Education/The Syllabus/Short

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The Syllabus (12-week timeline)[edit]

This full-term sample syllabus incorporates many of the best practices for running major Wikipedia assignments. You can use it as a starting point for your own Wikipedia assignments, or take bits and pieces to adapt to your course. For a more detailed version, which includes links to handouts, tutorial videos and other resources to use in class, visit http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Education/The_Syllabus .

Wikipedia assignments work best when integrated with the theme of the course. Instructors can engage with the questions of media literacy and knowledge construction raised by Wikipedia throughout the term. For example, if you are teaching a course on presidential elections, delve into the controversies on Wikipedia that have the beset the Barack Obama article and subarticles. In addition to a useful starting point for learning about new topics, Wikipedia itself is a rich primary source for the construction and contestation of public knowledge.

Week 1: Wikipedia Essentials[edit]

The key to a good Wikipedia assignment is to start early; students need to acquaint themselves with the technology, and have plenty of time after they first post their work to seek and respond to feedback

In class
  • Overview of the course and Wikipedia's role
  • Handout: Welcome to Wikipedia, including wikicode cheatsheet (available in print or online from the Wikimedia Foundation)
Assignment (due week 2)
  • Read about the Five Pillars, an explanation of Wikipedia's basic rules and principles

Week 2: Editing basics[edit]

Students should start editing Wikipedia right away so that they become familiar with "wikicode." You can teach it yourself, invite Wikipedia's Campus Ambassadors, or contact a teaching and technology center on your campus and ask for their assistance.

In class
Assignments (due week 3)
  • Create a Wikipedia account, create a user page, and sign up on the list of students on the course page.
  • On their user talk pages, introduce yourself to one of the class's Ambassadors and leave a message for a classmate.
Milestone
  • All students have Wikipedia user accounts and are listed on the course page.

Week 3: Exploring the topic area[edit]

Students should begin researching their Wikipedia topics early in the term. Finding topics with the right balance between lack of prior good Wikipedia coverage and available literature from which to build new Wikipedia coverage can be tricky.

In class
  • Wikipedia Campus Ambassadors explain the many options for finding help and getting feedback on Wikipedia.
  • Handout: Advice for choosing articles
Assignments (due week 4)
  • Critically evaluate an existing Wikipedia article related to the class, and leave suggestions for improving it on the article's discussion page.
  • Research and list 3–5 articles on your Wikipedia user page that you will consider working on as your main project. Ask your class's Online Ambassadors for comments.

Week 4: Using sources[edit]

As they start using source to improve Wikipedia articles or write new ones is Wikipedia, it is especially important for students to understand Wikipedia's policies on plagiarism and copyright violation. Any form of plagiarism or copyright violation is likely to result in students' work being removed from Wikipedia.

In class
Assignment (due week 5)
  • Add 1–2 sentences of new information, backed up with a citation to an appropriate source, to a Wikipedia article related to the class.
For next week
  • Instructor evaluates student's article selections, by week 5.

Week 5: Choosing articles[edit]

By this week, ideally, the instructor will have evaluated the students' article choices and given them feedback, helping them to choose articles that are appropriate for the assignment. Because students often wait until the last minute to do their research or choose sources unsuited for Wikipedia, we strongly suggest that the students put together a bibliography of materials they want to use in editing the article which can then be assessed by you, the instructor, and other Wikipedians.

In class
  • Discuss the range of topics students will be working on and strategies for researching and writing about them.
Assignments (due week 6)
  • Select an article to work on, removing the rest from the course page.
  • Compile a bibliography of relevant research and post it to the talk page of the article you are working on. Begin reading the sources.

Week 6: Drafting starter articles[edit]

Once students have gotten somewhat of a grip on their topics and the sources they will use to write about them, it's time to start writing on Wikipedia. You can assign them to jump write in and edit live, or start in their own sandboxes.

In class
  • Campus Ambassadors talk about Wikipedia culture & etiquette, introduce the use of sandboxes
  • Q&A session with about interacting on Wikipedia and getting started with writing
  • Video resource: Sandbox tutorial
Assignments (due week 7)
  • 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, write a summary version reflecting the content the article will have after it's been improved.
  • Begin working with classmates and Online Ambassadors to polish your short starter article and fix any major transgressions of Wikipedia norms.
  • Continue research in preparation for expanding your article.
Milestone
  • All students have started editing articles or drafts on Wikipedia.

