Another Dr. B: Blog #13

How (and why) to use Wikispaces.com
I am asking you to use Wikispaces.com to do this collaborative project because it is becoming clearer and clear that collaborative school and work projects will be done through communication technologies like wikis. A wiki is like a website, but viewers can also edit pages, not just look at them, which makes wikis ideal for group projects. If you don’t believe me, read about wikis at Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki

If you have experience with Google Documents, Writeboard, or other collaborative software, you are free to use those products and webspaces. I am suggesting wikispaces because it is free, easy to use, and I have more experience with it.

1. Go to http://wikispaces.com and set up an account. I would encourage you to set up a wikispace with your first-name and last-name; you could use this space for your final portfolio if you want to. You should only need to do this step once.
2. Go to http://120proposals.wikispaces.com to see the planning documents and an outline of the proposal.
3. Give someone in your group the role of “Techie” and have him or her set up a group space with an appropriate name. I used 120proposals for this unit’s wiki; you might use a name like “NDSUrecycles.wikispaces.com.”
4. Everybody in the group should “join the space” and you should login every time you edit. This way others in the group will be able to
5. Write a brief welcome on your first page (you will edit it later), then copy and paste the planning pages from http://120proposals.wikispaces.com into your project website.
6. Everybody in the group should be able to edit planning pages and the proposal pages as they get composed.

If you are having any trouble using Wikispaces, don’t hesitate to ask me for help, check the Wikispaces help page (http://www.wikispaces.com/help+index ) use their discussion board, or email wikispaces.