User talk:Dbzam

Nice work!

The WikiCookie
You've learned how to use basic wikicode in your sandbox. You can always return there to experiment more.

Posted automatically via sandbox guided tour. Dbzam (talk) 18:48, 9 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Teaching with Wikipedia

My pleasure, let me know if I can be of any help as you work through the process! Medmyco (talk) 23:32, 9 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

General Chat

It's wonderful to see you on Wikipedia! I look forward to editing pages on bioinorganics in the future. All the best, Czeer (talk) 16:38, 15 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Dbzam, you are invited to the Teahouse!

Teahouse logo

Hi Dbzam! Thanks for contributing to Wikipedia. Come join other new editors at the Teahouse! The Teahouse is a space where new editors can get help from other new editors. These editors have also just begun editing Wikipedia; they may have had similar experiences as you. Come share your experiences, ask questions, and get advice from your peers. I hope to see you there! Ushau97 (I'm a Teahouse host)

Visit the Teahouse
This message was delivered automatically by your robot friend, HostBot (talk) 16:08, 10 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Welcome but be careful

Dear Dbzam: The Wikipedia experience can be a very positive contribution to your students' education, so we look forward to their efforts. We have had both positive and awful experience with professors and Wikipedia. Here is some advice:

  • The quality of your students's experience is correlated with your effort. Even the brightest students are naive with respect to writing and the science.
  • In graphics, avoid words and avoid numbering compounds. Graphics are shopped around and are used in many language Wiki's - numbering and English interferes with this flexibility.
  • For references, follow WP:SECONDARY - stick to books and reviews. Students love to show off their ability to cite journals, but journal citations are not the preferred style (also students dont really have perspective to select primary literature). In the case of Ni-containing enzymes, many reviews and even books exist.
  • Editors (me, you, or your students) do not own articles that we edit, so we all can expect occasional edits or even removal of our work. A lot of student content is routinely removed.

Again, good luck. I have had students edit for many years on Wikipedia, it can be a satisfying experience but it takes work.--Smokefoot (talk) 03:52, 12 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

If you are new to this Wikipedia, here is my advice: start modestly. My greatest mistake as an instructor using Wikipedia was to "let them loose" = give them a big topic and walk away hoping somehow that the warm and fuzzy world of Wikipedia would be self-instructive. Instead you'll get garbage. It is humiliating what students will do in your name. More advice:
  • In my class, the students were encouraged to collaborate in teams of 2-3. That way I only needed to keep track of fewer contributions. They liked the idea of collaboration too. Yes, the grading was less targeted but the experience was good for them
  • I also did not let them start writing until they showed me the review or books upon which they will write their contribution. I often provided such sources, since they dont know the area. Otherwise they grab whatever comes up on a Google search. They also tend to cite really narrow journals. Students, a little like young faculty, dont realize that tens of thousands of papers appear annually in chemistry alone (e.g., JPhysChem publishes 45000 pages annually).
  • Get some practice editing yourself. Just revise some trivial wording in a random chemistry article to learn the cycle of edit, edit summary, and "watching" an article. "Revert" your own edit to observe that effect. Heavier duty edits might include citing your favorite book or review (avoid citing yourself). maybe in bioinorganic or Bioorganometallic chemistry.--Smokefoot (talk) 14:53, 12 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for letting me know!

I think I had gone through the whole tutorial but forgot to fill out the last bit. Thanks again! --Eprince93 (talk) 17:01, 22 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Assignment

I was wondering if you could check if I did everything necessary. Sohn.philip (talk) 01:07, 23 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Student Orientation

Dear Dbzam, Could you check my student orientation completion again? I went through it a second time, so I guess for some reason it didn't save my record of completing it (I hit the barnstar button at the end of last time too). Thanks, AvatarAang94 (talk) 01:15, 23 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]


Assignment

@Dbzam: Hello Dbzam, I have added the course website link to my user page, and will continue to make it more populated. I was wondering if you had the time to check that I have completed the requirements for January 23rd. Harris.qureshi (talk) 01:30, 23 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Dbzam!

Just testing how to use and interact on the talk pages. I'm one of those shy students who doesn't know anybody in the class haha hope you don't mind :) I'm looking forward to learning how to expand Wikipedia and I think I'm already getting used to using Wikicode!


Mahsa.Shahi (talk) 09:36, 23 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Near Finalized Wikipedia Article

Hi Professor Zamble,

content-wise I think my wikipedia page is not going to get major revisions until after the due date so I was wondering if you had any constructive criticism for my current sandboxed wikipedia page. My only note would be that I am creating pictures for the active site on chemdraw so other than that.

Sohn.philip (talk) 01:35, 6 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

References and Pictures

Dear Dbzam, I have a couple questions about my Wikipedia page. First, for some strange reason my references aren't showing up in the references section. Instead they've been replaced by a "^" symbol. Not sure if that means that they're incorrectly formatted or if its normal for it to do that? My second question is about uploading pictures to my page. I intend to upload two pictures; the first is a PDB file of cadmium carbonic anhydrase, and the second is a ChemDraw file of the ligands bound directly to cadmium in the active site. Would I be correct in saying that the PDB file is classified as "Fair Use" while the ChemDraw file is classified as "Free Work?" Thanks AvatarAang94 (talk) 23:00, 9 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

The issue with my references has been resolved. AvatarAang94 (talk) 00:32, 10 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

And we're live!

Hi Dbzam,

Just a heads— my calprotectin article and LacMJ's ATOX1 article have gone live.

Exciting!

Czeer (talk) 15:30, 15 April 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you, come back! :-)

Dear prof,

I truly admire your approach to "teaching with wikipedia". Needs a lot of courage. Just to let you know that we miss you. Please don't give up!

(saw that you were around the paper and papermaking corners of this wild wood, let's see you again!)

YamaPlos talk 21:17, 3 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]