Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/University of Toronto Earth Sciences/Thinking About Planet Earth (Spring)
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- Course name
- Thinking About Planet Earth
- Institution
- University of Toronto Earth Sciences
- Instructor
- James Mungall
- Wikipedia Expert
- Ian (Wiki Ed)
- Subject
- Mass Extinctions
- Course dates
- 2016-01-04 – 2016-04-08
- Approximate number of student editors
- 21
Seminar course devoted to explorations of the Earth Sciences for first year Arts and Sciences students.
Timeline
Week 1
- Course meetings
-
- Wednesday, 13 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
- Assignment - Learn the basics
- Complete the online training for students. During this training, you will make edits in a sandbox and learn the basic rules of Wikipedia.
Week 2
- Course meetings
-
- Wednesday, 20 January 2016
- In class -
Week 3
- Course meetings
-
- Wednesday, 27 January 2016
- Assignment - Add a citation to a Wikipedia article
- Review pages 4-7 of the Evaluating Wikipedia brochure. This will give you a good, brief overview of what to look for in other articles, and what other people will look for in your own.
- Examine one Wikipedia article and find a place where an unattributed statement could be supported by one of the readings we have already discussed in class
- A few questions to consider (don't feel limited to these):
- Is each fact referenced with an appropriate, reliable reference?
- Where does the information come from? Are these neutral sources? If biased, is that bias noted?
- Check a few citations. Do the links work? Is there any close paraphrasing or plagiarism in the article?
- Is any information out of date? Is anything missing that could be added?
- Do a literature review and compile a list of possible references or sources for future additions to the article
- Add the citation to the text of the article and in the reference list at the end of the article
Week 4
- Course meetings
-
- Wednesday, 3 February 2016
Week 5
- Course meetings
-
- Wednesday, 10 February 2016
Week 6
- Course meetings
-
- Wednesday, 24 February 2016
- Assignment - Group 1 critique of an article
Go through the training module below "Evaluating Articles and Sources". Make a detailed comparison of the Wikipedia article on your chosen topic with the ideal characteristics of a good article as laid out in the training module. Use the talk page associated with your article to list all the deficiencies you can see in the article, even if you are not sure how you would go about fixing them. Even if you don't fix everything yourself, these observations might be useful to another editor who would be better able to respond to them. This is your written assignment.
For the in-class assignment, you need to present the existing article to the class, along with a number of new sources of information that you have dug up on your own. No later than two days before class, distribute a list of readings to the class. In class you will lead a discussion of the existing Wikipedia article as well as the new sources you have found. We will collectively take notes on what issues most need to be corrected, including addition of citations from your own readings.
The final assignment, due April 8, will be to enact as many as possible of the suggested changes in a newly edited article on Wikipedia.
Week 7
- Course meetings
-
- Wednesday, 2 March 2016
- Assignment - Group 2 critique of an article
Go through the training module below "Evaluating Articles and Sources". Make a detailed comparison of the Wikipedia article on your chosen topic with the ideal characteristics of a good article as laid out in the training module. Use the talk page associated with your article to list all the deficiencies you can see in the article, even if you are not sure how you would go about fixing them. Even if you don't fix everything yourself, these observations might be useful to another editor who would be better able to respond to them. This is your written assignment.
For the in-class assignment, you need to present the existing article to the class, along with a number of new sources of information that you have dug up on your own. No later than two days before class, distribute a list of readings to the class. In class you will lead a discussion of the existing Wikipedia article as well as the new sources you have found. We will collectively take notes on what issues most need to be corrected, including addition of citations from your own readings.
The final assignment, due April 8, will be to enact as many as possible of the suggested changes in a newly edited article on Wikipedia.
Week 8
- Course meetings
-
- Wednesday, 9 March 2016
- Assignment - Group 3 critique of an article
Go through the training module below "Evaluating Articles and Sources". Make a detailed comparison of the Wikipedia article on your chosen topic with the ideal characteristics of a good article as laid out in the training module. Use the talk page associated with your article to list all the deficiencies you can see in the article, even if you are not sure how you would go about fixing them. Even if you don't fix everything yourself, these observations might be useful to another editor who would be better able to respond to them. This is your written assignment.
