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What is a wiki?
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Do you need HELP to get started?? You can click here or on the Help option at the top of every wiki page to find helpful instructions of short video clips demonstrating the features of using Wikispaces. All of the steps below are demonstrated in a very helpful way. Review the descriptions I have made but use the help features of wikispaces to view the instructional movies or review the official how to guide.

Steps covered in my workshop:

 * 1) Create your own wiki. Go to www.wikispaces.com Remember that your username and name of your wikispace cannot have any spaces in them and must be between 3 and 32 characters long.
 * 2) Add text to a page. You have some limited formatting options: Bold, Italics, Underline, font sizes (6), and numbered or bulletted lists.
 * 3) Add a link to the page. You can link to another page within your site (allowing you to have a "Front" page with other pages behind) or link to an external website. This is where you need to plan ahead to decide how you want your wiki to look. Will you have a page for each skill (a reading page, writing page, listening page and speaking page)? Possibly a page for different Lab sessions. Or you may want to use the wiki for group work and make a page for each group to be responsible for adding and revising a text.

This site was originally created for an ATESL workshop on October 20, 2007 and at that time, we didn't get any further than this but I was able to briefly show you that the following options are available.
 * 1) Video Tours on how to use Wikispaces can be found here.
 * 2) Customize the look and feel of your wiki. You can click on "Manage Space" on the left side bar to find this option. This also leads you to the page where you can change the members and permission settings for your space. Prepare a picture for your space by resizing an image to 150x150 pixels. Use a picture editor to do this. Choose the colour of the side bar here as well.
 * 3) Add an image to the page. An image can be added using the small picture icon at the top of the page. You need to browse for the image, select it and then upload it. The next step is to make sure your cursor is in the place on your page that you want the image to appear and then double click on the image to insert it.
 * 4) Add a file to the page. You can add a file using the same small picture icon but after browsing and uploading the file, you need to change one option. It is important to click on the selection"LINKS TO THE FILE" instead of "INSERTS THE FILE" underneath the text "Double-clicking the image"
 * 5) Add a new page. - This can be created using the "new page" link on the top of the left side bar or by creating a link to a new page using the add a link button on the tool bar on top of your page.
 * 6) Change your navigation. Navigation can be handled from your home page (linking to the internal pages) and/or clicking on "edit navigation" to change the navigation links on the left side bar to your page.

As you are making your own wikis and have questions or suggestions on how to do this with students or for your own use for instruction, please feel free to add these to the discussion page (see tab at the top of this page) for others to see. You can also share the link to your wiki pages - I'd love to see the ways you use this tool!

[|Article in Educause "Wide Open Spaces: Wikis, Ready or Not"] - written in 2004 it reviews how wikis can be applied in higher education and the cautions that educators should consider.

https://kcoad1.wikispaces.com/ - an example of what one participant of my workshop went on to create

For the workshop- we continued on to working with Podcasting using the tool, Gabcast.

Let's look at making a gabcast now.
Click here to go to my Podcasting site.