Wikipedia talk:Education program archive/CUNY, Brooklyn College/THEA 7213X Theater History from 1642 (Spring 2014)/Timeline

Wikipedia Project: Deadlines and Tasks

Work is due on the day it is listed.

February 6: Setting Up; Evaluating and Choosing Articles; Learning How to Cite Sources

If you are new to the course, you must do the following:

1. Complete the Wikipedia Tutorial for students (it will take approximately one hour).
2. If you don’t have a Wikipedia account: Create an account on Wikipedia.com and establish your user page (post a brief bio, etc.). For help, watch the video on creating an account and/or read the Account and user page creation handout.
3. Log into your account on Wikipedia and complete the following three tasks:
   1. Make at least one improvement to the Brooklyn College article, the article about your hometown, or an article about any other school you have attended. (These resources provide guidance on the code used to format content on Wikipedia: Wikimarkup cheatsheet and Video on basic editing.)
   2. Introduce yourself to me, our Online Ambassadors, and at least one of your classmates by leaving message on their Talk pages. (See the Talk pages tutorial video for guidance.)
   3. “Enroll” in the assignment by clicking on the Enroll button on the top of this page. You will need to enter the enrollment token in order to do this; the token is on the assignment handout that I provided.

All students must do the following:

1. Watch the Verifiability and Neutral point of view video.
2. Read the Referencing handout, the Evaluating Wikipedia article quality brochure, and the Referencing: Wikicode handout.
3. Familiarize yourself with WikiProject Theatre, a community effort to improve all articles relating to theater, with the goal of making Wikipedia one of the best online resources on the subject.
4. Log into your account on Wikipedia and “claim” at least three (3) articles you want to assess and potentially edit this semester: go to the list of articles on this page (below) and add your user name in the box next to your chosen topics. You are only required to work on one article, but I want you to explore at least three possibilities before deciding/committing on Feb 27.

February 13: Preliminary Bibliography; Setting Up Your Sandbox

1. Log into your account and visit your “sandbox”—the experimental space you will use to draft content for the Wikipedia page you’re developing. You can access it by clicking the “sandbox” link at the top of the page, between “talk” and “preferences.” For help, visit About_the_Sandbox.
2. Go to your User page and add this text at the bottom: {{My sandbox|<your user name>}} Don’t forget the curly brackets! This will add a “button” to your User page that will allow me to access your sandbox.
3. In your sandbox, post a bibliography of at least ten (10) potentially useful secondary sources (books and journal articles) that you will consult during this project. You can use Wikipedia's referencing tool to automatically format your citations in APA style. (Note, however, that when you write your MA/MFA thesis, you will need to use MLA style.)
4. After you have posted your bibliography, go to my Talk page (amyehughes) and post a message for me indicating you have finished this task.

February 27: 1st Draft of Needs Assessment (NA) and Writing Plan (WP)

1. Prepare a needs assessment (NA) for the article you have chosen. It should include:
   1. A completed “Article Evaluation Form” (you can download this form by going to the Syllabus/Handouts area on Blackboard)
   2. A 250-500 word description of the article’s quality
   3. A checklist of what you think needs to be improved
2. Prepare a writing plan (WP). It should include:
   1. A 250-500 word description of your planned improvements (this should correspond to your NA’s checklist of improvement needs)
   2. Your working bibliography (at least 10 sources, formatted in MLA style)
   3. A timeline of your planned improvements
3. Print a copy of your NA, WP, and Wikipedia page and bring to class for peer review.

March 6: Final Draft of NA and WP; Adding the “Educational Assignment” Designation

1. Incorporate the feedback you received during the peer review of your NP and WP. Submit the final draft to me on Blackboard (in the Assignments area).
2. Go to the "Talk" page for your Wikipedia article and add this code at the top: {{course assignment | course = Education Program:CUNY, Brooklyn College/Theater History from 1642 (Spring 2013)}} This will add a banner indicating that it is the subject of an educational assignment.

March 13: Work on Article(s); First Substantial Addition (Moving Out of Your Sandbox)

1. Use your sandbox to develop text and experiment. By this date, you should transport at least one substantial addition to the “live” article.

March 20: Work on Article(s); Adding Visual Content

1. Read the [[1]] brochure.
2. Find at least one image (that is NOT under copyright protection) related to your topic and upload it, either to your Sandbox or to the Wikipedia article. You may also design your own graph, timeline, or other visual aid that you believe will enhance the article. To learn how to upload your own image to Wikimedia Commons, watch this video.

March 27: Work on Article(s) (nothing due)

• By now, you should have an initial draft of a comprehensive treatment of your topic.

April 3: Midterm Progress Report; Choosing Articles to Review

1. Officially “nominate” your article for peer review on Wikipedia, so that your classmates (and possibly others) can give you feedback on your work. Instructions for how to do this are here.
2. Select two classmates’ articles to peer review. “Claim” the articles by going to to the bottom of this course page and adding your username to the appropriate box in the list of articles. (You don’t have to review them yet.)
3. Click on your assigned article’s “View history” tab, select the last revision before you started working on the article and the current revision and then click “Compare selected revisions.” Print a copy of the resulting comparison.
4. Prepare a progress report that includes:
   1. A copy of your improvement needs checklist from 3/6, marked and annotated to indicate what you have done so far
   2. An honest self-assessment (200-500 words) of your progress on the WP you submitted on 3/6
   3. A new (200-500 word) evaluation of the article’s quality
   4. An updated WP for the remainder of the semester
5. Submit your progress report in the Assignments area on Blackboard.
6. Print one copy of each item and bring them to class for peer review and discussion.

April 10: Peer Review of Two Articles

1. Reread the “Article Evaluation Form” (in Syllabus/Handouts area on Blackboard).
2. Keeping the criteria in mind, evaluate the two articles you have chosen to peer review using Wikipedia’s peer review system.

April 24: Responding to Feedback (nothing due)

• Make edits to your article based on peers' feedback.

May 1: Reflective Essay and Class Presentation; Finishing Up

1. Write a reflective essay (2-3 pages) summarizing your Wikipedia contributions, both as a writer/contributor and a reviewer/editor. Submit your essay in the Assignments area on Blackboard.
2. You will give a brief presentation (3-4 minutes) in class today about your Wikipedia editing experience.
3. This will be your last week to make final improvements to your article.

May 8: Submit Electronic Portfolio

1. Create an electronic portfolio documenting your work on this project. I will use this portfolio to evaluate your work and assign you a grade for the assignment. It should be in the form of a single PDF or Word (.doc or .docx) document. To include visual material, make scans or create screenshots, then insert them into the document. Your e-portfolio should include:
   1. Your reflective essay (submitted 5/1)
   2. A copy of the article as it originally appeared in February
   3. A copy of the article as it now appears
   4. Your midterm progress report (submitted 4/3)
   5. Your final progress report. This should include 1) your original checklist from 3/6, annotated to indicate what you ultimately accomplished; 2) a 200-500 word assessment of the article’s current quality; and 3) a short description of what, in your opinion, could be done to further improve the article.
2. Submit your electronic portfolio in the Assignments area on Blackboard.

(Click to return to your main course page and continue.)