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Wikispaces for TeachersA Guide to Using Them in Your Classroom

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Goals for Today• Introduce Wikis as an option for easy to

create and manage teacher websites.• Create your own Wiki account and start your

first wiki site.• Show basic editing and page creation. • Show basic management of wiki site.• Give you tools and resources necessary for

going forward on your own.• (Not a “click here” tutorial)

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What is a Wiki?• A webpage with an Edit button• Easy to use• Perfect for collaborative learning

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Why Wikispaces?

• The world’s easiest to use wiki

• No experience necessary. You are up and running in

minutes.

• Constantly bring you new and improved features

• Develop the product based on what you, our community,

wants.

• Highly-praised customer service

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What Our Users Are Saying“WOW!…I honestly thought my email to you guys was going to be a shout into the night like it is for most places - but then you responded right away… [Wikispaces] has become indispensable to what I do.”

-Matt Dilley

"Let me say how impressed I am with your service. It always amazes me that such an organization still has that personal touch.”

-Westley Field

"Since I set up a Wikispace for my classes I have received nothing but positive feedback from parents, students and other faculty members. I have found a new resource that is easily accessible by students and parents. It allows parents to find out what their son or daughter is doing in my courses. Thank you.”

- Blair Simms

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Why Bring It To The Classroom?

• Great motivator for students

• Easy to monitor

• Allows for creativity and innovation

• Encourages participation of all students

• Promotes communication between students, teachers,

and parents

• A new, interesting way to learn

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How Can I Use it in a Classroom?

• Simple websites

• Peer-reviewed projects

• Group projects

• Manage school and classroom documents

• Classroom discussion and debate

• Teacher collaboration

• Post classroom assignments

• Collaborate with an international classroom

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Getting Started…

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Wiki Terms• User Account: Your identity on Wikispaces, consisting of username,

password, and e-mail address• Space: A wiki on which you can collaborate• Page: Each space can consist of multiple pages

User Account

Space 1 Space 2 Space 3

Page 1 Page 2 Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 1 Page 2

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Wiki Terms Continued

Wikispaces has different permissions settings for your space• Public: Anyone can view or edit your Wikispace

• Protected: Anyone can view your space but only members can edit

• Private: Only members can view or edit your space

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Time for an Activity

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Activity

• Go to site:– http://www.wikispaces.com/site/for/teachers

• Create Wiki account:– User name– Password– Email– Make Wiki: yes (if you want to create your first Wiki)– Wiki Name (for example: BHS-Runyan)– Your website will become http://BHS-Runyan.wikispaces.com/– Wiki Permissions: Private (free for educators)– Educational Use: check

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Members

• Join a wiki:– Click My Wikis in upper right corner– In Find a Wiki, type bhs-wiki-workshop (should

automatically come up)– In upper left, click Join this Wiki and request

membership

• Membership request sent to your email by wiki creator:– Manage Wiki Invite People

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Creating Accounts for Students

• Two ways to get students to join your wiki– Option 1: Using students email to send them an

invitation• Select Manage Wiki on left vertical navigation• Select Invite People under People heading• Add student email addresses (up to 100)

– Option 2: User Created - You set up user name and passwords for your students

• Select Manage Wiki on left vertical navigation• Select User Creator under People heading• Follow directions to set up accounts.

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Editing Your Wiki• Click the Edit This Page button at the top of your wiki.

• Write the text you would like on your page.

• You can format it with bold, underline, italics, headings, and more.

• Once you are done editing, click Save.

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Adding Links on Your Wiki• Click Edit This Page.

• Highlight the text you would like to link and click on the earth icon in the toolbar.

• Another window will appear allowing you to create a link to another page in your space

or another website.

• Click Ok.

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Additional Resources for Teachers

• Wikispaces will create your student accounts for you!– http://www.wikispaces.com/help+teachers

• Check out our K-12 Educational Community at:– http://educationalwikis.wikispaces.com

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Adding Images to Your Wiki• Click Edit This Page.

• Click the icon that looks like a tree.

• Browse your computer for the image you would like and click Open.

• Upload the chosen picture or file.

• Place your cursor where you would like the image on the page.

• Double click the image or file to place it on the page.

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Adding Media to Your Wiki• Click Edit This Page.

• Go to the icon of the TV in the toolbar.

• Choose the type of object you’d like to embed.

• Follow the instructions for embedding each object.

• Click Save.

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Questions?

• Visit us:

http://www.wikispaces.com

• Email us:

help@wikispaces.com

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Thank You

grunyan@belchertown.org

http://bhs-wiki-workshop.wikispaces.com/