to check with your instructor to see if there are other pages you should be following as well.
This page breaks down writing a Wikipedia article into a series of steps, or milestones. These steps include online trainings to help you get started on Wikipedia.
Your course has also been assigned a Wikipedia Content Expert. Check your Talk page for notes from them. You can also reach them through the "Get Help" button on this page.
To get started, please review the following handouts:
- Editing Wikipedia pages 1–5
- Evaluating Wikipedia
- Assignment - Individually create an account & complete Wikipedia trainings
- Create an account and join this course page, using the enrollment link your instructor sent you.
- It's time to dive into Wikipedia. Below, you'll find the first set of online trainings you'll need to take. New modules will appear on this timeline as you get to new milestones. Be sure to check back and complete them! Incomplete trainings will be reflected in your grade.
- When you finish the trainings, practice by introducing yourself to a classmate on that classmate’s Talk page.
- Milestones
This week, everyone should have a Wikipedia account.
Week 2
- Course meetings
-
- Monday, 7 November 2016
- Assignment - Individually, critique an article
It's time to think critically about Wikipedia articles. Individually, you'll evaluate a Wikipedia article, and leave suggestions for improving it on the article's Talk page.
To start, select an article on Wikipedia in one of the following article lists. Make a section in your personal sandbox space with the heading "Critique an article" and individually, use the prompts below to critique the piece.
Category:Transgender
Category:Genderqueer
Category:Gender
- Complete the "Evaluating Articles and Sources" training (linked below).
- After you've selected your article, consider some of these questions (but don't feel limited to these):
- Is each fact referenced with an appropriate, reliable reference?
- Is everything in the article relevant to the article topic? Is there anything that distracted you?
- Is the article neutral? Are there any claims, or frames, that appear heavily biased toward a particular position?
- Where does the information come from? Are these neutral sources? If biased, is that bias noted?
- Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented?
- Check a few citations. Do the links work? Is there any close paraphrasing or plagiarism in the article?
- Is any information out of date? Is anything missing that could be added?
- Thinking more broadly about the article categories above... which topics did you notice that were missing in those groups? Do you have any recommendations for new articles your team could create as part of this project?
- Choose at least 2 questions relevant to the article you're evaluating. Leave your evaluation on the article's Talk page. Be sure to sign your feedback with four tildes — Samantha (Wiki Ed) (talk) 18:02, 9 January 2017 (UTC).
- Assignment - Pick groups & select topics
For the main portion of this assignment, we will be divided into 4 main groups. Each group will be working to create a new article or significantly improve an existing article on Wikipedia. The topic you select should coincide with one the 4 areas of gender we are covering (female, male, transgender, and genderqueer).
By the end of this week, you should have your groups determined & your articles selected.
Group management
In your personal sandbox space create a new section called "My Group" and record all the group members you'll be working with.
As a group, select one person on your team whose sandbox space will be your main draft space. In your own personal sandbox, create a link to your group sandbox space. Or, if you are the group lead, make a new section in your sandbox space called "Group draft". You should use the associated Talk page of the group draft space to work together to draft your work. You can all edit within the group draft space. At the end of the term, all of your group members should have made a contribution to the group draft space. This can be tracked in the edit history.
Article selection
To help you select an article, use the skills you developed in the critique an article assignment or consider a new topic as suggested by one of your group members. You should also review page 6 of your Editing Wikipedia guidebook.
You can review other articles as included in the categories below, or feel free to review other categories in similar areas on Wikipedia.
Once your group has selected a topic, each of you should go to the Students tab above and assign yourself your group article topic. You can do this even if the article does not exist.
Category:Transgender
Category:Genderqueer
Category:Gender
Week 3
- Course meetings
-
- Monday, 14 November 2016
- Assignment - Individually, review the rules for medical & psychology topics
Individually, review Wikipedia's rules for topics related to medicine, human health, and psychology.
- Assignment - As a group & individually, find your sources & develop a biblography
- On the Students tab, make sure you've assigned yourself your groups chosen topic.
- In your sandbox, write a few sentences about what you plan to contribute to the selected article.
- Think back to when you did an article critique. What can you add? Post some of your ideas to the talk page of your group sandbox space.
- Compile a list of relevant, reliable books, journal articles, or other sources. Post that bibliography to the talk page of the group draft space, and in your sandbox. If you have ideas for new sections you should add to your article, make notes about that as well.
- Feel free to work with a librarian for this part of the project.
Week 4
- Course meetings
-
- Monday, 21 November 2016
- Assignment - As a group
- draft your article
You've picked a topic and found your sources. Now it's time to start writing.
Creating a new article?
- As a group, write an outline of that topic in the form of a standard Wikipedia article's "lead section." Write it in your group sandbox.
- A "lead" section is not a traditional introduction. It should summarize, very briefly, what the rest of the article will say in detail. The first paragraph should include important, broad facts about the subject. A good example is Ada Lovelace. See Editing Wikipedia page 9 for more ideas.
