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This page is for general discussion of items that relate to student assignments and the Wikipedia Education Program. Please feel free to post, whether you're from a class, a potential class, or if you're a Wikipedia editor. If you wish to report or discuss a specific incident relating to the Education Program or student editing that may require the intervention of experienced editors and/or administrators, please go instead to the Incidents page. Topics for this board might include: Content issues created by real or potential student assignments Improving student assignment output quality per the RfC Questions about the trainings or any question from instructors or students Ambassador topics (for Online, Campus, or Regional Ambassadors) Discussion of the education program itself, the Wiki Education Foundation, the Wikipedia Education Program, or the Education Program extension The course coordinator, course instructor, online volunteer or campus volunteer user rights Students who have done great work and need {{The Excellent New Editor's Barnstar}} And any other issue that might relate to student assignments Of course, we should remain civil towards all participants and assume good faith. There are other pages more appropriate for dealing with certain specific issues: An issue requiring immediate administrator attention → Administrators' noticeboard/Incidents (and post a link here) Vandalism by non-participating students from schools → administrator intervention against vandalism. Cut and paste moves/history merge → the cut and paste move repair holding pen. Students revealing sensitive personal information → requests for oversight. Please DO NOT make such requests here; reports here are visible to everyone. Course announcements from dashboard.wikiedu.org → /Wiki Ed course submissions			Shortcuts: WP:EDUN WP:ENB Click "Click here to start a new discussion thread" below to start a new thread. Please start new threads under a level-2 heading, using double equals-signs and an informative title: ==Informative title==. If a thread is related to an ongoing discussion, consider placing it under a level-3 heading within that discussion. You should generally notify any user who is the subject of a discussion. You may use {{ping}} to do so, or simply link their username when you post your comment. It is not required to contact students when their edits are only being discussed in the context of a class-wide problem. If no comments have been made within 5 days, your post and any responses will be automatically archived. Please sign all contributions, using four tilde characters "~~~~". If discussion is already ongoing elsewhere or if there is a more natural location for a discussion, please continue the discussion there, and put a short note with a link to the relevant location on this page. If you cannot edit this page because it is protected, please place your comments on this page and they will be addressed. Managing threads By default, threads will be automatically archived by a bot after 5 days of inactivity. If you'd like to make sure a thread does not get archived, use {{Do not archive until}} at the top of the section. Use {{User:ClueBot III/ArchiveNow}} within a section to have it archived (more or less) immediately.
See also
Special:Courses (a list of courses using the Education Program extension)		Wikipedia:Education program		Wikipedia:Training, to get an introduction to Wikipedia

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Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/Northeastern University/Advanced Writing in the Technical Professions--ONLINE (Spring 2017)

I was reading through some posts at the Teahouse when I came across WP:THQ#Latin American Economies New Article about a new article added to mainspace. So, I took a look at Latin American economy to see what it was about. Overall the first part of the article seems fairly good for a Wikipedia article, but as I read further it started to seem as if I was reading more of a research paper/economic forecast than an encyclopedic article. The point where the change seems to take place is Latin American economy#Main economies where the focus seems seems to become more WP:RECENTISM and WP:CRYSTAL.

Anyway, I looked through the contributions of the article's creator and found that the editor is a participant in Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/Northeastern University/Advanced Writing in the Technical Professions--ONLINE (Spring 2017). The description at the top of that page states as follows:

Provides writing instruction for students in the College of Engineering and the College of Computer and Information Science. Students practice and reflect on writing in professional, public, and academic genres, such as technical reports, progress reports, proposals, instructions, presentations, and technical reviews, relevant to technical professions and individual student goals. In a workshop setting, students evaluate a wide variety of sources and develop expertise in audience analysis, critical research, peer review, and revision.

