Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/Colgate University/The Secret Sex Lives of Plants (Fall 2020)
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- Course name
- The Secret Sex Lives of Plants
- Institution
- Colgate University
- Instructor
- Jennifer Blake-Mahmud
- Wikipedia Expert
- Ian (Wiki Ed)
- Subject
- Biology
- Course dates
- 2020-08-27 00:00:00 UTC – 2020-12-18 23:59:59 UTC
- Approximate number of student editors
- 10
What do a dozen roses, a peach pie, and a multi-billion dollar allergy industry all have in common? They all result directly from plants having sex – lots of sex. In spite of this, most people don’t think of plants being especially sexy or even having a gender. In this course we’ll explore the secret sex lives of the green world around us. We’ll learn how to tell the sex of a plant and where plant babies come from. We’ll discuss how plants get around, both metaphorically and physically. Over the course of the semester we’ll learn how sex is determined in plants and under what conditions sex or gender might change. We will also think about when it pays for plants to have sex with themselves, how to attract those buzzing matchmakers, and how or when plants wait for Mr. or Ms. Right.
Wikipedia is the first stop for information for everyone from undergraduates to law makers. Because of the nature of content creation on Wikipedia, it suffers from similar biases that humans have. The bias we'll concern ourselves with is plant blindness. There are pages upon pages about sex in furry things with eyeballs, but much less about sex in plants. Making information available that is representative of the diversity in the natural world is an important task. You'll take on one small piece of this communal task during the course of this class. Enjoy!
Timeline
Week 2
- Course meetings
-
- Wednesday, 2 September 2020
- Milestones
This week, everyone should have a Wikipedia account.
- Assignment - Introduction to the Wikipedia assignment
Welcome to the timeline for your Wikipedia assignment. 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:
- Editing Wikipedia, pages 1–5
- Evaluating Wikipedia
- 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.)
Week 3
- Course meetings
-
- Monday, 7 September 2020 | Wednesday, 9 September 2020
- Assignment - Evaluate Wikipedia
To earn credit for these trainings, make sure you complete all parts. Be bold!
Week 4
- Course meetings
-
- Monday, 14 September 2020 | Wednesday, 16 September 2020
- Assignment - Evaluate an Article of your choice related to our course themes
Evaluate an article using the guidelines provided
- Think about...
- Explore these guide(s) for writing articles in your topic area
Week 5
- Course meetings
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- Monday, 21 September 2020 | Wednesday, 23 September 2020
- Assignment - Add to an existing article
Exercise
To earn credit for this training, please complete this exercise
Add a citation
- Assignment - Start a list of potential topics
By the end of the week, have a list of at some potential topics that interest you. At this point, aim to have a diverse list that includes both general phenomena and specific species.
If you are feeling stuck, you might look through the topics on the course schedule, links to former student projects, check out the wikipedia pages of species that have popped-up on Instagram, or investigate some of your favorite plants.
Week 6
- Course meetings
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- Monday, 28 September 2020 | Wednesday, 30 September 2020
- Assignment - Add media content to an existing article
To earn credit for this training, please contribute an image to an article
- Add to and refine your list of potential topics
You should have at least 5 potential topics that interest you. This might include two options from the class list and three (or more) of your own. Some of your topics may be a specific species for which there is little or no information regarding its reproduction.
Week 7
- Course meetings
-
- Monday, 5 October 2020 | Wednesday, 7 October 2020
- Assignment - Submit your final short list of topics
Submit a list of the final ranking of your potential topics. For your new suggestions, include a sentence about what you might add to the wikipedia page. I'll optimize topics across the class and let you know what your term-project topic is.
- Think about
Week 8
- Course meetings
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- Monday, 12 October 2020 | Wednesday, 14 October 2020
- Grading Period A ends
To earn credit towards your grade, all trainings from previous weeks must be completed by Wed the 14th.
- Assignment - Find your sources
Week 9
- Course meetings
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- Monday, 19 October 2020 | Wednesday, 21 October 2020
- Assignment - Start making notes on your topic
Reach out to your Wikipedia Expert if you have questions using the Get Help button at the top of this page.
Resource: Editing Wikipedia, pages 7–9
- Milestones
Everyone has started reading and annotating their sources and drafting notes for their article.
- Assignment - Want to get your upcoming article more press?
Week 10
- Course meetings
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- Monday, 26 October 2020 | Wednesday, 28 October 2020
- You are reading sources and making notes
Week 11
- Course meetings
-
- Monday, 2 November 2020 | Wednesday, 4 November 2020
- Draft your article
You should have a draft of your article by the end of this week (albeit perhaps a lousy one!)
Week 12
- Course meetings
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- Monday, 9 November 2020 | Wednesday, 11 November 2020
- Assignment - Continue improving your article
Exercise
Now's the time to revisit your draft 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 13
- Course meetings
-
- Monday, 16 November 2020 | Wednesday, 18 November 2020
- Assignment - What should the review look like?
Review groups:
Kylie, Jake, Elena, and Jacob
Aidan, Hayley, Caroline, Elisabeth
WITHIN YOUR REVIEW GROUP, read two other articles and respond to them in the talk page. Make sure you use the wikipedia grading rubric on Moodle and check out the common errors page.
Your peer reviews should be both kind and substantive. The quality of your advice will be reflected in your own project grade. So it behooves you to give real points of improvement, not just "hey, looks great!". It is also an important way to reflect back on your article. What similar points of improvement do you see in your own work?
- Assignment - Peer review two articles
- Milestones
Every student has finished reviewing their assigned articles, making sure that every article has been reviewed.
Week 14
- Course meetings
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- Monday, 30 November 2020 | Wednesday, 2 December 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.
No need to write to them directly. You are responding within your article draft. If you choose not to take their advice, make a note in your sandbox or talk page thanking them for their thoughts and noting why you chose to go a different direction.
Resources:
- Editing Wikipedia, pages 12 and 14
- Reach out to your Wikipedia Expert if you have any questions.
- Assignment - Begin moving your work to Wikipedia
Now that you've improved your draft based on others' feedback, it's time to move your work live - to the "mainspace."
Resource: Editing Wikipedia, page 13
- 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 15
- Course meetings
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- Monday, 7 December 2020 | Wednesday, 9 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!
- Assignment - One page reflective essay
- Milestones
All Wikipedia work is done by noon on Dec 16th