We just added a new widget to your wiki toolbox. We call it the List of Wikis widget, because that’s what it does: it puts a list of wikis on the page. No more manually entering links to wikis, no more worrying about who sees what. What it does Obviously, it lists wikis. You get two choices: All the wikis the viewer is a member of, or all the wikis in the viewer’s "My Wikis" list. But the fun part is that it’s a dynamic little widget. So when I’m logged in, I’ll see the wikis I care about seeing. When you’re logged in, you’ll see yours. And, when either of us joins new wikis, or leaves old wikis, or updates our list of favorite wikis, the widget will automatically know. How it works Navigate to the page (or navigation bar) where you want a list of wikis. Click the Widget icon in the editor toolbar. On the Wikispaces Widgets menu, select List of Wikis. Decide which list you want to display and set the maximum number of wikis to list. Hit the Embed Wiki List button. Save your page. A special feature for Private Label users If you are working on a Wikispaces Private Label site, you have one additional option for your list of wikis: All wikis the viewer can see. This can be a fantastic solution to tricky site navigation issues. All you need to do is embed the widget on the home page or nav bar of your www wiki, and every user will get an instant, personalized list of all the wikis that are public, protected, or list them as a member. The whole visible site at their fingertips, and you didn’t have to spend any time entering manual links or worrying about wiki permission settings. We’re pretty psyched about this new feature, and hope you will be, too. Let us know what you think below or with an email to help@wikispaces.com.

You want your wiki to look attractive, and you want it to work hard. One simple way to accomplish both of those goals is by adding links to your images to turn them into buttons. And you can do that with the skills you already have. Here’s how: A refresher course in links You are almost certainly using links in your wikis already. They make it possible to move between pages, from wiki to wiki, even to other resources elsewhere on the Internet. Adding a link is very easy to do: Highlight the text you want to turn into a link. Hit the Link icon in the editor toolbar. If you’re linking to a page in your wiki (or another wiki), fill out the information in the Wiki Link tab. If you’re linking to a page on another Web site, move over to the External Link tab and put in the information there. Hit the Add link button. Finish editing your page, and Save! (You can find more details about specific ways to add links on our help page.) Getting ready Before you can link an image, you have to have an image that you want to use. Any type of image file will make a good link: .jpg, .gif, .png — whatever you’re comfortable with or have ready to go. It’s best if your image is set to the size you want it to appear on the page before you upload it to your wiki. You can always make the image larger or smaller once it’s on the page, but, depending on the type and size of the image, it might end up looking pixilated or strange. The right size for an image depends on where and how you want to use it. For example, we recommend that you set images in your navigation bar to no more than 180 pixels wide. But, really, any image — no matter what the size, file type, or subject matter happens to be — can be made into a link with a few easy steps. A few easy steps Are you ready? Here it goes: On the page where you want to put the link, hit the Edit button. Decide where you want the image to go. Make sure that’s where your cursor is, and hit the File button in the editor toolbar. Click the Upload Files button and select the image you want to use from your computer. Once it’s uploaded, click on the thumbnail and file name in the list to insert it into your page. If you want, click on the image, then use the file details box to adjust the size and alignment of your image. With the image still selected (so you can still see the file details box), click the Link icon in the editor toolbar. Select the Wiki Link or External Link tab, and add the link information just like you would with a text link. Click Add Link. Finish editing the page, and hit Save. Just for funsies, click on your image. Linked! Some ideas for linked images Probably the single most popular way people use linked images is to add graphical buttons to the navigation bar. We have an entire page devoted to nav bar changes in our help wiki. But that’s not all you can do. You can put together a page introducing your classroom, with a piece of student art representing each student. When you click on a student’s artwork, BAM!, it takes you to that student’s e-portfolio. Or say you’re setting up a product catalog for your company’s public-facing wiki. You can add product photos to your home page that will take the customer to a page that lists the specifications for that product. Or maybe you just want to add a little bit of flair to your page. Why settle for a text link that says "Click here," when you can have a Big Red Button? Linked images are a simple way to add polish and pizazz. Let us know how you’re using links with a comment below or an email to help@wikispaces.com.