This seems like a pretty good goal for a university class, but perhaps not really suitable when it comes to Wikipedia, at least not based upon my understanding of what Wikipedia is intended to be. Perhaps it's just me, but I am wondering if there are others who see it as such. -- Marchjuly (talk) 07:35, 17 March 2017 (UTC)

I agree with you. This happens all the time with classes that show up. Probably the best way to handle it is to go to the class page, where there will be links to the user who is the instructor, and to the WikiEd staff person who is the liason for the class. Then, you can leave a note at the user talk of one or the other of them, whichever you feel more comfortable with. I also like to encourage instructors to read WP:ASSIGN. --Tryptofish (talk) 23:10, 17 March 2017 (UTC)

Thanks Tryptofish for taking a look. @Amyc29 and Adam (Wiki Ed): Would either of you like to comment on this? -- Marchjuly (talk) 23:30, 17 March 2017 (UTC)

Hi User:Marchjuly. I'm not sure what you see as inappropriate here. The Wikipedia assignment for this course is intended to work on one particular genre of writing — Wikipedia articles, according to Wikipedia standards — while other assignments in that course would address some of the other goals. (As for the article, on a quick skim it seems like a good start to me; your point about recentism is helpful; you should post it to the talk page and give the creator a ping.)--Sage (Wiki Ed) (talk) 17:40, 20 March 2017 (UTC)

Sage, I had understood, perhaps incorrectly, that all those kinds of writing would be explored on-Wiki. At least, that's what it sounded like. Also, I'm not really seeing our approach to writing in any subset of what's quoted above. --Tryptofish (talk) 21:00, 20 March 2017 (UTC)

That's from the general 'course description', but the Wikipedia assignment instructions in the Timeline use (on a quick skim) Wiki Ed's recommended structure for an assignment, and I don't see anything that suggests that those other things are part of the on-wiki assignment.--Sage (Wiki Ed) (talk) 21:06, 20 March 2017 (UTC)

Thanks for figuring that out! --Tryptofish (talk) 21:15, 20 March 2017 (UTC)

Thank you for your comments Sage (Wiki Ed). I read the "description" as being solely related to editing on Wikipedia and not as a general course description. Maybe this is something which could be made a little clearer? As for specific comments about the article, I will post something on the article's talk page. -- Marchjuly (talk) 00:04, 21 March 2017 (UTC)

Thank you User:Marchjuly and Tryptofish for your feedback. I am the instructor of this course and the student author (who has a double major in engineering and business--hence the financial focus on the article in question) would be grateful for any revision feedback, which is why the initial request was posted on Teahouse. The course description is general for this university-wide writing requirement. My students complete a substantive literature review on their selected topics before beginning work on their WP articles, but for many (most) of them, encyclopedic writing is a new genre for them to work in. That said, they always appreciate the constructive and gracious feedback of more seasoned Wikipedians. Amyc29 (talk) 16:38, 23 March 2017 (UTC)

You're welcome Amyc29. I did post some things on Talk:Latin American economy and also asked for some WikiProjects to assess it, so everything will get sorted out. As long as the student understands WP:OWN, everything should be fine. If your students are, however, being graded on what they write on Wikipedia, then it might be a good idea for them to hold off from moving their drafts to the mainspace until after you have completed your review. Once something has been added to the mainspace, it's there for anyone and everyone to edit for better or worse. Technically, the same can be said for any page on Wikipedia, but lots of experienced editors tend to leave WP:DRAFTS, WP:HUD and user sandboxes alone unless there is a serious problem which needs fixing asap. Finally, just for reference, I moved your post to the end of the thread just to make it easier for others to follow chronologically and also easier for others to reply to. I didn't change any content, but you can move it back to where you originally added it if you that's where it really belongs. -- Marchjuly (talk) 21:35, 23 March 2017 (UTC)

Starting a Classroom Assignment

I am a high school librarian working with a Journalism/English teacher at my school to update our school's wikipage.

We worked together last week on updating our school's box and improved the Table of Contents. However, soon after making these changes, a Wiki Editor reverted our page back to an older version and all of our improvements were gone. The Editor said there was a conflict of interest and I'm unsure if it is because we added a "Notable Alumni," an author and linked to his Wikipedia page.

How should we move forward? Wikipedia has wonderful resources and tools and we have taught the students the 5 Pillars of Wikipedia and we have instructed them on informational writing.

How should we proceed?

