Bits and Bytes

As an educator interested in creating engaging wikis, you’ll want to keep resources like “Cool Tools for Schools” and “Getting Tricky with Wikis” handy for your Web 2.0 needs.

Julie, an 8th grade teacher, has made great use of both of these resources. First introduced to wikis at an educational conference, she was inspired by the creative and collaborative learning she saw happening with wikis and decided to build a similar learning experience for her kids. She began a wiki, set up the project guidelines, and added her students. Since the project started, Julie has had several kids wanting to do more advanced things with her wiki. She was able to help them by using these two great resources.

Lenva Shearing, the creator of these wikis, is the deputy principal of the Bucklands Beach Intermediate School in New Zealand and is an ICT facilitator for schools in her area. As she traveled to different schools, she was often asked by her colleagues about the online tools that were available to use in their classrooms.

Lenva began exploring different sites and keeping track of them on her wiki at http://cooltoolsforschools.wikispaces.com . “Teachers are busy people and if I can make it easier for them by locating these resources, testing them out and putting them in a central place, then I am happy to do it.” Lenva has since joined and evaluated over 500 different sites on the Internet, all which you can find on her wiki.

As she and her colleagues created more wikis, they wanted to have good-looking sites along with their educational content. Lenva kept track of the various tips and tricks she learned when designing her own wikis at http://gettingtrickywithwikis.wikispaces.com. There, you can find instructions to customize the layout and look of your wiki including how to add a table of contents to your site, place a background image on your page, and create column layouts.

If you are looking to do more with your own wiki, these two wikis are great resources to check out. We hope you enjoy them.