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Unit of study_

OLES2129: Writing for the Digital World

Semester 1, 2021 [Normal day] - Remote

In this unit you will learn to produce and publish knowledge to inform broad, general Wikipedia audiences around the globe. You will use html and a visual editing tool to edit articles, write across networks, negotiate various discourse communities, and contribute to and draw from creative commons resources while increasing the number of diverse voices that contribute to networked knowledge.

Unit details and rules

Unit code OLES2129
Academic unit
Credit points 6
Prohibitions
? 
None
Prerequisites
? 
None
Corequisites
? 
None
Assumed knowledge
? 

None

Available to study abroad and exchange students

Yes

Teaching staff

Coordinator Frances Di Lauro, frances.dilauro@sydney.edu.au
Guest lecturer(s) Jordan Church, jordan.church@sydney.edu.au
Tutor(s) Andrew Song, andrew.song@sydney.edu.au
Maryam Alavi Nia, maryam.alavinia@sydney.edu.au
Blythe Worthy, blythe.worthy@sydney.edu.au
Simon Liu, simon.liu@sydney.edu.au
Ryan Johnson, ryan.johnson@sydney.edu.au
Daniel Dixon, daniel.dixon@sydney.edu.au
Jessica Sun, jessica.sun@sydney.edu.au
Carrol Besseling, carrol.besseling@sydney.edu.au
Gabriel Lee, gabriel.lee@sydney.edu.au
Alexander Cubis, alexander.cubis@sydney.edu.au
Type Description Weight Due Length
Assignment Module 1A Quiz
Multiple Choice Quiz
10% Week 01
Due date: 08 Mar 2021 at 09:00
100 words
Outcomes assessed: LO2
Assignment Module 1B Quizzes (a) and (b)
Two quizzes, each worth 5%
10% Week 01
Due date: 08 Mar 2021 at 09:00
100 words combined
Outcomes assessed: LO2 LO3 LO4
Assignment Self-assessment / Reflection
Responses to questions
5% Week 02
Due date: 14 Mar 2021 at 23:00

Closing date: 15 Mar 2021
150 words
Outcomes assessed: LO3 LO4 LO5
Assignment Proposal, and Source Justification
Justification of topic choice and annotated bibliography using 5 sources
20% Week 03
Due date: 22 Mar 2021 at 09:00

Closing date: 09 Apr 2021
1000 words
Outcomes assessed: LO1 LO3 LO4 LO5
Assignment Peer-review
You will review a short article using a rubric to guide you.
5% Week 05
Due date: 10 Apr 2021 at 23:00

Closing date: 18 Apr 2021
150 words
Outcomes assessed: LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5
Assignment First Draft
1000 word draft to demonstrate readiness for writing on Wikipedia
20% Week 07
Due date: 23 Apr 2021 at 23:00

Closing date: 30 Apr 2021
1000 word
Outcomes assessed: LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5
Assignment Final article
This article includes your revised, first 1draft PLUS 1000 words, and media
30% Week 10
Due date: 17 May 2021 at 09:00

Closing date: 05 Jun 2021
2000
Outcomes assessed: LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6 LO7

Assessment summary

  • 1 x quiz – respond to multiple choice questions
  • 2 x quizes – respond to multiple choice questions
  • 1 x self-review – reflect on work completed
  • 1 x peer-review – evaluate short article extracts
  • 1 x proposal and source justification – justify choice of topic and at least 5 quality sources based on potential for creating a good quality article
  • 1 x first draft – demonstrate proficiency in writing, incorporating source material and organisating information
  • 1 x final article – edit, proofread and include media

Assessment criteria

The University awards common result grades, set out in the Coursework Policy 2014 (Schedule 1).

As a general guide, a High distinction indicates work of an exceptional standard, a Distinction a very high standard, a credit a good standard, and a pass an acceptable standard.

Result name

Mark range

Description

High distinction

85 - 100

Awarded when you demonstrate the learning outcomes for the unit at an exceptional standard, as defined by grade descriptors or exemplars outlined by your faculty or school.

Distinction

75 - 84

Awarded when you demonstrate the learning outcomes for the unit at a very high standard, as defined by grade descriptors or exemplars outlined by your faculty or school.

Credit

65 - 74

Awarded when you demonstrate the learning outcomes for the unit at a good standard, as defined by grade descriptors or exemplars outlined by your faculty or school

Pass

50 - 64

Awarded when you demonstrate the learning outcomes for the unit at an acceptable standard, as defined by grade descriptors or exemplars outlined by your faculty or school.

