Guilford County Schools
Welcome to the Wonderful World of Wikis! Getting Started with Wikispaces in the Classroom
2011
Amy Todd,Instructional Technology Specialist
Contents: 1. What is a wiki? 2. What can I use a wiki for? 3. What does one look like? 4. Is this the most extensive wiki? 5. Where do I get one from? 6. Where do I start? 7. How do I join Wikispaces? 8. What happens next? 9. How can I change my wiki’s appearance? 10. What’s in the header? 11. As I add pages, how can I manually edit the navigation bar? 12. How do I share my wiki with others? 13. How do others join my wiki without an email/Wikispaces account? 14. Now that I have my members set up, how do I create projects for collaborative work? a) Adding members to a team b) Manage team c) Team permissions d) Navigating projects e) Finding teams and team pages f) Linking to another page in the same team g) Linking to a team page from the main area of the wiki h) Linking to a team page from another team page i) Linking to the wiki from a team page
j)
Linking to a team page from a completely separate wiki
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Welcome to the Wonderful World of Wikis! "Wiki-wiki" means "hurry quick" in Hawaiian. It also refers to a type of fish native to the islands. 1. What is a wiki? With a wiki you can create simple web pages that groups, friends, and families can edit and work on together.
2. What can I use a wiki for? A wiki is great for any kind of group website. It's for families, classrooms, sports teams, community groups, book clubs, fan clubs and more. • Students could create a wiki about their lab results • Teachers can collaborate on an information page about the Essential Standards • Students & teachers could create a glossary for terms. • Teachers can write/upload any lesson/unit plans. • Students research information about current careers in the content area & add to the wiki – could include pictures, videos, documents, and text. Have a look at http://www.wikispaces.com/examples for some of the ways in which wikis have been used.
3. What does one look like? Have a look at these examples of educational wikis.
4. Is this the most extensive wiki? If you want to see a really large collaborative wiki, have a look at www.wikipedia.com; it contains thousands of pages created and edited by users.
5. Where do I get one from? Wikispaces for teachers provides you with a wiki suitable for classroom use. It is advert free and you can customize the security settings so that you can decide who is allowed to view and edit your wiki space. You can also use wikispaces to create your own personal wiki. Instructions for both are on page 2. 6. Where do I start? Take a look at the video tour provided by Wikispaces, which will help you to get started in creating your own wiki or follow the notes on page 2. http://www.wikispaces.com/site/tour#introduction
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7. How do I join Wikispaces?
Sign up here: http://www.wikispaces.com/content/for/teachers
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8. What happens next? Once you’re signed up for an account & create a wiki, you need to edit the home page in order to make it personalized.
Page: Each wikispace may contain many pages. Each page is a single web page which can contain content and can link to other pages. Clicking the arrow on the Page tab will give you the following options:
Details and tags: Manage page tags and get a quick hit of the recent revision history for the page. Print: Generate a printer-friendly version of the content of this wiki page. PDF: Convert the current page into a PDF that preserves all your formatting. Backlinks: Get a list of all the other pages in the wiki that link to this one. Source: Switch to a wikitext view of the content area for the current page. Delete Rename: Change the name and URL of the current page. Not available on the Home page of your wiki. Redirect Permissions: Decide who can view and edit the current page. Lock/Unlock (A locked page is only editable by an organizer of the current wiki.) Discussion: Each page has its own discussion area to keep your discussions separate from your wiki pages. History: Each time someone edits a page, we take a visual snapshot of the changes so you can see in a glance how much has changed. Was it one line or the whole page? Click on 'history' at the top of any page to see all changes. Then click on the screenshot to the left of each entry to see a visual representation of the changes. You can also compare any two versions of a page by clicking "select" on one version of a page and then "select" on another. Wikispaces will keep every version of every page and make it easy for members to revert back to a previous copy. You'll never have to worry about losing changes or being stuck with a new version of a page if someone makes a mistake. Notify Me: You & your members/collaborators can get email notifications when page edits and/or discussions have occurred. It will send notification via your GCS Outlook.
