Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/UConn/Ecotoxicology (Fall2020)

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Course name
Ecotoxicology
Institution
UConn
Instructor
Jess Brandt
Wikipedia Expert
Ian (Wiki Ed)
Subject
Environmental Sciences
Course dates
2020-09-01 00:00:00 UTC – 2021-01-08 23:59:59 UTC
Approximate number of student editors
35


The overall purpose of this ecotoxicology course is for students to develop a strong conceptual framework for understanding how environmental loading of contaminants leads to exposure and adverse effects for wildlife and/or people. Students learn (a) the major environmental contaminant classes, (b) contaminant sources, fate, and biogeochemistry, (c) the mechanisms of toxicity, and (d) the population, community, and ecosystem responses to contaminants. Students will primarily edit existing wikipedia pages on relevant ecotox topics as one of the major assignments for the course. The topics could include types of contaminants, historic contamination events (e.g., the Deepwater Horizon spill), toxicity mechanisms, or key figures in the history of the field. Students will improve existing pages rather than create new pages where possible. The course is a split level, with both advanced undergraduates (n=25) and graduate students (n=10); graduate students may prefer to take on new page creation.

Student Assigned Reviewing
Shancully Belews Lake Environmental impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill
Tpc1999 Biomagnification Margaret A. Palmer
Cedwards96 Aquatic-terrestrial subsidies
Ndahrouge Draft:Evolutionary Toxicology
Chloezampetti Environmental impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill User:Bendgardiner/Still River (Housatonic River tributary)
Lillianm55 Kingston Fossil Plant coal fly ash slurry spill
Madison.platow Belews Lake Environmental impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill
Morgan.emma Mountaintop removal mining
AlgalBloom34 Environmental impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill
Tlaloc0011 Gunnison River Mountaintop removal mining
Khira.francis Itai-itai disease
Baranova1130 Sri Lankan CKDu Microplastics
Hopiec Itai-itai disease
Cody.exley Ohio River Park Draft:Evolutionary Toxicology
KS 1636 Margaret A. Palmer
Zoe.demitrack Kesterson Reservoir
AMB15111 Aquatic-terrestrial subsidies
Nafisofuado Will Clements, William H. Clements, Draft:William H. Clements
SnowN1 Itai-itai disease
Zoeduffield Still River (Housatonic River tributary)
AaronAGolab Flame retardant
Bendgardiner Still River (Housatonic River tributary)
FlorenceOpoku98 Agent Orange
Jmb15006 Biomagnification
Stephburns19 Agent Orange
Bengormley Gunnison River
Juliaczar Microplastics Sri Lankan CKDu
Csaindon Kesterson Reservoir
RenLK Mountaintop removal mining Biomagnification
Rdflamenco Effects of contaminants on bird migration

Timeline

Week 3

Course meetings
Wednesday, 16 September 2020
In class - Introduction to the Wikipedia assignment

Welcome to your Wikipedia assignment's course timeline. This page guides you through the steps you'll need to complete for your Wikipedia assignment, with links to training modules and your classmates' work spaces.

Your course has been assigned a Wikipedia Expert. You can reach them through the Get Help button at the top of this page.

Resources:

Assignment - Get started on Wikipedia

Create an account and join this course page, using the enrollment link your instructor sent you. (Because of Wikipedia's technical restraints, you may receive a message that you cannot create an account. To resolve this, please try again off campus or the next day.)

Milestones

This week, everyone should have a Wikipedia account.

Week 4

Course meetings
Monday, 21 September 2020   |   Wednesday, 23 September 2020
Assignment - Exercise
Guide(s) for writing articles in your topic area

Biographies

Chemistry

Ecology

Environmental Sciences

In class - Discussion

Week 5

Course meetings
Monday, 28 September 2020   |   Wednesday, 30 September 2020
In class - Discussion
Assignment - Evaluate your article

Week 6

Course meetings
Monday, 5 October 2020   |   Wednesday, 7 October 2020
Assignment - Research your article

Week 7

Course meetings
Monday, 12 October 2020   |   Wednesday, 14 October 2020
Assignment - Article Outline

Using your article evaluation, outline the changes you anticipate making to your Wikipedia article. If working in a group, assign which parts of the article outline will be contributed by each student.

Milestones

Everyone has begun writing their article drafts.

Week 8

Course meetings
Monday, 19 October 2020   |   Wednesday, 21 October 2020
Assignment - Start drafting your contributions

Resource: Editing Wikipedia, pages 7–9

Week 9

Course meetings
Monday, 26 October 2020   |   Wednesday, 28 October 2020
Assignment - Continue improving your article

Now's the time to revisit your text and refine your work. You may do more research and find missing information; rewrite the lead section to represent all major points; reorganize the text to communicate the information better; or add images and other media.

Week 10

Course meetings
Monday, 2 November 2020   |   Wednesday, 4 November 2020
In class - Discussion

Week 11

Course meetings
Monday, 9 November 2020   |   Wednesday, 11 November 2020
In class - Peer review one article

Guiding framework

Assignment - Peer reviews due
Milestones

Every student has finished reviewing their assigned articles, making sure that every article has been reviewed.

Week 12

Course meetings
Monday, 16 November 2020   |   Wednesday, 18 November 2020
Assignment - Respond to your peer review

You probably have some feedback from other students and possibly other Wikipedians. Consider their suggestions, decide whether it makes your work more accurate and complete, and edit your draft to make those changes.

Resources:

  • Editing Wikipedia, pages 12 and 14
  • Reach out to your Wikipedia Expert if you have any questions.
Assignment - Polish your work

Continue to expand and improve your work, and format your article to match Wikipedia's tone and standards. Remember to contact your Wikipedia Expert at any time if you need further help!

Week 13

Course meetings
Monday, 30 November 2020   |   Wednesday, 2 December 2020
In class - 4340 presentations

Week 14

Course meetings
Monday, 7 December 2020   |   Wednesday, 9 December 2020
In class - 4340 presentations, continued

Week 15

Course meetings
Monday, 14 December 2020   |   Wednesday, 16 December 2020
Assignment - Final article

It's the final week to develop your article.

  • Read Editing Wikipedia page 15 to review a final check-list before completing your assignment.
  • Don't forget that you can ask for help from your Wikipedia Expert at any time!
Milestones

Everyone should have finished all of the work they'll do on Wikipedia, and be ready for grading.