A.+Starting+a+Course+Wiki

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 * What's a Wiki? Why and How Would You Use One? **

** If you have no idea, you might like to start here : ** media type="youtube" key="-dnL00TdmLY" height="208" width="252" align="center"

= Why Teach with Wikis? =

A wiki has the best features of a blog, but allows you to run multiple areas and discussions in a forum that is easy to navigate. You can have a page for homework and another for each standard or unit of study.

In a classroom setting, we can use wikis to:


 * Post an ongoing list of homework assignments
 * Write up or paste in detailed assignments and rubrics
 * Upload documents and forms for students to download into their computers
 * Post links to sites we'd like students to use, including interactive learning sites, reference materials, and online texts
 * Host on-line discussions
 * Publish student work

A wiki allows multiple members to add to and edit content. This wiki is an example. We have a "home" page that welcomes visitors, and we can build multiple additional pages, which are linked in the "navigation" box to the left. On each individual page, we can host multiple discussions. Click on the "discussion" tab above to see what I mean.

For a more developed example, please feel free to browse around on my ninth grade English wiki from the 2010-2011 school year... remembering that I was learning as I went! Student discussions can be found on the //To Kill a Mockingbird// and //Romeo and Juliet// pages. Links to students' cumulative wikifolios are posted on the discussion tab of the "Final Wikifolio" page.

= Getting Started =


 * 1) Some people find that wikispaces is best accessed through Safari; you might want to start there.
 * 2) If you haven't done so already, you need to become a member of wikispaces. Visit wikispaces.com, and follow the prompts to set up a membership. Make your User ID something that you want your students to recognize. Mine is MsT-F because that's what my students call me.
 * 3) Once you are a member, you'll get a prompt asking you if you'd like to "create a new wiki." Follow the prompts for naming your wiki. I strongly suggest that you set up a separate wiki for each course that you teach.
 * 4) The welcome page on your new wiki will provide directions for the basics of editing pages, and suggests that you play around in the "Manage Wiki" page to manipulate the permissions and look and feel of your wiki.
 * 5) Once you've figured out some basics, you'll want to think about what kind of pages you will want. Chances are good you'll want a homework page, where you can maintain a running list of daily assignments. This year, I've decided to put that right on the home page, since it's the page the students visit most often, and the place where they look for class "handouts." You may want to organize other pages by course standard or resources, ie, "maps," or "vocabulary," and you may also want separate pages for particular units. Feel free to check out the set up on my wiki from last year, at http://english9tf.wikispaces.com/.
 * 6) Note: to change the title of a page on your wiki, go to that page, and hover over the little arrow next to the page's name. You should get a drop down list of options, including "rename" and "delete."

= Sharing Documents =

One of the most important roles of the wiki is to host "handouts" that students can download. These can range from PDF files of scanned texts to word processing documents that you'd like them to write on -- like a scaffolded writing outline. Since the students will be looking at the document electronically, you can also always paste in links that you'd like them to visit. Download and check out the document below to see what I mean: (some of my links might be out of date on this!)



__**To upload a document on your wiki:**__


 * 1) Once in "Edit" mode on the appropriate page of your wiki, click on the "File" button above. It has a little greenish icon.
 * 2) Click on "+ Upload Files" in the right hand corner
 * 3) Select the document you'd like to upload from your computer
 * 4) Allow the wiki to process, and then double click on your document once its title appears under "Insert Documents." When you hit save, it will appear where your cursor was.

= Sharing Links =

Sometimes it's nice to put a link directly on your wiki. I use links to study guides like quizlet, interactive grammar resources, and surveys for various purposes. For example, when studying for a vocabulary quiz, students might like to go here: @http://quizlet.com/1350811/to-kill-a-mockingbird-vocab-list-3-flash-cards/

To put a link on your wiki, you simply copy the link and paste it onto the page in edit mode.

You can also make words on the wiki into a link to a website. [|Click here for an example.] To do that, highlight the words you would like to link, and click on the link button above. Choose "External link," and enter the address in the appropriate field.

