Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/Boston College/Environmental Disruptors of Development (Spring 2016)

Embryonic, fetal or neonatal exposure to low &quot;safe&quot; levels of numerous pollutants can change developmental programs regulated by steroid hormones leading to an increase in reproductive, immune, metabolic or cognitive disorders. Some also increase the risk of adult-onset disorders. Through this course we will examine the biological basis of the adverse effects of these chemicals on human health and animal development and consider how this work is important in the development of regulatory policy. This is an advanced, upper division elective.

Week 1

 * Overview of the course
 * Introduction to how Wikipedia will be used in the course
 * Understanding Wikipedia as a community, we'll discuss its expectations and etiquette.

-

Handout: Editing Wikipedia

Week 2

 * Basics of editing
 * Anatomy of Wikipedia articles, what makes a good article, how to distinguish between good and bad articles
 * Collaborating and engaging with the Wiki editing community
 * Tips on finding the best articles to work on for class assignments

-

Handouts:, Evaluating Wikipedia


 * Create an account and join this course page.
 * Complete the introductory training modules. During this training, you will make edits in a sandbox and learn the basic rules of Wikipedia.
 * Create a User page.
 * To practice editing and communicating on Wikipedia, introduce yourself to another student on their user talk page.
 * Explore topics related to your topic area to get a feel for how Wikipedia is organized. What areas seem to be missing? As you explore, make a mental note of articles that seem like good candidates for improvement.

All students have Wikipedia user accounts and are listed on the course page.

Week 3

 * Be prepared to discuss some of your observations about Wikipedia articles in your topic area that are missing or could use improvement.

Handouts: [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Choosing_an_article.pdf Choosing an article ]

Week 4

 * Be prepared to explain close paraphrasing, plagiarism, and copyright violations on Wikipedia.

-

Handouts: and

-

Supplementary training: Sources and Citations

Review Wikipedia's rules for topics related to medicine, human health, and psychology.

ADD new content!


 * You will choose an article developed by previous EDD courses.
 * Find 2 or more current references for adding at least 3 sentences of new content to the page.  Compile a bibliography of the 2 or more relevant, reliable sources and post it to the talk page of the article you are working on. Begin reading the sources. Make sure to check in on the talk page (or watchlist) to see if anyone has advice on your bibliography.
 * Compose your new content sentences and work on them in your sandbox.  This also gives you a space to make sure the formatting is correct before moving to main space.

Copy Edit page


 * Find at least 10 distinct areas to fix.  Grammatical errors, spelling or improving sentence clarity are all possible areas to fix.

Week 5

 * Discuss the topics students will be working on, and determine strategies for researching and writing about them.

-

Supplementary training: Sandboxes and Mainspace

Week 6

 * Talk about Wikipedia culture and etiquette, and (optionally) revisit the concept of sandboxes and how to use them.
 * Q&amp;A session with instructor about interacting on Wikipedia and getting started with writing.

All students have started editing articles or drafts on Wikipedia.

Week 7

 * Demo uploading images and adding images to articles.
 * Share experiences and discuss problems.

Resources: Illustrating Wikipedia and [http://wikiedu.org/evaluatingwikipedia Evaluating Wikipedia ]


 * Select two classmates’ articles that you will peer review and copyedit. On the table at the bottom of this course page, add your username next to the articles you will peer review. (You don’t need to start reviewing yet.)


 * Add 1–2 sentences of new information, backed up with a citation to an appropriate source, to a Wikipedia article related to the class.

Week 8

 * Expand your article into a complete first draft.

Week 9

 * As a group, offer suggestions for improving one or two other students' articles, based on your ideas of what makes a solid encyclopedia article.

-

Supplementary training: Peer Review


 * Peer review two of your classmates’ articles. Leave suggestions on the article talk pages.
 * Copy-edit the two reviewed articles.

Every student has finished reviewing their assigned articles, making sure that every article has been reviewed.

Week 10

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


 * Make edits to your article based on peers’ feedback. If you disagree with a suggestion, use talk pages to politely discuss and come to a consensus on your edit.

Week 11

 * Continue discussing how the articles can be further improved. Come up with improvement goals for each article for next week.


 * Return to your classmates' articles you previously reviewed, and provide more suggestions for further improvement. If there is a disagreement, suggest a compromise.
 * Do additional research and writing to make further improvements to your article, based on your classmates' suggestions and any additional areas for improvement you can identify.


 * Prepare for an in-class presentation about your Wikipedia editing experience.

Week 12

 * Prepare for an in-class presentation about your Wikipedia editing experience.


 * Add final touches to your Wikipedia article.

-

Handout:


 * Write a reflective essay (2–5 pages) on your Wikipedia contributions.

Week 13
Students have finished all their work on Wikipedia that will be considered for grading.