Wiki – It doesn’t have to
be a 4 letter word!
DeVaughn Resczenski
Sharyland ISD
What’s a wiki?
 Collection of web pages designed to enable
anyone who accesses it to contribute or
modify content using a simplified markup
language. Wikis are often used to create
collaborative websites and to power
community websites.
- Wikipedia
What does wiki Mean?
 Wiki is Hawaiian word for “fast”
 Backronym of W.I.K.I. is

What I Know Is
History and Background
 WikiWikiWeb (a.k.a WardsWiki)


1st true wiki
Ward Cunningham developed in 1994
 WikiWiki is name of shuttle bus line at
Honolulu International Airport
 Cunningham thought that WikiWikiWeb
sounded better than FastWeb
Why should I wiki?
 Collaborate with friends/family
 Classroom projects that require collaboration
 Easy to use! (WYSIWYG)

What You See Is What You Get
 Common Craft Video
“There
is only so much new
information that a learner can
ingest at one time. Learning
proceeds more efficiently if
students receive information in
small chunks that are processed
immediately.”
- Robert J. Marzano
“The Art and Science of Teaching”
Q. How many Wiki people does it take to
change a lightbulb?
A. One, but anyone can change it back.
-langreiter.com
Different wiki Providers
 PBwiki (www.pbwiki.com)
 MindTouch wik.is (www.wik.is)

Deki Wiki
 WikiSpaces (www.wikispaces.com)
 Google Sites (sites.google.com)
Other Alternatives – Install It Myself!
 Deki Wiki (wiki.mindtouch.com/Deki_Wiki2)
 Tiki Wiki (www.tikiwiki.org)
 Moodle Wiki (www.moodle.org)

Based on Erfurt Wiki (WikiWikiWeb)
 MediaWiki (www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki)

Wikipedia is powered by MediaWiki
OK, looks good…how do I start?
 Self-Host or use provider?
 Can I access the provider through my
school’s firewall?


If not, can I make a case to have IT open up
the site?
SISD has wik.is and pbwiki.com opened up
because of our Intel PT trainings
Step 1 – Reserve the wiki
 On the main page
(www.wik.is), type in the
name of your wiki to
see if it is available and
click Create
 SPI – South Padre Island
 TRAIN – training
 WIKI – wiki
 spitrainwiki
Step 2 – Fill in Required Info
 If your site name is
available, wik.is will let
you know.
 Fill in your e-mail
address and name
Step 3 – Verify Your Humanity
 To prevent “bots” from
creating wikis, most
sites will have a
verification like this one.
 Enter the code and click
Create my Deki Wiki
 (Deki Wiki is the name
of the software that
MindTouch uses)
YOU DID IT!!!!
Step 4 – Check Your E-Mail
 wik.is will send you a confirmation e-mail with
the login information for your Admin account.
 You cannot log in without that information.
Step 5 - Login
 Type in the password
for your Admin acct.
that you were e-mailed.
 Click Login
OK…So how do I add content?
 To edit the page that you are viewing, click
EDIT PAGE
 To create a sub-page, click NEW PAGE
 To print your page, click PRINT PAGE
 For other options, pull-down MORE
Considerations for student use
 Even with a protected site, you must still
follow your district’s guidelines for internet
and privacy issues (like do not photograph)
 If your students do not have e-mail accounts,
you can use Google tags to create a “class”
e-mail account and “sub” accounts



myclass@gmail.com (entire class)
myclass+john@gmail.com
myclass+jane@gmail.com
How do I set up my students?
 In wik.is
 Go to the Control Panel and select User
Management
 Enter the user information for each of your
students.
 Set the role to Contributor if you want them to
be able to edit and add pages
 Set the role to Viewer if you want them to only
be able to read your pages
 Use the multiple user tool to make adding your
class easier
How do I use this with my class?
 Project ideas:
 Vocabulary lists


Create a page of words, and assign each to a
student to find the definition and create a page
with the definition.
Historical research



Start with the home page, defining the project and
all of the different areas to research (like the
presidents)
Assign each student an area to research
Allow students to link their pages to each other
Ideas
 “Choose Your Ending” story

Create a short story on the main page, and
have each student create a sub page with
their own idea of the ending.
 Collaborative story


Have each student use their home page to
create the beginning of a story
After a set time limit, have the students rotate
to the next person’s page and continue the
story……
Ideas
 Write out a Math word problem on the main
page, and link pages to each of the important
points of the problem. Give an explanation
on the page as to why the point is important.
Moodle wikis
 Include a class wiki in your Moodle course
 The editor is different from PBwiki and wik.is
 To create a new page
 Wrap the target word in brackets []
 [link]
 When you save the page, a ? will appear, linking to the
new page.
 Click the ? and the new page will open in edit mode.
Public or Private wiki?
 Many wikis allow you to make your wiki
private



Only registered users can view your pages
Protects your student pages
If you are on a wiki that allows anonymous
users to edit pages, you should make the wiki
private

If not, anyone could post ANYTHING to your wiki
Public or Private wiki?
 Privacy has it’s disadvantages


You have to create an account for EVERY
user that you want to view your page
Parents cannot view student work unless you
create an account for them
 The “middle-ground”

Restrict anonymous access to view only
Contact Information
DeVaughn Resczenski
Sharyland ISD
dresczenski@sharylandisd.org