User talk:IceAgeDoc

Hi, everyone! I'm really excited to be here! IceAgeDoc (talk) 20:57, 1 December 2015 (UTC)
 * Hi, Jacquelyn. I'm also excited to be learning how to edit Wikipedia together.Ecogeographer (talk) 21:02, 1 December 2015 (UTC)
 * Thanks! Nice work on the Kentucky coffeetree page. IceAgeDoc (talk) 21:04, 1 December 2015 (UTC)

Course?
Hallo IceAgeDoc: it looks as if you are the instructor on a course producing articles such as Plant strategies. I've left a note at Talk:Plant strategies for one of the students.

Wikipedia has a lot of help and advice for instructors and students, which can make student assignments work better for the students and for other editors. Please read School and university projects and follow its various links. As you're in the USA you could contact the Education program.

Unfortunately a lot of editors of Wikipedia have had bad experiences in the past when poorly-run students assignments have left a lot of mess for other editors to clean up, so it's important to take advice and learn enough about the encyclopedia to ensure that your students have a positive experience here. That first article which drew my attention (because I "stub-sort" articles with titles starting with "P") had no sources, and a nonstandard inclusion of "This page will be expanded." That's not how we do things. There's an under construction template, but to be honest if the student hadn't put a note on the talk page saying it was a student project I'd have nominated the page for deletion. (Having just said that students don't get a free pass, that's inconsistent of me, I know!).

I hope you and your students have a good experience here and will enjoy building the encyclopedia and stay around helping beyond the deadline of the student assignment. Editing here can be addictive! Pam D  08:05, 9 December 2015 (UTC)


 * Thanks--this is my first time using Wikipedia as an instructor, and though I have read the resources you described already I'm sure there will be a learning curve! I am aware that there have been problems from reading those resources. I have seven students in three groups, and two groups are editing existing pages while a third opted to create a new one (Plant Strategies). We had wanted there to be a stub so that there could be a talk page but it sounds like this was either incorrect or an error (I didn't instruct them to add the nonstandard language).


 * I appreciate the help. This is an opportunity to train new editors with expertise in ecology (my students are really keen on this assignment as future professional ecologists), and so having a welcoming experience is really helpful. IceAgeDoc (talk) 11:42, 9 December 2015 (UTC)


 * Hallo again.


 * First a couple of practical points about Wikipedia communication: If you're replying to a post, please indent it (using ":" as often as needed, at the start of each paragraph - I've done it now to your reply). It makes it easier to see what's a reply. (If you're replying to a comment to which someone else has already replied, indent your reply so it's directly underneath the earlier reply, to show that you're replying to the comment, not to the reply.) When you want to make sure that someone sees something you've put on a talk page, other than on their own user talk page, it's helpful to use one of various templates such as ping, which then sends them a notification - eg   in  a message which you've signed (it seems that it doesn't trigger in unsigned or belatedly-signed messages).


 * Back to core matters. I expect that there's advice on this in the material aimed at instructors, but I'd think that the best thing would be for the students to work on Draft:Plant strategies. TO create this they should go to WP:DRAFTS and click on the "Create a draft in the Draft: namespace" box. That way it's a draft which isn't in any one editor's name space, and it has a talk page (I've just checked this by creating a draft myself to test!) Because Drafts aren't picked up by search engines, etc, we can allow much less well formed articles - drafts indeed - to exist there, rather than letting them exist in "article space", the main encyclopedia. In fact, I think I'll be WP:BOLD and move it into draft space now .... Done! (First time I've done that, seems to have worked OK, and the talk page, with all the work on outline of article, is there too). (Sorry about the stream of consciousness there... just seemed best to act on what I'd decided was the best solution!)


 * As it says in the WP:DRAFTS page, when the article is ready they can either move it into "Article space" or submit it for review at "Articles for Creation".


 * I hope that this turns out to be the best solution for your students. Good luck with it all. Pam  D  15:05, 9 December 2015 (UTC)


 * Thanks! I did know that about indents, but was replying for the first time on my phone, and thought the mobile version would do that automatically (it looks like not!). And thanks for the tip about the ping template!


 * That's really helpful to know about the drafts -- the material I'd read recommended using the sandbox to practice, but this is a better fit. Thanks! Your help has been greatly appreciated. We talked a lot about Wikipedia's culture of being a community and definitely wanted to make sure that we follow that (as opposed to just jumping in from outside and mucking about). IceAgeDoc (talk) 15:40, 9 December 2015 (UTC)

Course help is available
Hi IceAgeDoc! I'm with the Wiki Education Foundation, which is all about offering support tools to help higher ed instructors create succesful Wikipedia writing assignments. We actually have a "Writing Wikipedia articles on Ecology" print brochure we can send along for your students, and a Wikipedia content expert on staff (Ian Ramjohn), who has a background in plant ecology, and who would be on hand to answer student's questions about the Wikipedia process. I'm a UMaine grad myself, so I'm really excited to work with you! If you want to hear more, send us an e-mail: contact@wikiedu.org Eryk (Wiki Ed) (talk) 17:12, 9 December 2015 (UTC)


 * Thanks! it's great to meet you. I've already shared the Ecology brochure with my students, as well as some other links, and we've used some tutorials -- thanks very much! I'll reach out to you and Ian. This is my first time doing this for a course, but I'm very interested in making this a successful exercise (from your perspective as well as mine). Thanks so much for the welcome! IceAgeDoc (talk) 19:42, 9 December 2015 (UTC)


 * Good to hear that. I'm really looking forward to seeing how the plant strategies article develops (and help your students develop it). Ian (Wiki Ed) (talk) 21:50, 9 December 2015 (UTC)


 * I'm glad to see that help is available and contact has been made. Good luck to all concerned. Pam  D  00:06, 10 December 2015 (UTC)

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