Using a wiki called PBworks, teachers can create online workspaces for students to collaborate on projects and share resources. PBworks allows multiple users to edit pages simultaneously and control who can view the workspace. Teachers can use it to provide guidelines for assignments, communicate with students, and monitor their work through edit histories and timestamps. It is free to use, requires no technical knowledge to set up, and provides templates and tools to engage students online while keeping them protected from inappropriate content on the wider internet.

1. Using a wiki to create an online interactive work space for education

2. The Problem Two courses, two sections Key-boreding

3. PBworks is an easy-to-use free web page that multiple people can edit, it’s based on wiki technology.

4. Wiki means Quick in Hawaiian

5. In the classroom, Pbworks is a free tool that empowers every student to participate in group projects.

6. James has assigned a team research project.What can he do to encourage the students to work together, share resources and create high quality work?

7. Three great ways to communicate with students PBworks Forum Blog CreatePublishCommentConversePost IdeasRespondShareEditCollaborateEngage Converse Post ideas Respond WritePublish Comment

8. “It's so easy to create a site to help guide students along with projects. I have found that it's a good way to make handouts available to students - I just point them at the web address. I post links to my PBworks Rockford's site so that parents can access project guidelines as well.” Justin Wylie Rockford High School

9. Mary wants to be sure her students are protected from the wider internet. How can she make certain her online site is off limits to child predators? How can she be sure that her students won’t be drawn onto the web?

10. YOU control who sees your workspace You invite your students Each student has a unique login and password

11. PBworks for Educator are free and never displayadvertisements NO ADS

12. Jamie wants to make certain her students act appropriately on line. Will her students write offensive comments? How can she monitor her students activity?

13. You have a history of every edit You are notified of every change

14. Who did the work? Edits are time stamped. You know who made changes and when they were made.

15. PBworks is Free and Easy to set up No IT department is needed!

16. Simply create a password and begin

17. Set it up and it works just like typing in Microsoft Word

18. Just like creating a Word document Just click and begin Easily insert Images and Video

19. Post a picture or a video

20. Teachers can make coursework and homework information easily available to both students and parents. With easy to use plugins you can create a calendar.

21. Quickly create new pages Templates designed with teachers in mind

22. Here’s one I made earlier . . .

23. Pbworks v BBV Complete autonomy and control Students can access the work space using any email address and from any location Easy to set up and administrate – no HTML! Lots of free tools to make the work space attractive and lively Students can upload materials and create their own pages Email notifications so that teachers know when the space has been used by students It can become a completely shared work space for students and teachers

24. It’s not perfect . . . Looks difficult on first sight Too many template pages Images difficult to manage Internet connection can be slow Sometimes things don’t work – but what’s new? Payment needed for better features

25. Would you like to know more? You can find training videos, templates and a community of fellow teacher users. http://educators.pbworks.com