Wikipedia:United States Education Project/Courses/Introduction to Mass Communication/Timeline

Week 1: Wikipedia Essentials

 * In class
 * Overview of the course
 * Introduction to how Wikipedia will be used in the course
 * Wikipedia accounts, the course page, user pages, and talk pages
 * Read Five pillars, an explanation of Wikipedia's basic rules and principles
 * Handout and videos: Welcome to Wikipedia (available in print or online from the Wikimedia Foundation), Video on creating an account, Talk pages tutorial video

'''Assignment #1 (due by the end of week #1): Create a Wikipedia account, know your User name and password, and establish your user page. Sign the course page by replacing your information with your assigned student number.'''
 * Step 1: Create a Wikipedia account and add/save information to your user page.
 * Step 2: Sign on the Wikipedia course page. Replace the dummy text for your assigned student number with your newly acquired account user name. You should have made four changes. After you are done, you should be able to click on each of those changed links and return to your user page.
 * Step 3: To practice editing and communicating on Wikipedia, introduce yourself to one of the class's Online Ambassadors (via talk page), and leave a message for the 2 classmates who will review your work on their user talk pages.

Week 2: Editing basics

 * In class
 * Campus Ambassadors introduce:
 * Basics of editing
 * Anatomy of Wikipedia articles, what makes a good article, how to distinguish between good & bad articles
 * What are primary and secondary reference sources?


 * Handouts and videos: Evaluating Wikipedia article quality brochure, Account and user page creation handout, Wikimarkup cheatsheet

'''Assignment #2: You will receive your assigned journalist's name. Search for available information about your adopted journalist on the press freedom websites, UNESCO & United Nations, Google News (archives)/news sites, YouTube, and Google. For now, record your bibliographical information in a simple form using the open and close REF tags and add them to your user page by the categories above. As you research your journalist, take special note of any and all alternative names and spellings, as well as the special characters in the names! Also note which part of the name is considered the last name. (due by the end of week 2)'''
 * Full name. Last name. Any alternative names or nicknames. Alternative spellings or special characters in the name.
 * Press freedom websites: CPJ, IFEX, International Press Institute, RSF
 * UNESCO & the United Nations: UNESCO
 * The Guardian, Tag - Journalist Safety: The Guardian (U.K.)
 * Google News (archives & any date): (Screen for reliable news organizations)
 * Google (archives & any date): (Take notes about reliability)
 * YouTube


 * Milestone:
 * All students have Wikipedia user accounts, have received a welcome talk message, and have listed themselves on the course page. All students have been assigned a journalist and they are beginning their research about their adopted journalist.

Week 3: Exploring the topic area

 * In class: Discussion about the strategies for working on articles.
 * Handouts and videos: Referencing handout, Referencing: Wikicode handout, Plagiarism handout, Citing sources tutorial video, RefToolbar citation tool tutorial video
 * "Wikipedia:Close paraphrasing"
 * Assignments (due week 4): Search Lexis-Nexis for your journalist or the event your journalist was involved with. Remember: There may be articles that never mention your journalist but give important information about the situation or context. Put your citations into the proper format using the drop down box in the edit window.
 * Compile a bibliography of relevant research and post it to the talk page of the article you are working on. Begin reading the sources and taking notes.

Week 4: Evaluating articles

 * In class: Discuss your suggestions for improving articles from a select list (to be provided).


 * Assignment (due week 5: *Critically evaluate an existing Wikipedia article related to the class, and leave suggestions for improving it on the article's discussion page.


 * For next week

Week 5: Drafting starter articles

 * In class
 * Instructor and/or Campus Ambassadors talk about Wikipedia culture & etiquette, and [optionally] introduce the concept of sandboxes and how to use them.
 * Q&A session with instructor and/or Campus Ambassadors about interacting on Wikipedia and getting started with writing
 * Video resource: Sandbox tutorial
 * Assignments (due week 7)
 * If you are starting a new article, write a 3–4 paragraph summary version of your article (with citations) in your Wikipedia sandbox. If you are improving an existing article, write a summary version reflecting the content the article will have after it's been improved, and post this along with a brief description of your plans on the article's talk page.
 * Begin working with classmates and Online Ambassadors to polish your short starter article and fix any major transgressions of Wikipedia norms.
 * Continue research in preparation for expanding your article.


 * Milestone
 * All students have started editing articles or drafts on Wikipedia.

Week 6: Building articles

 * In class or outside of class
 * Campus Ambassadors lead Wikipedia lab/workshop, covering:
 * Article ratings on Wikipedia & how to get there
 * Uploading images, and adding images to articles
 * Handouts and videos: Uploading images handout, Uploading files to Wikimedia Commons video, Evaluating Wikipedia article quality brochure (handed out originally in week 2), Article assessments video, Evolution of an article video


 * Wiki assignments (due week 9)
 * Expand your article into an initial draft of a comprehensive treatment of the topic.
 * Select two classmates' articles that you will peer review and copy-edit. (You don't need to start reviewing yet.)

Week 7: Getting and giving feedback

 * In class
 * As a group, have the students offer suggestions for improving one or two of the students' articles, setting the example for what is expected from a solid encyclopedia article.


 * Wiki assignments (due week 10)
 * Peer review two of your classmates' articles. Leave suggestions on the article talk pages.
 * Copy-edit the two reviewed articles.


 * Milestone
 * All articles have been reviewed by others. All students have reviewed articles by their classmates.

Week 8: Responding to feedback

 * In class
 * Open discussion of the concepts of neutrality, media literacy, and the impact and limits of Wikipedia


 * Wiki assignments (due week 11)
 * Make edits to your article based on peers' feedback.
 * Begin expanding your article into a comprehensive treatment of the topic.
 * Prepare for an in-class presentation about your Wikipedia editing experience.

After Spring Break: Did you know

 * In class
 * Handout: Moving into main space, Submitting articles to Did You Know


 * Wiki assignments (due week 8)
 * Move sandbox articles into main space.
 * For new articles or qualifying expansions of stubs, compose a one-sentence "hook," nominate it for "Did you know," and monitor the nomination for any issues identified by other editors.
 * Nominate your article for Good Article status.

After publication: Class presentations

 * In class
 * Students give in-class presentations about their experiences editing Wikipedia.


 * Wiki assignments (due week 12)
 * Add final touches to you Wikipedia article. Try to address issues from Good Article reviews.
 * Write a reflective essay (2-5 pages) on your Wikipedia contributions.

Finals: Due date
You made it!


 * Milestone
 * Students have finished all their work on Wikipedia that will be considered for grading, and have submitted reflective essays.

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