Fail

0 - 49

When you don’t meet the learning outcomes of the unit to a satisfactory standard.

For more information see sydney.edu.au/students/guide-to-grades

For more information see guide to grades.

Late submission

In accordance with University policy, these penalties apply when written work is submitted after 11:59pm on the due date:

  • Deduction of 5% of the maximum mark for each calendar day after the due date.
  • After ten calendar days late, a mark of zero will be awarded.

This unit has an exception to the standard University policy or supplementary information has been provided by the unit coordinator. This information is displayed below:

Late penalties may be excluded in exceptional cases.

Academic integrity

The Current Student website  provides information on academic integrity and the resources available to all students. The University expects students and staff to act ethically and honestly and will treat all allegations of academic integrity breaches seriously.  

We use similarity detection software to detect potential instances of plagiarism or other forms of academic integrity breach. If such matches indicate evidence of plagiarism or other forms of academic integrity breaches, your teacher is required to report your work for further investigation.

You may only use artificial intelligence and writing assistance tools in assessment tasks if you are permitted to by your unit coordinator, and if you do use them, you must also acknowledge this in your work, either in a footnote or an acknowledgement section.

Studiosity is permitted for postgraduate units unless otherwise indicated by the unit coordinator. The use of this service must be acknowledged in your submission.

Simple extensions

If you encounter a problem submitting your work on time, you may be able to apply for an extension of five calendar days through a simple extension.  The application process will be different depending on the type of assessment and extensions cannot be granted for some assessment types like exams.

Special consideration

If exceptional circumstances mean you can’t complete an assessment, you need consideration for a longer period of time, or if you have essential commitments which impact your performance in an assessment, you may be eligible for special consideration or special arrangements.

Special consideration applications will not be affected by a simple extension application.

Using AI responsibly

Co-created with students, AI in Education includes lots of helpful examples of how students use generative AI tools to support their learning. It explains how generative AI works, the different tools available and how to use them responsibly and productively.

WK Topic Learning activity Learning outcomes
Week 01 1. Online: Wikipedia Essentials & Editing Basics 2. Zoom workshop: training and activities Online class (3 hr) LO2 LO3 LO4
Week 02 1. Online: Encyclopaedic Writing & Research 2. Zoom workshop: Finding, evaluating and using sources Online class (3 hr) LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5
Week 03 1. Online: Integrity, copyright & plagiarism 2. Zoom workshop: Using sources to preserve your academic integrity Online class (3 hr) LO1 LO3 LO4 LO5
Week 04 1. Online: Intertextuality, hyperlinks and "present truth" 2. Zoom workshop: Writing a good quality or feature article? Online class (3 hr) LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5
Week 05 1. Writing your article - let's take the lead 2. Zoom workshop: Summary writing style Online class (3 hr) LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5
Week 06 1. Online: Projects and TOC (table of contents) 2. Zoom workshop: Quality and Scope Online class (3 hr) LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5
Week 07 1. Online: Finding, adding and using Images, photographs and other media legitimately 2. Zoom workshop: Adding media to Wikimedia Commons Online class (3 hr) LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5
Week 08 1. Online: GLAM (galleries, libraries, archives and museums) 2. Zoom workshop: Working with Templates Online class (3 hr) LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5
Week 09 1. Online: Tidying up loose ends: adding media, checking quality and removing tags 2, Zoom workshop: writing quality, tags and templates Online class (3 hr) LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5
Week 10 1. Online: "Perfection is not required" but why not aim for it? 2. Zoom workshop: Navigation and linking, Disambiguation and communicating on article talk pages Online class (3 hr) LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6
Week 11 1. Online: reading, writing, revising 2. Zoom discussion: final article, word documents, etc. Online class (3 hr) LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6
Week 12 1. Online: Final enhancements to your articles 2. Zoom workshop: Responding to editors and administrators on user talk pages. Online class (3 hr) LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6 LO7

Attendance and class requirements

Preparation: students should commit to spending approximately two hours’ preparation time (reading, studying, homework, essays, etc.) for every hour of scheduled instruction.

Attendance: Students are expected to attend 90% of scheduled classes.OLES2129 will be taught completely online in Semester 2, 2020 so “attendance” will be measured by

  1. completion of all online modules (approximately 2 hours asynchronously)
  2. attendance and participation in 1-hour online Zoom classes (synchronously)

If you are completing this unit from a country in a different time zone or with online restrictions, please contact the coordinator, Dr Frances Di Lauro, at frances.dilauro@sydney.edu.au.

