Tips & tools for planning a course with WP edit
I will continue to update this page as we explore what works and doesn't work in the classroom. Please check back frequently for new ideas and observations!
- Make sure students know they have support resources - LSU WP Campus Ambassadors and WP Live Chat.
- Criteria for evaluating WP articles
- Helping students overcome tech-anxiety: Consider having students set up their WP account (very easy), create a sandbox (fairly straightforward), and then start writing. Tell them not to worry about formatting for the time; consider it just as though they are typing into a Word doc. Make sure they are entering their citations along the way, but again, don't worry about formatting for now. This will allow students to focus in on the content. Once students have a good draft of their content, host an editing party to help them properly format their articles for WP live space.
- Consider giving students small credit or participation grades for gradual accomplishments such as creating a WP account, creating a sandbox, making their first 10 edits, etc. This could motivate students early on and get them involved quickly.
- When determining whether to have students work individually or in groups on WP articles, simply consider all the things you would in a traditional assignments - group dynamics issues, grading complexity, group-think concerns, etc.
- Many professors give students the option to contribute to an existing WP article or create a new article from scratch. From a teaching perspective, new articles tend to be easier to grade, but there are ways to simplify grading of students who contribute to existing articles if you are interested in giving this as an option.
- When incorporating WP into your course, keep in mind that it does not necessarily have to be a semester-long project. You could use WP at the beginning of the course and have students contribute initial research or annotated bibliographies to WP. Then, they can use that information to develop a critical analysis or research paper that they turn into you since opinions and original research are not appropriate forms of encyclopedic writing.
- It may be helpful to have students keep reflection journals about their writing process on WP. This may help them to synthesize the learning components associated with WP assignments - critical thinking/analysis, research and citation, neutral writing, collaboration, etc.
- If you are new to WP (or even if you're a veteran), consider working through the WP assignment along with your students. Contribute in the manner you ask them to contribute. This will help you become more comfortable with WP and also help you identify roadblocks your students may be facing when they are facing them. It will also give you a feel for the true time they should be putting into the assignment and help you make informed decisions if the need to adjust your assignment/course schedule comes up during the semester.
- Quick creation of sandbox:
- Go to your User Page, click edit
- Type [[User:your_user_id/your_article_name]]
- Save page
- The page has now been created and should appear as a red link on your user page
- Click this red link to go to the page and begin editing it
- You can create as many of the sandbox pages as you would like. We recommend you create a different sandbox page for each article you are working on.
- Seek out WikiProjects related to your students' articles and invite active WikiProject editors into your students' sandbox to offer constructive feedback prior to the students going live. This will get them comfortable with the Discussion tab and interacting with the WP community. It will also help to ensure students' articles are in good shape before moving them to the live space.
- Prior to inviting WikiProject members into sandboxes, you might consider having students go through a round of peer review. This will give them opportunity to engage in other topics outside of their own. Here is a UC Berkeley course that integrated a 1st and 2nd reviewer structure.
- Once students go live with their article, post a banner to their discussion page indicating this article is being worked on as part of a university learning experience. Here is one banner you may consider using.
- Students may consider nominating their new article to WP's "Did You Know". If accepted, it will appear on the homepage of WP. This often helps to motivate students and gets them excited when their hard work is featured on the WP homepage.