Wikipedia:Writing Wikipedia Articles course/Round 2/Week 1

Week of 14/15 May 2013


 * Archive of first class (one hour video) available in two formats:
 * On Blackboard Collaborate. (requires Java, see main course page if you need help connecting)
 * On YouTube (lower quality, but easy to stream online)
 * Archive of first lab (one hour video of Q&A with students) available:
 * On Blackboard Collaborate
 * Notes from the session: etherpad.wikimedia.org/WIKISOO
 * Be sure to join a team and introduce yourself to your teammates!

Wikipedia under the hood
What is Wikipedia? What has inspired hundreds of thousands of people to volunteer their time to build millions of articles in hundreds of languages? We begin with a survey of the project's history, values, and culture.

We will explore how learners increasingly use Wikipedia as scaffolding, as they begin to build a general understanding of a topic. Herein lies an opportunity: how can we work toward a broader understanding of a topic like Open Educational Resources (OER)? Does Wikipedia help us speak a common language about openness in education? If not, what can be done to improve that? The session will conclude with practical steps to create a Wikipedia account and get started editing.

Do this:

 * Enroll in the Wikipedia version of the class. Your enrollment token is: WIKISOO
 * Complete this brief survey providing basic info about yourself
 * Create a Wikipedia user account • Instructional video • Why create an account?
 * Create a basic Wikipedia user page • Instructional video • About user pages
 * Join a team on the Teams page - a few sentences will suffice! In addition to a general introduction, please answer the following questions:
 * What are you hoping to get out of this course?
 * Have you ever edited an article on Wikipedia (or another wiki)?
 * Edit one or two articles anywhere on Wikipedia: make a sentence more clear, fix a typo, etc.
 * Check the Wikipedia Community Portal (you'll see a link on the left of every screen) for suggestions of articles that need help with grammar, spelling, illustration, etc.
 * Having trouble finding an article to edit, or not ready yet? Try starting an article in your sandbox -- a place to play around without actually changing "real" encyclopedia entries. Instructional video

Read this:
These readings will help you get a general familiarity with Wikipedia. You do not need to read every page, but we hope you will find them useful in getting a general feel for the site. The last item will give you some background on open educational resources.
 * General overview: WP:Ten Simple Rules for Editing Wikipedia
 * Some insights: WP:Ten things you may not know about Wikipedia


 * The following chapters in How Wikipedia Works (PDF) (2008):
 * Chap. 1: What's in Wikipedia?
 * Chap. 2: The World Gets a Free Encyclopedia
 * Chap. 4: Understanding and Evaluating an Article
 * Chap. 6: Good Writing and Research
 * Mahzarin Banaji (December 2010), Wikipedia is the Encyclopedia that Anybody Can Edit. But Have You? Observer Vol.23, No.10.
 * Neil Butcher (2011), A Basic Guide to Open Educational Resources, chapter 1. Commonwealth of Learning.

Watch this:

 * If you'd like to review the "view history" tab (covered in the Week 1 webinar), see this instructional video.
 * Week one class session archive from previous WIKISOO course
 * Week one lab session archive from previous WIKISOO course

Just can't get enough? Extra credit

 * Read the Open Educational Resources article, or another article on the the Communicate OER project Content page. Consider how you might improve the article.
 * If you see simple fixes you'd like to make, edit the article.
 * Comment on an OER-related talk page (see theCommunicate OER Content page for ideas)
 * Review one of these articles on the relevant talk page - i.e. is it relevant/thorough? What would you like to see changed, added or deleted? (Hint: the "talk" tab is located just to the right of the "article" tab in the upper left of every article.)