Wikis For Education1

Set Up Manual

Via: Daniel J. Whalen M.A.

1 http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=F0E31EF5EDEDA0F5

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Once you get to www.wetpaint.com you should see a page that looks like this. On the right hand side you will see a prompt to

create a wiki. Click here to get started.

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When I created my class website I gave deep thought to the name. The best plan is to go with something easy to remember. My wife

suggested www.teamwhalen.wetpaint.com. If other wikis exist with similar names to one you want wetpaint will suggest a

different name for you.

The most secure settings for who can edit on our site is circled in red on the bottom right. You can always change this later if you

like.

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Wetpaint calls this “the fun part.” Choosing the style for your wiki. You can also change this later if you like. I've had good

results with Friendly and Ghost Green. Ghost Green is especially easy on the eyes.

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Wetpaint calls this ‘the other part’. Setting up the details of your account login. The security feature below is called a captcha. This

feature ensures a human being is setting up the wiki and not a computer.

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Once you have completed the three step process your Wiki will be created. A good idea is to join Wetpaint Central for support from the people who manage wetpaint. If you get lost you can return

here. Click on My Profile on the right hand side

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Once you click on my profile you can always return to the Orientation video you will view initially to explain how the use the

features of wetpaint.

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When you view your wiki you will first come to the home page. If you have more that one class as many of us do you will need to set

up separate class websites to support each class. On the left hand side you will create links to the different class

websites.

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This class website has at the top announcements and several important documents. Look at the box in the top left. I have added

a constructed response prompt.

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As you scroll down an assignment list shows your progress through the class. If you have digital versions of your class

materials you can put them on the wiki for students to download at a later time to recover credit or in case of absence.

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Another application is for teacher collaboration. This wiki is the first one I joined. It was created by teachers in the APple Cohort for the purpose of team planning. The tabs on the left follow the

unit progression of the curriculum.

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You can use your Wiki for Professional Development. Here I'm creating a digital Curriculum Vitae with digital evidence of my

professional growth.

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To truly unlock the power of the Wiki you need to establish a structured way for students to share content. This is the Rubric for

last year's AP Human Geography Wiki.

Students work as a whole class expert reading group and digitally assemble their own research to illustrate assigned topics in the text.

This process encompasses every level of Bloom's taxonomy and many of Gardner's multiple intelligences. Also students will

practice aggregating and disseminating digital information which is an essential competency for many emerging professions.

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As the school year progressed I amended my rubric periodically to increase the rigor of the activity. Students were using

Wikipedia.com as a reference too often so I applied a limit to that. Also I incorporated the use of the 18 Geography Standards with

respect to the Accountable Talk aspect of the Principles of Learning.

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Open a browser and go to www.divshare.com. Sign up for a free account. Once you have logged in you will go to your Dashboard.

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From here you can upload images, videos, audio files, and documents. To stay organized you can add class specific folders to

your dashboard.

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The dashboard allows you to sort how you will view your files to help you stay organized.

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Divshare keeps statistics on each file you upload which can help you understand which resources are the most useful to your

students.

Also each file has important sharing features.

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When you click on Embed you are presented with numerous sharing options. Highlight the weblinks provided and post the

links into your Wetpaint Wiki Website. Then your students will be able to simply click and download what they need.

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Another exciting feature is the document preview. To scan the document with the scroll bar in the red circle.

Don't want to download? Click the icon in the green circle for quick printing.

Zoom in and out with the view bar in the Blue Circle.

Looking for a needle in a haystack?

Use the search bar in the pink circle to search the document without even downloading it!

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