Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/University of Maryland/INST 201 Introduction to Information Science (Fall)

This course introduces students to core concepts, methods, topics, and theories in information science, giving them the tools they need to understand the tectonic shifts of the information age.

Our Wikipedia assignment is the focus of the final unit of the course--on collaboration--and is also our summative assessment. Students will follow a controversial Wikipedia page for several weeks, keep track of the social processes behind the scenes, suggest improvements to the page, and then summarize their observations.

Week 11
Welcome to your Wikipedia assignment's course timeline. This page guides you through the steps you'll need to complete for your Wikipedia assignment, with links to training modules and your classmates' work spaces.

Your course has been assigned a Wikipedia Expert. You can reach them through the Get Help button at the top of this page.

Resources:


 * Editing Wikipedia, pages 1–5
 * Evaluating Wikipedia

Create an account and join this course page, using the enrollment link your instructor sent you. (Because of Wikipedia's technical restraints, you may receive a message that you cannot create an account. To resolve this, please try again off campus or the next day.)

This week, everyone should have a Wikipedia account.

Week 12
Thinking about sources and plagiarism

Exercise
Choose your topic / Find your sources

Evaluate an article

You’ll meet with your group, find a controversial article,  and identify what’s wrong with it. Your rubric and our Wikiedu site will provide full instructions. This assignment should be submitted by one designated group member through ELMS. It also includes two training modules.

Week 13
What's a content gap?

Resource: Editing Wikipedia, pages 7–9

If you selected an article related to health, psychology, or medicine please review the additional training.

Your group will propose at least three contributions to the article you critiqued. At least one of which must be an addition, with relevant citations. Your proposal should be submitted by one group member on ELMS.

Everyone has begun writing their article drafts.

Week 14
It's time to move your work live - to the &quot;mainspace.&quot; Once your work is moved live, revisit your text and refine your work. You may do more research and find missing information; rewrite the lead section to represent all major points; reorganize the text to communicate the information better; or add images and other media.

Resource: Editing Wikipedia, page 13

Exercise
Add links to your article

Week 15
Thinking about Wikipedia

It's the final week to develop your article.


 * Read Editing Wikipedia page 15 to review a final check-list before completing your assignment.
 * Don't forget that you can ask for help from your Wikipedia Expert at any time!

Your group has been following the action on the front and back-end of your Wikipedia page for a month now, seeing people argue, edit, and delete. Your final assignment is to report on the life of that community, how it’s influenced by Wikipedia’s rules, and how that manifests in the front-end content. This project takes the place of a traditional final exam.

When your whole group submits their fieldwork report, each individual member will also submit a peer evaluation that simply describes what everyone did over the course of the month. You get 20 points for submitting. Individual points totals totals may be adjusted based on peer feedback.

Everyone should have finished all of the work they'll do on Wikipedia, and be ready for grading.