For the in-class assignment, you need to present the existing article to the class, along with a number of new sources of information that you have dug up on your own. No later than two days before class, distribute a list of readings to the class. In class you will lead a discussion of the existing Wikipedia article as well as the new sources you have found. We will collectively take notes on what issues most need to be corrected, including addition of citations from your own readings.
The final assignment, due April 8, will be to enact as many as possible of the suggested changes in a newly edited article on Wikipedia.
Week 9
- Course meetings
-
- Wednesday, 16 March 2016
- Assignment - Groups 4a and 4b critique of an article
Go through the training module below "Evaluating Articles and Sources". Make a detailed comparison of the Wikipedia article on your chosen topic with the ideal characteristics of a good article as laid out in the training module. Use the talk page associated with your article to list all the deficiencies you can see in the article, even if you are not sure how you would go about fixing them. Even if you don't fix everything yourself, these observations might be useful to another editor who would be better able to respond to them. This is your written assignment.
For the in-class assignment, you need to present the existing article to the class, along with a number of new sources of information that you have dug up on your own. No later than two days before class, distribute a list of readings to the class. In class you will lead a discussion of the existing Wikipedia article as well as the new sources you have found. We will collectively take notes on what issues most need to be corrected, including addition of citations from your own readings.
The final assignment, due April 8, will be to enact as many as possible of the suggested changes in a newly edited article on Wikipedia.
Week 10
- Course meetings
-
- Wednesday, 23 March 2016
- Assignment - Group 5 critique of an article
Go through the training module below "Evaluating Articles and Sources". Make a detailed comparison of the Wikipedia article on your chosen topic with the ideal characteristics of a good article as laid out in the training module. Use the talk page associated with your article to list all the deficiencies you can see in the article, even if you are not sure how you would go about fixing them. Even if you don't fix everything yourself, these observations might be useful to another editor who would be better able to respond to them. This is your written assignment.
For the in-class assignment, you need to present the existing article to the class, along with a number of new sources of information that you have dug up on your own. No later than two days before class, distribute a list of readings to the class. In class you will lead a discussion of the existing Wikipedia article as well as the new sources you have found. We will collectively take notes on what issues most need to be corrected, including addition of citations from your own readings.
The final assignment, due April 8, will be to enact as many as possible of the suggested changes in a newly edited article on Wikipedia.
Week 11
- Course meetings
-
- Wednesday, 30 March 2016
- Assignment - Group 6 critique of an article
Go through the training module below "Evaluating Articles and Sources". Make a detailed comparison of the Wikipedia article on your chosen topic with the ideal characteristics of a good article as laid out in the training module. Use the talk page associated with your article to list all the deficiencies you can see in the article, even if you are not sure how you would go about fixing them. Even if you don't fix everything yourself, these observations might be useful to another editor who would be better able to respond to them. This is your written assignment.
For the in-class assignment, you need to present the existing article to the class, along with a number of new sources of information that you have dug up on your own. No later than two days before class, distribute a list of readings to the class. In class you will lead a discussion of the existing Wikipedia article as well as the new sources you have found. We will collectively take notes on what issues most need to be corrected, including addition of citations from your own readings.
The final assignment, due April 8, will be to enact as many as possible of the suggested changes in a newly edited article on Wikipedia.
Week 12
- Course meetings
-
- Wednesday, 6 April 2016
- Assignment - Edit an article
You have completed a critique of your chosen article on its Talk page and presented your critique in class. The class has discussed with you the changes that need to be made and you have taken away with you a set of proposed changes. Now you need to add your edits to the article, addressing as many as possible of the shortcomings identified in the critique. You do not need to restrict yourself to changes discussed during the critique stage of the course: if you find other ways to improve the article then you should go ahead and implement them.