-+WIKIS

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=What is a wiki?=

A wiki is a website which allows users to easily add, remove, or edit content. The best-known example is the collaborative encyclopedia Wikipedia.


 * Watch //Wikis in Plain English// by CommonCrafts, a simple and entertaining video about wikis.**

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=Wiki websites= You can start off by taking a tour of these wiki websites:

Wikispaces WetPaint PBwiki MediaWiki

=**Blogs vs. wikis** =

Both blogs and wikis have features in common, but there are differences as well. Let's take a look at them:

§ Blogs are updated daily or weekly and are published in chronological order. § Blog posts are usually followed by users’ comments. § One-to-many content. § Blogs may combine text, images, and links to other blogs, Web pages, etc. § Good for generating discussion and debate ||  || § Created and edited by multiple authors collaboratively. § Articles are updated as new information becomes available. § A wiki can host a blog, but not viceversa § Many-to-many communication <span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings; msobidifontfamily: Wingdings; msofareastfontfamily: Wingdings; msolist: Ignore;">§ Images, audio, video, other wiki pages and Web pages can be included <span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings; msobidifontfamily: Wingdings; msofareastfontfamily: Wingdings; msolist: Ignore;">§ <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Good for generating discussion, collaborative writing, etc || <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 90%;">Adapted from Wikipedia and WikiAnswers
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">**Blogs** ||  || **Wikis** ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 12pt; msobidifontfamily: Wingdings; msofareastfontfamily: Wingdings; msolist: Ignore;">§ Created by a single author.

= = =How to make the most of a class wiki= (Excerpted from 50 Ways to Use Wikis for a More Collaborative and Interactive Classroom)


 * Wikis are great tools for encouraging student participation, collaboration and interaction. Here are some ideas to use wikis with your students: **


 * ~ Virtual field trips **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">: Have your students research far away places they would like to go on a field trip, and get them to share images and information about the location.
 * ~ Study guides **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">: Ask students to create study guides for a specific part of the unit you’re studying.
 * ~ Glossary **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">: Get your class to create a glossary of terms they use and learn about in new units, adding definitions and images.
 * <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; msoansilanguage: EN-US;">~ Exam review **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">: Encourage students to share review notes and other helpful pieces of information on your classroom’s wiki.
 * <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; msoansilanguage: EN-US;">~ Peer review **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">: Allow students to draft their papers in a wiki, then ask other students to comment it.
 * <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; msoansilanguage: EN-US;">~ Student portfolios **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">: Assign portfolio pages to each of your students, and allow them to display and discuss their work.
 * <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; msoansilanguage: EN-US;">~ Correction competition **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">: You can post a document riddled with mistakes, then have students compete to see who can fix the most errors fastest.
 * <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; msoansilanguage: EN-US;">~ Peer editing **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">: Ask students to edit each others’ work for spelling, grammar, and facts based on a style guide or rules you’ve defined.
 * <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; msoansilanguage: EN-US;">~ Vocabulary lists **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">: Encourage students to submit words that they had trouble with, along with a dictionary entry.
 * <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; msoansilanguage: EN-US;">~ Get feedback **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">: Ask students to post comments on wiki pages.
 * <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; msoansilanguage: EN-US;">~ Share notes **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">: Let your students share their collective information so that everyone gets a better understanding of the subject.
 * <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; msoansilanguage: EN-US;">~ Fan clubs **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">: Start fan clubs for your students’ favorite figures from history and ask them to contribute their favorite quotes, photos, and other tidbits together.
 * <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; msoansilanguage: EN-US;">~ Track projects **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">: With wikis, it’s easy for students to see which tasks have been completed and which ones still need to be fulfilled.
 * <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; msoansilanguage: EN-US;">~ Multi-author story **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">: Start a creative writing unit, and get your students to write a short story together, each writing a small amount of the story.
 * <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; msoansilanguage: EN-US;">~ Choose your own adventure story **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">: A twist on the multi-author story could be a choose your own adventure story, where each student branches out into a different path.
 * <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; msoansilanguage: EN-US;">~ Share reviews **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">: Post articles for different movies, books, and TV shows, encouraging students to share what they thought about them.
 * <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; msoansilanguage: EN-US;">~ Literature circles **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">: Host a book club on your wiki where students are required to read the same book, then discuss it on the wiki.
 * <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; msoansilanguage: EN-US;">~ Classroom scrapbook **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">: Share news, photos, and current achievements in your classroom on a wiki page.
 * <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; msoansilanguage: EN-US;">~ Calendar **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">: Create a calendar on the wiki and encourage students to add their own personally important dates.
 * <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; msoansilanguage: EN-US;">~ Classroom newspaper **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">: Create your own news outlet on a wiki.
 * <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; msoansilanguage: EN-US;">~ Hall of fame **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">: Highlight students’ exceptional achievements on the wiki.
 * <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; msoansilanguage: EN-US;">~ Classroom policies **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">: Encourage students to draft rules and policies for the classroom.
 * <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; msoansilanguage: EN-US;">~ Local history **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">: Document historical buildings, events, and more from our community. You can ask students to perform interviews, and encourage parents and other adults to contribute their knowledge in the wiki.
 * <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; msoansilanguage: EN-US;">~ Share achievements **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">: Let parents log in to the wiki to see what their children have accomplished.

Articles and resources about educational wikis = = =Examples of educational wikis= Examples of educational wikis in Wikispaces Examples of educational wikis in WetPaint <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: ES; mso-no-proof: yes;">Collaborative writing Ideas for story-telling
 * You can also go to this link for further reading about educational wikis:**

=Creating a class wiki in Wikispaces= media type="custom" key="5446311"
 * Video tutorial on how to create your own wiki...as easy as ABC!**