Teacher Librarian Professional Development Day

November 2009

18/11/09 2

Overview

1. What is a Wiki?2. In the classroom3. How to create a Wiki?4. Things to consider.5. How to protect yourself?6. Obstacles to expect7. How to unblock with DET8. Hands on – Create a wiki9. Practical ideas for the classroom

18/11/09 3

What is a Wiki?

• A webpage that you can edit, is easy to use and is perfect for collaborative learning.

• Video Cliphttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dnL00TdmLY&feature=fvst

18/11/09 4

In the classroom.

• Use Wiki’s as a tool to enhance learning.• Don’t use in isolation.• Make it relevant to what is being taught in

class.• They are a great motivator.• Easy to monitor.• Allows for creativity and innovation.• Encourages participation.• Promotes communication between

students.• A new, interesting way to learn.

18/11/09 5

How to create a Wiki

• Go to wikispaces.com• Create an account.• Fill in details to getStarted.- Username (letters and numbers no

spaces).- Password- Email (use DET email)• Sign Out• Check Email to confirm

18/11/09 6

Cont• Go back to wikispaces.com• Sign in• Click create wiki now• Wiki name (NO SPACES allowed – use

hyphens. 3-32 characters long).

• Private

• Wiki type (Education)

• Create

18/11/09 7

Things to Consider• Before you start your wiki with your class(es), make

some basic decisions:• How do you envision using the wiki? ( How will you explain

it to parents and administration?)• Who will be able to see the wiki? (members only?) • Who will be able to edit the wiki? (members only?) • Who will be able to join the wiki? (students only? parents?

invited guests?) • What parts of the wiki will you  “protect” (lock from

changes)? • Who will moderate the wiki for appropriateness, etc? • Who will have the ability to reset changes? • Will you, as the teacher, be notified of all changes? • Will the wiki have Individual or global memberships? (by

individual students if you want an individual record of who made changes, or with one log-in per group or class?)

18/11/09 8

How to protect yourselfSome examples of rules for a Wiki

The Menai Primary School Wiki is a place for us to experiment and learn about technology. Here are a few rules that you need to follow so we can all feel safe and enjoy this space!

1. Only members of our class are allowed on this WIKI. When you write something on a page, sign off by writing your name after the fullstop. (Eg: Hi year 5/6! Miss Marshall)

2. I can see everything you write, and will be able to trace text etc. back to the individual user so please make sure that what you are adding or writing on our Wiki is appropriate!

18/11/09 9

Rules cont.

3. Be careful with your password. Do not tell it to anyone (parents and pets are ok).

4.If you write anything inappropriate or hurtful you will be blocked from the WIKI.

5.If you would like to add a movie from 'you tube' or any other site, please leave the web address on my 'Questions or Comments' page so I can approve it BEFORE it is added to the WIKI.

6.You can not break the WIKI so experiment with technology and have fun!!!!

18/11/09 10

Cont

- Check out other wikis for ideas.

• Noteshttp://www.teachersfirst.com/content/wiki/Sample%20Wiki%20Warranty.doc

18/11/09 11

Obstacles to expect

• When you are the manager of the site you can see all posts and monitor what is being uploaded.

• Students are sometimes reluctant to contribute to Wiki’s because they lack confidence in their writing, they worry about not receiving credit for contributions, or they do not like their ideas, words, contributions being revised or deleted without consent.

• Some students will find the simple steps for editing and posting work daunting.

• Use of visuals and design options are limited, however you can use external editing tools.

18/11/09 12

How to UNBLOCK your Wiki with the DET

1. See DET Guidelines.2. Create Wiki (naming conventions)3. Make the wiki private4. In your wiki go to Manage Wiki5. Click Domain Name6. Find the URL eg/ http://mrsmurr.wikispaces.com7. Go to portal8. My Applications9. Internet Filtering10. Web filter check11. Enter URL of Wiki12. Submit13. Request to unblock14. Click here15. Follow Prompts and log the request.

18/11/09 13

EditLink

Image

Media

Widgets

18/11/09 14

Help!

• Go to wikispaces.com• Sign in• Click help• Click what area you need help in.• To print help information. You need to highlight all the text.

Copy. Open Word and Paste into a Word document.

Also• Click help• Click old help content• Click teachers• Video tutorials

18/11/09 15

How to…..

• Invite PeopleOnce you have created your wiki, you need to invite

people to join. You can either invite individually, by going to manage wiki, invite people and insert email address.

OR

The following URL is useful for bulk account creation for wikispaces.

http://blog.wikispaces.com/2008/12/create-accounts-for-your-students-yourself.html

18/11/09 16

Bulk account creation• Now, for any of our K-12 wikis, you can create

accounts for your students without having to send us an e-mail. Simply go to “Manage Wiki,” and then “User Creator.” All you need to begin are the usernames and passwords you want for your students. With the new user creator, you can:

• create accounts with or without e-mail addresses• have passwords generated for you• add a suffix or prefix to all the usernames to ease

creation• and make them members of multiple wikis

straight away• Once the accounts are created, you will receive an e-

mail with all the usernames and passwords you’ve created for your records.

18/11/09 17

Practical Ideas

• Wiki’s can be used for;- Simple websites- Peer reviewed projects- Group projects- Manage school and classroom documents- Classroom discussion and debate- Post classroom assignments- Great Website- http://www.smartteaching.org/blog/2008/08/50-ways-to-u

se-wikis-for-a-more-collaborative-and-interactive-classroom/

18/11/09 18

Practical Ideas

Engadine PSURL : http://mrsnudden.wikispaces.com/

Botany PSURL : http://awakiwiki.wikispaces.com

Menai PSURL : http://menaiprimarywiki2009.wikispaces.com/

18/11/09 19

Discussion

18/11/09 20

Useful Resources

• Go to www.wikispaces.com- Sign in as username = SRteacher1 password = password- You are in Lena Arena’s Wiki- Click web2-for-teachers- Click Wiki- Click the link (excellent booklet for creating a wiki)http://web2-for-teachers.wikispaces.com/file/view/UsingWikispaces09.doc

• You will also find other useful resources on this wiki.• Log into some useful wikis for ideas. (gettingtrickywithwikis,

learningweb2, WebTools4u2use, cooltoolsforschools).

18/11/09 21

Editing Tools• To resize a picture www.webresizer.com• Host videos in other placeswww.teachertube.com• Interactive Poster Creationwww.glogster.com (insert as a widget).• Voice Recordingwww.vocaroo.com• Visual Literacy (Writing)www.piclits.com• Create images (fun!) Insert as a widget.www.voki.com

18/11/09 22