Wikispaces Goes Free for Higher Ed — Trevor Holmes

I have been using Wikispaces for many years now. It’s been a space to collaborate with peers on research, a space to house an organizational website that needs to be very flexible and easy to use while we seek permanent solutions, and a space for my students to go when other tools go down. By no means have I used Wikispaces to its full potential, but I do administer several wikis there and I’m thrilled that they are extending their ad-free version to higher education, after serving nearly a million K-12 users this way. A couple of examples of how I’ve used it:

  • A backup site for my Cultural Studies 101 course over at WLU
  • A working site for the Council of Ontario Educational Developers

If you’re interested in wiki use, we do have advice for you. And for ease of use plus the newly free adless version, I’d recommend Wikispaces as a strong contender for your time and energy.

Social Construction of Knowledge: Wiki in Graduate School — Nicola Simmons

Dr. Michael Wesch’s opening keynote at this year’s Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education conference in Toronto caused me to think deeply about social construction of knowledge – and how that might flavour my teaching this coming term, particularly with graduate students in education. You may be familiar with Wesch’s video A Vision of Students Today Continue reading Social Construction of Knowledge: Wiki in Graduate School — Nicola Simmons

WikiTaxi: Accessing Wikipedia When You’re Offline – Mark Morton

bar_fightTired of not being able to access millions of pages of information while you’re relaxing at the cottage or stricken with insomnia on an eight-hour flight to Istanbul? Frustrated by your inability to settle trivial disputes because the pub where you and your friends are disputing doesn’t have a wireless hotspot? Those pesky scenarios can now be a thing of the past thanks to WikiTaxi, which allows you to download Wikipedia in its entirety — all three million entries — and access them on your laptop, even when the Internet is nowhere to be found. Continue reading WikiTaxi: Accessing Wikipedia When You’re Offline – Mark Morton