What is a wiki? Online Collaboration with Wikis

A wiki is an easy-to-use free web page that multiple people can edit.

Wiki means Quick in Hawaiian

In the classroom, a wiki is a free tool that empowers every student to participate in group projects.

James has assigned a team research project. What can he do to encourage the students to work together, share resources and create high quality work?

Converse Post ideas Respond Forum Write Publish Comment Create Publish Comment Converse Post Ideas Respond Share Edit Collaborate Engage Blog Wiki Three great ways to communicate with students

“It's so easy to create a site to help guide students along with projects. I have found that it's a good way to make handouts available to students - I just point them at the web address. I post links to my wiki sites on Rockford's site so that parents can access project guidelines as well.” Justin Wylie Rockford High School

How can she make certain her online site is off limits to child predators? How can she be sure that her students won’t be drawn onto the web? Mary wants to be sure her students are protected from the wider internet.

YOU control who edits your wiki You set the password. You choose who participates.

Jamie wants to make certain her students act appropriately on line. Will her students write offensive comments? How can she monitor her students activity?

You have a history of every edit You are notified of every change

No more “dog ate my homework” Edits are time stamped. You know who made changes and when they were made.

Wikis are Free and Easy to set up No IT department is needed!

Simply create a password and begin

Set it up and it works just like typing in Microsoft Word

Just like creating a Word document Easily insert Images and Video Just click and begin

For more ideas check out the Wiki educator page. You can find tips, suggestions, templates and a community of fellow teacher users.

Join the more than 135,000 teachers who have used wikis for their classrooms, from elementary schools to Stanford and Harvard

Provide a space for free writing Debate course topics Share resources such as annotated bibliographies, websites, effective writing samples, conferences, calls for manuscripts Maintain a journal of work performed on group projects A place for teachers to collaborate on documents Discuss curricular and instructional innovations How can administrators use wikis to facilitate professional development?

Educator wikis are free, fast and ready to use. Create one now at

Wikis are free, online writing spaces. Wikis use simple formatting rules, so you don't need to understand HTML or an HTML authoring tools, such as Microsoft FrontPage or Dreamweaver to contribute. Wikis convey a highly collaborative view of composing and creativity. People who contribute to a wiki need to understand that their words may be deleted and changed by others. What are Wikis?

Wiki authors do not claim ownership of a text. When writers contribute to a public wiki, their work could potentially be read by millions of readers. Wikis give focus to the last draft, yet wikis provide a history. Each time the text is changed, a new version is saved. Anyone can go back later and see previous versions. This allows teachers and students to see the writing process in action. Wikis are designed specifically as a writing space. Wikis make it possible - and necessary - for writers to continually build upon, revise, and edit an emerging text.