Saturday, October 16, 2010

Wiki With Me - Quick and Easy Collaboration

What is a Wiki?

Wikis are really a simple tool to understand and use.  In a nutshell, they are an online site where any member of the wiki can add information, edit pages, and communicate with others, to extents determined by the wiki security settings.  It is a site for collaboration.  There are numerous tutorial and educational videos available to walk a person through defining it, using it and setting one up.  Honestly, the first wiki I ever set up I did without any assistance - it was that easy.  However, I recommend watching Wikis in Plain English - it is a great visual explanation of how a wiki works and the collaborative nature of the tool. 

TeacherTube Videos - What is a PBwiki? also provides some details as to what a wiki is and how it can be used.

The last tutorial which gives a great step-by-step instruction on using Wikispaces is this slideshare tutorial.

I know there are numerous wiki providers available, but I was already using Wikispaces and chose to explore this platform further.  Wikispaces has some quick and easy to follow tutorials to help you get set up and running with Wikispaces very quickly.  I hadn't watched these before.  Even though I had been using Wikispaces for a couple of months now, I learned about new tools and possibilities from these tutorials.  It was enough to help me take my wiki creation to the next level.

The first exciting discovery I made was under "Manage Wiki" on the sidebar of my Wikispaces.  I explored the tools to manage my wiki and found a very easy way to import a post from my Web2pt0Me blog into my wiki.  There is also a feature under widgits, which we will look at next, which allows you to add RSS feeds to your wiki as well.  This is a great way to compile information from a variety sources into one site.  Unfortunately, I was not able to get the feed to update automatically, so I would have to play around with that more to see if it can be done.



Under "Edit This Page" I had already figured out how to embed pictures, insert tables, upload files and create internal/external links.  However, I had not yet explored the widgets.  There are some very practical and enhancing tools which can be added to the wiki to increase it's value as a collaborative platform. 

First, let's look at the Wikispaces widgets:



I wanted to explore all these widgets to understand what they did and how they would enhance the functionality of the wiki.  And so my exploration began.

As mentioned above, I inserted an RSS feed into my wiki.  I used my Web2pt0Me URL for this.  The result was a list of all postings to date on my blog.  I could set the number of posts I wanted to appear, up to a maximum of fifteen.  I couldn't get new posts to appear, so it seems one would have to manually return to the site to look for any new posts.  Again, this is something I will have to look further into.




I then played with adding a calendar to my wiki.  There are a few choices of which calendar platform to add, however I went with Google Calendar because it is one that I have wanted to look into further.  I did get sidetracked from my wiki exploration when I entered the world of Google Calendar because there are so many interesting features and options available.  I did refocus myself and explored its function within a wiki.  I was able to embed my Google Calendar within the wiki page with great ease.  The steps are clearly explained and the template is extremely user friendly for embedding the html text.  Once embedded, I played with the size and location of the calendar on my wiki page, and saved it.  Any changes I make to my Google Calendar are updated automatically on the wiki.  I did not like the fact that a personal email address appeared on the top of the calendar, and will look further into how to address this issue.



Next stop for me was to look at the "Notify Me" page on the wiki tabs.  This feature allows a wiki member to subscribe to the feeds for new posts and/or comments.  This feature allows those interested in the site to be notified when new posts or comments are made, either through a RSS reader or email.  The benefit to this is members don't have to continually check the site for changes, the changes will come to them.



I easily embedded YouTube video to the site, which is a feature I like.  In a collaborative sense, videos which support the focus of the wiki can also easily be included either through embedding or linking.

The "History" page was also useful to look at.  It is a tool to follow the contributions of members to the wiki site, noting their changes and dates/times of contributions.  You simply chose the histories you want to compare, and the additions and deletions to the page are highlighted in green and red respectively.  When you review changes, you are taken to the changes that occured and in the order they occured in.


One last widget which is worth noting, especially as we want to teach our students to cite and reference sources, is the References widget.  This was extremely easy to add, and once the reference was added, I was able to cite the source within my wiki page. 



Okay, so that was the exploration I had time for right now.  There are other widgets and wiki managing tools I looked at, and they either seemed very straight forward or worthy of further investigation at a later time.  For now, I had many new tools to ponder in relation to personal and professional use.  It was enough; I was excited to start playing with these tools.

