WIKI+HOW-TO

Now that you have decided that you want to create a wiki. You need to learn how to do use it effectively for the classroom. We have created some handouts that you can use as reference while you create your own wiki. Some handouts can even be handed out to your students. You can also check out these YouTube videos which were created by Wikispaces.
 * HOW DO I DO THAT?**

Let's Get Started
First, you have to sign up for wikispaces and then you can start creating your own wiki and join ours! It's easy and you will need to use your school email! So clicker here to learn how to Sign Up for Wikispaces/Create a Wiki

Look and feel of your Wiki
** You have a pretty wide range of choices on how to change the look of your wiki. Most importantly, you can change the color, the tabs and the layout. Wiki gives you premade templates that are pretty handy for novice wikiers (not a real word). Click her to find out how to make your wiki look fabulous: How to change the look and feel of your wiki **

**Set Permissions**
** You will need to set the permissions on your wiki. Permissions means who can see it and who can edit it. Do you want anyone in the world to be able to see it, but not edit it? Do you want nobody but members to see it? Do you want it to be a wide open free for all? Click here to learn how to do all three options: How to set permissions on your wiki **

**How to Join a Wiki**
** There are two ways to have your students join a wiki. First, is the old fashioned way which is that they become members of wikispaces, just like you did, and then ask to join your wiki. The directions for that are just a click away: [|How to join a wiki (or invite students to join)]. The second way is for your to enroll them yourselves, which should be easy for those teachers from AB. To do this option, you have to sign up for the free teacher upgrade, which enables a few more options. Here's how you do that: Free Teacher Upgrade **

** Add a New Page **
** Of course, we all want multiple pages for our wiki, especially if we want our students to use it. Remember, that you want to limit the number of students who are assigned a page. Too many editors on a single page at once, makes the wiki wonky. Here's how you Add a new page **

** Edit a Page **
** The all important EDIT button is the first step in adding text, images, files, etc to your wiki page. Remember that you can always cancel an edit and you can always undo an edit, //even if you have saved it,// by going to the history tab and restoring a previous version. Also, it is crucial to remember to SAVE! No save, no work, no how!: How to edit a page **

** List of pages **
Wiki calls the list of pages on the sidebar your Navigation bar because visitors to your wiki will use it to navigate around your site. Wiki automatically creates a widget that keeps track of and alphabetically lists every new page that you create. However, you may want to change the way this looks, especially if you don't want the pages listed in alphabetical order. I tweaked wiki's how-to sheet to show you how to Customize Your Navigation Bar

** Insert a Link **
** We are teachers, so we always have information to share. Sometimes the easiest way to do this is by adding links to other websites, videos, you name it. Adding a link is easy and, probably essential for most of us. There are two types of links in Wikispaces: external and internal. An internal link is a link to something within your wiki. You used internal links when you altered your navigation bar because you created a link to the page. An external link, as you probably can already guess, is a link outside the wiki. This type of link will be the one you use the most. So, review the picture below and let's get linking. Here's a link that gives an overview of wikispaces (just to show you how it looks) Wikispace Overview or you can follow the diagram below: **



Upload files
Wiki allows for a variety of digital uploads - music, files, pdfs, videos and images. The three boxes above called LINK, FILE, and WIDGET are the keys to these uploads, so we need to get to know them really well. Since there are thousands of people around the world making how-to videos, I always search the web when I can't figure out how to do something OR, as in this case, I am too lazy to create my own. So, both to impress you (did it work?) and to show you what can be done, I have embedded a video from Vimeo that explains how to upload and insert a hyperlinked image into your wiki page. Let's watch:

media type="custom" key="9876819" width="170" height="170"

Adding Video
There are two ways to add video to your wiki. The easiest way is to insert a link to the website, which we showed you above. The second, and the one that creates the most interest on a wiki page is to embed the video directly onto the page, so that viewers can play it right in your wiki. This option is really easy if you use a Google video or a You Tube video. It is also the same way that you add other types of html codes and widgets (but that's for another class!) Anyway, here's How to embed a video into your wiki

Adding a Table of Contents
If you use the Headings settings when you add text to your page, those headings will automatically become the items in a ready-made Table of Contents, which can be added to your Wiki. The Table of Contents is added by inserting the widget at the top of your page. Click here for a Table of Contents How-To

**Formatting Text**
If you are anything like me, then the first action you want to take is making a page pretty, but that should NOT be the first action, which is why we have placed this information at the bottom of the page. Wiki is wonky when it comes to formatting text. Honestly, don't be like me and spend countless hours trying to make the wiki look perfect - when you feel yourself being sucked into the formatting whirlpool simply pick up your hands AND step away from the keyboard! Hopefully, you are not like me and can simply accept the formatting wonkiness. Always remember to be patient and you can find a work around, if you must. Click Heret o learn all about FORMATTING THE TEXT.