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Course timeline (12-week version)

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We encourage professors to introduce the Wikipedia assignment early in the semester since the students need to acquaint themselves with the technology. Knowing what they are preparing themselves for makes learning the ins and outs of Wikipedia relevant. Also, we encourage instructors to engage with the questions of media literacy and knowledge construction raised by Wikipedia throughout their course. Wikipedia assignments are best when integrated with the theme of the course.

Week 1: Wikipedia Essentials

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In class
  • Overview of the course
  • Introduction to how Wikipedia will be used in the course
  • Handout: Welcome to Wikipedia (available in print or online from the Wikimedia Foundation)
Assignment (due week 2)

Week 2

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It is important to get students editing Wikipedia right away so that they become familiar with "wikicode." As the instructor, you have several options to teach them this technical material. You can teach it yourself, invite Wikipedia's Campus Ambassadors and/or local Wikipedians to do so, or contact a teaching and technology center on your campus and ask for their assistance. We suggest that, however you choose to do this, you have the students learn the basics of editing, the anatomy of an article, and ways to select articles suitable for the assignment.

In class
Assignments (due week 3)
(See this and this for example assignments.)
  • Create a Wikipedia account, create a user page, and sign up on list of students on the course page.
  • To practice editing and communicating on Wikipedia, introduce yourself to one of the class's Online Ambassadors (via talk page), and leave a message for a classmate on their user talk page.
Milestone
  • All students have Wikipedia user accounts and are listed on the course page.

Week 3

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It is crucial that lines of communication between instructors, students, and Wikipedians be established and firmed up early in the semester so that all groups can help each other out most efficiently as the projects progress. Ideally, Wikipedia Campus Ambassadors would come to your class and explain to the students how to find help should they run into trouble on Wikipedia (e.g. IRC), reinforcing their introduction to this topic from the previous week.

In class
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

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We encourage weaving a discussion of Wikipedia into your course throughout the semester. 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. Help the students connect their assignment to the themes of the course as a whole.

For next week
  • Professor evaluates student's article selections, by week 5.

Week 5

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By this week, ideally, the instructor will have evaluated the students' article choices and given them feedback, helping them to choose the article(s) most 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
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

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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. There are pros and cons to each approach.

Pros and cons to sandboxes: Sandboxes make students feel safe because they can edit without the pressure of the whole world reading their draft or other Wikipedians altering their writing. They can learn Wikipedia's rules in a safe environment. However, this form of the assignment removes many of the unique aspects of using Wikipedia as a teaching tool, such as collaborative writing and incremental drafting. Sandboxes are usually appropriate when students are starting new articles.

Pros and cons to editing live: Editing live is exciting for the students because they can see their changes to the articles immediately and experience the collaborative editing process throughout the assignment. However, because many new editors often unintentionally break Wikipedia rules, sometimes students learn by having their additions questioned. Editing live is usually appropriate when students are improving existing articles.

In class
  • Instructor and/or Wikipedia Campus Ambassadors talk about Wikipedia culture and etiquette, and [optionally] introduce the concept of sandboxes and how to use them.
  • Q&A session with instructor and/or Wikipedia Campus Ambassador about interacting on Wikipedia and getting started with writing
  • Handouts and videos: Sandbox tutorial
Assignments (due week 7)
  • If you're starting a new article, write a 3–4 paragraph summary version of your article (with citations) in your Wikipedia sandbox. If you're improving an existing article, write a summary version reflecting the content the article will have after it's been improved, and post this along with a brief description of your plans on the article's talk page.
  • 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

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Whether students are starting new articles or expanding existing articles, it's critical to get them working live on Wikipedia as soon as possible. Short summary versions for new articles (and short existing articles that have been expanded five-fold) are great starting points for working live in main space, because they 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, and it can be a great momentum builder for the rest of the class project. The rules for DYK are quite particular, though, so it helps to prepare ahead of time and nominate articles immediately after moving them out of sandboxes.

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.

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.

Week 8

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At this point, many students will have 'gotten it', and have a pretty good understanding of how to move forward. 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, particular Neutral Point of View and No Original Research.

Other students may stumbled with some element of getting their initial work live on Wikipedia. This is key point to identify where students are having trouble -- whether from negative reactions from other editors, technical hang-ups, problems finding good sources and using them appropriately, plagiarism, or something else. This is a good time to do a quick scan (at least) of what each student has contributed so far.

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 for you to peer review. (You don't need to start reviewing yet.)

Week 9

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A critical element of contributing to Wikipedia is collaboration. For some students, this will happen spontaneously; their choice of topics will attract interested and knowledgeable Wikipedians who will pitch in with ideas, copy-edits, or even substantial contributions to the students' articles. Online Ambassadors who take a strong interest in the topics students are working on can make great collaborators. In many cases, however, there will little spontaneous editing of students' article before the end of the term. Fortunately, a class full of fellow learners is a great pool of peer reviewers. You can make the most of this by assigning students to 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

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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. You'll probably have discussed many of the core principles of Wikipedia—and related issue you want to focus one—but now that they've experienced how Wikipedia works first hand, this is a good time to return to topics like neutrality, media literacy, and the impact and limits of Wikipedia. Consider bringing in a guest speaker, have a panel discussion, or simply have 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; it may take longer than the time remaining in the term for all the articles to get formal Good Article reviews (although Online Ambassadors may be able to help review them in a timely manner), but Good Article reviews often produce high quality feedback on both style and content. Some instructors have awarded automatic high marks for any students who successfully write articles that achieve Good Article status.

In class
  • Recommended activity: 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 in-class presentation about your Wikipedia editing experience.

Week 11

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Having students explicitly reflect on their experiences with Wikipedia, through presentations and/or reflective essays, can help draw out and solidify what they've learned about Wikipedia in particular and media literacy and research more generally. Such assignments, when they include explicitly summaries or documentation of what students did or tried to do on Wikipedia, can also serve as the lens for evaluating and grading students' work.

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

Week 12

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You made it!

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

Course timeline (6-8-week version)

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Grading

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Assignment will be graded holistically based on the following criteria:

5% each (x4): Participation grade for early Wikipedia exercises
10%: Participation in Wikipedia discussions in class
10%: Peer reviews and collaboration with classmates
50%: Quality of your main Wikipedia contributions, evaluated in light of your reflective essay
10%: In-class presentation

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