Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/Xavier University of Louisiana/Black Politics (Fall 2015)
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- Course name
- Black Politics
- Institution
- Xavier University of Louisiana
- Instructor
- Mosterbur
- Subject
- AADS & PSCI
- Course dates
- 2015-08-24 – 2015-12-02
- Approximate number of student editors
- 25
This course covers the basic approaches to the study of Black Politics. This includes an examination of the nature of racism and the methods employed by Blacks to overcome oppression.
Learning Objectives
-Students will be able to critically assess the racial redistricting debate with a full understanding of the arguments regarding racial empowerment theory, bleached districts & the relationship to substantive representation -Students will be able to explain African American political participation as a phenomenon with notable differences from the political participation of other groups. -Students will be able to critically assess the advantages and disadvantages of an identity politics strategy of mobilization -Students will be able to explain how race has been deployed strategically in political campaigns.
Timeline
Week 1
- In class - Wikipedia essentials
- Overview of the course
- Introduction to how Wikipedia will be used in the course
- Understanding Wikipedia as a community, we'll discuss its expectations and etiquette.
Handout: Editing Wikipedia
Week 2
- In class - Editing basics
- Basics of editing
- Anatomy of Wikipedia articles, what makes a good article, how to distinguish between good and bad articles
- Collaborating and engaging with the Wiki editing community
- Tips on finding the best articles to work on for class assignments
Handouts: Using Talk Pages, Evaluating Wikipedia
- Assignment - Practicing the basics
- Create an account and then complete the online training for students. During this training, you will make edits in a sandbox and learn the basic rules of Wikipedia.
- Create a User page.
- Explore topics related to your topic area to get a feel for how Wikipedia is organized. What areas seem to be missing? As you explore, make a mental note of articles that seem like good candidates for improvement.
Resources: Online Training for Students
- Milestones
All students have Wikipedia user accounts and are listed on the course page.
Week 3
- In class - Exploring the topic area
- Be prepared to discuss some of your observations about Wikipedia articles in your topic area that are missing or could use improvement.
Handouts: Choosing an article
- Assignment - Topic proposal
- Research and list 3–5 articles on your Wikipedia user page that you will consider working on as your main project. Look at the talk page for existing topics for a sense of who else is working on it and what they're doing. Describe your choices to your instructor for feedback.
Week 4
- In class - Using sources
- Be prepared to explain close paraphrasing, plagiarism, and copyright violations on Wikipedia.
Handouts: Citing Sources and Avoiding Plagiarism
- Assignment - Add to an article
- Add 2-3 sentences of new information, backed up with a citation to an appropriate source, to a Wikipedia article related to one of the readings we have covered thus far in class.
Week 5
- In class - Discuss the article topics
- Discuss the topics students will be working on, and determine strategies for researching and writing about them.
- Assignment - Finalize your topic and start researching
- Select an article to work on, removing the rest from your user page. Add your topic on the course page.
- Compile a bibliography of relevant, reliable sources and post it to the talk page of the article you are working on. Begin reading the sources. Make sure to check in on the talk page (or watchlist) to see if anyone has advice on your bibliography.
Week 6
- In class - Wikipedia culture and etiquette
- Talk about Wikipedia culture and etiquette, and (optionally) revisit the concept of sandboxes and how to use them.
- Q&A session with instructor about interacting on Wikipedia and getting started with writing.
- Assignment -
Create a detailed outline of your Wikipedia article. IF you are creating a new article include a summary, if you adding to an existing article note how your outline will change the existing article and improve upon it.
- Milestones
- All students have started editing articles or drafts on Wikipedia.
Week 7
- In class - Moving articles to mainspace
- We'll discuss moving your article out of your sandboxes and into Wikipedia's main space.
- A general reminder: Don't panic if your contribution disappears, and don't try to force it back in.
- Check to see if there is an explanation of the edit on the article's talk page. If not, (politely) ask why it was removed.
- Contact your instructor or Wikipedia Content Expert and let them know.
Handout: Moving out of your Sandbox
- Assignment - Write a leader
- Write a Leader for your article in your sandbox
Week 8
- In class - Building articles
- Demo uploading images and adding images to articles.
- Share experiences and discuss problems.
Resources: Illustrating Wikipedia and Evaluating Wikipedia
- Assignment - Expanding and going Live
- Begin expanding your article into a comprehensive treatment of the topic by writing 300-400 words
Move your sandbox articles into main space. If you are expanding an existing article, copy your edit into the article. If you are making many small edits, save after each edit before you make the next one. Do NOT paste over the entire existing article, or large sections of the existing article. * If you are creating a new article, do NOT copy and paste your text, or there will be no record of your work history. Follow the instructions in the "Moving out of your sandbox" handout.
Week 9
- Assignment - Complete first draft
- Expand your article into an initial draft of a comprehensive treatment of the topic by adding at least 200 more words.
Week 10
- In class - Group suggestions
- As a group, offer suggestions for improving one or two other students' articles, based on your ideas of what makes a solid encyclopedia article.
- Assignment - Add images
- Contribute 2-4 images to your article using wither creative commons images that are freely available or using images that you have creating and own the copyright to
- Milestones
- Every student has finished reviewing their assigned articles, making sure that every article has been reviewed.
Week 11
- In class - Media literacy discussion
- Open discussion of the concepts of neutrality, media literacy, and the impact and limits of Wikipedia.
- Assignment - peer review
- Choose two partners in the class and provide feedback on their articles using the talk pages. If you disagree with a suggestion, use talk pages to politely discuss and come to a consensus on your edit.
Week 12
- In class - Discuss further article improvements
- Continue discussing how the articles can be further improved. Come up with improvement goals for each article for next week.
- Assignment - Continue improving articles
- Using the comments /reviews from the talk pages on your article, edit your wiki page
- Do additional research and writing to make further improvements to your article, based on your classmates' suggestions and any additional areas for improvement you can identify.
Week 13
- Assignment - Final article
- Add final touches to your Wikipedia article.
Handout: Polishing your article
Week 14
- Milestones
- Students have finished all their work on Wikipedia that will be considered for grading.
- Assignment - Wikipedia Portfolio
- Put together a Wikipedia portfolio.