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Assignment: Development Wiki
95 points

Due:

• Pair Request: July 1
• Team Contract: July 10
• Page creation: July 17
• Outline: July 22
• Final Wiki page, team member evaluation and reflection: August 4
• Evaluation of two other wikis: August 8

[print version - pdf]

Students will work in pairs to create a Wiki-page discussing the effects of development on an indigenous group from an anthropological perspective. This assignment is designed to allow students to delve more deeply into the topics studied by cultural anthropologists as well as learn more about indigenous cultures from around the world.

Mechanics

1. Fill out the Pair Request form.
2. Contact your partner as soon as you receive the email from me with that person's name and email address.
3. Create a Team Contract. Once you have read through the complete instructions, develop a contract that addresses team member conduct, responsibility, and/or roles. One person should be responsible for typing up and emailing me a copy of the contract. Each team member should have a copy. A good contract will include, but isn’t limited to the following:
• How will you communicate? Each team will have its own discussion board, chat room, and file sharing area. Click on Teams in the navigation menu to access. You can also easily email your team members from the Team areas.
• How often will you be expected to check for updates from your team members?
• Will there be a permanent team leader or will this task be rotated in some way?
• Who will be assigned to turn in the required paperwork?
• What will be your team’s policy on, if any, absences and covering for one another if need be?
• What policy will you have in place to resolve any intragroup conflict that may arise? You may use me—your instructor—as a higher court of appeals (I will always be happy to moderate and intervene, but you will first be expected to document for me that you implemented your initial conflict resolution plans per your contract).
• Please note that your project will not be graded unless I have a copy of your contract on file.
4. Choose an indigenous people to study. You can approach this a couple of different ways. You may want to choose by region or problem. One of the things you must do as part of the assignment is locate a non-governmental organization (NGO) that is working to assist the people. Sometimes it is easier to locate the NGO first and then see which peoples they are working with. Either way it is up to you and your partner. Our librarian, Katie Whitson, has created a guide that can help you get started: http://library.uwb.edu/guides/Anthro202Wtr2008.html. The Human Relations Area Files is a good database and can be browsed by region. Ethnic News Watch can also be helpful as it contains news sources created by and for indigenous peoples.
5. Once you have chosen a people, go to the Cultural Anthropology wiki at Wetpaint. Join the wiki.
6. After creating your account, one of your pair needs to create a page to develop. Click on the link Profiles of Indigenous Cultures in the left-side navigation menu.
7. Click Add Page also in the left-side navigation menu. A small window will pop up - fill in the required information and Add Page. You are now ready to begin creating your wiki page.
8. An outline of your page should be created by July 22-you can either create an outline on your wiki page or type it up and email it to me.
9. Each student is required to complete a team member evaluation. This will be emailed to you later in the quarter as it will be based on your contract.
10. Each student will write a reflection on what they learned and the assignment process. Are there any correlates between the experience of the people you studied and your personal experience/knowledge.
11. Each student will evaluate two other teams' wikis. Evaluation form will be available later in the quarter.

Required information in your wiki:

• short history of the people
• where the people live (a map would be nice to include--don't forget to cite where you found the map)
• issues of development--what development is occurring and how is it affecting the people--remember this is an anthropology class, so you want to think in anthropological terms
• NGO(s) that are working with the people
• Works Cited; Graphics Cited 

Works Cited Requirements:

• citations formatted using Chicago Style
• at least three scholarly, anthropological resources
• at least one recent source (2002-present) [this can also be one of your anthropological sources]
• only two credible web sites can be used (this does not apply to sources found through the UWB library site)--thinks CARS
• Wikipedia cannot be used

Assessment

Learn Actively: 15 points

• recognize key elements of human culture and have a basic understanding of fundamental cultural anthropology concepts: anthropological concepts present and used correctly
• have researched and educated your classmates about an indigenous culture:wiki contains enough information to give an overview and provides sources that can be used for further information
• have delved into discipline-specific databases and explored a variety of library resources: used at least three anthropological scholarly sources; other works cited guidelines followed

Communicate with Clarity and Originality: 15 points

• have begun to develop or improve your communication skills: creative wiki page that clearly relates information
• be able to clearly express your thoughts about human culture and adaptive processes: statements are worded succinctly and concisely; information is presented in logical manner; all required information present; clearly states relationship between development activities and the people's culture
• know how to properly cite sources and provide complete citations for sources: in text citations used; citations provided in the Chicago Style; graphics citations included

Think Critically, Creatively, and Reflectively: 25 points

• understand how to look at culture at various levels (individual, community, national) and from an anthropological perspective: relationship between development and national interests to the indigenous peoples clearly identified
• be able to assess the interaction of culture, biology, and environment: culture change, biological effects, and both natural and cultural environment issues addressed if appropriate
• have learned to assess anthropological information in general and scholarly sources:during research process identifies scholarly sources; web sites used are credible
• understand that while there are various ways of being human and we are each unique, we also share basic commonalities of experience and living: reflection indicates ability to make connections of experience

Interact in Diverse and Complex Environments: 40 points

• have works on your cooperative and verbal skills through team work: team member evaluation indicates full and responsible participation

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