Wikipedia:Canada Education Program/Courses/Present/North American Environmental History (Tina Loo)/Course description

Course description
Environmental history is the study of how humans have shaped the natural world and how it has shaped them over time. This course provides a thematic overview of land use and environmental change in Canada and the United States, mainly in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In particular, it examines the ideas and practices that shaped indigenous and non-indigenous resource exploitation, management, and activism to the end of the twentieth century.

The material is organized into four themes: Empires and Nation-Building; Development; Cities; and Environmentalisms. The in-class portion of the course consists of lectures and tutorials. This website is for the major project of the term, which is for teams of students to produce and/or edit Wikipedia entries on various topics in the environmental history of North America.

Background and Overview
This portion of HIST 396 is part of the ""Wikipedia Education Program,"" which is currently operating in Brazil, India, Canada, and the United States. http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_Education_Program

HIST 396 has been chosen to participate in this initiative!


 * What Does This Mean?

As noted in the course syllabus, throughout the term portions of our class time will be devoted to contributing our expertise to Wikipedia, writing new articles and/or updating existing ones in light of the scholarly literature.

• Students will learn:
 * o The anatomy of Wikipedia articles
 * o How to create a Wikipedia account and how to use it
 * o How to properly research, develop, contribute and edit content for Wikipedia
 * o What it means to participate in Wiki-culture

• But this isn't a course about Wikipedia! It's a history course. The idea is that by participating in this project students will learn research and writing skills; how to work collaboratively, and most importantly, about the environmental history of North America.

• Students will choose an issue that is of interest to them from a list of possibilities and, working in teams, will either contribute an update to an existing Wikipedia page or create their own brand new page. (See below for a list of possible topics).

• UBC's HIST 396 will be recognized (we hope) with numerous awards for awesomeness.

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