Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/University of Southern California/Ecological Factors in Design (Spring 2016)
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- Course name
- Ecological Factors in Design
- Institution
- University of Southern California
- Instructor
- Travis Longcore
- Wikipedia Expert
- Ian (Wiki Ed)
- Subject
- Course dates
- 2016-01-11 – 2016-05-15
- Approximate number of student editors
- 16
The majority of humans now live in cities and that proportion is growing. As a result, the experience of the world and its ecological systems has changed significantly for most people, and the influence of human settlements on the natural environment has increased dramatically. Both of these consequences — the changed human experience of the world and our influence on it — depend on the design of cities at every scale. Design choices that are made at regional, municipal, local, and site scales affect the everyday experience for all species. The purpose of this course is to explore the ways in which the natural world interacts with cities, regions, and sites, and in turn how designs at these scales can incorporate the natural world into the urban environment in a way that maximizes environmental protection and enhances the human experience.
The course will concentrate on both the history and theory of urban ecological design and on the computing tools currently available to undertake quantitative (and usually spatial) analysis of the effects of alternative urban designs. In this sense, the course is situated both within landscape ecology and urban ecology and also in the applied disciplines of planning and architecture, and therefore is part of the newly identified domain of “geodesign.”
Students in this course will undertake exercises to develop understanding of the course content, explore new tools inspired by curiosity, develop writing skills, and share the results with the world. That is, at least in part, students will be doing work that will be posted immediately to the Internet, in the form of writing, re-writing, and editing well-referenced and well-researched entries on the free encyclopedia Wikipedia. For a topic of such importance and full of innovation, an undergraduate learning experience can also contribute to the public good!
Learning Objectives
By the end of this course, students should be able to:
• Explain basic landscape ecology concepts linking natural and human systems; • Articulate key terms and basic concepts of environmental performance in human‐dominated landscapes; • Access sources of primary scientific literature on environmental effects of urban design; • Use environmental performance concepts to critically review and propose landscape designs in cities; • Evaluate the available software tools and conceptual models available to provide feedback on alternative proposed urban designs; • Communicate clearly to a general audience on a technical topic; • Evaluate the quality and appropriateness of difference sources of technical information; and • Work smoothly in a collaborative environment.
Timeline
Week 1
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 12 January 2016
- In class - Wikipedia essentials
- Overview of the course
- Introduction to how Wikipedia will be used in the course
- Understanding Wikipedia as a community, we'll discuss its expectations and etiquette.
Handout: Editing Wikipedia
Week 2
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 19 January 2016
- In class - Editing basics
- Basics of editing
- Anatomy of Wikipedia articles, what makes a good article, how to distinguish between good and bad articles
- Collaborating and engaging with the Wiki editing community
- Tips on finding the best articles to work on for class assignments
Handouts: Using Talk Pages, Evaluating Wikipedia
- Assignment - Practicing the basics
- Create an account and join this course page.
- Complete the introductory training modules. During this training, you will make edits in a sandbox and learn the basic rules of Wikipedia.
- Create a User page.
- To practice editing and communicating on Wikipedia, introduce yourself to another student on their user talk page.
- Explore topics related to your topic area to get a feel for how Wikipedia is organized. What areas seem to be missing? As you explore, make a mental note of articles that seem like good candidates for improvement.
- Milestones
All students have Wikipedia user accounts and are listed on the course page.
Week 3
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 26 January 2016
- In class - Exploring the topic area
- Be prepared to discuss some of your observations about Wikipedia articles in your topic area that are missing or could use improvement.
Handouts: Choosing an article
Week 4
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 2 February 2016
- In class - Using sources
- Be prepared to explain close paraphrasing, plagiarism, and copyright violations on Wikipedia.
Handouts: Citing Sources and Avoiding Plagiarism
Supplementary training: [[../../../training/students/sources|Sources and Citations]]
- Assignment - Add to an article
- Add 1–2 sentences of new information, backed up with a citation to an appropriate source, to a Wikipedia article related to the class.
- Assignment - Choosing your article
- Research and list 3–5 articles on your Wikipedia user page that you will consider working on as your main project. Look at the talk page for existing topics for a sense of who else is working on it and what they're doing. Describe your choices to your instructor for feedback.