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Edit: Each editable page on Wikispaces has an "edit" button at the top of the page. Click on the "Edit" tab to bring up the page editor. The page editor allows you to add text and pictures to a page and to format that page. On the next 2 pages of this guide, you will see an explanation of the toolbar that appears when you’re in edit mode. Most current toolbar that appears in edit mode:
Highlight text & click to make text BOLD
Highlight text & select to make text Italic
Highlight text & select to make text Underlined
Highlight text & select to change font type, color, & alignment
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Select to add numbers to text
Highlight text & choose font style
Select to add bullets to text
Select to add a horizontal line ________________
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Click to add a web link: Wiki link: a wiki page you’ve already created External link: any web URL
Click to upload files from your computer (docs, ppts, pdfs, jpgs, & small audio/video files). Once uploaded, click to embed into your wiki.
Click to undo/ redo changes
Click to preview your page
Click to insert a basic table, with as many columns & rows as you’d like. NOTE: You can’t add rows & columns to that table after you insert it. You have to insert a new table.
Click to save your page & leave edit mode
Click to cancel the changes to your page & leave edit mode
Click to embed html code. In another application, copy the embed code. Paste the code in the box in “Other HTML” under “Widget” in the toolbar.
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9. How can I change my wiki’s appearance? When you’re signed in, you will see the navigator on the left:
Click to add a new page to your wiki. You can add as many pages as you’d like. Click to manage your wiki (appearance, permissions, settings, etc.)
Click to view changes to your wiki, compare versions, & revert to older versions.
Click on “Manage Wiki” to see the wikispace options:
Click on “Look & Feel” to change the theme/color of your wiki. Amy Neaves Todd, Instructional Technology Specialist
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Click on “Themes and Colors”:
Select the options you want, preview, & then click “Apply”:
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10. What’s in the header? When you’re signed in, you will see on the left:
Logo and wiki name: By default, your wiki will start out with the Wikispaces bonsai logo and the name of your wiki. You can change the logo by going to “Manage Wiki ,” “Look and Feel,” & then “Logo.” Once you have switched to a custom logo, your wiki name will no longer appear, so we recommend that you put the name of your wiki in the logo image.
On the right, you will see:
Username: Link back to your user dashboard. My Wikis: Navigate between any wikis that list you as a member. Mail icon: Find out when other users have sent you messages and link easily to your Wikispaces inbox. My Account: Go to your Account Settings page. Help: Launch the Help wiki in a new window. Sign out Wikispaces link: Link back to your user dashboard if you're logged in, and the Wikispaces.com home page if you're not. 11. As I add pages, how can I manually edit the navigation bar? When you’re signed in, you will see “Edit Navigation” at the bottom of your navigation bar. Click on that to get into edit mode. For more info on the navigation bar, click here. 12. How do I share my wiki with others? Copy & paste the link to your wiki into an email invitation if you’ve set it to public. If it’s private or protected, others will need to click “Join the Wiki” to become members. You can set “Permissions” under “Manage Wiki.”
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13. How do others join my wiki without an email/Wikispaces account? Once you’re registered for a wikispace, you can create 100 student accounts at a time. You will not need to provide email addresses for your students when you use the User Creator Tool: 1. Select “Manage Wiki”.
2. Under “People”, select “User Creator”.
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3. Choose the wiki to which you would like to add the users. Enter your list of users as text, or upload an Excel or .csv file with usernames and passwords. Email addresses aren't required to create accounts. Keep in mind that every Wikispaces username must be unique. Try using numbers, or initials, or a first name-last name combination to create unique usernames.
Example of Step 1: Getting Startedďƒ Enter your user list
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Example of Step 2: Set upďƒ columns & options:
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Example of Step 3: Verificationďƒ Double-check data
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Example of Step 4: Confirmation All done!