My Life - Wikified

As I was exploring the wiki tutorials, videos, and various other wiki resources, I kept thinking of how I could use this tool to help organize my ladies' ringette team.  Because wikis are so easy to set up, I created one specifically for the team.  I decided which widgets would make the site effective, efficient and user-friendly.  Currently my team members and I organize our game attendance and carpooling through email.  It is not always the most efficient because not everyone replies-all to the most current email, or early responders are forgotten by the time the last responses trickle in.  The wiki seems like a great alternative for our team.  The only down side I can see at this point is the ease of email response (which is often from our cell phones) verses having to access the wiki to respond. 

I included my Google Calendar.  I can input the game dates on my calendar and they appear on the wiki calendar.  Very useful.  I included a table for those who will attend the next game and those who won't (to encourage everyone to respond one way or the other).  I included a separate page for the team roster and contact information.  I also included a dialogue box so we could discuss carpooling arrangements (a favorite part of the weekly games).  In the end, I had a wiki for our team - I just need to ask everyone to join.  Once they do, they will be able to upload team pictures, tournament information, and other details that we discuss either in the change room or through email.


I would love if each of my kids' sports teams had a wiki set up.  I am not talking about the organization's website; I am talking about a wiki specific to my child's team.  It would make it so easy for me as a parent to organize our busy lives.  The ability to collaborate with other parents in organizing team fundraisers, tournaments, carpooling, sportswear, and the many other facets of the team would be so manageable.  The history would be there for quick reference, rather than searching numerous emails.

I can also picture using a wiki as a place to organize camping trips with friends and extended family, or any other event for that matter.  It would also be a great place to create a family tree, or a family sharing site (since my family extends across Canada and the United States).  For my family members who are leary of the public domain, we could even upgrade the account to include more private settings. 

I think the possibilities become endless once you begin to think of the many collaborative events we participate in on a regular basis.  Essentially, if it is collaborative, a wiki could be a good tool to use.

Wiki As A Professional Tool
My first experience with a wiki for a classroom project sold me on the use of wikis in the classroom.  I created a full blown inquiry project which housed all the lesson materials, resources, links, assessment and provided a great visual support for students, parents and teachers alike.  This has been an extremely easy lesson to share - I simply give someone the URL address, and they have everything they need.  I don't have to look up things saved on my computer, pull papers from a filing cabinet, or anything else - the wiki is my filing cabinet for the lesson. 



I am also proud to say I introduced our AISI coordinator to the wiki for a place where AISI leaders could collaborate on the critical thinking work we are doing as a district.  It is a great tool to link Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) which are separated by either distance or time constraints.  Further, it allows for easy transfer and sharing of materials, resources, links and any other relevant information. 
It is worthwhile to mention a few benefits available to educators through Wikispaces.  Firstly, educators can upgrade any K-12 educational wiki to a Plus account, which comes with additional features and data capacities.  However, for a $200/year fee, a Wikispaces account can be upgraded to Super, with even more file storage capacity.  As a collaborative tool for an organization, this is much more economical than providing release time for teachers to collaborate and share materials.  Further, if an organization wanted a completely private domain, the could upgrade to a Private Label.  This would be beneficial for organizations with tighter internet policies.

I had also used a wiki to create a pathfinder.  I am already considering how I will use a wiki to set up book clubs and literature circles for my language arts classes.  With the push for 21st century skills, particularly collaboration, web 2.0 tools such as wikis become an essential part of the classroom.
While I have touched on only a few of the possibilities for wikis, WebTools4u2use provides a comprehensive list of professional uses for wikis.  Also included are the necessary assessment rubrics when using wikis in the classroom.  It is an amazing site to explore.

Wikis can also be used in presentations and to support presentations, as shown in the NECC Librarians 2008 conference.
I think the list for the uses of wikis is endless, as the opportunities for collaboration continue to present themselves to me on a daily basis.  I just did a presentation this weekend with two other collegues.  In hindsight, because we came together from different locations, the wiki would have been a great place to collaborate. 

Although I did not explore all the widgets, I did get to look at the ones that are key to me right now.  I am excited there is still more to learn because working with the wiki has been fun.  Again, an awareness of the tool and its possible uses is key.  With that, you are well prepared to wiki at will!

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