User:AmJans/Information Fluency in the Digital World (Spring 2015)

Introduction to secondary research, information management, and computing technology. We will be researching and synthesizing marine engineering and other technology topics in order to expand a current stub or start-class Wikipedia article. The class will evaluate sources for reliability, summarize their topic in encyclopedic-style, and document their sources.

Week 10 (2015-03-09):  Wikipedia:  Behind the scenes

 * Introduction to how Wikipedia will be used in the course
 * Understanding Wikipedia as a community, we'll discuss its expectations and etiquette
 * Handout: Editing Wikipedia (available in print or online from the Wiki Education Foundation)
 * 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
 * Handouts: Choosing an article

Daily Assignment 10.a (due Wednesday, March 11, 2015)
 * 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.

Daily Assignment 10.b (due Monday, March 16, 2015)
 * Research and list 3–5 articles on your Wikipedia user page that you will consider working on as your main project. Look at the talk page for existing topics for a sense of who else is working on it and what they're doing. Describe your choices to your instructor for feedback.
 * Choose an article


 * All students have Wikipedia user accounts and are listed on the course page.

Week 11 (2015-03-16): Writing an article

 * Handouts: Citing sources on Wikipedia and Avoiding plagiarism on Wikipedia.
 * Be prepared to explain close paraphrasing, plagiarism, and copyright violations on Wikipedia.
 * Discuss the topics students will be working on, and determine strategies for researching and writing about them.

Daily Assignment 11.a (due Wednesday, March 18, 2015)
 * Compile a bibliography of relevant, reliable sources. Begin reading the sources.

First Draft (due Monday, March 23, 2015)
 * All students have created an outline and researched sources for their article.

Week 12 and 13 (2015-03-23): First draft and individual meetings with instructor

 * All students have submitted a first draft.
 * All students have met with the instructor and received feedback on their first draft.

Week 14 (2015-04-06):  Wikicoding and Getting and giving feedback

 * Basics of editing
 * Demo uploading images and adding images to articles.
 * Handouts: "Illustrating Wikipedia" (pgs 4-7) and "Evaluating Wikipedia article quality" (handed out originally earlier in the course)

Second Draft (due Wednesday, April 8, 2015)
 * Mark the article's talk page with a banner to let other editors know you're working on it. To add the banner, add this code in the top section of the talk page:


 * Add a link to your selected article to the table at the bottom of this course page.


 * All students have incorporated suggested edits into their article.
 * All students have moved their article to their sandbox.
 * All students have added formatting and appropriate links to their article in their sandbox.

Week 15 (2015-04-13):  Responding to feedback, Continuing to improve articles, Finishing touches

 * We'll discuss moving your article out of your sandboxes and into Wikipedia's main space.
 * Handout: Moving out of your sandbox
 * A general reminder: Don't panic if your contribution disappears, and don't try to force it back in.
 * Check to see if there is an explanation of the edit on the article's talk page. If not, (politely) ask why it was removed.
 * Contact your instructor or Wikipedia Content Expert and let them know.

Peer Review (due Monday, April 13, 2015)
 * Select a classmate's article that you will peer review and copyedit. On the table at the bottom of this course page, write your username next to the article you plan to review. (You don’t need to start reviewing yet.)
 * Peer review your classmate's article.

Final Draft (due Monday, April 22, 2015)
 * Make edits to your article based on peers’ feedback. If you disagree with a suggestion, use talk pages to politely discuss and come to a consensus on your edit.
 * Do additional research and writing to make further improvements to your article, based on your classmates' suggestions and any additional areas for improvement you can identify.
 * Add final touches to your Wikipedia article. You can find a handy reference guide here.


 * All students have finished their articles.

Week 16 (2015-04-20):  Due date

 * Students have finished all their work on Wikipedia that will be considered for grading.