Wikispaces

I wanted to review Wikispaces because I think this could have helped me while I was planning our family reunion. A Wikispace is a resource in the Web 2.0 family where you can create simple web pages that groups, friends and families can edit together.

When I was planning my family reunion, the hardest part of the planning was pulling everyone together at the same time and making sure we had the same notes. My families just like many others are spread across this big beautiful country of ours and making contact is hard. If I created a Wikispace and invited all family members to join in, I would bet the planning of a reunion would be a breeze.

Wikispace sites are created with WYSIWYG technology so creating wikis are simple and fun to use. I’m sure it wouldn’t be hard to show my other family members how to use the editor. I think one of the coolest features of Wikispaces is the ability to add links to either photos you want to share or incorporate external links into sites. This is most important when it comes to pulling together where certain functions of reunions will take place. Through the family wikispace, we could place photos of the hall, park or hotels so other family members could have a clear picture of just what facilities are being booked for use. This would be great. I think then you could get more family members excited about coming.

With education, a Wikispace would be idea. As things stand, an MPS Technology Coordinator does not have access to create shared drives or folders. Using a wikispace a TC wouldn’t need to contact anyone. The teacher could create a wikispace and invite her /his students in on the discussion and learning process. And the internet is open to anyone and Wikispaces aren’t that expensive. I don’t know if the cost would come to be a major problem ($5 month or $50 /year) if the teacher setting it up is willing to pay for it. With budgets so tight right now I don’t know if any principal would agree to it (I would hope so if they could see the benefits; i.e. less paper, student collaboration, etc.)

Whatever the case, I think Wikispaces will get lots of use once more people know about it. This would definitely be a great learning tool and at the same time be lots of fun.