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'''Eduzendium''' is ''Citizendium's'' educational outreach and partnership initiative.  Citizendium authors and editors who work with university programs or professors/instructors create research and writing projects for their students. We've simplified much of the article creation process so that students can concentrate on creating content. Your students become full citizens at CZ and are free to edit any editable article on CZ and are not limited to your Eduzendium projectTo date, ''The Citizendium'' has hosted eighteen university courses from 11 different universities world-wide.
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|[[CZ:Citizendium_Press_Releases/Jan242008|Eduzendium press release - January 24, 2008]]
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'''Eduzendium''' is a program in which the ''Citizendium'' partners with university programs throughout the world to create high-quality, English language entries for the ''Citizendium.'' [[User:Sorin Adam Matei|Dr. Sorin Adam Matei]], Associate Professor at Purdue University, is Academic Content Coordinator for the program. He works with and collaborates in making decisions with a small group of interested "Citizens" (''Citizendium'' members), in a sort of Eduzendium task-force[[User:Lee R. Berger|Dr. Lee Berger]], in particular, has taken the lead in giving advice to new instructors who have decided to use the ''Citizendium'' in their course work.


Note that [http://www.eduzendium.org/ eduzendium.org] redirects to this page!
If you have [[Special:RequestAccount|registered]] with Citizendium, you can [[CZ:Eduzendium/Create Course|start a page for your Eduzendium course here]].


==What does Eduzendium do?==
==About Eduzendium==
The ''Citizendium'' invites university instructors to include the crafting of a ''Citizendium'' article as an assignment.
University faculty can use the ''Eduzendium'' project as a platform for their students to write original articles as a course assignment.  ''Eduzendium'' has been designed to be extremely flexible and adaptable.  For the duration of an instructor's Eduzendium course, other CZ authors are asked to respect your students' articles as off limits for general editing.  This can create for your students a safe atmosphere where they can learn the mediawiki engine, the mechanics of article creation, and the joy of wiki-editing, without the added stress of defending edits before the community (as would be the case at other wiki sites).  Additionally, the CZ community is very friendly and helpful and always available (when we are here) to answer questions or offer advice when citizens post on our [[CZ:Talk Pages|talk pages]].


Our project is open for collaborative educational and knowledge generation initiatives with higher education institutions. We strongly believe in the necessity of inviting experts of all kinds to help us build our repository of knowledge.
Citizendium's ''Eduzendium'' Project does not have any grade-space; and given the confidentiality of the instructor-student assessment relationship, instructors are urged to keep all assessment data, including any assessment-related comments, private by ''not posting such comments on Citizendium''.  Remember, ''The Citizendium'' is a public space.


A distinct approach in this context is our policy of inviting the professors that teach and the students enrolled in advanced courses of the foundational/"fundamentals of" sort to help us seed or build up our entries with high-quality, clearly-argued and -written content. A pilot program involved major universities in the United States and abroad in late 2007, with good success. We hope the program will extend throughout universities in the English-speaking world.  
==Getting Started==
===Instructors===
When you are ready to set up an ''Eduzendium'' course project, you can set up some of the pages [[CZ:Eduzendium/Create Course|automagically here]] (Instructors must also have an account at CZ).


Philosophically, we believe that the individuals who struggle with the meaning of fundamental concepts on a daily basis make excellent authors and editors for entries on those concepts. Advanced foundational courses are an ideal site for recruiting such authors and editors because their primary goal is to redefine and communicate for each generation the meaning of the basic and essential issues of our knowledge world. Furthermore, the activity of these seminars is often directed at producing short and insightful papers about some basic concepts which might or might not be later transformed into more "formal" publications. We believe that opening up the ''Citizendium'' to collaborative work on specific topic to students and their professors offers them the opportunity to take their work to another, more socially consequential level, which enhances the educational process on the one hand, while helping the ''Citizendium'' to build its socially involved and expert friendly knowledge environment, on the other hand.
Once your course is created, instructors should:
# place a description of the set task on an ''Eduzendium'' course page (created during the course creation process) and complete the ''Eduzendium'' templates and pre-load pages;
# Specify an "end date" on the ''Eduzendium'' course page. After that date, the article(s) reserved for the course will be opened for general editing.
# You can reserve articles on which students may work by listing their titles on the ''Eduzendium'' course page.  Using the <nowiki>{{r_EZ| }}</nowiki> template will allow your students to start the article by the simple pushing of a button.  You should try to find new article topics for students to work on (ones that have not yet been created on CZ), or existing articles with an article status of 4 or 3 (import or stub).  Existing articles with a status of 2, 1, or Approved are too developed and CZ would prefer not to remove them from general editing.  Your students are free to edit any editable article on CZ and are not limited (by any CZ policy) to your ''Eduzendium'' project.
# The instructor should start those articles and place an ''Eduzendium'' template on the article's main page, closing the article for editing by anyone except those involved in the course.  Instructions for how to do this are found on your course page once you create your ''Eduzendium'' Course.


