Eleven Interesting Ways*

to Use a Wiki in the

Classroom
*and tips

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution

Noncommercial Share Alike 3.0 License.
#1 - Create a subject-specific repository
Get students to write their own revision materials!

1. Sign up for a free

'education' wiki with
Wikispaces(see link
below)
2. Make the wiki only open
to those you have
granted access.
3. Get students to sign up 4. Make students 
for a Wikispaces    responsible for their 
account    own pages.
 
5. Students can  
    collaborate and 
    become 'experts'

http://wikispaces.com/site/for/teachers
Doug Belshaw
 #2 - Ask for student response

• as collaborative project
o And To Think That I Saw It On My Way To School
o Love That Dog
• to books
o Civil War Novels 
o Ghost Cadet
• to classwork/class discussions
o WikiWorld!
o Emma's Politics Page
• To Canadian mentor
o Di Hengen and student conversations

Paula White
 #3 - Show off Student Work

• to demonstrate understanding
o Fractions, Decimals and Percents
o Consecutive Numbers The Rotunda Charlottesville, VA USA
• for an audience (reports and projects)
o Landmarks and Math
o Discrimination (check out Japanese Americans)
•  for advertising purposes
o 5th Grade Fundraiser    (see menu on left)
• To meet someone (in this case, our mentor introducing herself)
o Dionne Hengen

Scott Stadium At UVA Paula White

Charlottesville, VA
#4 - Allow Students to create pages:

• Just For Fun

o 5th Grade Student pages
o Drew's Games
•  To communicate
o Summer Activities
o Spring Break
• To relieve stress
o Going to Middle School
• To organize for presentations
o School Board Links

Paula White
 #5- Publish Training Videos
Use Jing and Wikis together to learn and review
• Students:
o Researched/mastered assigned objective for MOS
Certification test
o Wrote scripts with step-by-step instructions
o Used Jing to record screencasts
o Used a Wikispaces wiki to upload video and add
script
• Wiki is now a source for learning and reviewing MOS
test objectives
• Has also been shared with school staff for quick how-
to reminders

Heidi Van Riper

@hlvanrip
 #6 - Post Podcast
Embed  Podcast
• Create podcast and embed on page
o SES Computer Lab
 We use Podomatic to create ours, then embed the code in
the wiki.
Barb Smith
 #7- Sharing teaching techniques among staff
Invite staff to share ideas that work and build up a
library of techniques
For example
• Good practice in teaching pupils with SEN
•  Ideas for stetching the most able
• Ways of integrating thinking skills / MIs into lessons
 
Advantages
• Easy access to staff when it's convienient to them
• Quickly builds into a valuable resource
• Some staff will contribute and this builds shared
sense of ownership

Dave Stacey
@davestacey
#8 A wiki as a forum for pupils to air issues
relevant to teenagers.
Create a wiki for a group of teenagers.

• Pupils create seperate wiki pages relating to certain

issues:
o Bullying
o Drugs
o Peer-pressure
o etc
• Pupils include links to resources, helplines,
fora etc.
• Pupils use the Wiki discussions
o Pupils use the discussions in addition to the pages themselves.
The discussions allow conversations around the issue.
 
Submitted by Dughall McCormick
Twitter: @dughall
#9 - Where can I get a wiki?
Three companies offer ad-free wikis to educators.
Each offer different features, which may make them
suitable for specific purposes

http://www.wikispaces.com/site/for/teachers
http://wikisineducation.wetpaint.com
 
http://pbwiki.com/academic.wiki

Dave Stacey
@davestacey
#10 - Interactive Sub (Supply) Plans
Create a page with sub plans and post for class

Sub (Supply) Plans Sample Voki

• Create voki and read

plans to class
•  Post Schedule and show
class
• Require at least one
assignment be done
using wiki creating
virtual classroom
teacher can look in on

@mwacker
Michael Wacker
#11 Create a collaborative dictionary.
- Create an English or foreign language dictionary to catalogue new
words encountered each week:
• Have a new page per topic area.
• As an extension, students add what type of word it is, i.e. noun,
adjective etc, genders (for MFL), and an example of its use. 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Submitted by
Catherine Elliott
Twitter: @camoore
If you would like to: 
• Contribute your ideas and tips to the
presentation.
• Let me know how you have used the resource.
• Get in touch. 
You can email me or I am @tombarrett on
If you add a tip (or even
Twitter
if you don't) please
tweet about it and the
link so more people can
contribute.
I have created a page for all Image: ‘Sharing‘

of the Interesting Ways

presentations on my blog. Thanks for helping
Tom Barrett 
The whole family in one
place :-)
Have you seen Maths Maps
yet?