Welcome to the Pierce Learning 2.0 Wiki (by PB wiki)
This is the wiki "brand" I have the most experience with. It's literally a website that can be edited by many people. I can password protect (only authorized "authors" can edit) or leave it open to the world.
I've been using PB Wiki for the last 5 years to organize the work of a federal grant I coordinate. It allows me to gather and post our work so we all have a central place to look. The other librarians can post their work too. I can grow it and shrink based on our needs. Check it out at: http://informationliteracywactc.pbwiki.com/.
We've also been using a wiki in the library to collect info and collaborate. We can put our reference and back-up schedules there. Our meeting minutes, our contact information, our various projects, etc (AnthroMary was here). It a lot more dynamic than the "share drive" we have access through Pierce which is basically just a folder of files and even better, we can access it from anywhere -- not just on campus. Find it at http://piercecollegelibraryreference.pbwiki.com/ -- we password protected it (because it has our contact info posted there). The password you need to access this site is in the email I sent you about this week's activties.
This wiki I created for Winter Quarter's group so I could get experience with another popular wiki technology (Wet Paint). I don't care for it much but that might have more to do with "getting" PB wiki better because I've used it so much more.
Activities:
- Check out my grant wiki and our reference wiki (password in the email) to see some in action.
- Play around with this wiki or the Wet Paint one. Click on "edit" to create pages, add plugins or pictures. Attach a file or make a hyperlink. No, you don't have to do all those things. But somewhere, leave "xxx was here" (graffitti this wiki!) so we know you've been by.
- Check out PB Wikis' ideas about the educational uses of wikis. Can you see a use for your classes or for your department? XXX willie was here.
4. In a plain brown envelope, send Ted Wood $100,000 in small unmarked bills.
5. Willie did as instructed but he wondered what Ted would do with al those blank scraps of paper.
Here's a page on this wiki just for playing around with the "edit" mode.
Here's a page to play with their Plugins
Comments (8)
Sharon Russell said
at 8:37 pm on May 12, 2008
Sharon was here-but briefly. Too many essays to read to really have fun.
Willie Jackson said
at 12:00 am on May 13, 2008
Willie just got a new batch of essay to grade also. I will be back soon.
Frank said
at 7:54 am on May 13, 2008
I use a wiki for my one-credit computer class that I teach at Ft. Steilacoom at http://cmptr107.pbwiki.com/. I also use one for sharing ideas, resources, etc. for collection development at http://pccollectiondevelopment.pbwiki.com/. It is so much better for sharing information than using the shared drive or emailing back and forth.
Laurie Shuster said
at 8:43 am on May 13, 2008
I also teach CMPTR 107 and I stole... uh borrowed that is... Frank's idea for a wiki. http://cmptr107.wikispaces.com/ It's been a fantastic way to present info, handouts, and the many web links I use in class. Last summer, a few students attended a conference on the last day of class so they posted their presentations on the wiki instead of doing them in person. It worked pretty well.
Kate said
at 4:25 pm on May 13, 2008
So, what are the etiquette rules for wikis? The idea of editing someone else's document text just seems rude, even though I know that's what the point of it is. I'm not entirely comfortable with it! I also wondered - for those of you who use these with classes - are all documents (including things like the syllabus) accessible to all site members for editing, or can you include non-editable pages in a wiki? Is there an advantage to having it just as a wiki site, rather than using a standard class platform (like Blackboard) with a wiki link for collaborative projects?
Kate said
at 5:06 pm on May 13, 2008
Okay - I decided to try out wiki-land by making a wiki for Mary and me to use to collaborate on updating the Anthro catalogue information. We've got some other projects that we'd like to work on collaboratively, too, and I started a second folder for one of those. We already have a Blackboard website for the department, with all kinds of resources and such on it. I added our wiki to the Web Links page, so we can access it easily there. This is pretty cool! I sometimes have students working on group projects, and have set up Group Discussion Boards for them in Blackboard, but I think setting up a wiki (with individual folders or pages for different groups) would be even better.
Lynn Deeken said
at 5:09 pm on May 13, 2008
Often that's exactly why you're using a wiki -- to collaborate on a single document without sending back and forth versions of it. I invited you guys as "writers" which gives you some privileges but not all. There are also ways to control what kinds of pages are editable and which aren't. But you would be able to "freeze" some documents. Or in the case of a syllabus you could upload as a pdf (the "Cute PDF" program is awesome!) so it really wouldn't be something anyone could change.
My guess is that if you're using Blackboard or a system like that then you already have some of the same functionality and you might not need/want a wiki. But if you don't -- or you don't want to mess with people having to login into it, then a wiki might be better. The Blackboard users can weigh in on that. But it seems to me still more flexible because it really is a webpage and you use various webpage gadgets on it.
Kathy said
at 9:03 am on May 21, 2008
That's what I was wondering. For years now I've had a Blackboard site for every credit class I teach. And I don't immediately see a use for library instruction. So I'm wondering how else I might use this. Any ideas?
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