I have set up a several wikis for things like:
- organizing my family Christmas,
- a college web class,
- a continuing ed course on Acrobate,
- Several MET group presentations, and
- I participated in the ETEC 510 Design wiki
In total I have 11 wikis set up on pbworks.com
I am a big fan of wikis for education. They are a great asynchronous tool that lets students share knowledge. My web design classes love using wikis to share their work and learn for their peers. At first, the students are reluctant to use the new technology but once they get into it, they love how easy it is to use.
The hardest part of setting up wikis on pbworks is inviting people to your wiki. When you have a class of 50 students, entering their email address is time consuming and boring. It is easy to make mistakes. Students can request access to edit pages but I am not automatically notified. I have to go in and see if anyone has requested access.
I usually set up a shell for the students to use as they enter their information. Knowledge of good navigation and information Architecture really helps with this task. The files can become disorganized with many people using the site so I often have to go in and make some file management clean up.
Often students accidentally change my Front Page… which can cause panic. The Front page holds navigational elements for the students to get around to the rest of the pages. Luckily there is a function where I can look at the page history, revert to an older version of the page and see who made the change. I love this feature. It is handy when looking at group work to see who has participated and who has not.
Like all Web2.0 technologies it takes some time to learn how the technology works but one you do, it can become good learning technology. It can be easy to drop something and revert to old teaching habits, but tools like wikis, help students participate, contribute, collaborate and create content. There is more interaction with the content and therefore I believe more learning.