You can also link within your wiki, like the home page, by using the internal option after clicking on the link button.

= Wikispace Widgets =

In Edit mode, you can go to the "Widget" button at the top of the page to insert a variety of features, including video like the Youtube clip on this page, calendars, graphs, charts, and tables of contents, like the one at the top of this page. You'll want to play around with what works for you -- directions are provided for each type of widget. I just started experimenting with the calender feature this morning for my new AP Lit wiki; feel free to check it out.

__Note on table of contents:__ As you are writing a given page, you can make headings that wikispaces will organize as a table of contents for you, to make navigation easier. At the top of this page, you see links to the different sections of the page. That's an example of a table of contents. Make words into headings by highlighting them, and then going to the pull down menu above... it will say "normal" if you haven't yet turned the words into a heading. To make it into a heading, select "Heading 1." Once this is done, you can go to "Widget," and select "Table of Contents." Wikispaces should walk you through the rest of the process from there.

= Advanced Look and Feel Tips =

You can control the color scheme and banner at the top of your wiki by going to the "Look and Feel" page under Manage Wiki. From that page you can navigate to "Themes and Colors," which will let you choose a template and the colors of your wiki.

__** The Fancy Banner: **__
It's fun to customize the banner beyond the colors, if you have a picture or image you like. You can substitute the little bonsai tree with a picture by going to "Logo" on the "Look and Feel" page. You'll be able to select a document from your computer to substitute. BUT, whatever you select will replace both the bonsai tree and the words in the wikispaces template banner. You can just replace the title with a picture. If you have a Mac and Word, you could also try the method I use on my wikis, as described below.

__**One way to create a banner that has both an image and title, using Word:**__

//Ultimately, you are going to create the banner you want, and then take a screen shot of it. You'll select the screen shot to upload as your new document.//


 * 1) Find the image that you want to use.
 * 2) Open a Word or Pages document, and set it up so that you have 2 columns.
 * 3) Drag your image into the document.
 * 4) Get your cursor so that you can type the wiki title you'd like to use opposite the image, and play around with color and font.
 * 5) Using the drawing toolbar in Word, make a generous sized box around the image and the words.
 * 6) Select the box so that it has a little square at each corner and midway through each side. Using your toolbox options, "Arrange" so that you send text to the front.
 * 7) Using your toolbox options, fill the box with a color you like.
 * 8) Press Shift+Command+4, which will turn your cursor into a little cross hairs symbol -- use that to make a box around the image and words. Make sure you have a border of color within your box, but not anything else, and release the keys. A screenshot of your image will appear on your desk top.
 * 9) When you have a screenshot you are satisfied with, upload that by going to Manage Wiki --> Look and Feel --> Logo --> Browse.

__**To match up your banner color to a color from the image:**__

You might enjoy customizing the colors on your wiki by selecting colors from the image you're using. You can see an example of that on the wiki I'm creating now for a new class next year: apenglishtf.wikispaces.com.


 * 1) Return to the Word document on which you made your banner. Select the color filled box.
 * 2) Using the Toolbox, select the little dropper symbol under "color." Click the dropper on a color from your image that you'd like to use to fill the color box.

__**To match the color in the color fill box to the rest of your banner:**__


 * 1) Hover your cursor over the color, back on the Toolbox on your word document. You should be able to see the RGB (red, green, blue) numbers for the color you are using. Write them down.
 * 2) Visit one of these websites: @http://www.easycalculation.com/rgb-coder.php @http://www.yellowpipe.com/yis/tools/hex-to-rgb/color-converter.php
 * 3) Enter the RGB code into the translator you'll find on either site, and copy the HEX code the site will then provide.
 * 4) On the Look and Feel page of the wiki, under colors, you can enter a HEX code into any of the color boxes. You're looking for a color wheel -- to the left of which you can find fields to enter color codes for "background," "Header/Footer," "Sidebar," and "Links."
 * 5) Play around and experiment!

Remember that none of the above is necessary to a successful wiki. It's just for fun.