2. Create a site for your class
(Note: new users may have already created their site during the sign up process)
Click on My Account and the Create a New Wiki button
3. Upgrade to a free teacher account
Teachers are allowed a free upgrade from a Basic to a Plus account. You must do this in order to set up student accounts.
Click on Manage Wiki and look for Subscription. Click on the Upgrade Here link.
Scroll to the bottom of the page and find Complimentary upgrades for educators. Click on the appropriate link, for K-12 or Higher Education use. You will receive an email when your upgrade has been approved (this may take a day or two).
4. Create student accounts
After your site has been upgraded to the Plus account, click on Manage Wiki and look for the User Creator button.
Here you will type in login names for your students. Note:These must be distinct names that no other Wikispaces user has. Generally, most first names are already taken. A good rule of thumb is to begin the names with a distinct class code, then the first name, then the school year. For example, Chris in Grade 4 at King George School in 2011 might be: KG04Chris11. Conversely, you may want to just use numbers for students, instead of names (e.g., KG040111).
Choose No Email Addresses, and let the program create passwords for the students. However, make sure to save a copy of the passwords list. You won't be able to access it later!
The User Creator also creates internal email accounts for each user, but I do not give these addresses out to the students.
Now you are all set to start building your site!
+ Building and Editing Pages
1. Add pages to your site
Use the New Page link to create pages in your wikispace.
Add pages for each student in the class, and any other pages you may need. Note the default setting is that all pages are arranged alphabetically in the side menu. To reorder pages in the side menu, place an underscore before the page name when creating a page (for example, name a student page _Chris). All of these page names will be added at the end of the alphabetical list. As well, by default, every page you create is automatically added to the sidebar listing.
To have more control over this, use the edit navigation link found at the bottom of the sidebar to edit the side menu and organize the page links in any order you like.
Click on edit navigation and delete the blue "navigation widget" box. Then add links to the pages you want to see, placing them in any order. Add non-linking text headings and line spaces for more clarity.
2. Make it look the way you want
Change the look of your wikispace by clicking on the Manage Wiki link and choosing Look and Feel. You can change the theme and colours of your page, and add in your own logo. If you are familiar with HTML programming and CSS stylesheets, you can do further tweaks in this area as well.
3. Editing pages
To add content to pages, simply click on the Edit Page button.
This will bring up the Page Editor screen and toolbar.
Type or paste in text, add photos, embed links to websites, and upload files all in this area. Change the font, text colour and size as well. Be sure to save often between edits.
4. Uploading files
When in the Editor screen, click on the File button. Click +Upload Files to find files on your hard drive or network. Once uploaded, click the file name to embed it in your page. Most picture files (JPG, etc.) will show up as full pictures on the screen. Video and audio files (WMV, MP3, etc.) will appear in their own player windows. Other files (such as PDF or DOC files) will be embedded as links. Note that Wikispaces allows you 2GB of storage space for your files.
5. History and locking pages
Wikispaces keeps a record of all changes in its History pages. If changes are made to a page, they can always be reversed by clicking on the History tab at the top of that page, and choosing the appropriate page to revert to.
The name of the person making the changes is also recorded. You may want to remind students that History records every change made on every page, with the name of the person who made the change, and that they should only work on their own pages, unless given permission to do otherwise.
If you would like to lock down pages you don't want touched, click on Manage Wiki and then Pages. Put checkmark in the box beside the page you would like protected, and choose Lock. Only the organizer of the wiki will be able to make changes to that page.
6. Widgets
Wikispaces has the ability to embed widgets (small applications) into your pages. Examples of some of the widgets available are links to Google Calendar, table of contents for a page, RSS feed, tag cloud, maps, photo slide shows. There are others besides this, and all can be accessed through the Widget button in the Page Editor screen.
7. Other features
Wikispaces has a lot more to offer. Play around with the tools, and see else you can find out!