Improving an existing article?
- As a group, identify what's missing from the current form of the article. Think back to the skills you learned while critiquing an article. Make notes for improvement in your group sandbox space.
Keep reading your sources, too, as you prepare to write the body of the article.
Resources: Editing Wikipedia pages 7–9
- Milestones
Everyone has begun writing their article drafts.
Week 5
- Course meetings
-
- Monday, 28 November 2016
- Assignment - As a group, expand your draft
- Keep working on transforming your article into a complete first draft. Get draft ready for peer-review.
- If you'd like a Content Expert to review your draft, now is the time! Click the "Get Help" button in your sandbox to request notes.
- Assignment - Individually, peer review and copy edit
- First, take the "Peer Review" online training.
- Select another group's article that you will peer review and copyedit. On the Articles tab, find the article that you want to review, and then assign it to yourself in the Review column.
- Peer review your classmate's draft. Leave suggestions on the Talk page of their group sandbox space. Other editors may be reviewing your work, so look for their comments! Be sure to acknowledge feedback from other Wikipedians.
- As you review, make spelling, grammar, and other adjustments. Pay attention to the tone of the article. Is it encyclopedic?
Week 6
- Course meetings
-
- Monday, 5 December 2016
- Assignment - As a group, respond to your peer review
You probably have some feedback from other students and possibly other Wikipedians. It's time to work with that feedback to improve your article!
- Read Editing Wikipedia pages 12 and 14.
- Return to your draft or article and think about the suggestions. Decide which ones to start implementing. Reach out to your instructor or your Content Expert if you have any questions.
- Assignment - As a group, begin moving your work to Wikipedia
Once you've made improvements to your article based on peer review feedback, it's time to move your work to Wikipedia proper - the "mainspace."
Editing an existing article?
- NEVER copy and paste your draft of an article over the entire article. Instead, edit small sections at a time.
- Copy your edits into the article. Make many small edits, saving each time, and leaving an edit summary. Never replace more than one to two sentences without saving!
Creating a new article?
- Read Editing Wikipedia page 13, and follow those steps to move your article from your Sandbox to Mainspace.
- You can also review the [[../../../training/students/sandboxes|Sandboxes and Mainspace]] online training.
- Milestones
Every student has finished reviewing their assigned articles, making sure that every article has been reviewed.
Week 7
- Course meetings
-
- Monday, 12 December 2016
- Assignment - Individually, continue improving your group article
Do additional research and writing to make further improvements to your article, based on suggestions and your own critique.
- Read Editing Wikipedia page 12 to see how to create links from your article to others, and from other articles to your own. Try to link to 3–5 articles, and link to your article from 2–3 other articles.
- Are there any misspellings? Could you add categories to your article?
- Remember to contact your Content Expert at any time if you need further help!
- Make sure that your username is on the edit history of either your group sandbox space or your article mainspace as having made a contribution.
- Assignment - As a group, make final article improvements
It's the final week to develop your article.
- Read Editing Wikipedia page 15 to review a final check-list before completing your assignment.
- Don't forget that you can ask for help from your Content Expert at any time!
- Assignment - Individually, turn in your portfolio.
Grading description
This project is worth 40% of your overall grade. You will be graded on the following:
- Training: 6% - one percentage point for each of the 6 assigned trainings (you can see which you have completed by selecting the Students tab above and reviewing your contribution history. If you haven't completed all the trainings, now is your last chance!)
- Critique an article: 4%
- Peer review: 10%
- Draft: 10%
- Contribution critique: 10%
- Overall portfolio: 40%
To get full credit your portfolio should include clearly labeled sections that cover the following:
- Section 1, Critique an Article: 2-3 paragraphs highlighting your personal article critique. Select 2-3 of the prompt questions and expand upon them here. You can use your group notes.
- Section 2, Peer Review: 2-3 paragraphs describing your peer review process. One paragraph should discuss which groups article you selected, and what comments you left and why. Another should address the comments you received on your group's draft and which improvements you decided to implement and why.
- Section 3, Draft: A copy of your first group draft (you can print the version in your group sandbox space) highlighting which portions you directly contributed to. This should also include a print out of the "Edit History" of your group sandbox space, again highlighting which portions you directly contributed to.
- Section 4, Contribution critique: A final print out of your completed/current Wikipedia article. If your group improved an existing article, include a in 1-2 paragraphs summary of why the contributions your group made were valuable and what they contributed to open scholarship and expanding the publics understanding of gender. If your group created a new article, include, in your own words, 1-2 paragraphs about why you felt this topic was important to add to Wikipedia and what you felt it offered in expanding the publics understanding of gender.
- If your article got deleted or removed, make sure you discuss that here. Did you go to your content expert for help? What kinds of sources did you use? What feedback did you receive from other editors? Did you try to implement any of their changes? What do you think the removal of your topic might say about Wikipedia as a source of information?
- Milestones
Everyone should have finished all of the work they'll do on Wikipedia, and be ready for grading.