In brief, we encourage faculty to use the ''Citizendium'' as a platform for their students to write public entries about key terms pertaining to a number of disciplines.
The course instructor may set whatever specific guidance for the students is appropriate for that particular course. (For example, they may set a word limit, or require inclusion of figures, or specify a particular article structure, or number of references.) The task may either be ''formative'' (an exercise in developing skills in team work, literature research and presentation) or ''summative'' (for formal assessment). The page history will provide a record of every student's individual contribution. The talk page may be used for discussion amongst students and for feedback from the instructors.


==The collaborative process==
===Students===
In inviting the academic community to join us we are aware that we will be successful only to the degree we offer educators and students the opportunity to do what they ought to be doing: impart knowledge in an efficient way, with the added excitement, feedback, real life rewards of being part of the ''Citizendium.'' We are aware that the primary goal of the education process in academia is to transmit useful knowledge and to train students for success. The Eduzendium program is designed to be extremely flexible and adaptable to the needs of each professor and seminar member. It includes an array of possible collaborative arrangements and the actual editorial process will be shaped according to each seminar's policies.
In order for students to participate in CZ's ''Eduzendium'' project, they must [http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Special:RequestAccount register as ''Citizendium'' authors].  Registration requires that students abide by the [[CZ:Charter|Citizendium charter]] and community practices as authors;
# article content should not be offensive or derogatory, nor violate copyright law, including especially the use of any images;


A very simple and direct collaboration would be where the professor would takes the students to [http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Special:RequestAccount sign up] on the ''Citizendium'' and perform a certain amount of work or to intiate and actively collaborate on a specific entry. In other situations the professors can charge specific students to write specific entries, which can be evaluated and edited for content and style individually. Editorial changes can be operated by the professor, by a team designated by the professor or by his or her entire class. This can be done using our wiki platform, in which case the topic can be reserved and closed to public access for a limited period of time.  (You must ask, however, and make your intentions very clear.)  Professors and their students can obtain access to a specific namespace or wiki page, which will be editable and even readable only by them for a period of time (typically, until the assignments are finished). Conceivably, some seminar might decide to work on their topics completely outside the Citizendium technological flow and only provide the ''Citizendium'' with the best of their finished products; that would be fine as well.
==Some Citizendium articles that started as ''Eduzendium'' projects==
The following articles on the theme of appetite and obesity were originally written by '''University of Edinburgh''' undergraduate students working in groups of about 4 students:
{{rpl|Circadian rhythms and appetite}}
{{rpl|Energy balance in pregnancy and lactation}}
{{rpl|Evolution of appetite regulating systems}}
{{rpl|Glucostatic theory of appetite control}}
{{rpl|Melanocortins and appetite}}
{{rpl|Stress and appetite}}
{{rpl|Food reward}}
{{rpl|Gut-brain signalling}}
{{rpl|Diabesity}}
{{rpl|Genetics of obesity}}
{{rpl|Bariatric surgery}}
{{rpl|Drug treatments for obesity}}
{{rpl|Exercise and body weight}}
{{rpl|Health consequences of obesity}}


In a different scenario, the professor can assign the topics to the entire class, asking the members to work on them simultaneously and edit them during a period of time. He or she can intervene in the editorial process when and if needed. This, again, can be done inside or outside of the ''Citizendium'' process.
Other examples:
{{rpl|Music perception}}
{{rpl|Speech Recognition}}
{{rpl|Mashup}}


Finally, instructors can decide to work collaboratively on an existing topic in the public view and to assess the fruits of the collaboration through individual student reflection papers.  
==See also==
*[[:Category:Eduzendium|A list]] of courses already integrated in Citizendium
*[[CZ:Eduzendium Testimonials|Eduzendium Testimonials]] &mdash; Eduzendium instructors discuss their experiences here.
*[[CZ:Citizendium_Press_Releases/Jan242008|Eduzendium press release - January 24, 2008]]


In those scenarios in which the class works outside the ''Citizendium'' process, or within a closed ''Citizendium'' environment (such as an ''ad hoc'' namespace), the professor or the class can look over the final product and decide if they would like to vet the product and make it into an "approved" ''Citizendium'' article. The instructor can then propose the topic to the ''Citizendium'' editors for introduction in the editorial flow.  Note that it will always be possible to link to a specific version of an article, even after it has been edited.  Note that professors need not approve articles; some may not be approvable.
{{Initiatives}}