4. The User Creator will guide you through the process of setting up your accounts. If you have any questions, send the helpdesk an email at help@wikispaces.com . Note: If you have more than 100 students, just go through the User Creator process with different lists of 100 names. 14. Now that I have my members set up, how do I create projects for collaborative work? Projects is a new feature of Wikispaces that allows you to assign group projects to be completed on individual team pages. This makes it much easier to manage your wiki for student work! Only wiki organizers can create new projects and assign teams. Here’s how to set up projects & teams (from http://help.wikispaces.com/projects): a) Go to Projects in the navigation menu. b) Give your project a Name. Like page names, project names must be unique. If you expect that you’ll be creating several similar projects, consider adding numbers to your project name. For example, the August biology unit might be biology-08. c) Decide how your teams will be defined: o Name the teams now and add members later o Upload a spreadsheet with usernames and team names o Randomly assign members to teams of a set size o Use an existing project as a template Amy Neaves Todd, Instructional Technology Specialist
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No matter how you assign teams, you will be able to rearrange them later, if you wish. You can even rearrange team memberships when the project is active. d) Set default team permissions for this project. You will be able to adjust individual team permissions later: o Public to wiki: All wiki members can view and edit pages o Protected to wiki: All wiki members can view pages, but only members of this team can edit pages o Private: Only members of this team can view and edit pages o Custom: Define custom permissions Note: Custom team permissions overrule wiki permissions. For example, if your wiki is set to private, but your custom team settings include "Everyone can view pages," even people without membership to your private wiki will have access to pages on that team. Custom team permissions do not overrule Private Label site settings.
e) Click Create. f) If desired, rearrange your teams and customize team permissions. As organizer, you and any other organizers on your wiki will be considered team leaders of all teams. You will not appear on the member list for any individual team, but you will have access to all teams and team pages.
Adding members to a team If you chose to define your own teams while you were creating a project, you will need to add members to your teams manually. Just follow the steps above to create your new project. Once you've clicked the Create button, you can drag and drop members from the list into the teams you would like. To assign multiple members at once, check the boxes next to their names, then drag them into the correct team. To move members between teams, just drag their names into the appropriate team field. To delete a member from a team, click the x next to their name. Amy Neaves Todd, Instructional Technology Specialist
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You can also rearrange team members in an existing project: 1. Go to Projects in the navigation menu. 2. Find the project associated with the team whose permissions you would like to change. Click on the correct project name in the list. 3. Drag and drop members from the list into the teams you would like. To assign multiple members at once, check the boxes next to their names, then drag them into the correct team. To move members between teams, just drag their names into the appropriate team field. To delete a member from a team, click the x next to their name.
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Manage team Once you’re on a team page, the Manage Wiki link in the action menu will change into a Manage Team link. From here, you can see the team members and manage your team.
Pages will give you a list of links to all the pages in the team, along with their tags and history. Wiki organizers will also be able to Lock, Unlock, or Delete pages, as well as manage page Tags in bulk. Files will let you see all the files in the team, along with their tags, history, and size. Wiki organizers will also be able to Delete files and manage file Tags in bulk. Tags lets you manage the tags associated with pages and files in this team. Templates lets you create and manage page templates for the team. Recycle Bin is accessible only to wiki organizers, and lets you restore any pages deleted from the team in the last 30 days. Notification lets you set up your monitoring for this team. Web Folders gives you the information you need to manage team pages and files through WebDAV.
Team permissions Take a video tour of team permissions. When you create a project, you will set default permissions for all the teams on that project. But as time goes on, these needs may change. Maybe one team is ready to publish their work earlier than others, or maybe different teams have project components that need to be released in a particular order. Whatever the reason, you can change them at any time: 1. Go to Projects in the action menu. 2. Find the project associated with the team whose permissions you would like to change. Click on the correct project name in the list. 3. Click on the permissions link for the team you would like to modify. 4. Change the permissions as you need: o Public to wiki: All wiki members can view and edit pages o Protected to wiki: All wiki members can view pages, but only members of this team can edit pages o Private: Only members of this team can view and edit pages o Custom: Define custom permissions Note: Custom team permissions overrule wiki permissions. For example, if your wiki is set to private, but your custom team settings include "Everyone can view pages," even people without membership to your private wiki will have access to pages on that team. Custom team permissions do not overrule Private Label site settings. 5. Click Update.