Michael Uleau started the Urspace wiki in July of 2007. 1. Briefly describe your group, your wiki, and what you use it to do: My group of users are high school science students. The wiki was designed to be a one-stop information warehouse, where students could share their ideas and keep track of what’s going on in class. We use the wiki to link to all our important information and create projects that other students can use as a resource for even more projects. 2. Besides the Edit button, which wiki feature is your favorite? The ability to add RSS feeds is the greatest! Feeds make the wiki dynamic and provide current topics for reports. 3. What is one way you’re using wikis and other web 2.0 tools in your projects? We use Google forms for quizzes, Glogster to give our projects some pizazz, and Scribd to embed documents. 4. Tell us about a particular moment that made you say, "Aha! THIS is why I use wikis!" Whenever I see students working on projects at home, even when they don’t have to, I smile. 5. If you could ask it, what do you think your wiki would say about you? My wiki would ask me what its grade was. An A of course!

We do a lot of talking about Wikispaces Private Label, and we’ve got a lot of ways to explain what it is: a complete wiki environment, a network of linked wikis with central administration, a wiki solution for organizations… Of course, everyone knows that the best way to get to know anything is to try it out for yourself. This is the second-best way: This video will be living in our help wiki. If you want to start a free trial and explore Wikispaces Private Label on your own, you can try it out here.

Since it’s the last Monday of the month, we wanted to take a look at some of the cool Wikispaces-related things that people have been talking about this month. Here are some of the highlights from November: 21st Century Learning Several of you are thinking about what it means to be a teacher in a 21st century classroom. And your thoughts on the subject make for some excellent reading: Instructify: Instructifeature: International classroom collaboration on the worldwide web My Life in a D School: Yep… I Qualify! Technoteaching: 18 reasons to use a wiki for sharing learning materials iPhones and iPads in Education New technology in the classroom can be exciting, which is why so many of you are sharing your favorite resources for using smart phones and mobile devices in education: Steven W. Anderson: "iPods, iPhones and iPads in Education: http://bit.ly/ckAgj" Susan Watt: "Amazingly creative iPod/iPad ideas to use with students shared by @Gill_Ville! Find them at http://ipodproject.wikispaces.com/ #ECOO2010″ L ATI: "R u using iPad for students w/disab? Apps, tutorials and more at http://mobilelearning4specialneeds.wikispaces.com/." Steven W. Anderson: "Another Great List Of iPod and iPad Apps For Education: http://bit.ly/9QyhIg #mlearning" Digital Storytelling The huge variety of audio, video, and other media and widgets available on the web makes it possible to share personal stories in a meaningful and even interactive way. You’ve mentioned some excellent resources and projects around digital storytelling: dmcordell: "New wiki (a work in progress) http://usingdigitalimages.wikispaces.com/ #digitalstorytelling #digitalimages #tlchat #edchat" Gareth Morlais: "One year ago today: http://mindsonmedia.wikispaces.com" Alan Levine: "@LFields0925 http://50ways.wikispaces.com and various presos at http://cogdogblog.com/stuff/50ways" dmcordell: "@mrplough07 There’s more stuff here http://usingdigitalimages.wikispaces.com/Storytelling+Tools+and+Resources" Just Cool And then, of course, there are some people doing things with wikis that are just exciting to hear about. Here are a few: The MetroWest Daily News, Framingham, MA — Rep. Sannicandro creates ‘wiki’ page for voter input OSMHI: "Voices4Hope is a forum for young adults with mental health challenges to talk and share information, http://voices4hope.wikispaces.com/" Audrey Nay: "RT @keisawilliams: C what happens when librarians crowd source a wiki…someone alphabetizes navigation bar http://bit.ly/ara2cr #tlchat" Keep up those great projects, and keep sharing your secrets, tips, and resources. It’s been a great November!

On Tuesday, December 7 at 10 a.m. PST (18:00 UTC), we will be holding an hour-long Private Label training webinar. Sarah Cove will walk you through a guided tour of the basics of Private Label site administration, show off a few of the more advanced features, and demonstrate a few use cases for wikis in large organizations. Then there will be a Q&A session, so start saving up your questions now. Whether you’re curious about Wikispaces Private Label, or you’re just looking for some new pointers on your existing site, why don’t you join us on December 7. Sign up today.

