Wikipedia talk:Education program archive/Bucknell University/Too Much Information (Fall 2014)/Timeline

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Timeline

August 27: What Do You Know About Wikipedia

Overview of the course, introduction to how Wikipedia will be used in the course, have students read recent changes, look at featured articles for the week, start discussing what they already know about Wikipedia and how it works.

September 1: Wikipedia Introduction

Wikipedia Training Materials:

September 3: Account Set-Up

Students create accounts and Wikipedia user pages, practice basic editing, join a WikiProject related to class.

Wikipedia Training Materials:

September 8: Initial Edits

Students are instructed to go to the “Help Out” Section of the Community Portal, choose 2-3 listed tasks to complete, read the relevant documentation, and complete them. Students will reflect on what they learned about the work of maintaining Wikipedia, and the process of contributing to it from this initial editing experience. In class discussion of editing process experience and questions raised.

Wikipedia Training Materials:

September 10: Wikipedia Discussion

Entire class devoted to in-class discussion of Wikipedia

September 15: Feedback on existing article/Review of Topic

Students review some of the B-level articles in the Wikiproject of their choosing, and leave recommendations for improvement - needed material, copy edits, etc. on the talk page of one of the B-level articles. They also begin review of the start and stub class articles list for selection of article to work on. This assignment will be done in class, in pairs. Students will review the relevant article together and discuss improvements In class discussion of criteria for selecting an article to work on, both those Wikipedia imposes and those the class imposes. Discussion of several candidate articles, some good some bad. Instructors help students understand what distinguishes good from bad article candidates.

Wikipedia Training Materials:

September 22: Candidate Articles Selected

Students list 2-3 stub or start class articles from the categories/projects selected by the instructors they would like to work on on their user pages. For each page they write a brief explanation of why the selected page meets the criteria for a good article candidate previously discussed.

September 29: Deletion Discussion

Students review the AfD list for the few days, and especially any recent AfD discussions flagged by their chosen project. They are instructed NOT to get involved in AfD discussions at this point. They write a reflection for the instructors explaining what they learned about Wikipedia’s notability and sourcing policies, as well as any other relevant Wikipedia policies and practices, from their review of this discussion. Students review each other’s page candidates. Explain which candidates they think are stronger/weaker possibilities and why. They should include explicit discussion of Wikipedia notability and sourcing policy. In class discussion of notability, reliable sources, verifiability and what kind material “survives” or doesn’t on Wikipedia and why?

October 1: Wikipedia Discussion

Second full class devoted to discussing Wikipedia

October 6: The Article for Expansion Selected

Students should have narrowed down their list of stubs/start class articles to work on to a single choice, based on instructor and student feedback. Students work on locating sources, after reviewing reference and sourcing materials from earlier in the semester.

October 20: Bibliography for article complete on talk page

Students should post a proposed source list to their sandbox, and provide a link on the talk page of their selected article. They may also notify the selected project on the appropriate talk page.

Wikipedia Training Materials:

October 27: Completed Page Outlines Due in Sandbox Space

Each student should complete an outline of the page as it will appear after they are done contributing to it in their sandbox. The value of new sections should be noted, as well as any planned edits/additions to existing sections. Review editing practices (Bold, Discuss Revise Cycle) and technique (using edit summaries, etc.) from previous training. Discuss any student concerns about editing main article space.

November 3: Initial Edits Complete in Main Article Space

The student should have added significant content and well sourced material to the article in the main space. Material may have been drafted in sandbox for review prior to move.

November 5: Rough Draft Complete in Main Article Space

The students should have added most of their content and well sources materials to the article in the main space.

November 10: Draft Pages Complete in Main Article Space

Articles should be complete (significant content, sourced, and edited for style to the best of the student’s ability. Any images or other media required should be present.

November 24: Revised Wikipedia Pages Due

Students should invite comments from editors working on their topic area, as well as classmates. Students should respond to comments on the talk page, and make necessary edits.