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Navigating projects Take a video tour of project navigation. If you are logged in as an organizer, you will see the Projects icon in your action menu, whether you currently have any projects or not. You will only see projects listed under that icon when you are currently viewing a page within that team. Non-organizer members of your wiki will only see the Projects icon after they have been added to a team in a project. From then on, they will always see a list of all their assigned teams under the Projects icon in the action menu. Clicking on any of these links will take them to the home page for that team.
Finding teams and team pages 1. Go to Projects in the action menu. 2. Find the project you’re looking for on the list. Under that project name, click on the link for the team you’re interested in. This will take you to the home page for that team, and the team name will appear with a highlight under Projects in your action menu.. 3. Click Manage Team in the action menu. 4. Under Content, click Pages. 5. Go to the page you want.
Linking to another page in the same team This works just like linking to another page in the same wiki normally does: 1. Highlight the text or image that you would like to make into a link. 2. Select the Link icon from the editor toolbar. 3. If there already is a page in your wiki named with the highlighted text, you will see the green check-mark in the Page Name field. If this is not the case, start typing the name of the page you would like to link to into to the Page Name field. You can either type the full name or choose it from the dropdown. 4. Click the Add Link button. 5. Save the wiki page.
Linking to a team page from the main area of the wiki 1. 2. 3. 4.
Highlight the text or image that you would like to make into a link. Select the Link icon from the editor toolbar. Go to the Page Name field and select Enter a page name... Start typing in the page name, then select the correct page from the dropdown list. Team pages appear with the format project name / team name / page name, separated by slashes. It will look something like this: /geography unit/blue team/goals. Be sure to provide all three elements in the correct order, separated by slashes. Otherwise you might end up with a link to a page on the wrong team, or a link to a page that does not exist yet. 5. Click the Add Link button. 6. Save the wiki page.
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Linking to a team page from another team page 1. 2. 3. 4.
Highlight the text or image that you would like to make into a link. Select the Link icon from the editor toolbar. Go to the Page Name field and select Enter a page name... Start typing in the page name, & then, select the correct page from the dropdown list. Team pages appear with the format project name / team name / page name, separated by slashes. It will look something like this: /geography unit/blue team/goals. Be sure to provide all three elements in the correct order, separated by slashes. Otherwise you might end up with a link to a page on the wrong team, or a link to a page that does not exist yet. 5. Click the Add Link button. 6. Save the wiki page.
Linking to the wiki from a team page 1. 2. 3. 4.
Highlight the text or image that you would like to make into a link. Select the Link icon from the editor toolbar. Go to the Page Name field and select Enter a page name... Start typing in the page name. From the list, select the option that gives a slash, followed by the page name. It will look something like this: /home. Be sure to include the slash, or you will be linking to a page within the same team. 5. Click the Add Link button. 6. Save the wiki page.
Linking to a team page from a completely separate wiki 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Highlight the text or image that you would like to make into a link. Select the Link icon from the editor toolbar. Go to the Wiki field and enter the name of the wiki you would like to link to. Go to the Page Name field and select Enter a page name... # Start typing in the page name, then select the correct page from the dropdown list. Team pages appear with the format project name / team name / page name, separated by slashes. It will look something like this: /geography unit/blue team/goals. Be sure to provide all three elements in the correct order, separated by slashes. Otherwise you might end up with a link to a page on the wrong team, or a link to a page that does not exist yet. 6. Click the Add Link button. 7. Save the wiki page.
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