Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/California State University Sacramento/ENVS 110 (Spring 2016)
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- Course name
- ENVS 110
- Institution
- California State University Sacramento
- Instructor
- Julian Fulton
- Wikipedia Expert
- Ian (Wiki Ed)
- Subject
- California Water and Society
- Course dates
- 2016-01-25 – 2016-05-27
- Approximate number of student editors
- 30
California has had a unique historical relationship with water among U.S. states. With the temporal variability of its Mediterranean climate, combined with the geographic variability of its rainy north and desert south, management and manipulation of water flows have been imperative to California's path from early settlement to the most populous state in the nation, and its place among the largest economies in the world. The story of water development in California provides compelling examples of environmental politics, the social and environmental consequences of redistributing water, and the relationships between water, food, energy, and climate.
This course provides the historical, scientific, legal, institutional, and economic background needed to understand the social and ecological challenges of providing water for California’s growing population, agricultural economy, and other uses - all of which are made more complex by climate change. We will look at past and current debates around cases ranging from local issues on the American River to statewide issues that converge in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. We will likely organize field trips to engage with these cases directly and have guest lectures from California water practitioners. This is a lecture-style course with extensive readings, a midterm, three short essays, and a final exam.
Timeline
Week 1
- Course meetings
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- Wednesday, 27 January 2016
Week 2
- Course meetings
-
- Wednesday, 3 February 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 3
- Course meetings
-
- Wednesday, 10 February 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.
Week 4
- Course meetings
-
- Wednesday, 17 February 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
- Milestones
All students have Wikipedia user accounts and are listed on the course page.
Week 5
- Course meetings
-
- Wednesday, 24 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 6
- Course meetings
-
- Wednesday, 2 March 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 7
- Course meetings
-
- Wednesday, 9 March 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 8
- Course meetings
-
- Wednesday, 16 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
-
- Wednesday, 30 March 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 10
- Course meetings
-
- Wednesday, 6 April 2016
- Assignment - Complete first draft
- Expand your article into a complete first draft.
Week 11
- Course meetings
-
- Wednesday, 13 April 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 one of your classmates’ articles. Leave suggestions on the article talk pages.
- Milestones
Every student has finished reviewing their assigned articles, making sure that every article has been reviewed.
Week 12
- Course meetings
-
- Wednesday, 20 April 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 13
- Course meetings
-
- Wednesday, 27 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 14
- Course meetings
-
- Wednesday, 4 May 2016
- Assignment - Final article
- Add final touches to your Wikipedia article.
Handout: Polishing your article
- Assignment - Reflective essay
- Write a reflective essay (500-700 words) on your Wikipedia assignment addressing the following: What did you contribute to Wikipedia and why did you choose your topic? What did you learned about the Wikipedia platform and community? What did you learn about crafting a solid Wikipedia article and the process of research more generally? What you would have done differently?
- Turn in on SacCT by 5/14 11:59pm.
Week 15
- Course meetings
-
- Wednesday, 11 May 2016
- Milestones
Students have finished all their work on Wikipedia that will be considered for grading.