Final Items

A few final reminders etc. to finish up the semester:

Remember my guidance on how to finalize the Wikipedia project.

As you may have heard, SF State administration has chosen to terminate about 150 instructors for Spring 2024.  This means that several hundred class sections will be missing from the Spring 2024 schedule.  Some colleagues have put together this (anonymous) survey to gauge how these massive cuts will affect students.  If you get a moment, please visit the survey here.

I will be on strike on Tuesday, December 5.  I invite you to participate in the festivities at 19th and Holloway.

Friends, I have really enjoyed our Tuesday morning get-togethers.  You are such wonderful folks.  Keep on truckin’!

PS: Your card got me a little verklempt.  Thanks so much.

For Tuesday, November 28

Due to ongoing labor action, Tuesday, November 28, will be our last class session together.  A few things to keep in mind include:

  • if you haven’t gotten the green light from me on your Wikipedia article draft, do not transfer your article to Wikipedia.  Do continue to work on your draft.  The closer you can get to publication-ready, the better off you’ll be.
  • whether you’ve published your draft to Wikipedia or it remains in your sandbox, do write up the reflective essay on your Wikipedia experience.  The rubric for this essay can be found under Week 13 in our EduWiki Timeline or you can start by clicking here.
  • your reflective essay should be published in a new Wikipedia sandbox, preferably titled “Reflective Essay.”  (Can’t remember how to create new sandboxes?  Here’s your how-to.  Do not email or give me the essay in hard copy.

We’ll meet in class on Tuesday, November 28, to close out any final business and to big our fond farewells!

 

For Thursday (11/2) and Tuesday (11/7)

So, you’ve read over your peer review, revised, and completed the final draft of your article (by midnight, Thursday, November 2) or you’ve accepted a grievous injury to your final grade.

I’ll be reviewing this draft and (possibly) offering some final feedback on Friday and Saturday.  Check back in on your draft for any comments by Monday, November 6.  If I’ve given you the go-ahead – – signified by the phrase, “green light,” on your draft talk page, proceed to spruce up your draft – – by adding image(s) and links.  (See Week 10 on our EduWiki timeline.)

For Thursday (10/26) and Tuesday (10/31)

You should have contributed all your peer reviews by today (Thursday, 10/26) at noon.  Once you’ve reviewed the feedback on your page, think about what your readers have told you and revise your article by Monday (10/30) at 5 p.m.  (Unclear about how this works?  See Weeks 8 and 9 on our WikiEdu Timeline.)

On Tuesday (10/31), we’ll talk about ways to continue improving your article.  (See Week 10 on our Timeline.)

For Thursday (10/5) and Tuesday (10/10)

Whoo-hoo!  Time to start drafting your articles!

Make sure to complete Week 7 of our WikiEdu timeline before you start drafting.  Before you draft, it will be very helpful to find a model article – – i.e. an existing, good quality (Rated B or better) Wikipedia article similar in topic to your own.  Put a link to your model article right at the top of your draft.  This will give you a more concrete map of where you want to go as you draft.

As you start writing, be open to adjusting your article – – gathering new sources, rethinking how you’ll organize things, reframing the scope of your work, etc.

For Thursday (9/28) and Tuesday (10/3)

Make sure you have completed all training modules and exercises up to and including “Week 6” on our WikiEdu dashboard.

Whether you have talked to me or not about your proposed topic/article, assign yourself an article/topic on the WikiEdu dashboard.  If I have not already okayed your article/topic – – I will be reviewing your proposal over the next day or two and will provide feedback on your Wikipedia user talk page.  If you don’t feel confident about your article/topic – – go back and review the “Finding your article” tutorial on our dashboard. (Keep an eye on the little notification alert in the upper right-hand corner of Wikipedia once you’ve logged in.)

Once we’ve agreed on a promising article/topic – – you must begin assembling quality sources for your Wikipedia page.  These sources should all go on the “Bibliography” page that you create for Week 6.

Your best friend for finding quality sources is the university library.  What is a quality source?  Refer to the WikiEdu page on reliable sources if you’re not sure.

Finding good sources is more than just copying down a few random article citations.  It means locating sources, reviewing those sources, and judging their relevance.  Thanks to the library, it’s easy to find five reliable sources – – it take a bit more work to make sure that these are quality sources that will help you develop your article.

Your goal for Monday (10/2) is: to find at least five (5) quality sources for your article/topic and cite these five (5) sources properly on your “Bibliography” page.  This will give me a little lead time to review your sources.

For Tuesday (9/26)

We lost a class day due to that strange power outage.  Thanks to all who managed to make it to virtual office hours on Thursday.  If you couldn’t meet me in the Zoom World, no problem.  For Tuesday (9/26), proceed to complete the work for Week 6 on our WikiEdu dashboard.  Do not assign yourself an article until you’ve talked to me on Tuesday (if you haven’t already gotten a green light).

We’ll probably slow down a bit once we’ve got article topics nailed down.  This will give you more time to really source your Wikipedia articles with high-quality sources.