Table of Contents
+ Setting up an Educator Wikispace
1. Sign up for a Wikispaces account
Follow this link to the Sign Up page: https://www.wikispaces.com/user/join
2. Create a site for your class
(Note: new users may have already created their site during the sign up process)
Click on My Account and the Create a New Wiki button
3. Upgrade to a free teacher account
Teachers are allowed a free upgrade from a Basic to a Plus account. You must do this in order to set up student accounts.
Scroll to the bottom of the page and find Complimentary upgrades for educators. Click on the appropriate link, for K-12 or Higher Education use. You will receive an email when your upgrade has been approved (this may take a day or two).
4. Create student accounts
After your site has been upgraded to the Plus account, click on Manage Wiki and look for the User Creator button.
Here you will type in login names for your students. Note: These must be distinct names that no other Wikispaces user has. Generally, most first names are already taken. A good rule of thumb is to begin the names with a distinct class code, then the first name, then the school year. For example, Chris in Grade 4 at King George School in 2011 might be: KG04Chris11. Conversely, you may want to just use numbers for students, instead of names (e.g., KG040111).
Choose No Email Addresses, and let the program create passwords for the students. However, make sure to save a copy of the passwords list. You won't be able to access it later!
The User Creator also creates internal email accounts for each user, but I do not give these addresses out to the students.
Now you are all set to start building your site!
+ Building and Editing Pages
1. Add pages to your site
Use the New Page link to create pages in your wikispace.
Add pages for each student in the class, and any other pages you may need. Note the default setting is that all pages are arranged alphabetically in the side menu. To reorder pages in the side menu, place an underscore before the page name when creating a page (for example, name a student page _Chris). All of these page names will be added at the end of the alphabetical list. As well, by default, every page you create is automatically added to the sidebar listing.
To have more control over this, use the edit navigation link found at the bottom of the sidebar to edit the side menu and organize the page links in any order you like.
Click on edit navigation and delete the blue "navigation widget" box. Then add links to the pages you want to see, placing them in any order. Add non-linking text headings and line spaces for more clarity.
2. Make it look the way you want
Change the look of your wikispace by clicking on the Manage Wiki link and choosing Look and Feel. You can change the theme and colours of your page, and add in your own logo. If you are familiar with HTML programming and CSS stylesheets, you can do further tweaks in this area as well.
3. Editing pages
To add content to pages, simply click on the Edit Page button.
This will bring up the Page Editor screen and toolbar.
Type or paste in text, add photos, embed links to websites, and upload files all in this area. Change the font, text colour and size as well. Be sure to save often between edits.
4. Uploading files
When in the Editor screen, click on the File button. Click +Upload Files to find files on your hard drive or network. Once uploaded, click the file name to embed it in your page. Most picture files (JPG, etc.) will show up as full pictures on the screen. Video and audio files (WMV, MP3, etc.) will appear in their own player windows. Other files (such as PDF or DOC files) will be embedded as links. Note that Wikispaces allows you 2GB of storage space for your files.
5. History and locking pages
Wikispaces keeps a record of all changes in its History pages. If changes are made to a page, they can always be reversed by clicking on the History tab at the top of that page, and choosing the appropriate page to revert to.
The name of the person making the changes is also recorded. You may want to remind students that History records every change made on every page, with the name of the person who made the change, and that they should only work on their own pages, unless given permission to do otherwise.
If you would like to lock down pages you don't want touched, click on Manage Wiki and then Pages. Put checkmark in the box beside the page you would like protected, and choose Lock. Only the organizer of the wiki will be able to make changes to that page.
6. Widgets
Wikispaces has the ability to embed widgets (small applications) into your pages. Examples of some of the widgets available are links to Google Calendar, table of contents for a page, RSS feed, tag cloud, maps, photo slide shows. There are others besides this, and all can be accessed through the Widget button in the Page Editor screen.
7. Other features
Wikispaces has a lot more to offer. Play around with the tools, and see else you can find out!