Week 5
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 9 February 2016
- In class - Discuss the article topics
- Discuss the topics students will be working on, and determine strategies for researching and writing about them.
Supplementary training: [[../../../training/students/sandboxes|Sandboxes and Mainspace]]
- Assignment - Finalize your topic and start researching
- Select an article to work on, removing the rest from your user page. Add your topic on the course page.
- Compile a bibliography of relevant, reliable sources and post it to the talk page of the article you are working on. Begin reading the sources. Make sure to check in on the talk page (or watchlist) to see if anyone has advice on your bibliography.
- Assignment - Drafting starter articles
- If you are starting a new article, write a 3–4 paragraph summary version of your article—with citations—in your Wikipedia sandbox. If you are improving an existing article, create a detailed outline reflecting your proposed changes, and post this for community feedback, along with a brief description of your plans, on the article’s talk page. Make sure to check back on the talk page often and engage with any responses.
- 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.
Week 6
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 16 February 2016
- In class - Wikipedia culture and etiquette
- Talk about Wikipedia culture and etiquette, and (optionally) revisit the concept of sandboxes and how to use them.
- Q&A session with instructor about interacting on Wikipedia and getting started with writing.
- Milestones
All students have started editing articles or drafts on Wikipedia.
Week 7
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 23 February 2016
- In class - Moving articles to mainspace
- We'll discuss moving your article out of your sandboxes and into Wikipedia's main space.
- A general reminder: Don't panic if your contribution disappears, and don't try to force it back in.
- Check to see if there is an explanation of the edit on the article's talk page. If not, (politely) ask why it was removed.
- Contact your instructor or Wikipedia Content Expert and let them know.
Handout: Moving out of your Sandbox
- Assignment - Moving articles to mainspace
- Move your sandbox articles into main space.
- If you are expanding an existing article, copy your edit into the article. If you are making many small edits, save after each edit before you make the next one. Do NOT paste over the entire existing article, or large sections of the existing article.
- If you are creating a new article, do NOT copy and paste your text, or there will be no record of your work history. Follow the instructions in the "Moving out of your sandbox" handout.
- Begin expanding your article into a comprehensive treatment of the topic.
Week 8
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 1 March 2016
- In class - Building articles
- Demo uploading images and adding images to articles.
- Share experiences and discuss problems.
Resources: Illustrating Wikipedia and Evaluating Wikipedia
- Assignment - Choose articles to peer review
- Select two classmates’ articles that you will peer review and copyedit. On the table at the bottom of this course page, add your username next to the articles you will peer review. (You don’t need to start reviewing yet.)
Week 9
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 8 March 2016
- Assignment - Complete first draft
- Expand your article into a complete first draft.
Week 10
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 22 March 2016
- In class - Group suggestions
- As a group, offer suggestions for improving one or two other students' articles, based on your ideas of what makes a solid encyclopedia article.
Supplementary training: [[../../../training/students/peer-review|Peer Review]]
- Assignment - Peer review and copyedit
- Peer review two of your classmates’ articles. Leave suggestions on the article talk pages.
- Copy-edit the two reviewed articles.
- Milestones
Every student has finished reviewing their assigned articles, making sure that every article has been reviewed.
Week 11
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 29 March 2016
- In class - Media literacy discussion
- Open discussion of the concepts of neutrality, media literacy, and the impact and limits of Wikipedia.
- Assignment - Address peer review suggestions
- Make edits to your article based on peers’ feedback. If you disagree with a suggestion, use talk pages to politely discuss and come to a consensus on your edit.
Week 12
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 5 April 2016
- In class - Discuss further article improvements
- Continue discussing how the articles can be further improved. Come up with improvement goals for each article for next week.
- Assignment - Continue improving articles
- Return to your classmates' articles you previously reviewed, and provide more suggestions for further improvement. If there is a disagreement, suggest a compromise.
- Do additional research and writing to make further improvements to your article, based on your classmates' suggestions and any additional areas for improvement you can identify.
Week 13
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 12 April 2016
- Assignment - Final article
- Add final touches to your Wikipedia article.
Handout: Polishing your article
- Assignment - Wikipedia portfolio
- Put together a Wikipedia portfolio.
Week 14
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 19 April 2016
- Milestones
Students have finished all their work on Wikipedia that will be considered for grading.