Week 3 Practical Experience _WikiSpaces_Post 3

Now I have learned an invaluable amount of information!!  I've learned how to add pages, edit the privacy settings, and more! I love that I can decide page by page which should be private and which should be public.  I can also create a wiki within my wiki.  I know it sounds confusing.  I sure thought that it was, but it's really not. For example, I can have 2 separate wikis for the 2 grade levels that I teach.  I can then set individual pages for class periods based on the grade level.  Because the private label wiki is not free, there are an unlimited amount of wikis and pages that one can create.  I think I just may be ready to purchase a 1 year subscription!!

One of the coolest features that I have found so far is that I can set up templates for my students to use when I am ready for them to start adding to the wiki.  That makes it so much easier for the students to include all of the elements that I am asking them to include.  It actually reminds me of the Creating Ripples Wet Paint wiki in that respect. If I really want my literature circles to begin using this site to collaborate on projects, etc., this would be a great tool to have at hand.

Even though the school district that I work in created email addresses for all of my students, they don't have to have one to sign into the site.  That's great, especially considering how difficult it was for my students to learn the random combination of letters and numbers that were used to create their emails.  I can simple use the display names that they were given, and default their passwords to their lunch numbers/student id numbers.  Then none of my students will be able to give me any excuses about how or why they couldn't get into their email to log into the wiki site!  It makes an extra step for me, but somehow I think it will be worth it in the end.

I'm going to keep playing with my wiki site and working out kinks.  I am in the process of planning out my next grading period, and I am excited to try to find ways to incorporate the wiki into the curriculum!