Wiki: Information and how to use

You may be required to contribute to a wiki in a subject.  The most common use for these, are group assignments, and in the wiki, each student will enter their contribution, will be able to read other students' contributions, and can edit as necessary.  If you have been given permission to edit one another's text, which is often the case for group assignments, it would be important to contact the student first, and let them know, eg. that they have something incorrect, wrong spelling, or grammar, etc. and is it OK if you edit that.  Respect for other students is important in group work.  

Wikis in subjects can also be used for such things as organising groups, times for events etc. as all students and the lecturer can go to the wiki, put in their text, and check other entries.  So they are versatile tools to use, and it is helpful if you know how to use them. 

To create a page in a Wiki:

Your lecturer will very likely have created the first page, for the Wiki, and if that is the case, skip the next bit, and go down to: To make an entry in a Wiki.   But if not, when you first click on the Wiki link, you will see:

• Leave it as HTML format.   This is easier to use the Creole, or NWiki, and it has more options, including adding links and images.  Inserting an image with Creole or NWiki does not work. 
• If this has defaulted to Creole or NWiki, then change this to HTML before creating the page.  
• Then click Create page.
• You are now ready to make an entry (edit) on the page. 
  

To make an entry in a Wiki:

1. Go to your subject sites, and click on the relevant Wiki, e.g. as below, Wiki on space travel.
   
       
   
   
2. Click on Edit, via the dropdown menu, and enter your text in the text box:
   
   
   
   
3. You may be the first to enter text but normally there will be text already on the Wiki page.  Enter your text either after the text that is already there, or in the appropriate place, e.g. if this is for a group assignment.  wherever it fits within the essay structure.  
   
• If not an essay, then it would probably be best to add a line (hold hyphen key) below the latest entry, add your entry, and then add another line. 
  
4. Note the various text editing tools in the text editor, eg. bold, italic, dot points, insert an image, change colour of font, insert a link, etc.  Hover over an icon to see what it is. 
   
5. Click Save.  You can preview it first before you save it, or just edit again, if you see an error after saving.  
6. Tags are not normally used, but you can add some to your own entry, if you wish. Tags just help entries to be found more easily, so are a good idea if the wiki has a lot of pages/entries.  Note that most Wikis will only have one page.
7. If your wiki has more than one page, click on Map tab to find other pages.