Wikis & Screencasts
A wiki is a quick website. You don’t have to know special
programing to build one. It uses WYSISYG (what you see is
what you get)- so its almost like typing in Microsoft Word.
Wiki is derived from the Hawaiian term “quick”.
There are several sites that provide free wiki hosting. Some include:
1. pbworks 2. wikispaces 3. wiki.dot 4. wikia
You will need to make a free account with these websites. You will not
download any software, you simply sign into the site to edit the page.
PBWorks
1. www.pbworks.com
2. “Get started with a free version of Pbworks now! (Choose Basic)
3. Name your wikispace. It
could be your name, the
name of the class, or
something creative ie:
EnglishRocks
Agree to the Terms
Complete the free
account information (you
may want to initially use a
private email then switch
it to your gdn email
(because pbworks tends
to get stuck in Gordon’s
firewall.)
Your wiki address will now be:
www.whateveryounamedit.pbworks.com
You will soon get an “activate your wiki site” email- make sure to activate it!
3. Choose if you want anyone to be able to
see your wiki page or if you want to have to
invite everyone to be able to see it (this is just
to VIEW the site, not edit it.)
4. This is the homepage of the wiki. As the
administrator you will have to tabs to work
from- “view” and “edit”. “View” lets you see
what it looks like live. “Edit” lets you edit the
page, almost like a word document.
The Pages & Files tab will allow you to add
new pages to the wiki site and link them.
You can allow viewers to make comments
to the page, so it could work like a blog.
Click the “settings” tab. Choose
“colors” to change the background.
Select “Workspace Security” to:
-Determine who can view the
space
-Allow people to request to view/edit
the space
-Disable commenting for readers
You can view your account and
Logout here.
Edit the sidebar to put basic information
that will be found on every page
Click on the “Edit” tab. The interface will
begin to look like Word. You can type, size,
font, undo, erase, color the text. Make sure
to click “Save”!
To add a file, document, powerpoint, or picture, click
“Images and files” on the list on the right side of page.
Then choose “upload files”. Locate it on your computer.
You can see it has been uploaded. Now click where
you want this picture to appear in your page and
click this image link. It should appear on the page.
Click on the picture and resize it using the squares on the
tips of the picture.
To add a text document or PowerPoint, upload it the same way, then type the text
into your wiki page that you would like for it to link to. Highlight that text, then click
on the file- which is now uploaded in the right side of the page. Now the text should
turn blue and be underlined. Remember to “Save”! (The link won’t work until it is
saved and in “view” mode.)
To insert a link, type
the text you want
linked into the wiki
page. Highlight the
text and click “add
link” from the top
toolbar. Paste the
URL from the website
into the box and click
“enter”. The text
should turn blue and
become underlined.
You can simply link to a video that is already located on another website, just by
following the “add a link” directions. However, in some cases (like youtube) you
can actually embed the video into your wiki page.
-Go to youtube or whatever
Site that contains the activity
(Prezis can also be embedded
into wiki sites.)
-On the bottom of the video,
click “Share”
-Click “embed”
-Copy the code located in
the textbox.
On your wiki page choose
“Insert”, “HTML/Javascript.”
-Paste the code into the popup.
-Check the “Allow Javascript” box.
-Click next, then “Insert Plugin”
-Then save and view.
Click on the “Pages & Files” tab at the top of the wiki page.
This is where you add new pages. Some pages are there by default. If you don’t
want them, select them and “delete”.
Click “more” to rename a page.
To create a new page, click “New”- “Create a Page”. You should then see it
located in the area with the other pages. To edit it, click on the title of the page.
The title of the page is
at the top. You can
click “edit” and edit
the page just like
before.
To link two pages
together, first type the
text you want to
appear on the page.
Then highlight it and
click “add link” from
the top toolbar. In the
textbox, click “browse
pages and files.” Now
select the name of the
page you would like to
link to, then click
“insert link”. Remember
to “Save”!
You may want to collaborate on a wiki page. This means you would want
other people to edit the wiki site as well. You will need them to become a
“writer” to do this. You can add them as a writer by clicking on the “invite
more people” link on the homepage of your wiki.
Now you can type in their emails and choose what
permission level you want them to have. Then
select “add users.” An email will be sent to these people
by pbworks. It will ask them to click a link to
navigate to the wiki page. Then, they will create
a log in. From there they will also be able to edit
the wiki page.
People can also request access to edit the wiki site. They would navigate
to the URL of the site. (In this case: www.ilovesloths.pbworks.com) Notice
they cannot “edit” the wiki page like you can because they are not a
writer. They can click “request access” on the right side of the page.
They will then fill in their email
address and send it to the
administrator (which will be you.)
You will receive an email saying
that someone has requested
access to your wiki page. You can
accept or deny it.
-You really only want people editing
the site if it is a collaborative
project.
Screencast-o-matic:
Screencasts are a video made of your screen. You can record yourself talking
with a microphone/headset. You can then link or embed these videos into a
wiki site or other source.
Other screencast tools include: Camtasia Studio, GoView, Screener
- www.screencastomatic.com
- Click “Login” on the right hand side
- The first time you will need to register for a free account
- Then click
“start recording”
-Make sure your
microphone is
plugged in!
The dotted square will be
where the screen will be
recorded. At the bottom is a
toolbar.
-The red dot is “record”
-The microphone menu
detects the microphone.
-The green bars allow you to
test your microphone before
recording.
-The size area allows you to
determine what part of the
screen is recorded.
(Fullscreen)
-The “x” deletes the video.
Click the red dot, wait for the
countdown and begin
recording. If you need to
pause/stop, click the icon at
the bottom of your screen.
-The menu bar will come back up. You can continue by clicking the red dot. You
can play what you have recorded by scrolling the time back and clicking the play
button.
-If you want to erase a part of the screencast, scroll back over the time to the
specific area you want to record over. Then click the red dot to begin recording
again. It will ask if you want to truncate over the recording. Say “yes.”
-If you want to completely restart the screencast, click “restart”
-If you are finished with the screencast, click “done.”
You can
choose how
you want to
upload the
video. It must
be under 15
mins to upload
to screencasto-matic.
Provide the
title,
description,
and language.
You can add notes that will
appear at specific parts of the
screencast. Type those notes
here and decide when they
should appear.
It is a good idea to have your
videos captioned for ADA
students. Type out your script with
the times in which it should
appear on the screen. Upload
this into the “caption file” area.
This is what the caption file should
look like.
You can choose to allow the
video to be searchable by
outside people on
screencastomatic. You can allow
those users to add notes to the
video or leave comments.
Then select “upload to SOM”.
It will take a few minutes for the
screencast to upload. When it
does, there will be a link for you
to click.
The screencast will begin to play.
Below the video will be a
description, notes, and
comments about the video.
There will also be basic
information about the video.
-If you want to include a hyperlink
to the video (ie- email the link to
your students), you will need to
copy the “Share Link” URL.
-If you want to embed the video
into a wiki page or website, you
will need to copy the embed
code.
-You can also download the
video.
To access your screencast later,
click “My screencasts” and
choose the appropriate one.
*Remember- you can link or embed the screencast into
your wiki page!