Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/University of Maryland/INST 201 Introduction to Information Science (Fall)

This Course
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Course name
INST 201 Introduction to Information Science
Institution
University of Maryland
Instructor
Dmgreene
Wikipedia Expert
Elysia (Wiki Ed)
Subject
Information science
Course dates
2018-08-28 00:00:00 UTC – 2018-12-20 23:59:59 UTC
Approximate number of student editors
101


This course introduces students to core concepts, methods, topics, and theories in information science, giving them the tools they need to understand the tectonic shifts of the information age.

Our Wikipedia assignment is the focus of the final unit of the course--on collaboration--and is also our summative assessment. Students will follow a controversial Wikipedia page for several weeks, keep track of the social processes behind the scenes, suggest improvements to the page, and then summarize their observations.

Timeline

Week 11

Course meetings
Tuesday, 6 November 2018   |   Thursday, 8 November 2018
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 12

Course meetings
Tuesday, 13 November 2018   |   Thursday, 15 November 2018
Milestones

Exercise

Choose your topic / Find your sources

Evaluate an article

You’ll meet with your group, find a controversial article,  and identify what’s wrong with it. Your rubric and our Wikiedu site will provide full instructions. This assignment should be submitted by one designated group member through ELMS. It also includes two training modules.

Week 13

Course meetings
Tuesday, 27 November 2018   |   Thursday, 29 November 2018
Assignment - Article Critique

What's a content gap?

Assignment - Article contributions

Resource: Editing Wikipedia, pages 7–9

If you selected an article related to health, psychology, or medicine please review the additional training. 

Your group will propose at least three contributions to the article you critiqued. At least one of which must be an addition, with relevant citations. Your proposal should be submitted by one group member on ELMS.

Milestones

Everyone has begun writing their article drafts.

Week 14

Course meetings
Tuesday, 4 December 2018   |   Thursday, 6 December 2018
Assignment - Begin moving your work to Wikipedia

It's time to move your work live - to the "mainspace." Once your work is moved live, 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.

Resource: Editing Wikipedia, page 13

Exercise

Add links to your article

Week 15

Course meetings
Tuesday, 11 December 2018   |   Thursday, 13 December 2018
In class - Discussion

Thinking about Wikipedia

Assignment - Wiki Fieldwork

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!

Your group has been following the action on the front and back-end of your Wikipedia page for a month now, seeing people argue, edit, and delete. Your final assignment is to report on the life of that community, how it’s influenced by Wikipedia’s rules, and how that manifests in the front-end content. This project takes the place of a traditional final exam.


Assignment - Peer evaluation

When your whole group submits their fieldwork report, each individual member will also submit a peer evaluation that simply describes what everyone did over the course of the month. You get 20 points for submitting. Individual points totals totals may be adjusted based on peer feedback.

Milestones

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

Uses material from the Wikipedia article Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/University of Maryland/INST 201 Introduction to Information Science (Fall), released under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license.