Study commitment

Typically, there is a minimum expectation of 1.5-2 hours of student effort per week per credit point for units of study offered over a full semester. For a 6 credit point unit, this equates to roughly 120-150 hours of student effort in total.

Required readings

All reading material for OLES2129 is accessible through hyperlinks in the online lecture modules.

Learning outcomes are what students know, understand and are able to do on completion of a unit of study. They are aligned with the University's graduate qualities and are assessed as part of the curriculum.

At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:

  • LO1. demonstrate proficiency in research, ethics and persuasion
  • LO2. think critically and write for a broad audience
  • LO3. use visual editor software to edit or create online content
  • LO4. identify and complete projects that draw on the conventions of your disciplinary area or area of interest
  • LO5. research incrementally to build a comprehensive and substantial draft article
  • LO6. create and add material to, and draw from creative commons repositories
  • LO7. create a good quality article rated at start, C, B class or better

Graduate qualities

The graduate qualities are the qualities and skills that all University of Sydney graduates must demonstrate on successful completion of an award course. As a future Sydney graduate, the set of qualities have been designed to equip you for the contemporary world.

GQ1 Depth of disciplinary expertise

Deep disciplinary expertise is the ability to integrate and rigorously apply knowledge, understanding and skills of a recognised discipline defined by scholarly activity, as well as familiarity with evolving practice of the discipline.

GQ2 Critical thinking and problem solving

Critical thinking and problem solving are the questioning of ideas, evidence and assumptions in order to propose and evaluate hypotheses or alternative arguments before formulating a conclusion or a solution to an identified problem.

GQ3 Oral and written communication

Effective communication, in both oral and written form, is the clear exchange of meaning in a manner that is appropriate to audience and context.

GQ4 Information and digital literacy

Information and digital literacy is the ability to locate, interpret, evaluate, manage, adapt, integrate, create and convey information using appropriate resources, tools and strategies.

GQ5 Inventiveness

Generating novel ideas and solutions.

GQ6 Cultural competence

Cultural Competence is the ability to actively, ethically, respectfully, and successfully engage across and between cultures. In the Australian context, this includes and celebrates Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, knowledge systems, and a mature understanding of contemporary issues.

GQ7 Interdisciplinary effectiveness

Interdisciplinary effectiveness is the integration and synthesis of multiple viewpoints and practices, working effectively across disciplinary boundaries.

GQ8 Integrated professional, ethical, and personal identity

An integrated professional, ethical and personal identity is understanding the interaction between one’s personal and professional selves in an ethical context.

GQ9 Influence

Engaging others in a process, idea or vision.

Outcome map

Learning outcomes Graduate qualities
GQ1 GQ2 GQ3 GQ4 GQ5 GQ6 GQ7 GQ8 GQ9

This section outlines changes made to this unit following staff and student reviews.

We appreciate your feedback and are happy to receive it any time during the semester. Feedback received from students in response to the Unit of Study Survey at the end of Semester 1, 2020 prompted us to redesign the delivery of this unit - particularly in light of the change to fully online delivery due to the threats posed by COVID-19, we have broken up the 2-hour seminar. However, the total number of teaching hours has not changed. Each week, you will complete three (3) teaching hours as follows: • Two (2) hours of pre-recorded material comprising a lecture, readings and seminar material to prepare you for a workshop with your tutor. These are packaged in a Canvas module and will be released each Friday for the following week, and you are to complete this material asynchronously. • One (1) tutorial hour online via Zoom. Synchronous participation in your scheduled tutorial is compulsory. If you are studying from a country with a very different time zone, please let me know (frances.dilauro@sydney.edu.au) to make alternative arrangements. Another issue for some students in S2, 2020 was that they could not find enough sources for their chosen stub topic. In S2, 2020, our list included over 700 subjects. For Semester 1, 2021, we have created a list of more than 1000 topics, and we now allow students to find and suggest stub topics that are not on the list we provide. We will encourage students to explore available stubs in the first week to make sure they can find enough sources before selecting one. That feedback led us to another meaningful change to our schedule. Students are now encouraged to begin refining their articles from week 10, allowing them to observe responses and feedback from experts while there is still time to improve their articles before the final submission date.

Completion of all Canvas Modules in this unit is compulsory.

Attendance and participation in weekly online Zoom seminars are compulsory. If you live in a time zone that is not compatible with our scheduled tutorial times, contact frances.dilauro@sydney.edu.au immediately to make an alternative arrangement.

All assessments must be attempted.

Disclaimer

The University reserves the right to amend units of study or no longer offer certain units, including where there are low enrolment numbers.

To help you understand common terms that we use at the University, we offer an online glossary.