Telisj (talk) 14:24, 27 March 2017 (UTC)telisj

Thank you for asking about that here. What happened is that the editor observed that you are from that school, and as someone working there, there could be a possibility of what is described at WP:COI and WP:PAID. It wasn't necessarily about that alumnus, and if there is already a page here about that person, that should not have been a problem. I did not actually look at the content that was reverted, but what it comes down to is that it's good to make sure there is accurate and complete information, but information that might sound like you are promoting the school is likely to raise red flags.

A good approach for you to take is to start a new section on the article talk page, explain what you were trying to add, and say what your connection to the school is, as you did here. Then other editors will respond, and you can see what the issues were that they were concerned about, and then hopefully come to a consensus after discussion.

In addition, if there are students involved as part of a class project, you should coordinate the project with someone from WikiEd. They will be watching here, so they will see our discussion and can reply. --Tryptofish (talk) 23:13, 27 March 2017 (UTC)

@Telisj: The advice I typically give instructors working with us is, basically, that it's not a good idea for them or their students to write about subjects for which they may have a conflict of interest. Wikipedia has a fairly strict conflict of interest policy (COI), based on the idea that if you have a professional, financial, or personal connection to a subject, you're probably unable to edit with a neutral point of view. Because people try to use Wikipedia for advertising and promotion every day -- to the point that some people consider it Wikipedia's biggest challenge -- editors are typically vigilant in looking for such activity and scrutinizing potentially problematic edits. This is, generally speaking, a good thing, but people can make mistakes and their manner of carry out these "reversions" can sometimes be harsher than necessary. So although editing with a COI is not explicitly against the rules (unless you don't disclose the conflict), it's typically a good idea for those with a COI to use the article talk page to suggest any potential change rather than edit the article directly. There's even a template for doing so: If you create a new section with suggested edits on the talk page, you can add {{request edit}} (including the brackets) to the section, which will alert other editors that someone needs assistance.

If this is a class assignment, there are a number of resources designed to help. The Wiki Education Foundation supports university-level classes, so the resources are designed with that group in mind, but they're freely available to anyone who wants to use them. The most succinct resource is probably the Editing Wikipedia handout. You can find others at this page, and there is interactive training built into the Programs and Events Dashboard, which you could also use as a class organizational tool.

It looks like the article we're talking about is Canton High School (Massachusetts), and I think I see the key problem. Basically, because of the core content policies "verifiability", "neutral point of view", and "no original research", the only content that should be added to any article should be based on what's been written in reliable sources independent of the subject. So aside from the most basic data about a school (grades served, location, etc.), if something isn't verifiable in sources like newspapers, magazines, books, journals, or reliable websites (excluding anything published or written by the school, district, etc. as well as most self-published sources like blogs or social media), it's probably not going to be considered significant enough to include (or, worse, would be considered overly promotional). It's important to include citations of those sources when adding content, too. This removal by Primefac, for example, looks to have removed several quotes from students. That's great for the school website, Facebook page, newsletter, etc. but even if they were taken straight from a reliable newspaper, it's not the sort of thing that's typically appropriate for an encyclopedia article, which would typically just include facts and significant perspectives about a subject.

I know all of this can be confusing, and perhaps a bit pedantic. :) A good formula for getting started on Wikipedia is to find sources about a subject first, extract a key point from the source, determine if it makes sense to include in the article, and if so, suggest the change, including the citation, on the talk page. After doing this a few times and seeing what kind of feedback you get from other users, it'll be easier to make the changes directly. Hope this helps! --Ryan (Wiki Ed) (talk) 17:50, 28 March 2017 (UTC)

Campus Ambassador application: Colalibrarian

Colalibrarian (talk · contribs)

1. Why do you want to be a Wikipedia Ambassador?

   Four years ago I was asked (as a librarian) to support a women's history class that required students to edit Wikipedia as a final assignment. It has been my favorite assignment to support and the class has run two times since (same topic each time). I would like to serve as an ambassador because I would like to expand my role in supporting Wikipedia on campus. I have already spoken to several faculty about ways Wikipedia could be integrated into class assignments (hoping to support at least one new class this fall) and have encouraged several of my colleagues to do the same. My hope is that by being an ambassador I will be able to more effectively continue my work with Wikipedia as my responsibility for supporting the tool will be more formalized.

