Wikipedia:Writing Wikipedia Articles course/Getting started (live course)

Writing Wikipedia Articles holds online class sessions once a week, for 2.5 hours. (Tuesday evening in the Americas; Wednesday morning in Australia/Asia.) These will start with a one-hour lecture, including questions; then, after a short break, students will work on assignments. We will keep the session live, so that students can ask questions and have discussions during this time.

You should start by looking over our "course home page". Return there every time you are getting ready to do your classwork, or connect to a live session; you should find links there to everything you need.

Each week, visit the class page for that week, linked in the course home page's "Course calendar" section. That will tell you everything you need to know for that week: what we'll cover in the session, what the homework is, and links to informative videos and text documents. Watch for updates on the course home page too -- we'll be adding information throughout the course to help you all keep in touch and move through your projects!

We conduct weekly classes and lab sessions using the webinar software Blackboard Collaborate (details below).

When class is not in session, the central place to interact with us, and with other students, is our "course talk page" (which we share with WikiProject Open). You can always get there by typing the shortcut WT:OPEN into the Wikipedia search bar; or from most of our course pages, you can click "talk" near the upper left corner of the screen.

For those who use Twitter or other social media, we use the hashtag #WIKISOO (which stands for Wikipedia/School of Open), and we mainly tweet from the account @CommOER. Students will be working in small teams, and you can decide within your team if you wish to use additional tools like Google Hangout, IRC, etc.

Connecting to live class sessions
Each week you will find a link to connect with Blackboard Collaborate, the webinar tool we use to conduct our classes, at the top of that week's wiki page.

You'll need a Mac, Windows, or Linux-based computer; an up-to-date version of Java; headphones (or speakers) and microphone (optional, but desirable); and a reliable internet connection (wired Ethernet connection if available).

If you'd like to learn more about Blackboard Collaborate now, these may help: Blackboard Collaborate overview • Getting Started for Participants Quick Reference Guide (PDF) • Blackboard Collaborate Support Portal (with OS and Java check!)

We'll also use Etherpad during the class and lab to take collaborative notes.

Student teams
One of your first tasks in this class will be to join a team, and introduce yourself! Instructions will be provided before the first class. (Be sure to take the survey and enroll properly in the course, so we know how to contact you!) Teams will consist of four people. If students come and go, we might adjust, trying to keep them within about 3–5 people.

You will interact with your team every week between classes. This may be as short as sending them a brief note to say what article(s) you worked on, or to share why something you read was interesting or worthwhile. Some students will find their teams become highly active, while for others they are just a touchstone for your homework assignments; please feel free to experiment, find what works for you, and report back!

Tools we use for live weekly classes & labs
Each week you will find a link to connect with Blackboard Collaborate, the webinar tool we use to conduct our classes, at the top of that week's wiki page.

You'll need a Mac, Windows, or Linux-based computer; an up-to-date version of Java; headphones (or speakers) and microphone (optional, but desirable); and a reliable internet connection (wired Ethernet connection if available).

If you'd like to learn more about Blackboard Collaborate now, these may help: Blackboard Collaborate overview • Getting Started for Participants Quick Reference Guide (PDF) • Blackboard Collaborate Support Portal (with OS and Java check!)

We'll also use Etherpad during the class and lab to take collaborative notes.

Lab sessions, getting help, and working together
We offer weekly lab sessions for homework, asking questions, presenting ideas, etc. These are less structured than the regular class. We highly recommend that you attend; students in previous classes have found a lot of value in these sessions. Homework may be taken on in your own time, but the labs are a great opportunity for peer support and extra help. Labs are held at the same time of day as our class sessions, on Thursdays. Course instructors Pete and Sara will be online for (at minimum) one hour, and we invite students to continue working together following the scheduled session.

Our main tool is Blackboard Collaborate, same as our class sessions: j.mp/wikiSOOconf. During lab we also use an etherpad page for shared note-taking.

If you have a question or comment during the week, please post it on our class talk page. This is our main tool for ongoing discussions.

Please feel free to use other communication channels, especially within your team! Some tools that have worked well with our course's previous rounds:
 * Twitter (hashtag #WIKISOO)
 * Freenode IRC, in the #oer channel
 * Skype
 * Google Hangout
 * Jitsi