The Wonderful World of Wikis!
Contributors: Sara Boucher and Nicole Verbil
What are wikis?
- A wiki is a page or collection of web pages designed to enable anyone who accesses it to contribute or modify content.
- It is an online program that gives people information and is also easily editable.
- The best known wiki is Wikipedia!
Where do wikis come from?
- It comes from the Hawaiian word "Wiki Wiki," which means "fast."
- Ward Cunningham, who developed the first wikis in 1994, named them after a bus he took in Honolulu, called the WikiWiki
- Vannevar Bush thought of allowing users to "comment on and change one another's text," which Cunningham integrated into the Wiki format.
- Cunningham installed the first wiki on the internet domain on March 25, 1995.
How can it be used in the classroom?
- Teachers can create class wikis, which could possibly include class content, homework assignments, syllabus, and study guides.
- Students can use wikis to create research projects and present them to their class.
- Teachers can use wikis to keep in touch and collaborate with parents.
- Teachers can also choose to use them to keep in touch with the teachers and faculty within a school.
- They can also be used by teachers and students to collaborate with other schools and other teachers.
- Wikis can be used as a portfolio showcasing class projects.
- There are many, many endless uses for a wiki. Some other ideas are shown here!
How do you make a wiki?
- Log in to PBWiki with the invite key
- Click on the UNLV: Innovations (Grove) link
- Click the EDU 214E: Fall 2008 link
- Once you have reached your home screen, click the link for your presentation topic. A "new page" screen will come up.
- Click "Create New Page." This will bring you to your main editing page.
How can you edit your wiki?
- It is IMPORTANT to remember that only one person can edit a Wiki Page at a time!
- To add a document, click the "Attach File" link.
- To add an image, click "Insert Image" at the top of the edit screen.
- To insert a plug-in, like a YouTube video, click the "Insert Plugin" icon.
- To add a hyperlink, highlight the word you would like to make the link, then click the "Link" button at the top of the edit screen. From there, you enter the address of the page you would like to link to.
- All of the standard Word formatting is available for you to use as you edit your page. For example: bold, __underline__, italics, strikethrough
- Remember to save your work as often as possible! You don't want to lose any information!
Here's a video to help you understand a little more!
Here are some examples of wikis used for educational purposes!
http://schools.wikia.com/wiki/High_School_Online_Collaborative_Writing
http://wik.ed.uiuc.edu/index.php/Wiki_in_a_K-12_classroom
http://613signup.wikispaces.com/
http://studentguide1.wikispaces.com/home
http://www.pbwiki.com/content/education-firstweek?r=week1
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/wiki
http://www.youtube.com
http://c2.com/cgi/wiki
http://wiki.org/wiki.cgi?Whatiswiki
http://www.socialtext.net/medialiteracy/index.cgi?uses_for_wikis
http://wiki.binghamton.edu/index.php/A_brief_history_of_wikis
http://www.thwt.org/historywikis.html
Wiki_Powerpoint.ppt
Disclaimer: Not all wikis have accurate information, so when using a wiki for research, it is best to check with other sources to confirm the information found on a wiki.
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