2008+conference

=Welcome=

//This page is here to help you build your own wiki. I am not going to go into any details because other people have done a much better job. Click on the links for the assistance you need.//toc

=Collaboration on Wikis=

There are several ways that you can have students collaborate on wikis. The main two are collaborating within a class, or collaborating externally with another class (either in your school or in another school). Click here for ideas and things to teach the kids when doing collaboration. media type="custom" key="518095"

=Other Wikis=

Before making your own wiki, it is a good idea to see what other people are doing. This will help you get some ideas about how people are using them and to see different layouts.
 * To see how wikis are being used in education [|click here].
 * To see "wikis of the month" click here.
 * To see what is happening right now click here.

Wikis that Aorere College is using...
 * finkspace.wikispaces.com, geographybylizz and our english department - thiese are some of our school wikis that students use basically like an intranet. They can find out homework, information on their courses and external link.
 * Year 10 class wiki - this is where my own students worked in groups to communicate what they had learnt in different ways
 * International Collaboration - this is where roughly 300 students collaborated in groups from 4 different countries to learn about each other and their cultures. The second part of this project was for students to research and collaborate on a global issue.... this had varying degrees of success!! One of the cool things was the "staffroom" wiki - where the 4 teachers involved would write up ideas. This was sometimes easier than emailing each other (not always though)
 * Aorere Dance and Drama - This year our dance and drama department are trialling a new way for students to reflect on their class work and be able to give written feedback and ideas to class mates on their work.The link takes you to the year 13 class and then you can click on a student's name to take you to their individual page where they will do their reflections (These have only just been created - so we are yet to see the success of these).

=Create my own wiki=

Follow the instructions on the home page of this wiki about joining wikispaces. When creating your own wiki you need to choose a name for your wiki. Make sure you **__choose a really good name__** because you can not change it!!! Also, think about whether you want your wiki to only be edited by yourself or other people as well. Make sure you select the right level of protection for what you want to do with your wiki. Ususally you want people to see it, but only members edit, however for some schools the option of "only members can view" is a more realistic option. Personally, I like the fact that parents can see what we want to do and the students create higher quality work when they know others are going to see it.
 * To make your own wiki click [|here].
 * [|Intro video] to wikispaces. This page has a series of vides that show you how to use wikispaces.

Just do it!
Okay - the best way to learn how to wiki is just simply to do it. So follow the instructions with regards to becoming a memeber of wikispaces on this home page or the intro video and CREATE your own wiki.

To edit your page, hit EDIT THIS PAGE. From here you can write text, upload images, videos, create links etc etc etc. I found it best to simply play and ask for help when I couldnt figure it out.

=I need wiki help=

Many people have created wiki help pages, including wikispaces themselves, so I am not going to go into too much detail, if any. Click on the differnt link to find out more.

Basic help

 * wiki help page Most things are covered here.
 * [|David Warlick's] information and guide is also very helpful.

Not so basic help...
Below are the quick links listed on the help page. Some of these I use often (RSS feeds, wikitext, images, media), others I have never had the need to use.
 * **Anchors:** How to use anchors on pages
 * **Code:** How to use color-highlighted source code blocks on pages
 * **Blog Integration:** How to integrate your blog with your wikispace
 * **Images:** How to use images (pictures) on Wikispaces
 * **Media:** How to embed media on Wikispaces using wikitext
 * **Theme Components:** How to modify your theme using HTML markup
 * **Variables:** How to include dynamic information about your page or space on your pages
 * **Web Folders (WebDav):** How to access your space as a web folder


 * **Wikitext:** How to use text markup for those who don't want to use the visual editor

Text editor aka wikitext
Wikitext is the code that is used to write wikis. I know only the basics of this and have learnt my following the patterns and using the David Warlick's and the Wikispace help pages. While I was dubious about learning and using this, I found it really useful when after I have saved a page it does not look like what I thought it would look like!!!
 * Don't be afraid
 * Learn as you go
 * Follow the patterns


 * **RSS Includes:** How to include RSS feed summaries in pages

RSS Feeds
These are amazing things. Think feed your site with the latest information from other sites. I have RSS feeds all over this site from class blogs with the most recent class notes, national and world news, daily words, cartoons..........etc........etc.... Welcome to Web 2.0!!!????!!!
 * The RSS feed comes from the URL of the feed page. This page will have tonnes of code all over it. Ignore this, all you need is the URL of the feed page. Copy and paste this and then follow the pattern of the code feed.
 * Click here for the code.


 * The computer wants me to download the RSS feed?**
 * If when you click on the link that takes you to the feed, your computer asks you to "download the file." Cancel, and **right click on the link and select "copy shortcut".** Paste this as you would have pasted the URL. It is simply another way of obtaining the URL. I had this problem and it took me ages to find the answer to this one.

(This was a lesson in: if it does not work the first time, you are guaranteed to find that someone else had the same problem and the answer is lying in a help menu, or FAQs on the site you are working with. Keep trying and course try searching the site or the internet)

Other helpful links

 * **Features:** A list of the features Wikispaces offers with brief descriptions and screenshots.
 * **Teachers:**Teachers:Teachers: Answers to questions frequently asked by teachers.
 * **Wikitips:**Wikitips:Wikitips: Monthly tips on nifty things you can do with Wikispaces

=Bling for your site=

Free Banners and Buttons


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Free Clip Art
rss url="http://del.icio.us/rss/TeacherLizz/clipart" description="true" length="150" number="10"

Gadgets Galore
Check out this wiki that helps with blog bling and so much more.

Googles gadgets
[|Google gadgets] has hundreds of things you can add to your page. Add these through the embed media icon and select "other HTML"

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media type="custom" key="509271" =Related links=

rss url="http://del.icio.us/rss/TeacherLizz/wiki" title="wiki updates" description="true" length="200" number="50"