Wikipedia talk:Education program archive/Boston College/Developmental Biology (Spring 2013)/Timeline

Weeks 1-7: We started this project with a different course page!

 * What we've accomplished thus far
 * January 29, 2013 -- Wikipedia registration due
 * February 5, 2013 -- Topic chosen and claimed on Wikipedia assignment page
 * February 7, 2013 -- One page proposal due posted to your user page subpage

Week 7 (Feb 25): Migrating to the new course page!

 * In class
 * Introduce new course page
 * Handout: Welcome to Wikipedia (available in print or online from the Wikimedia Foundation)
 * Handouts: Advice for choosing articles and How to get help
 * Handouts: “Referencing on Wikipedia” and “Understanding Wikipedia’s copyright policy”
 * Handouts: Using talk pages, Evaluating Wikipedia article quality, Wikimarkup cheatsheet


 * Assignments (due March 16)
 * Start the online student orientation. During this training, you will create an account, make edits in a sandbox, and learn the basic rules of Wikipedia.
 * Enroll in the new Developmental Biology course page.
 * Compile a bibliography of relevant research and post it to the talk page of the article you are working on. Begin reading the sources.
 * Add 1–2 sentences of new information, backed up with a citation to an appropriate source, to a Wikipedia article related to the class.
 * Sign up on the list of students on the course page.
 * To practice editing and communicating on Wikipedia, introduce yourself to any Wikipedians helping your class (such as a Wikipedia Ambassador), and leave a message for a classmate on their user talk page.
 * Add Article Banner to the talk page of your article! See directions below.


 * Milestone
 * All students have enrolled on the new course page, completed the student tutorial, practiced adding new information to an existing article, communicated with a wikipedian, left a message on a classmate's talk page, completed the online training for students and added the article banner (below) to their article's talk page stating this is being worked on through a course.

Week 8 (March 11): Drafting starter articles

 * In class
 * Talk about Wikipedia culture and etiquette, and (optionally) revisit the concept of sandboxes and how to use them.
 * Q&A session with instructor and/or Wikipedia Ambassadors about interacting on Wikipedia and getting started with writing.


 * Assignments (due March 22)
 * Using your article proposal as a starting point: write a summary version reflecting the content the article will have after it's been improved, and post this along with a brief description of your plans on the article’s talk page.
 * Begin working with classmates and other editors to polish your short starter article and fix any major issues.
 * Continue research in preparation for expanding your article.


 * Milestone
 * All students have started editing articles or drafts on Wikipedia.

Week 9 (March 18): Moving articles to the main space

 * In class
 * Handout: Moving out of your sandbox


 * Assignments (due April 2)
 * Move sandbox articles into main space.
 * Optional: For new articles or qualifying expansions of stubs, compose a one-sentence “hook,” nominate it for “Did you know,” and monitor the nomination for any issues identified by other editors.
 * Begin expanding your article into a comprehensive treatment of the topic.

Week 10: Building articles

 * Review articles: “Uploading images” and “Evaluating Wikipedia article quality”


 * Assignments (due April 6)
 * Expand your article into an initial draft of a comprehensive treatment of the topic.
 * Select one classmate's article that you will peer review and copy-edit. Add your name as a REVIEWER to one article in the course table below. If the article already has three reviewers, choose a different one! (You don’t need to start reviewing yet.)

Week 11: Getting and giving feedback

 * Workshop in class April 2
 * Demo uploading images and adding images to articles.
 * Share experiences and discuss problems.


 * Assignments (due April 13)
 * Peer review one of your classmate's articles. Leave comments requiring work by the article author on the article's talk page (for example, ask these questions as you read article: Good overall flow?, Sufficiently wikified?, Clear? References correctly cited in line and at end of article? MANY wikilinks? Balanced treatment of multiple perspectives? Major points covered? Is introductory section clear and does it invite further reading?  Also read “Evaluating Wikipedia article quality” for additional guidance on reviewing).
 * Copy-edit the reviewed articles (fix grammatical errors such as spelling, punctuation, capitalization).


 * Milestone
 * All articles have been reviewed by others. All students have reviewed articles by their classmates.

Week 12: Responding to feedback

 * In class
 * Open discussion of the concepts of neutrality, media literacy, and the impact and limits of Wikipedia.


 * Assignments (due April 27th)
 * Make edits to your article based on peers’ feedback.

Week 13: Continue editing

 * Assignments (due April 27th)
 * Add final touches to your Wikipedia article.
 * Write a reflective essay (2-5 pages) on your Wikipedia contributions and experience. In the essay, address these questions:
 * What was your contribution to the wikipage?
 * How equitable was the sharing of the workload within your group?
 * What did you learn about group work during this project?
 * What are the most valuable lessons - positive and negative - you learned during this assignment (regarding overall experience, content, team work, etc).
 * Do you think you will/might keep poking around as an editor on wikipedia?
 * Do you think this assignment will help you in the future? If so, how?
 * Of course add any other comments on your learning, the process, etc.!
 * Develop a list of the URLs of at least 6 other wikipedia pages where your group has added wikilinks back to your article (everyone on your team should work on placing the links, however only one person in the group needs to send the email to instructor!). These wikilinks to your article should include links placed on the main topic and subtopic pages (for example the ectoderm article should have a link from the germ layers article; neural fold and neural plate should have links to them from the neurulation article).  You might also find pages to place wikilinks within the portal and project sub pages, on did you know nomination pages, etc. Six is the minimum number of links you should create and more links will be considered in a highly favorable light!

Week 14: April 27 Due date
You made it!


 * Milestone
 * Students have finished all their work on Wikipedia that will be considered for grading, have submitted reflective essays and have submitted by email to instructor a list (with URLs) of the 6 pages where you have place wikilinks to your group's wikipedia article (only one person per group needs to do this).

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