Erin Schollaert’s Chantzmultimedia wiki gives students a chance to be journalists and create a multimedia newspaper. The students’ newspaper was just published to the public on December 1, so we asked Erin to tell us about it: Recently I transferred to a new position in my building. I used to teach English, but I when I was given the opportunity to teach multimedia to 8th graders, I jumped at it. At the time I switched positions, the administration in my district was revising the curriculum; so again, I was given another fabulous opportunity to create a class that is enriched with Web 2.0 technology and 21st century teaching and learning. The eighth grade multimedia class is an opportunity for students to use a wikispace to publish an online newspaper. It is a remarkably easy way for kids to collaborate with one another while trying out new technology. Students are placed in groups of 3: a writer, a podcaster, and a photographer. Each group is responsible for coming up with a topic to write about, to podcast about, and to photograph. Once all three jobs are done, students publish their work under the appropriate link in the wiki. Then they change jobs and repeat the process until each student has done each job once. After 12 weeks, our wiki is made public for students, parents, and community members to read. This production process is enriched with both 21st century teaching and learning practices. Students are given a task and the tools to complete the task, but how they get there is dependent upon their own learning style. Formal roles are assigned in the collaborative learning groups, and students are forced to use problem solving skills using real data. Since the students are working in groups made up of different types of learners, they are using integrated learning systems as well. The Web 2.0 technology, along with the 21st century learning skills, act as productivity tools, which in turn allows for the teacher to act as a facilitator of learning to begin the process of incorporating 21st century teaching skills. The process continues to repeat as students switch roles. It is fascinating to see the differentiated instruction that is happening while students complete the different tasks. One student in a group accomplishes a task one way while another accomplishes the exact same task in a completely different way. We have had many wonderful experiences with our wiki. The best thing about our experience is the collaboration. We can spend time proofreading and searching for mistakes, which creates a cross curricular, interdisciplinary approach to learning. This is very tough to accomplish in elective classes, and the best part of it is that since there is a place for online discussion, the students are very receptive to the opportunity. Web 2.0 technology, especially our wikispace, has provided a safe online environment for my students to collaborate and share their ideas with many people while developing 21st century skills. It has made a huge difference in our learning community.

Monitoring a page or a wiki is a wonderful way to stay informed about what’s happening with the projects you care about. Whether you’re on a Private Label site or organizing a single wiki on Wikispaces.com — or even just participating as a member in a bunch of different wikis — you may have learned to depend on those little emailed notices that a page has been changed, or someone has added to an ongoing conversation. They let you know what’s going on, as it happens. But if you’re monitoring a whole lot of pages, wikis, and discussions, or if the wikis you’re monitoring are particularly active, it can sometimes feel like you’re trapped in an avalanche of emails. Your inbox fills up before you have a chance to check every change, and important edits or comments can be lost in the flow. Not anymore! Go to My Account and scroll down. After Email Monitored Changes you’ll find a new option: "Yes — one email per day." Select that option, and hit the Save button. Now, instead of getting a new email every time a change is made to something you’re monitoring, you’ll just get one single email, every day, with a summary of all your monitored changes. Your daily digest of changes is easy to read (or scan), and lists every single edit and comment you’ve chosen to monitor, in the order that they were made. It’s a simple and effective way to manage activity on the wikis you care about. If you have any questions about monitoring your wikis, shoot us an email at help@wikispaces.com.

As part of its Open Government Initiative, the White House has just launched the ExpertNet wiki. With this wiki, the American public can help discover new and better ways to open up communication between the government and the people. You can read more about the ExpertNet wiki and the Open Government Initiative on the White House blog. We at Wikispaces are excited about this project, and extremely proud that our product will be a part of it.

In honor of the holiday season and in preparation for the upcoming term, instead of our usual monthly tips and tricks post we decided to bring you a roundup of some of our favorite resources for educators who are getting to know wikis. We’re still figuring out how to wrap it. Enjoy! Getting Started What is a wiki?: Common Craft explains Our free K-12 plan: Explore for yourself — for free! How to work on Wikispaces: Our video tours Creating user accounts for students: Check our help page or this blog post Projects and tools Hundreds of examples of wikis in education: educationalwikis Huge collection of Web 2.0 tools and widgets: cooltoolsforschools Multimedia posters you can embed with a handy widget: Glogster Wikis for your entire school (or district) Wikispaces Private Label for K-12 Training your teachers Wikispaces Private Label in action: Birmingham Public Schools and our case study of BPS General wiki help Read our archive of blog posts with the Tips and Tricks tag Take a look at the awesome wikis we’ve featured Find out what else is happening in the Wikispaces Community Find helpful advice and walkthroughs on our help wiki And we always look forward to hearing from you at help@wikispaces.com!