User talk:Mulroon2

Welcome aboard!
Hi User:Mulroon2! Welcome to Wikipedia! I noticed one of your students' posts on a talk page and followed the trail back here. My name is Alex, and I've been involved in editing microbiology-related articles here for a little while now, especially through WikiProject_Microbiology (which is just a group of editors who keep track of microbiology articles). Perhaps you've been editing under another username for some time, but just in case you're newer to Wikipedia, I wanted to say hello, extend a hand, and say that if you (or, of course, any of your students) have any questions about Wikipedia in general or about microbiology articles in particular, feel free to ask and I'm happy to help however I can. You can reach me here, on my talk page or via email. Also, for microbiology questions, you might be able to get some input on things from WikiProject Micro's talk page. Anyway, I'm really glad to see that you've joined the site and brought a class on board. There's a heck of a lot of work to be done on microbiology articles around here, and we can use all the hands we can get! I hope I'll see you around. Happy editing! Ajpolino (talk) 02:08, 9 June 2016 (UTC)

Teaching science through Wikipedia
Thinking about using Wikipedia as part of your course? Doing so gives students experience integrating scientific knowledge and in copy-editing, both relevant to their professional development. In terms of implementation, here are my observations based on several years of experience. --Smokefoot (talk) 01:47, 22 June 2016 (UTC)
 * The most important step is the selection of topics that allow students to contribute new content. The instructor should make sure that good general sources exist on the assigned topics, preferably reviews and textbooks.  A major part of the learning experience comes from students re-describing or summarizing what they read from these broad sources.
 * Students should be graded on the quality of their content, not the quantity.
 * Peer review (by fellow students) is a joke, dont do it.
 * Steer away from toxicity, environmental, or safety aspects. Tons of content on such topics are readily Google-able. Students learn little from parroting this material and can be poor judges of quality sources.  Teach them science.  Help them sort notable from non-notable aspects.
 * Bear in mind that editors at Wikipedia are not supposed to serve babysitters or graders for your class. Instructors need to be involved, but they could expect good cooperation from established editors.

Welcome!
Hello, Mulroon2, and welcome to Wikipedia! My name is Ian and I work with the Wiki Education Foundation; I help support students who are editing as part of a class assignment.

I hope you enjoy editing here. If you haven't already done so, please check out the student training library, which introduces you to editing and Wikipedia's core principles. You may also want to check out the Teahouse, a community of Wikipedia editors dedicated to helping new users. Below are some resources to help you get started editing. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me on my talk page. Ian (Wiki Ed) (talk) 15:53, 26 January 2018 (UTC)