Week 7: Did you know[edit]

A good 3-4 paragraph summary can serve as the lead section for a full length article, following the summary style of Wikipedia articles, and will get students thinking from the beginning about the overall structure of their articles. New articles of that size (and short existing articles that have been expanded five-fold) should be eligible to appear on Wikipedia's Main Page as hooks in the "Did you know..." (DYK) section. This gives students an early chance to show their articles to a substantial audience and get feedback from Wikipedians.

In class
Wiki assignments (due week 8)
  • Move sandbox articles into main space.
  • For new articles or qualifying expansions of stubs, compose a one-sentence "hook," nominate it for "Did you know," and monitor the nomination for any issues identified by other editors.
  • Begin expanding your article into a comprehensive treatment of the topic.
Milestone
  • All students have working on live Wikipedia articles.

Week 8: Building articles[edit]

This is a good time to do a quick scan (at least) of what each student has contributed so far. Many students will have 'gotten it'. From there, the most important thing is giving feedback, both on the work they're doing—what is missing, what sources could be used to improve it, whether the balance is appropriate—and on how to keep within Wikipedia's guidelines, particularly Neutral Point of View and No Original Research. For students who have stumbled with some element of getting their initial work live on Wikipedia, this is the time to point them on the right track.

In class or outside of class
Wiki assignments (due week 9)
  • Expand your article into an initial draft of a comprehensive treatment of the topic.
  • Select two classmates' articles that you will peer review and copy-edit. (You don't need to start reviewing yet.)

Week 9: Getting and giving feedback[edit]

Collaboration is a critical element of contributing to Wikipedia. For some students, this will happen spontaneously; in other cases there will be little spontaneous interest from other editors before the end of the term. Fortunately, a class full of fellow learners is a great pool of peer reviewers. Have them review each others' articles soon after full-length drafts are posted, to give students plenty of time to act on the advice of their peers.

In class
  • As a group, have the students offer suggestions for improving one or two of the students' articles, setting the example for what is expected from a solid encyclopedia article.
Wiki assignments (due week 10)
  • Peer review two of your classmates' articles. Leave suggestions on the article talk pages.
  • Copy-edit the two reviewed articles.
Milestone
  • All articles have been reviewed by others. All students have reviewed articles by their classmates.

Week 10: Responding to feedback[edit]

At this point, students should have produced more or less complete articles. Now is the chance to encourage them to wade a little deeper into Wikipedia and its norms and criteria for great content. Consider bringing in a guest speaker, having a panel discussion, or simply having an open discussion amongst the class about what the students have done so far and why (or whether) it matters.

The next step for students' articles can be nominating them for Good Article status. Some instructors have awarded automatic high marks for any students who successfully write articles that achieve Good Article status. (Getting there generally takes more than enough effort to deserve an 'A'.)

In class
  • Open discussion of the concepts of neutrality, media literacy, and the impact and limits of Wikipedia
Wiki assignments (due week 11)
  • Make edits to your article based on peers' feedback.
  • Nominate your article for Good Article status.
  • Prepare for an in-class presentation about your Wikipedia editing experience.

Week 11: Class presentations[edit]

Having students explicitly reflect on their experiences with Wikipedia can help draw out and solidify what they've learned. Such assignments, when they include explicit summaries or documentation of what students did or tried to do on Wikipedia, can also serve as the lens for evaluating and grading students' Wikipedia work.

In class
  • Students give in-class presentations about their experiences editing Wikipedia.
Wiki assignments (due week 12)
  • Add final touches to you Wikipedia article. Try to address issues from Good Article reviews.
  • Write a reflective essay (2-5 pages) on your Wikipedia contributions.

Week 12: Due date[edit]

You made it!

Milestone
  • Students have finished all their work on Wikipedia that will be considered for grading, and have submitted reflective essays.

Grading[edit]

  • 5% each (x3): Participation grade for early Wikipedia exercises (weeks 2, 3, and 4)
  • 10%: Participation in Wikipedia discussions in class
  • 10%: Peer reviews and collaboration with classmates
  • 15%: Presentation and reflective essay
  • 50%: Quality of main Wikipedia contributions, evaluated in light of reflective essay
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