While ''Citizendium'' management gives a wide latitude to Eduzendium participants for purposes of choosing topics, professors may be asked not to choose articles that are currently undergoing active editing by ''Citizendium'' contributors.  This should still permit very wide latitude of topic choice.  Indeed, many course topics may not have any articles written at all.  (We would love for you to get us started!)
[[Category:Archived Pages]]
 
In essence, the Eduzendium program fosters real life conditions for collaborative intellectual projects within the participating seminars, which can result in a diversity of team (group) or individual projects. Instructors and students can get complete control over the degree and nature of the editorial process. Specifically, they can decide the nature of the assignments and the degree to which they will be completed in collaboration with other students or with the Citizendium community, the amount of work allocated to contributing ''Citizendium,'' the nature of the rewards and penalties to be used in assessing student work, and the quality standards of this work. Finally, they can decide if, how much and when their work can be officially published on Citizendium.
 
===Operational details===
Operationally, we now invite university instructors, particularly teaching graduate and upper-division courses, to register with Eduzendium.  Then:
 
* If they prefer to assign paper that will be incorporated in Eduzendium at the end of the education process, we will suggest the professor to do a quick survey of ''Citizendium'' articles and to submit a list of possible topics that are not actively developed by the ''Citizendium.'' At the end of the paper and grading process, students papers will be submitted to the ''Citizendium'' in an electronic format, either by direct posting by the student or by the professors, or by the Eduzendium coordinators.
 
* In the scenario in which professors would like to assign their students to collaborative among themselves on the ''Citizendium,'' they and their students will have to register with Citizendium and if necessary will be assigned specific user rights for a namespace or page. Then, the professors and their students propose a number of entries that they would like to write on. Again, as a broad strategic option they will be asked to choose new or undeveloped topics.
 
* In case the professors and the students prefer to work with the ''Citizendium'' community and do not mind being in the public eye during the editing process, they can also work on existing topics. The Academic Content Coordinator, Dr. Sorin Adam Matei, his graduate students enrolled in ''Citizendium,'' and the Eduzendium task-group members such as Dr. Lee Berger, can help the academic partners with training in using the medium, especially with respect to editing wiki pages and with staying within the [http://www.citizendium.org/fundamentals.html the editorial policies undergirding Citizendium.] During the training process it will be stressed that topics need to be neutral in tone, consistent, well-written, factually accurate, family-friendly, and should not include original research.  ''Please do'' let us know if you need such training.  No one has opted to use it yet, but we are willing.
 
==What are the educational benefits?==
Writing a high-quality encyclopedia article about a specific topic requires, and trains, a specific sort of effort or discipline.  Simply producing a suitably informative, but neutral, definition of a concept can require a great deal of thought.  Crafting a jumble of facts into a coherent narrative, which the ''Citizendium'' requires, is a difficult, but rewarding and educational task.  Furthermore, it practices a very useful scholarly skill to investigate and decide on what the most reliable bibliography items for an article are.
 
The educational benefits are plain if a student writes a general, neutral encyclopedia article on a topic, in addition to an opinionated paper about some special aspect of the topic.
 
==How to register==
If you are a professor and you would like to register your course in the Eduzendium program, please send mail to Dr. Sorin Matei, smatei@purdue.edu, and Dr. Lee Berger, Lee.berger@wits.ac.za, with information about yourself and your course.  In the process of getting you set up, we will encourage you to add your course to the list below and can help you choose a list of topics that your course will (temporarily) manage.  Our project is still small enough that it makes sense for topics can be chosen "on the fly" as well--for instance, students may suggest topics.  We do encourage you, however, to choose topics that are within the ''reasonable'' competence of your students.  As a rule of thumb, most of the articles your class produces should be serviceable and improveable--not simply in need of replacement.  Upper division and graduate courses often fit the bill.  "Freshman English," just for example, probably won't.
 