   I believe that individuals who have ready access to robust information resources, as well as the technical ability to find information and work comfortably with Wikipedia's content, have a social responsibility to ensure the content on Wikipedia is thorough in its coverage and meets stated content guidelines and the five pillars, particularly in regards to verifiability and neutral point of view.

2. Where are you based, and which educational institution(s) do you plan to work with as a Campus Ambassador?

   Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in Rochester, NY

3. What is your academic and/or professional background?

   I have been the Liberal Arts Librarian/Liaison at RIT since 2011. I have my M.A. in Museum Studies and M.S. in Library & Information Science and have worked in various museums, archives, and special collections prior to my time at RIT.

4. In three sentences or less, summarize your prior experience with Wikimedia projects.

   I have supported three classes that have used Wikipedia edits as their final project (Fall 2013, Fall 2015, Fall 2016), as well as helped to plan and host a Wikipedia Edit-a-thon in honor of Women's History Month. I have also created training materials for students, attended two different workshops on teaching with Wikipedia, and plan to co-present at an upcoming librarian workshop on the benefits of using Wikipedia in the classroom.

5. What else should we know about you that is relevant to being a Wikipedia Ambassador?
   

   In the past I have considered applying to become an ambassador, but did not apply due to a lack of edit history. While I enjoy showing students how to use the tool (presenting in class, helping one-on-one, providing basic templates, etc.), I have not done much live editing myself. I still do not have an extensive edit history, but have started to do more on Wikipedia (even turning a stub into a more extensive entry) and plan to continue serving as an active editor. For our recent Wikipedia Edit-a-thon, I created most of our training material, hosted several training sessions, and served as a knowledge-source the day of the event. I am hoping this combined with my recent edit history will be considered as part of this application.

Discussion

Opportunity for publication for high-quality articles produced by WikiEdu

Hello members of WikiEdu,

When keen students set their minds to improving an article, the outputs can be of very high quality. For articles that are particularly improved, instructors may consider supporting their students' submission for academic peer review and publication in WikiJournal of Medicine. Feel free to contact me or the editorial board if you are interested, or have any questions. T.Shafee(Evo&Evo)^talk 05:21, 29 March 2017 (UTC)

Additionally, the WikiJournal of Science is just starting up under a similar model and looking for contributors. Firstly it is seeking editors to guide submissions through external academic peer review and format accepted articles. It is also encouraging submission of articles in the same format as Wiki.J.Med. If you're interested, please come and discuss the project on the journal's talk page, or the general discussion page for the WikiJournal User group.
T.Shafee(Evo&Evo)^talk 05:21, 29 March 2017 (UTC)

Student instructions for publishing a draft

Lately, I've noticed quite a few students are choosing the Wikipedia namespace when attempting to publish a draft. Even though this is not an uncommon mistake, it seems like a disproportionate number of the errors are made by students. I'm not familiar with the materials Wiki Ed puts out to students and instructors, but can someone verify that they do not imply students should do this? If the wording is fine, a note should be added to select "(article)" space when publishing. – Train2104 (t • c) 14:01, 6 April 2017 (UTC)

Train2104, I think you mean "(draft)" space - a lot of these articles need serious work (and some I've deleted have been nowhere near acceptable). Students should be sandboxing/drafting and then submitting for review (formally or informally, I'm not really fussed). Primefac (talk) 15:11, 6 April 2017 (UTC)

@Train2104: This is the relevant page of the training students work through: Move your page. Sometimes when it's actually time to move it, students might reference the Editing Wikipedia handout instead, in which case the relevant content is on page 13. Feedback on the wording is welcome, but it seems fairly clear to me. It's possible if you're seeing a bunch of this sort of error clustered together that they may be from the same class (sometimes one student or the instructor makes a mistake and everyone follows suit). @Primefac: I think Train2104 is talking about when students are trying to move out of their sandbox/draft into the mainspace. Sometimes this happens too soon, to be sure. In any of these cases, by all means bring it up here if you'd rather not intervene or if you notice a pattern (or for whatever other reason). Can also leave a message for the Content Expert working with the class (listed on the course page, which should be linked from every student's userpage and the talk pages of articles they work on). --Ryan (Wiki Ed) (talk) 16:32, 6 April 2017 (UTC)

