To create an educational wiki, a user first signs up for a free account on PBworks.com. They then choose a wiki address and security settings before accessing their wiki workspace. From there, the user can edit pages, add or delete users, and customize colors and navigation sidebar. Various rich media like images, links, and videos can be inserted into pages by clicking "Insert" and uploading or pasting the appropriate code. The wiki allows for collaborative, multimedia learning environments.

1. How to create an
educational wiki.
Laurie Roberts
2010

2. • Go to PBworks.com
• Choose “For Education” at the top of the page.
• Scroll down and choose sign up now.

3. • Next, you are going to be taken to this page
where you will choose your plan. For this
lesson, we will choose free. You can upgrade
at any time.

4. • Once you choose select, it will bring you to this page.
• Choose address that will identify the purpose of your page.
• Then click next to create your page.

5. • A confirmation email will be sent to your email
address to confirm your registration. Follow the
link in your email.

6. • This is what the email from PBworks.com will look
like! Click on the link that says “Activate your
PBworks account now”.

7. • You will now choose your security settings. Remember that since we are using
this for educational purposes, we might not want just anyone to be able to see it,
so you will most likely choose “only people I invite or approve”.
• Accept the terms of service and then click “take me to my workspace”.

8. • Congrats! Here is your wiki! You may now begin editing. This is
your first page so whatever you want people to see first will go on
this page. Example: If this is a class page then your
announcements would go on this page to ensure that everyone
sees them.

9. • To edit a page, click on edit, and erase the default text and begin typing.
You can use the tool bar at the top of the page to change features on
the page such as font size and type. Make sure that you click on
“SAVE” after finishing or your information will be lost. Here is an
example of an edited FrontPage that will be used as the class
announcement page.

10. • I am a color person, so the first thing that I would change
about my wiki is the color. However, it does not change the
background color, just the top and sides.
• Click on settings and choose colors on the left hand side.
Then choose the color that you want and click save.

11. • The settings page also allows you to change the security setting to who
can edit and view, and it allows you to create classroom accounts. The
page that you see if the classroom accounts page. This page allows you
to create usernames and passwords for your students so that an email
address does not have to be used. You can choose what permission
level you want them to be assigned.

12. • Under the user’s tab, you can add or delete users.

13. • Under the “Pages and Files” tab, you can edit or delete a
page. You can also rename pages, or rename the frontpage
as I have done in the photo below.

14. • After you have edited your FrontPage, you can create a new page for
assignments, etc… Click on “Create a page” in the upper right hand
corner. This is the page that will come up. You will then name your
page and either choose “Blank Template or use a template that they
have already created. When you are finished, click on “Create Page”.

15. • If you choose “no template” then your blank page will open
up ready for you to edit. This page can be edited just like the
“FrontPage”.

16. • Once you have created all of your pages for your wiki, you
will need to edit the sidebar and set up your pages for easy
navigation. Go to the right hand side of the page where you
see the SideBar box and click on “Edit the sidebar”.

17. • This is the sidebar page. Click on “Edit” and then erase the
default text. Click on the pages to the right of the page and it
will appear in the box. You can choose the order that you
want them to be in. Then click “Save”.

18. • Now that you know how to edit your page, you can add
information into your page. The first thing we will add is a link
to another page or website. Click on “Insert” and then “Link”.

19. • It will bring up this box and then you will click on “browse pages and files”
so that it will give you the option to open the website in another window so
that you do not have to constantly hit the back arrow. Insert the web
address and click on “Insert Link”. Then the link will show up in the box.

20. • Now, we will add a picture to our page! You will click on “Images and
Files” under the “Insert Links” tab and then click on “upload files” and it
will bring up this box. You will search for the file and then click on “Open”.

21. Once you have clicked on open, this
box will show your file uploading.
When your file has finished uploading,
you will have to
find it under the “Insert Links” box and
click on it.
This is how your picture will appear
in the box. Make sure that you
position your cursor so that your
picture will be placed in the correct
place.

22. The next thing that we will add to our page is a video. I chose
one from teacher tube, so you go to “insert link” and then go
down to “more plugins”. Another menu will come up and you will
choose “Video and Photo” and then “TeacherTube video”.

23. • It will bring up this box
and you will insert the
code into the box and
click on “next”.
• It will then bring up
the video to ensure it
is the right one and
you will click on
“Insert Plugin”.

24. • Your video will first
appear like this until
you click on “Save”.
• Then, it will appear
like this on your page.

25. I hope you have learned a lot about wikis
today!!
If you have any questions, please feel
free to call me at:
229-259-9409
or email me at:
lashrouder@yahoo.com