Wiki

Wiki is a collection of collaboratively authored web documents. In other words, a Wiki page is a web page everyone with similar interests can create together in the browser without needing to know HTML. Wikis get their name from the Hawaiian term "wiki wiki," which means "very fast." It is indeed a fast method for creating content as a group.

Adding a Wiki

• With the editing turned on, in the section you wish to add your wiki, click the "Add an activity or resource" link and choose Wiki.
• In the next section the wiki settings page titled "Adding a new wiki". All settings may be expanded by clicking the "Expand all" link top right.
• In an existing wiki, the wiki settings can be found by clicking the Edit dropdown. With the Boost theme, additional options are available by clicking on the wiki and then clicking the gear menu.
• Give your wiki a name and description. (The description may or may not be compulsory depending on your admin's settings.) Check the box if you want the description to appear on the course page.
• Wiki mode Choose between "Individual wiki" where each student gets their own, or "Collaborative wiki" where students work together on a single wiki. (Group mode may also be used along with a collaborative wiki.)
• First page name The name you add here will form the first page of your new wiki. It is a required field and once a name has been entered,it can't be changed.
• Wiki formats Set the default type of editing your wiki will use, it can be either; HTML - editing using the normal text editor such as Atto, Creole - a popular wiki editing language or NWiki - a wiki editing language similar to Mediawiki.

Note: Note: Creole and Nwiki have the same toolbar but slightly different syntax.

• Check "Force format" if you want to control the format your learners will use.

Locally assigned roles

Selected Wiki users can be assigned roles in the Wiki activity. This is done from the gear menu in the Wiki - Boost theme or for other themes, from:

Administration > Wiki Administration > Locally assigned roles.

Wiki capabilities

Role permissions of the activity can be changed from the Permissions link in the gear menu within the wiki (Boost theme) or, for other themes from:

Administration > Wiki administration > Permissions.

Creating the first page

Once the Wiki is set up, a user will arrive to the page as pictured below. Click on "Create" page to create a first Wiki page.

Adding more pages

• Type the name of your page inside double brackets.
• Press the "save" button.
• Click the link in italics for one of the pages you intend to create, you will be prompted to create it the same way you were prompted to create the first page.
• Once the page is created, the title no longer has italics.

Navigating through pages

To navigate pages, you have to create your own hyperlinks. Copy the URL at the top of one page into a hyperlink on another page. Save your work and now when that hyperlink is activated, the Wiki goes to that page.

Editing Wiki page

One main advantage of Wiki is nothing is lost. If someone changes a version of your page, your version will still be save on the Wiki. Depending on the Wiki version you are using, the options for editing, commenting viewing history, map and files may all be accessed from tabs at the top (1 in screenshot below) and if you are using a non-Boost theme, also from links in the navigation block (2 in screenshot below).

• View - Display and view Wiki page.
• Edit - Edit Wiki page.
• Comments - allows users to see and add comments about the wiki - providing comments are enabled on the site.
• History - allows users to see what has been altered in the wiki. Compare edits by clicking the "Compare Selected" button. Click the "Restore" button of the version you wish to restore if the latest edit is unsuitable.
• Map - allows users to view areas of the wiki such as a list of pages, updated or orphaned pages etc. (Orphaned pages are pages not linked to anywhere.)
• Files - allows users to access any files which have been added to the wiki.Only the teacher role can by default add and manage files to the Files tab, but you can allow students to add and manage them with a permissions override to the Manage wiki files capability.
• Administration - available to editing teachers in the course to delete page versions or selected pages. Clicking the "list all" button will list available pages to delete. The first page of the wiki cannot be deleted.

Deleting pages

• Teachers and other users with the "managewiki" capability can delete any page or page version, with the exception of the first page, via the Administration tab.

Areas Wiki can be used

• Group lecture notes
• Group Project management
• Brainstorming
• Contribute to other wikis
• Collaborative story-telling