Concrete time-plan for Campus Ambassadors, Online Ambassadors, professors, and students in the Wikipedia in Arabic Education Program in Egypt. Please note that these are not inflexible requirements; instead, they're highly-recommended best practices that should be adapted to changes in local circumstances.
Wikipedia Workshop #1: what is Wikipedia, why contribute to Wikipedia, how to create an user account, how to create an user page, how to leave messages on talk pages (and sign your name).
More details about this workshop are here.
10/20
CAs
Wikipedia Workshop #2: Wikipedia interface, good articles vs. bad articles, writing style on Wikipedia, basic wiki markup (bolding, italicizing, sections, sub-sections, internal links).
More details about this workshop are here.
10/31
Profs
Confirm with Faris which students from your class will be part of the Wikipedia project this term.
Only students who are really motivated to edit Wikipedia and who have good Arabic writing skills should be involved in the project.
Wikipedia Workshop #3: How to add references, what sources are reliable, how to create a new article, sandboxes.
More details about this workshop are here.
11/5
OAs
OA Coaching Round #1: read through what students have created so far, fix any wiki markup and wiki etiquette problems for students, and send constructive feedback to students on what they're doing well on and how they can further improve their work.
More details about this feedback round are here.
11/5
Students (with approval from Profs and CAs)
Finalize which article(s) you will work on this term.
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11/30
CAs
Wikipedia Workshop #4: how to add images, Wikipedia shortcuts and tips; check-in on how students are doing with their articles and answer questions students have.
OA Coaching Round #2: read through what students have created so far, fix any wiki markup and wiki etiquette problems for students, and send constructive feedback to students on what they're doing well on and how they can further improve their work.
More details about this feedback round are here.
12/15
CAs
Wikipedia Workshop #5: check-in on how students are doing with their articles and answer questions students have
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12/15
OAs
OA Coaching Round #3: read through what students have created so far, fix any wiki markup and wiki etiquette problems for students, and send constructive feedback to students on what they're doing well on and how they can further improve their work.
More details about this feedback round are here.
12/15
Students
Complete at least 25–50% of the Wikipedia assignment.
OA Coaching Round #4: read through what students have created so far, fix any wiki markup and wiki etiquette problems for students, and send constructive feedback to students on what they're doing well on and how they can further improve their work.
More details about this feedback round are here.
1/10
OAs
OA Coaching Round #5: read through what students have created so far, fix any wiki markup and wiki etiquette problems for students, and send constructive feedback to students on what they're doing well on and how they can further improve their work.
Wikipedia Workshops are face-to-face sessions where Campus Ambassadors teach students how to edit the Arabic Wikipedia. Ideally, these would take place in a computer lab setting with internet access. They usually take 2–3 hours each.
Date: around 15 December Topics to teach students during this workshop: nothing specific, except more advanced topics that students might ask you to teach them. Also: check in on how students are doing with their articles and answer questions students have
In all OA Coaching Rounds, Online Ambassadors do the following:
Look through all the work that students have done for the Wikipedia assignment, whether the work is in the article namespace, in sandboxes, in another namespace, or off-wiki altogether.
Fix any wiki markup, wiki etiquette, or wiki policy problems that students made, and inform students about these fixes and nicely tell them how to avoid similar problems in the future.
Approve the good-quality student edits on-wiki so they show up live on the Arabic Wikipedia.
Send students feedback on what they're doing well on.
Send students feedback on how they can further improve their work.
Here are the approximate dates for the OA Coaching Rounds. Keep in mind that the coaching rounds at later dates will take more time, because there will be more writing to look at and provide feedback on.
There won't be a lot of writing to look at. At this point, most edits will be simple, exploratory edits in students' user page because students are still learning how to edit Wikipedia.
In this Coaching Round, it's important to make students feel welcome on Wikipedia, and to tell them what they're doing well and encourage them to keep editing.
At this point, students will have made some initial progress on the article(s) they've selected to work on.
In this Coaching Round, it's important to pay special attention to major wiki etiquette or wiki policy problems that students may have made, and to gently let students know about those problems and how they can avoid these problems in the future.
It's also still very important to tell students what they are doing well, and give them encouragement to keep editing.
