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

Week 1: Introduction

 * 5 January 2012
 * Introduction to the course as a whole and to the Wikipedia assignment
 * Handout: Welcome to Wikipedia (available in print or online from the Wikimedia Foundation)

Week 2: Wikipedia Essentials

 * 12 January 2012
 * Introduction to how Wikipedia will be used in the course


 * Assignment (due week 2)
 * Read Five pillars, an explanation of Wikipedia's basic rules and principles

Week 3: Editing basics

 * 19 January 2012
 * We'll introduce:
 * Signing up for an account and creating a user page
 * Basics of editing
 * Anatomy of Wikipedia articles, what makes a good article, how to distinguish between good & bad articles
 * Possible topics
 * Working in teams: responsibilities and evaluation
 * Handouts and videos: Video on creating an account, Talk pages tutorial video, Evaluating Wikipedia article quality brochure, Account and user page creation handout, Wikimarkup cheatsheet
 * Assignments (due 24 January)
 * Create a Wikipedia account, create a user page, and sign up on the list of HIST 396 Team Members on the course page below.
 * To practice editing and communicating on Wikipedia, leave a message for a classmate on their user talk page, or for Stephen or me!


 * Milestone:
 * All students have Wikipedia user accounts and are listed on the course page by 24 January 2012

Week 4: Exploring topics

 * 26 January 2012
 * Discussion of topics
 * Evaluating existing Wikipedia articles
 * Assignments (due 31 January):
 * Decide on 3-5 topics from the list that you will consider working on as your main project. Note them on your Wikipedia user page.

Week 5: Using sources

 * 2 February 2012
 * Handouts and videos: Referencing handout, Referencing: Wikicode handout, Plagiarism handout, Citing sources tutorial video, RefToolbar citation tool tutorial video

Week 6: The Annotated Bibliography, Outline, and Starting your Article

 * 9 February 2012
 * Teams will meet.
 * We'll talk about Wikipedia culture and etiquette, and [optionally] introduce the concept of sandboxes and how to use them.
 * We'll talk about getting started with writing


 * Assignment (due 14 February)
 * Add 1–2 sentences of new information, backed up with a citation to an appropriate source, to a Wikipedia article of your choice (not necessarily related to the class). When you have done this, leave a message on my Talk page to tell me what edits you have made so I can give you credit for completing the assignment.


 * Assignments (due 1 March 2012)
 * Continue to read and research your annotated bibliography. It will be handed in right after the midterm break.
 * Outline your article


 * Milestone
 * All students will have completed their annotated bibliographies and outlined the structure and content of their Wikipedia articles by the end of the midterm break, on 1 March.

Week 7: Working on Your Bibliographies and Outlines

 * NO MEETING ON 16 FEBRUARY


 * Assignments (due 1 March 2012)
 * See above. Bring a hard copy of your annotated bibliography and the outline of the structure and content of your Wikipedia article to class 1 March

Week 9: The Sandbox

 * 1 March 2012
 * We will collect your annotated bibliographies and the outlines in class.
 * We will discuss sandboxes; places you play - and practice making edits.
 * We will discuss how we're proceeding from here, including tips for dividing the labour of writing your article and communicating with each other.
 * Video resource: Sandbox tutorial
 * Handout: Moving into main space


 * Assignment (due 13 March 2012)
 * Post your team's outline for what you'll be doing on the article's Talk page
 * Write from 250-400 words of your portion of the article and move it out of the sandbox and into main space.

Week 10: Moving Out of the Sandbox

 * 8 March 2012
 * We will discuss your outlines and bibliographies and how to go forward from here.
 * Uploading images, and adding images to articles
 * Handouts and videos: Uploading images handout, Uploading files to Wikimedia Commons video, Info on Copyright in Canada
 * Note on copyright in Canada: The thing with Wikipedia that's interesting is we're using servers that are located in Florida, so we must follow US copyright laws, even outside of the US. However, content being added from an IP address in another country also needs to follow the copyright laws of that country. In cases where the two conflict, the stronger copyright law (stricter) must take precedence.


 * Assignments (due 13 March 2012)
 * Post an agreed-to outline of your article on that article's Talk page
 * Post that outline on your own User Talk page, with an indication of what section or sections of it you will be working on
 * Go "live" with 250-400 words of your article by 13 March.
 * Remember to do your drafts of this piece and all others in your Sandboxes; comments by team members on each others' drafts should also be done in the Sandbox containing the draft. For example, if I'm drafting the section on Grey Owl's early life, I'll do that in my own Sandbox, and all my team members will make comments for its improvement there.

Week 11: Peer- and Self-Evaluation of Teamwork

 * 15 March 2012
 * We will devote most this time slot to lecture on the course subject matter but...
 * I'll discuss how I'll be evaluating teamwork.


 * Assignment (due 22 March 2012)
 * Your first peer- and self-evaluation of teamwork is due by midnight, 22 March. Please e-mail the completed form to me (available on our VISTA course website)

Week 12: Responding to Feedback

 * 22 March 2012
 * Assuming that you are getting feedback on your WP articles, we'll discuss the kinds of questions you're getting and how to respond.
 * I'll also talk a bit more about how we'll be evaluating your article's quality.
 * Resources: Evaluating Wikipedia article quality brochure (handed out originally in week 2), Article assessments video, Evolution of an article video

Week 13: Preparing for Presentations

 * 29 March 2012
 * We will discuss what's expected for the in-class presentations which will be held next week.


 * Assignments (due 3 and 5 April)
 * Add final touches to you Wikipedia article based on the feedback you got from the peer review and your own sense of what needs to be done.
 * Prepare the in-class presentation.

Week 14: Presentations!!

 * 3 April and 5 April 2012
 * Both these sessions will be devoted to presentations. We'll hear from all twelve groups over two days and celebrate our hard work!


 * Assignment (due 10 April 2012)
 * You will finish all your work on your Wikipedia entry and submit your reflective essay by 5PM on 10 April. Yay! You made it!

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