Wikipedia:Writing Wikipedia Articles course/Round 3

Course overview
Writing Wikipedia Articles is a free six-week course offered through the School of Open, running from 6 August through 10 September 2013.

If you can read Wikipedia, you can learn to build it! In this course you will learn about the software, rules, and cultural values that drive and support this ubiquitous and community-built online encyclopedia. We will focus on articles about openness in education: open educational resources, MOOCs, Creative Commons licenses and more. Students will learn about the values and culture that have driven hundreds of thousands of volunteers to build Wikipedia, which in its 12-year history has generated millions of free articles in hundreds of languages. We will cover the technical skills needed to edit articles, as well as share practical insights into the site's collaborative norms and social dynamics. Students will gain confidence in taking on technical challenges and editorial disagreements, graduating with an ability to compose useful articles, and a sophisticated understanding of how Wikipedia works, and how to search and read it.

Students who successfully complete the course and the final project will earn the WikiSOO Burba Badge.

How it works (overview)
The page you are currently looking at is our course's "home page".

To enroll, follow the instructions in the box at top right.

Each week, visit the class page for that week. For week four, click here

For final project info, click here

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

The central place to interact with us, and with other students, is the course's "talk page". You can always get there by typing the shortcut WT:WIKISOO into the Wikipedia search bar; or from this page, you can click "talk" near the upper left corner of the screen.

Each week, a class page will tell you everything you need to know for that week: what we'll cover in the session, what the homework is, etc. You can get to each week's class page from the "navigation box" at the very bottom of this page. Watch for updates on this page too -- we'll be adding information throughout the course to help you all keep in touch and move through your projects!

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.



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.

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!

When is the class in MY time zone?
Online class times are Tuesday mornings (Americas) or afternoons/evenings (Europe, Africa).

The class runs from 6 August, 2013 through 10 September, 2013. Class time is 15:00 UTC; local time depends on your time zone:
 * California = 08:00 am
 * New York = 11:00 am
 * London = 16:00 pm
 * Johannesburg = 17:00 pm

Lab sessions, which are less formal and give students an opportunity to ask questions and share their work, are at the same time of day on Thursdays.

Links will be provided to make sure you know what time to log in, no matter where you are in the world.

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

Grading


Students are expected to work toward the WikiSOO Burba Badge. To earn the badge, there are two requirements:


 * 1) Do one of the following:
 * 2) * Start a new Wikipedia article, and bring it to at least "Start" class on the Wikipedia quality scale; or
 * 3) * Improve an existing Wikipedia article at least one level on the quality scale.
 * 4) Make 200 or more edits to Wikipedia

Past students have done some incredible work, and been awarded the WikiSOO Burba Badge for the efforts. Some examples include:
 * open educational resources
 * PhET Interactive Simulations
 * Recursos educativos abiertos (Spanish article about OER)