=Seminars that collaborate(d) with EDUZENDIUM=
 
[[CZ:Eduzendium Recruitment]]
 
== Fall 2007 ==
 
===Purdue University===
*[[CZ:COM632PurdueFall2007|COM 632 Online Interaction, Fall 2007]], instructor [[User:Sorin Adam Matei|Dr. Sorin Adam Matei]]
 
===East Carolina University===
*[[CZ:EDTC6020_ECU_FALL07|EDTC 6020 Principles of Instructional Design, Fall 2007]], instructor [[User:Ross A. Perkins|Dr. Ross A. Perkins]]
 
=== University of the Witwatersrand ===
*Graduate course about paleoanthropology, Fall 2007, instructor [[User:Lee R. Berger|Dr. Lee R. Berger]]
 
===West Virginia University===
* ''Nonprofit Management and the Third Sector'', Fall semester. Instructor [[User:Roger Lohmann|Dr. Roger Lohmann]]
 
== Winter/Spring 2008 ==
 
===University of Colorado===
* Anthro 4110 ''Human Evolutionary Biology'' - Spring 2008. instructor [[User:Matt Sponheimer|Dr. Matt Sponheimer]]
 
===Temple University===
* Finance - Spring 2008. Instructor [[User:Daniel Folkinshteyn|Daniel Folkinshteyn]]
 
{{initiatives}}

Latest revision as of 10:53, 14 February 2021

Eduzendium is Citizendium's educational outreach and partnership initiative. Citizendium authors and editors who work with university programs or professors/instructors create research and writing projects for their students. We've simplified much of the article creation process so that students can concentrate on creating content. Your students become full citizens at CZ and are free to edit any editable article on CZ and are not limited to your Eduzendium project. To date, The Citizendium has hosted eighteen university courses from 11 different universities world-wide.

If you have registered with Citizendium, you can start a page for your Eduzendium course here.

About Eduzendium

University faculty can use the Eduzendium project as a platform for their students to write original articles as a course assignment. Eduzendium has been designed to be extremely flexible and adaptable. For the duration of an instructor's Eduzendium course, other CZ authors are asked to respect your students' articles as off limits for general editing. This can create for your students a safe atmosphere where they can learn the mediawiki engine, the mechanics of article creation, and the joy of wiki-editing, without the added stress of defending edits before the community (as would be the case at other wiki sites). Additionally, the CZ community is very friendly and helpful and always available (when we are here) to answer questions or offer advice when citizens post on our talk pages.

Citizendium's Eduzendium Project does not have any grade-space; and given the confidentiality of the instructor-student assessment relationship, instructors are urged to keep all assessment data, including any assessment-related comments, private by not posting such comments on Citizendium. Remember, The Citizendium is a public space.

Getting Started

Instructors

When you are ready to set up an Eduzendium course project, you can set up some of the pages automagically here (Instructors must also have an account at CZ).

Once your course is created, instructors should:

  1. place a description of the set task on an Eduzendium course page (created during the course creation process) and complete the Eduzendium templates and pre-load pages;
  2. Specify an "end date" on the Eduzendium course page. After that date, the article(s) reserved for the course will be opened for general editing.
  3. You can reserve articles on which students may work by listing their titles on the Eduzendium course page. Using the {{r_EZ| }} template will allow your students to start the article by the simple pushing of a button. You should try to find new article topics for students to work on (ones that have not yet been created on CZ), or existing articles with an article status of 4 or 3 (import or stub). Existing articles with a status of 2, 1, or Approved are too developed and CZ would prefer not to remove them from general editing. Your students are free to edit any editable article on CZ and are not limited (by any CZ policy) to your Eduzendium project.
  4. The instructor should start those articles and place an Eduzendium template on the article's main page, closing the article for editing by anyone except those involved in the course. Instructions for how to do this are found on your course page once you create your Eduzendium Course.

The course instructor may set whatever specific guidance for the students is appropriate for that particular course. (For example, they may set a word limit, or require inclusion of figures, or specify a particular article structure, or number of references.) The task may either be formative (an exercise in developing skills in team work, literature research and presentation) or summative (for formal assessment). The page history will provide a record of every student's individual contribution. The talk page may be used for discussion amongst students and for feedback from the instructors.

Students

In order for students to participate in CZ's Eduzendium project, they must register as Citizendium authors. Registration requires that students abide by the Citizendium charter and community practices as authors;

  1. article content should not be offensive or derogatory, nor violate copyright law, including especially the use of any images;

Some Citizendium articles that started as Eduzendium projects

The following articles on the theme of appetite and obesity were originally written by University of Edinburgh undergraduate students working in groups of about 4 students:

Other examples:

  • Developing Article Music perception: The study of the neural mechanisms involved in people perceiving rhythms, melodies, harmonies and other musical features. [e]
  • Developed Article Speech Recognition: The ability to recognize and understand human speech, especially when done by computers. [e]
  • Developed Article Mashup: A data visualization created by combining data with multiple computer applications. [e]

See also


Citizendium Initiatives
Eduzendium | Featured Article | Recruitment | Subpages | Core Articles | Uncategorized pages |
Requested Articles | Feedback Requests | Wanted Articles

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