1. Computer with Internet Access

July 24, 2008

Sharon L. Birch:

Summary:

So you’ve seen a wikispace or heard about them? Would you like to create your own wikispace? In this brief hour, you will begin to create your own wiki, learn the mechanics of the toolbar, including inserting links, files, images, videos and RSS feeds. You will learn how to add a page, change the style and background, add music, track usage and begin to examine the “tricks and tools” to enhance the visual appeal of your wiki.

Materials:

1.  Computer with internet access

2.  Cell phone

3.  A tentative idea for your wikispace name

User name: ______

Password: ______

Wikispace name: ______

Learning Steps:

1.  Visit http://elmundodebirch.wikispaces.com

2.  Go to http://www.wikispaces.com/site/for/teachers and create your wikispace name and login.

3.  Manage Space: Change Style and Background

·  Click on “Manage Space” in the upper left hand corner of your wikispace

·  Under “Space Settings”, click on “Look and Feel”.

·  Go to “Colors” and choose your colors for your background, text and links. You can change this as frequently as you like.

·  You can see color choices and their HTML codes at: http://www.webmonkey.com/reference/Color_Charts

4.  Navigation:

·  Find the tab “Edit This Page”: “Edit” makes it a document…like a word document; “save” makes it a webpage.

·  Click on the tab “Edit This Page”. You now have the edit toolbar.

·  Explore/Identify the icons

·  You can click “Preview” at any time to preview your changes before saving. If you make a mistake, you can always undo your changes. (view history/revert section #9)

5.  Insert a weblink:

·  Click on the icon that looks like a world.

·  Insert a link to my wikispace.

·  Click “Save”.

6.  Add an image or picture and place on your wikispace Using the links below, find and save an image.

http://search.creativecommons.org/

http://www.pics4learning.com/

·  On the toolbar, click the icon that looks like a tree in a box.

·  Click “Upload New File” to select the image or file you wish to put on your page.

·  Click “Browse” and locate the image. Click “Open”. Then click “Upload” to upload it to the wiki.

·  The image will appear in the thumbnails at the top of the “Insert a File” box Double click an image to place it on the page.

·  Put the cursor at the position on the page where you want to put the image. Double click the image in the “Insert A File” box to put it on your page.

·  Click “Save”.

7.  Add a video and embed it into your wikispace. Using one of the links below, find a video and copy the embed code.

http://video.google.com/

http://megavideo.com/

http://teachertube.com/

·  On the edit toolbar, click the icon that looks like a TV set.

·  Choose the type of item you will insert --in this case, other HTML code, and paste in the embed code

·  Click “Save”.

8.  Edit Navigation: Add a new page

·  On the left side of the page, under your home page listing, click “Edit Navigation”

·  Using double brackets [[ type the name of your new page and enclose it with double brackets again]] It will look like this:

[[Name of your new page]]

·  Click “Save” and your new page will be listed on the left side of your space, below your “Home” page.

9.  Pages: Locking pages, page history and reverting pages

Lock Page

·  You, as the space organizer, can lock pages. A locked page can’t be edited by anyone but you.

·  To lock a page, click “manage space”; click “List Pages; click “lock” next to the page you want to lock

Page History (wikispaces.com)

Each time someone edits a page, wikispaces take a visual snapshot of the changes so you can see in a glance how much has changed. Was it one line or the whole page? Click on 'history' at the top of any page to see all changes. Then click on the screenshot to the left of each entry to see a visual representation of the changes.
You can also compare any two versions of a page by clicking "select for comparison" on one version of a page and then "compare to selected" on another.
Wikispaces keeps every version of every page and makes it easy for members to revert back to a previous copy. You'll never have to worry about losing changes or being stuck with a new bad version of a page if someone makes a mistake.

Revert Page (wikispaces.com)
Every time a page is edited on Wikispaces, we save the previous version so that you can go back to a previous version if you don't like the new change. In fact, wikispaces saves every version of every page on the site.
Reverting a page lets you restore the content on a page that existed at any previous point in time. It's not to be done lightly, but can be very helpful if a page has been vandalized or to undo editing mistakes.
To revert a page:

·  click on 'history' on top of the page you want to revert

·  select the version you would like to go back to, by clicking on the revision in the date column

·  click 'revert to this version' at the top of the page

·  enter a comment and click the Revert button
When you revert a page, please enter a comment that explains why you reverted the page. Note that you must be logged in to revert pages.

10.  Discussion Tab

11.  Insert an RSS feed

Gcast 1-888-65-GCAST (1- 888-654-2278)

Enter the 10 digit number: (you create when you join the site)

Enter the pin: (you create)

Leave a brief message

http://www.gcast.com/?nr=1&s=59267427

12.  Add music to your wikispace

·  Go to http://www.playlist.com/

·  Create an account

·  Go to Search Music and look up the band/song you want

·  Test the song to see if it works (infrequently the links are bad).

·  Next to the song listing, click the “+” button to add it to your playlist. Continue collecting songs. You may add up to 100 songs on each playlist and you may create as many playlists as you want.

·  Go to My Account and click Add Playlist to MySpace

·  Select option B, then select the playlist for which you need the code.

·  Change the color or whatever you want, the click Get Code.

·  On the wikispace toolbar, click on the icon that looks like the TV, and select “Other HTML” Insert the code. Save.
If you add, delete or change songs on the playlist after you have inserted it into your wikispace, it will automatically update within a few minutes.

13.  Some tricks and tools:

Adding Pizzazz to Your Page: http://collaborationnation.wikispaces.com/Adding+pizzazz+to+your+pages

Widget boxes: http://www.widgetbox.com/tag/text or http://www.widgetgallery.com/

Embedding slide shows and videos: http://collaborationnation.wikispaces.com/Embedding+Slide+Shows+and+Video

Class Tools: create your own games, Venn diagrams: http://www.classtools.net/

Create your own flashcards, quizzes and games: http://quizlet.com/

Track your visitors: http://clustrmaps.com or http://flagcounter.com/index.html

Centering, indents, colored boxes http://sealwyf.wikispaces.com/Sandbox002

Create a table of contents: http://cct300-f07.wikispaces.com/Wiki+Tips

Create an interactive map: http://www.mapdaze.com/

Create a graph: http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/createagraph/default.aspx

Create flowcharts, diagrams, floor plans: http://www.gliffy.com/

More extensive list of links: http://elmundodebirch.wikispaces.com/wiki+tools