Wikipedia talk:Education program archive/University of Puget Sound/Cultural Theory (Spring 2014)/Timeline

Week 1: Wikipedia essentials

 * In class
 * Course Introduction—overview

Week 2: Introductions to Cultural Studies

 * In class
 * readings from syllabus

Week 3: CS continued, begin Wikipedia Overview

 * In class
 * 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.
 * Handout: Welcome to Wikipedia (available in print or online from the Wikimedia Foundation)
 * Basics of editing
 * Anatomy of Wikipedia articles, what makes a good article, how to distinguish between good and bad articles
 * Tips on finding the best articles to work on for class assignments
 * Handouts: Using talk pages, Evaluating Wikipedia article quality, Wikimarkup cheatsheet

Week 4: Editing basics and exploring the topic area

 * In class
 * Handouts: Advice for choosing articles and How to get help
 * Assignments (due week 4)
 * Complete the online training for students.
 * Create a user page, and 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.
 * Critically evaluate an existing Wikipedia article related to the class, and leave suggestions for improving it on the article’s talk page.
 * Research and list 3–5 articles on your Wikipedia user page that you will consider working on as your main project. Ask your instructor for comment.

Week 5: Using sources

 * In class
 * Handouts: “Referencing on Wikipedia” and “Understanding Wikipedia’s copyright policy”
 * form groups for Wikipedia project
 * Assignment (due week 5)
 * Add 1–2 sentences of new information, backed up with a citation to an appropriate source, to a Wikipedia article related to the class.

Week 6: Choosing articles

 * In class
 * Discuss the range of topics students will be working on and strategies for researching and writing about them.


 * Assignments (due week 6)
 * Select an article to work on, removing the rest from your user page. Add your article to the class’s course page.
 * Begin compiling a bibliography of relevant research and post it to the talk page of the article you are working on. Begin reading the sources.

Week 7: Drafting starter articles

 * In class
 * Talk about Wikipedia culture and etiquette.


 * Assignments (due week 7)
 * Write a summary version of article improvements reflecting the content the article will have after it has been improved. Post, along with a brief description of your plans, to the articles talk page.
 * Continue research in preparation for expanding your article.

Week 10: Moving articles to the main space

 * In class
 * Handout: Moving out of your sandbox


 * Assignments (due week 10)
 * Post entries to sandbox.
 * 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 11: Building articles

 * Workshop in class or outside of class
 * Copy-edit articles
 * Share experiences and discuss problems.
 * Handouts: “Uploading images” and “Evaluating Wikipedia article quality” (handed out originally in week 2)

Week 12: Getting and giving feedback

 * In class
 * As a group, have the students offer suggestions for improving one or two of the students' articles, setting the example for what is expected from a solid encyclopedia article.
 * Assignments (due week 12)
 * Expand your article into an initial draft of a comprehensive treatment of the topic.
 * Peer review two of your classmates' articles. Leave suggestions on the article talk pages.
 * Copy-edit the two reviewed articles.

Week 13-14: Responding to feedback
and the impact and limits of Wikipedia.
 * In class
 * Open discussion of the concepts of neutrality, media literacy,
 * Continue to edit and refine articles

Week 15: Class presentations

 * In class
 * Students give in-class presentations about their experiences editing Wikipedia.
 * Write a reflective essay (2-4 pages) on your Wikipedia contributions.

You made it!


 * Milestone
 * Students have finished all their work on Wikipedia that will be considered for grading, and have submitted reflective essays.

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