WikiMatrix / Wiki for secondary students

flotoonie · 2008-05-07 11:26:38

Hello all

I have been browsing the wiki features and have completed the wizard but I still need some help choosing a wiki. I will try to describe some of my needs and give you some background.

I am a teacher and I run a Joomla site with guides and downloads for students. I tried to add a makeshift wiki within my joomla installation so students could create collaborative documents. I gave each student editor rights but that gave them the ability to edit ALL my content not just specific articles, sections or categories.

Also within a day a couple of students realised that the edits they were making weren't checked first by me and went live straight away. Shenanigans ensued. I added an extension to notify me of changes and by whom but I still don't have an ability to roll back changes. I also can't afford to let any offensive material go live.

A colleague suggested installing a wiki. So here I am. Features I would like are;

- Ability to restrict a group of users to particular pages/documents sections etc.
- Moderation of edits and contributions by Admin (I have read the concerns about this but teenagers will be teenagers).
- Point and click gui rather than hacking to adjust settings would be great( I have no knowledge of code).
- Ability to see changes to documents would be great but not essential (great for showing the progression from 'C' to 'A' standard.

Finally, I believe a wiki is what I need for students to collaboratively create documents online but if anyone has a better idea I am all ears.

Thanks in advance

EDIT: I have my eye on Wetpaint and Wikispaces. But they both seem to insist on having their name in the url address. I want to host it at my url though. Is this common practice?

Last edited by flotoonie (2008-05-07 12:58:42)

matt_w · 2008-05-07 16:02:33

Flotoonie,

EditMe is used by many educators in your situation, and meets all of the criteria you've specified. Here is a recent blog post on what you should consider in selecting a wiki for use in the classroom:

http://www.editme.com/Classroom-Wiki

And here are two case studies of our customers doing so:

http://www.editme.com/CaseStudyKidpedia

http://www.editme.com/CaseStudyMSW

Cheers,
Matt

cjtannu · 2008-05-07 18:54:55

flotoonie,

You are definitely making the right decision in regards to using a wiki for your class. I'd encourage you to check out http://wik.is which is MindTouch Deki Wiki hosted. I've addressed your requirements below.

- Ability to restrict a group of users to particular pages/documents sections etc.

This is available by default through our software that can be downloaded for free or hosted at one of our hosting partners. Through wik.is you can restrict pages via users but not as a group.

- Moderation of edits and contributions by Admin (I have read the concerns about this but teenagers will be teenagers).

You'll find that wikis don't include a moderation queue. But they do have the ability to keep a page private until you have deemed it appropriate to make it public.

- Point and click gui rather than hacking to adjust settings would be great( I have no knowledge of code).

Deki Wiki has a very intuitive interface and doesn't require you to know code to edit it. In fact we have an extension GUI that allows you to add dynamic content like Google Maps, widgets, and other extensions of Yahoo, Microsoft, and Google.

- Ability to see changes to documents would be great but not essential (great for showing the progression from 'C' to 'A' standard.

Deki Wiki has version control built in to show changes between pages along with version control of attached documents. Also each user has their own RSS feed that a parent would be able to subscribe to to see the activity the student is engaging in and to see daily progress.

-I want to host it at my url though.

Through wik.is you can upgrade to Pro and add your own custom URL for $99/year. Or you can go through one of our hosting partners and add your url to the account.

If you have any questions about Deki Wiki please feel free to contact us directly here: http://wiki.mindtouch.com/support

flotoonie · 2008-05-08 00:11:37

Thankyou for your suggestions.

I have another problem though, recently encountered. I have tried both suggestions, and they are blocked by my school. So are wikispaces and wetpaint. It is a long and cumbersome path to get a block removed.

So I need a solution that I can host myself and that can be accessed from my own domain (which isn't blocked for now.

cjtannu · 2008-05-08 00:25:11

Is your host the school or an external shared hosting site? If it is the school then you can download Deki Wiki software from here: http://wiki.mindtouch.com/Deki_Wiki

flotoonie · 2008-05-08 00:56:03

I have a personal hosting plan not connected with the school.

cjtannu · 2008-05-08 01:33:17

Gotcha...there is a good chance that it won't work then because Deki Wiki requires mono to be installed on the server. We have a hosting partner: http://www.nexcess.net that hosts Deki Wiki that you would be able to use if you want a shared hosting option.

SamePageTeam · 2008-05-16 02:02:18

Hi,

You can use SamePage both as a hosted(http://samepage.spwiki.com) or on-premise option (http://downloads.etouch.net).

If you want us to host your instance, and manage it, that is possible too.

Cheers,

namkyu · 2008-06-02 07:59:50

Hey,

I was reading your post on looking for a wiki for the classroom and educational purposes. If you are looking for something easy to pick up and use, I recommend Springnote (http://www.springnote.com). In South Korea, many are using Springnote as a tool for the classroom to enable the features that you've mentioned. Each page created in Springnote has its own permission settings that you can customize. Also, you can look over different revisions of a page all through a nice and clean interface.

As for hosting it on your own domain, there is no available option for that at the moment, but when creating an account, you are allowed to have http://yourname.springnote.com.

Anyway, give it a try and let me know what you think.

-Namkyu

#1 2008-05-07 11:26:38

Wiki for secondary students

#2 2008-05-07 16:02:33

Re: Wiki for secondary students

#3 2008-05-07 18:54:55

Re: Wiki for secondary students

#4 2008-05-08 00:11:37

Re: Wiki for secondary students

#5 2008-05-08 00:25:11

Re: Wiki for secondary students

#6 2008-05-08 00:56:03

Re: Wiki for secondary students

#7 2008-05-08 01:33:17

Re: Wiki for secondary students

#8 2008-05-16 02:02:18

Re: Wiki for secondary students

#9 2008-06-02 07:59:50

Re: Wiki for secondary students

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