Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/UW-Bothell/Critical Media Literacy (Fall 2015)

Instructor: J McClearen

This course gives students theoretical and practical experience in critical media literacy— a framework for assessing, evaluating, creating, and participating with media content. I teach the class from a cultural studies perspective, which is a critical intellectual lineage that understands media as a complex cultural system. The cultural studies tradition asserts that power, privilege, difference weave together at the levels of production, representation, reception, consumption, and identity. In this vein, media artifacts are not good/bad or right/wrong, rather they reflect and reproduce ideologies that circulate in society more broadly. In this course, you will gain skills in critical analysis and media literacy in order to better understand how ideologies of difference (such as gender, race, and sexuality) operate in media culture.

The major assignments for the course (the blog posts and the Wikipedia project) focus on building digital media literacy skills. Digital media literacy is an essential competency for many 21st century jobs, but knowing how to write blogs, convey meaning with photos, and create publically accessible scholarship also allows you to share the insights you gain from this class with audiences outside UWB. There will be dedicated course time for learning and developing these skills, so students unfamiliar with these types of formats will have an opportunity to practice using these important tools.

Week 1

 * The Cultural Politics of Knowledge Production in Participatory Culture
 * 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

Week 2

 * Create an account and then complete the online training for students. During this training, you will make edits in a sandbox and learn the basic rules of Wikipedia.
 * 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
 * Discuss potential articles in your groups

Resources: Online Training for Students


 * Decide in your groups which article you're adding content to
 * Analyze your chosen article based on the Wikipedia Article Proposal guidelines on Canvas and the Five Pillars of Wikipedia
 * Divide up the work you will do to draft the proposal
 * Research the sources for your articles
 * Begin work on your proposal draft


 * Continue drafting your proposal in groups
 * Meet with Jennifer during class to discuss the article and your contributions and work plan

Week 3

 * Work with your group mates to begin edits
 * Monitor the talk page and collaborate with other editors (if they are engaging your work)
 * Document interactions with other editors and be prepared to discuss them in the final presentation
 * Document technical, collaborative, or content challenges and be prepared to discuss them in the final presentation


 * Finish up your edits
 * Monitor the talk page and collaborate with other editors (if they are engaging your work)
 * Document interactions with other editors and be prepared to discuss them in the final presentation
 * Document technical, collaborative, or content challenges and be prepared to discuss them in the final presentation
 * Plan final presentation


 * Present your project to the class (6-7 min presentation per group)

Include the following in your presentations:


 * Describe your contributions and why you think they are important in the context of Critical Media Literacy
 * Discuss the cultural politics of knowledge production in relation to your specific topics
 * Discuss any engagement with other editors as you wrote
 * Discuss your major learnings about the process