Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/Brooklyn College, CUNY/THEA 7214X Global Theater History and Theory I (Fall 2017)

In this course, we will survey examples of theatrical practice, drama, and treatises (theory) in oral and written cultures before 1650, including ritual and shamanic performance; religious and civic festivals in ancient Greece, Rome, and medieval Europe; theatrical traditions in Egypt, Japan, and India; and European Renaissance drama.

Week 1

 * 1) If you don’t have a Wikipedia account: Create an account on en.Wikipedia.org and establish your user page (post a brief bio, etc.). For help, watch the video on creating an account and/or read the Account and user page creation handout.
 * 2) Complete the first three modules in the Wikipedia Tutorial for students (it will take approximately one hour).
 * 3) Once you're logged into your account on Wikipedia, complete the following three tasks:
 * 4) Make at least one improvement to the Brooklyn College article, the article about your hometown, or an article about any other school you have attended.
 * 5) Introduce yourself to me, our Online Ambassadors, and at least one of your classmates by leaving messages on their Talk pages. (See the Talk pages tutorial video for guidance.)
 * 6) “Enroll” in the assignment by going to this link. You will need an &quot;enrollment token&quot; to enroll (you can find this on the Wikipedia Project handout you received from me).

Week 2

 * 1) Watch video (2 min) about the importance of Verifiability and Neutral point of view on Wikipedia.
 * 2) Take the Wikipedia student tutorial on Sources and Citations (10 min). For additional help, read the Referencing handout, the Evaluating Wikipedia article quality brochure, and the Referencing: Wikicode handout (if you want to try using wikicode instead of the VisualEditor).
 * 3) Familiarize yourself with WikiProject Theatre, a community effort to improve all articles relating to theater, with the goal of making Wikipedia one of the best online resources on the subject.
 * 4) Log into your account on Wikipedia and “claim” at least three (3) articles you want to assess and potentially edit this semester: go to dashboard.wikiedu.org, look for the box on the upper right side, and click on &quot;Assign Myself an Article.&quot; You are only required to work on one article, but I want you to explore at least three possibilities before committing.

Week 3
 Complete the Wikipedia student tutorial on Sandboxes and Mainspace (10 min). Log into your account and visit your “Sandbox”—the experimental space you will use to draft content for the Wikipedia page you’re developing. You can access it by clicking the “Sandbox” link at the top of the page, between “Talk” and “Preferences.” For help, visit About_the_Sandbox.  Go to your User page and add this text at the bottom: This will add a “button” to your User page that will give me access your sandbox.  In your sandbox, post a bibliography, formatted in MLA style, of at least ten (10) potentially useful secondary sources (books and journal articles) that you will consult during this project. NOTE: For your actual Wikipedia article, you can use Wikipedia's referencing tool to automatically format your citations. Different articles use different citation systems, not necessarily MLA. However, you will write your MA/MFA thesis using MLA style, which is why I want you to use MLA in for this Sandbox assignment.

Week 4
Prepare a Needs Assessment (NA) for the article you have chosen. It should include:


 * 1) A completed “Article Evaluation Form” (you can download this form by going to the Syllabus/Handouts area on Blackboard)
 * 2) A brief overview of the article’s quality (200-300 words)
 * 3) A checklist of what you think needs to be improved

Prepare a Writing Plan (WP). It should include:


 * 1) A brief overview of your planned improvements
 * 2) A timeline of your planned improvements (with deadlines for specific tasks)

Print a copy of your NA, WP, and Wikipedia page and bring to class for peer review.

Intertwine is a platform where you you will be chatting with student editors enrolled in other Wiki Education courses. This week, the featured activities include:


 * Learning Wikipedia’s five pillars as evaluation criteria
 * Evaluating an existing Wikipedia article with your peers
 * Getting to know more Wikipedia editors and learning from each other's experiences

Sign up for a session here. If you haven’t logged in using your Wikipedia account, you will first be redirected to Wikipedia logging page. After logging in using your Wikipedia credentials, you will be able to sign up for our activity.

Week 5
Incorporate the feedback you received during the peer review of your NP and WP. Submit the final draft to me on Blackboard (in the Assignments area).

Week 6
Use your sandbox to develop text and experiment. By this date, you should transport at least one substantial addition to the “live” article.

Week 7

 * 1) Take the Wikipedia student tutorial on Contributing Images and Media Files. For additional help, read the Illustrating Wikipedia brochure.
 * 2) Find at least one image (that is NOT under copyright protection) related to your topic and upload it, either to your Sandbox or to the Wikipedia article. You may also design your own graph, timeline, or other visual aid that you believe will enhance the article.

Week 8
1.     Complete the Wikipedia student tutorial on Peer Review (7 min).

2.     Officially “nominate” your article for peer review on Wikipedia, so that your classmates (and possibly others) can give you feedback on your work. Instructions are here.

3.     Select two classmates’ articles to peer review. “Claim” the articles by going to our Wikipedia course page and adding your username to the appropriate box in the list of articles. (You don’t have to review them yet.)

4.     Prepare a progress report that includes:

·       A copy of the checklist in your WP, annotated to indicate what you have done so far

·       An honest self-assessment of your progress on your original WP (250 words)

·       A brief evaluation of the article’s current quality (250 words)

·       An updated WP for the remainder of the semester

5.     Submit your progress report in the Assignments area on Blackboard.

Print one copy of your progress report and bring it to class for peer review.

Week 9

 * 1) Reread the “Article Evaluation Form” (in Syllabus/Handouts area on Blackboard).
 * 2) Keeping the criteria in mind, evaluate the two articles you have chosen to peer review using Wikipedia’s peer review system.

Intertwine is a platform where you you will be chatting with student editors enrolled in other Wiki Education courses. This week, the featured activities include:


 * Sharing the Wikipedia article your drafted with your peers.
 * Getting feedbacks from your peers on how to make your Wikipedia article even better
 * Providing feedbacks to your peers and help them improve their article

Sign up for a session here. If you haven’t logged in using your Wikipedia account, you will first be redirected to Wikipedia logging page. After logging in using your Wikipedia credentials, you will be able to sign up for our activity.

Week 10
Make edits to your article based on peers’ feedback and midterm progress report.

Week 11
Continue making edits based on peers’ feedback and midterm progress report.

Week 12

 * 1) Write a short reflective essay (2 pages, double spaced) summarizing your Wikipedia contributions, both as a writer/contributor and a reviewer/editor. Submit your essay in the Assignments area on Blackboard.
 * 2) You will give a brief presentation (3-4 minutes) in class today about your Wikipedia editing experience, summarizing your reflection paper.

Week 13
This is your last week to make improvements to your article.

Create an electronic portfolio documenting your work on this project. I will use this portfolio to evaluate your work and assign you a grade for the assignment. It should be in the form of a single PDF document. To include visual material, make scans or create screenshots, then insert them into the document. Your e-portfolio should include:


 * Your reflective essay
 * A PDF of the article as it originally appeared in September
 * A PDF of the article as it now appears
 * Your midterm progress report
 * Your final progress report. This should include 1) the original checklist from your WP, annotated to indicate what you ultimately accomplished; 2) a brief assessment of the article’s current quality (250 words); and 3) some thoughts about what, in your opinion, could be done to further improve the article.

Submit your electronic portfolio in the Assignments area on Blackboard.