Wikispaces for Teachers
An Online Resource for School and Homeschool Teachers and Students
Jan 8, 2009
In their book, The Wiki Way: Quick Collaboration on the Web [Addison-Wesley, 2001], Ward Cunningham and Bo Leuf describe a wiki as "essentially a database for creating, browsing, and searching through information" that "seeks to involve the visitor in an ongoing process of creation and collaboration that constantly changes the Web site landscape."
Wikis are used to create private and public collaborative community knowledge bases. One of the most widely-known wikis, Wikipedia, is an encyclopedia that anyone can contribute to or edit. Wikispaces.com is a wiki site that gives free ad-free wikis to educators.
Wikispaces provides teachers and students with an online tool that allows students to easily work together and contribute to collaborative learning projects while teachers monitor and interact with students as they work. It also allows teachers to easily communicate with parents.
Wikispaces accounts can be set up as public, protected, or private. Public wikis can be viewed and edited by anyone. Protected wikis can be viewed by anyone but edited only by invited members. Private wikis can be viewed and edited only by invited members.
Wikispaces wikis are created using a built-in visual editor resembling simple word processing software. Overall themes, colors, and other customizable settings are easily selected using wiki management pages.
Wiki Uses for Students
- Work together on collaborative projects.
- Share study guides and other resources and information.
- Receive homework assignments.
- Submit questions to the teacher.
- Use as an online graffiti space for personal expression.
Wiki Uses for Teachers
- Monitor and interact with students while they work.
- Post assignments.
- Create lists of online resources with active links.
- Create study sheets.
- Collaborate with teachers and students from anywhere in the world.
- Create FAQ (frequently asked questions) pages.
- Communicate with parents.
Educational Wiki Tutorials and Resources
Wikispaces.com presents periodic Education Webinars that show educators how to set up and get started using an educational wiki.
The TeachersFirst Wiki Walk-Through provides a tutorial of the basics of wiki creation and use as well as ideas for how to use wikis for teaching.
EduWikis is a wiki that provides articles and resources that describe how to use wikis in education as well as a list of existing educational wikis. EduWiki is, of course, a collaborative work-in-progress accepting contributions from teachers and students.
Wikis provide educational communities with a convenient and easy to use online tool that allows teachers, students, and even parents to communicate and share information while working together on projects. Wikispaces even allow collaboration between teachers and students from all over the world.
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