Creating+a+wikispace

** What is a Wikispace? **

A Wikispace, in simple terms, is a group of web pages with “edit” buttons on them. You can collaborate with anyone you choose on your wikispace. You may want a place to keep information about your organization, or to easily manage your team's schedules. Wikispaces is simple enough for anyone to use, but has enough sophistication so that you can be creative and get things done. If you are looking for more about what a wiki is, Common Craft has a simple and clear explanation. Take a look at their video. []


 * What can I do with my Wikispace? **

As an educator, you can use your wikispace to post homework assignments, facilitate a classroom project, collaborate with an international classroom, communicate with parents or other teachers, or provide a wiki for classroom discussion and feedback. Good ideas and background information at [] ** How do I create a Wikispaces account? ** 1. Go to http://www.wikispaces.com. 2. In the "Join Now" box, put in your username, password, e-mail address, and, optionally, wiki name. Note: ** Do not ** put in your wiki name at this stage if you want it for classroom use – read Wikispaces Offer for K-12 Education 3. Click "Join" and you're done. If you've chosen to create a wiki, you will be taken straight to your new wiki ** Wikispaces Offer for K-12 Education ** In January 2006, Wikispaces began offering our Plus Plan for free for K-12 education. If your wiki will be used exclusively for K-12 education, you can have an ad-free, private Wikispace. If you already have a Wikispace but didn't register it under our K-12 Plan, you can request an upgrade. ** How do I create a Plus wiki for K-12 education? ** 1. If you have a user account on Wikispaces, [|login] first. 2. Go to []. 3. Fill in the form shown below. 4. Certify that your wiki will be used exclusively for K-12 education and click "Join." 5. You will be brought to your new wiki.

Your wiki name forms the url or web address of your wiki, so choose wisely. Upper case letters will change to lower case and you cannot have spaces or special characters such as / or &. Many common names have already gone. So, for example, room6 or grade7 is unlikely to be available whereas yourschoolnameroom6 will probably work fine. If you choose this then the wiki address would be http://yourschoolnameroom6.wikispaces.com
 * Wiki Name **


 * Types of wikis offered by Wikispaces **

The type of wiki is defined by the Wiki Permissions. These are chosen when you set up your wiki but can also be changed at a later date using the Manage Wiki feature. There are three choices; Public (free). Everyone can view and edit your pages. Everyone (and anyone) can see your pages and make changes. Not usually a good choice for classroom use. Protected (free) Everyone can view pages, only wiki members can edit them. This could be useful for a class wiki where you want community members to be able to view the work done by students but not change anything Private (**free for educators** otherwise $5/month) Only wiki members can view and edit pages This is the usual choice for teachers. The wiki is only available to registered members. If changes are made then the teacher can see which member made the change

Note: within the three categories there is still some flexibility to set constraints. For example, a public wiki can have pages locked so that only members can edit them. The discussions in a public wiki can be set so that only members can join in. Students can create accounts in the same way as the teacher or you can create up to 100 new accounts in bulk and add them as members to your wiki by using the User Creator found in the Manage Wiki section of your wiki. Here's what you'll need to continue: 1. The **name of the wiki** you'd like to add these new users to. Note that you must be an organizer of this wiki. 2. A **list of usernames, optionally including passwords and email addresses** in a spreadsheet (.csv, .xls, or .xlsx) or text list (comma-separated or tab-separated). 3. ** Passwords must be at least six characters long. ** If you ask us to generate them for you, we'll provide six character random passwords. 4. Many common usernames are already taken on Wikispaces.com. We recommend use of a prefix to avoid duplicate usernames. You may add a prefix automatically in the set up process.
 * How do I create student accounts? **