The wording seems clear to me too. It's just a matter of students not reading instructions, then. I haven't noticed any consistent pattern in terms of everyone in a class doing it, it just seems like random students. I'll keep an eye on classes when I next see it though. – Train2104 (t • c) 18:31, 6 April 2017 (UTC)

It may also be useful to point students to WP:STUDENTS. --Tryptofish (talk) 21:13, 6 April 2017 (UTC)

Campus Ambassador application:Emefie

Emefie (talk · contribs)

1. Why do you want to be a Wikipedia Ambassador?

   I currently offer supports for Wikipedia and WikiEdu activities in a number of courses at my home institution, the University of British Columbia. As a librarian I believe I bring both the technical capabilities and the much needed connect to somewhat hidden (print, locked material) collections that could benefit Wikipedia entries. Additionally as an educator I am fully invested in authenticity in my instruction and in the activities of the students and faculty members I support. I provide a wealth of skills that I think would be useful as an ambassador.

2. Where are you based, and which educational institution(s) do you plan to work with as a Campus Ambassador?

   Vancouver, University of British Columbia but I have been providing support for Simon Fraser University, BCIT, and Kwantlen on a few occasions

3. What is your academic and/or professional background?

   I have an BA in Communications, a BEd, and a MLIS (Master of Library and Information Science)

4. In three sentences or less, summarize your prior experience with Wikimedia projects.

   I have assisted faculty in developing WikiEdu and Wikipedia based assignments. I have support and created Wikipedia edit-athons (4 in the last month alone). I work with strategists in our Centre for Teaching and Learning Technology in developing workshops and training sessions on the campus around Wikipedia in higher education, with a focus on course rejuvenation in the "student as producer" model and am an open education advocate in BC where I offer workshops and training sessions through BCcampus for faculty and educators interested in using Wikipedia and WikiEdu as a platform to promote open education practices.

5. What else should we know about you that is relevant to being a Wikipedia Ambassador?

   I am passionate about Wikipedia as it allows me, as a librarian, to engage in the discussion of information authority, fact-based content, plagiarism, and scholarship processes in an authentic real world way.

Discussion

Two misplaced pages

I'm not where these two pages should go, but I'm pretty sure this is not where they belong. Could someone please move them into a "standard" course location, if one exists locally?

• Wikipedia:Education Program:USF Environmental Law Project
• Wikipedia:Class: Instructional Psychology and Technology 692R, Brigham and Young University, spring 2016

– Train2104 (t • c) 06:03, 7 April 2017 (UTC)

@Train2104: It looks like Wikipedia:Education Program:USF Environmental Law Project duplicates content on User:Aarf613 (or vice versa), so Aarf613 may be fine to just delete it?

Pinging Peteforsyth about the second. --Ryan (Wiki Ed) (talk) 14:49, 7 April 2017 (UTC)

Campus Ambassador application: poorva2

Poorva2 (talk · contribs)

1. Why do you want to be a Wikipedia Ambassador?

   I initially looked up the programme information of curiosity, but as I read the job description, I intensely felt that this was something I wanted to be a part of. I enjoy working with people, and would welcome the opportunity to be a part of the ambassador team. I am extremely passionate about the work I undertake and I am motivated to deliver high-quality work. I believe that Wikipedia an excellent platform for my colleagues to voice their ideas and learn from other's portrayal of ideas and that is why I want to promote it.

2. Where are you based, and which educational institution(s) do you plan to work with as a Campus Ambassador?

   Manipal University, Manipal, Karnataka, India ^[1]

3. What is your academic and/or professional background?

   I am an enthusiastic medical student pursuing Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery at Manipal University

4. In three sentences or less, summarize your prior experience with Wikimedia projects.

   YOUR ANSWER (OPTIONAL)

5. What else should we know about you that is relevant to being a Wikipedia Ambassador?

   I have been a content writer for various organizations which has, to some extent, given me some exposure.

Discussion

• ^ "Manipal University".