Hi! My name is Eric and I am thrilled to be the newest member of the Wikispaces team. I hold a degree in communications and business management, but my diverse background includes working in independent film as well as the fashion retail industry. I recently relocated from New York City to the West Coast, where I joined up with the fine people of Wikispaces. As part of the sales team, I look forward to informing prospective customers about our Private Label services and helping current users get the most out of their wikis.

Wikispaces Private Label gives your organization more wikis, more robust tools (like wiki templates, full integration, and site branding), and more insight into the wikis your community is using. It gives you a lot of extra power and flexibility — and a few extra considerations in the start-up phase. This month, we’re sneaking in an extra tips and tricks post just for those of you who are starting out (or thinking of starting out) with Wikispaces Private Label. Before you begin Send us an email at help@wikispaces.com or give us a call at 415-863-8919. We can talk to you about your specific goals, show you some examples of Private Label sites that might help, and introduce you to some options and tips that you may not have considered yet. Attend one of our free monthly webinars to see some tips and examples, and to participate in a real-time Q&A with the Wikispaces team. After that, start a trial site. You’ll have 30 days, free, to run Wikispaces through its paces. Step 1: Create a wiki and learn its secrets Click the Make a New Wiki link. (If you’re having trouble locating it, make sure you’re logged in and go to My Account. The link should be available at the top of the actions menu.) Edit a page. Check out our recent post on starting a wiki for tips on things to try. Step 2: Master your administrative dashboard When your site is up and running, this will be your home base. You can find a quick rundown of all your available options on our help wiki, but you’ll want to get to know a few of the most important right away: Privacy and Permissions Think back to the decisions you made about who would use your site and how they would use it. Now it’s time to put those decisions in action. Single Sign-On and Authentication Of course you can give your users new names and passwords on the site. But we’ve also made it easy to integrate your Private Label site with your existing user accounts. You can use any or all of the following sources, simultaneously: Site password One Single Sign-On source (Wikispaces SSO, SAML/Shibboleth, or Moodle) Unlimited LDAP directories OpenID Site Look and Feel To make your site feel like a natural extension of your other systems, you might want to set up your site’s custom domain and your site’s theme. Step 3: Get the site ready Set up your home wiki The wiki that lives at http://www.your-wiki.wikispaces.net is your home wiki. It’s the first thing that most visitors will see when they come to your site. And that makes it a great place to post important links, resources or files that people will want to find easily, navigation for your site, and maybe a welcome message. Structure your site navigation This will inevitably change as your site becomes more active, but that activity will be much easier to manage in the long run if you start with a site layout that works the way your users will. Check out our general tips for site navigation. Create your own tips & tricks or help sections By now you’ve become your organization’s collaboration expert. You know what you, your users, and your organization need from the tool. All those lessons could be a huge time-saver for your users as a tips page to your home wiki, or a special help wiki on your site. Migrate existing wikis over to your Private Label site. If your users already have wikis on wikispaces.com, we can move them to your Private Label site. Just send us an email at help@wiksipaces.com with a list of the wikis you want to migrate, and we’ll move them for you. Step 4: Invite your users To give you maximum flexibility without sacrificing any of the administrative oversight we know you need, there are three different ways to create user accounts: The User Creator tool Go to Site Administration. Select the Users tab. Under User Tools, click Create multiple users. Follow the prompts in the tool to create accounts (with or without email addresses) or add existing users to your wiki. Self-service user accounts Go to Site Administration. Select the Settings tab. Go to Users & Privacy. Set Account Creation to "Visitors can create new accounts," or "Visitors can create new accounts, but require site administrator approval," and hit Save. When people want to become users of your site, they’ll click the Join link at the top of the page. If you require site administrator approval, you will have to approve new accounts at Site Administration > Users > Approve Pending Users. Integration with your existing authentication system Go to Site Administration. Select the Settings tab. Go to Authentication. Add your authentication source. If you have questions, check out our integration help page, or send us an email at help@wikispaces.com. Additional resources You might also want to check out our Private Label video tours or the Wikispaces help wiki. We’re here to help through the entire process, so don’t hesitate to reach out when you need some pointers. You can always find us at help@wikispaces.com.

Wikispaces Private Label gives your organization more wikis, more robust tools (like wiki templates, full integration, and site branding), and more insight into the wikis your community is using. It gives you a lot of extra power and flexibility — and a few extra considerations in the start-up phase. This month, we’re sneaking in an extra tips and tricks post just for those of you who are starting out (or thinking of starting out) with Wikispaces Private Label. Before you begin Send us an email at help@wikispaces.com or give us a call at 415-863-8919. We can talk to you about your specific goals, show you some examples of Private Label sites that might help, and introduce you to some options and tips that you may not have considered yet. Attend one of our free monthly webinars to see some tips and examples, and to participate in a real-time Q&A with the Wikispaces team. After that, start a trial site. You’ll have 30 days, free, to run Wikispaces through its paces. Step 1: Create a wiki and learn its secrets Click the Make a New Wiki link. (If you’re having trouble locating it, make sure you’re logged in and go to My Account. The link should be available at the top of the actions menu.) Edit a page. Check out our recent post on starting a wiki for tips on things to try. Step 2: Master your administrative dashboard When your site is up and running, this will be your home base. You can find a quick rundown of all your available options on our help wiki, but you’ll want to get to know a few of the most important right away: Privacy and Permissions Think back to the decisions you made about who would use your site and how they would use it. Now it’s time to put those decisions in action. Single Sign-On and Authentication Of course you can give your users new names and passwords on the site. But we’ve also made it easy to integrate your Private Label site with your existing user accounts. You can use any or all of the following sources, simultaneously: Site password One Single Sign-On source (Wikispaces SSO, SAML/Shibboleth, or Moodle) Unlimited LDAP directories OpenID Site Look and Feel To make your site feel like a natural extension of your other systems, you might want to set up your site’s custom domain and your site’s theme. Step 3: Get the site ready Set up your home wiki The wiki that lives at http://www.your-wiki.wikispaces.net is your home wiki. It’s the first thing that most visitors will see when they come to your site. And that makes it a great place to post important links, resources or files that people will want to find easily, navigation for your site, and maybe a welcome message. Structure your site navigation This will inevitably change as your site becomes more active, but that activity will be much easier to manage in the long run if you start with a site layout that works the way your users will. Check out our general tips for site navigation. Create your own tips & tricks or help sections By now you’ve become your organization’s collaboration expert. You know what you, your users, and your organization need from the tool. All those lessons could be a huge time-saver for your users as a tips page to your home wiki, or a special help wiki on your site. Migrate existing wikis over to your Private Label site. If your users already have wikis on wikispaces.com, we can move them to your Private Label site. Just send us an email at help@wiksipaces.com with a list of the wikis you want to migrate, and we’ll move them for you. Step 4: Invite your users To give you maximum flexibility without sacrificing any of the administrative oversight we know you need, there are three different ways to create user accounts: The User Creator tool Go to Site Administration. Select the Users tab. Under User Tools, click Create multiple users. Follow the prompts in the tool to create accounts (with or without email addresses) or add existing users to your wiki. Self-service user accounts Go to Site Administration. Select the Settings tab. Go to Users & Privacy. Set Account Creation to "Visitors can create new accounts," or "Visitors can create new accounts, but require site administrator approval," and hit Save. When people want to become users of your site, they’ll click the Join link at the top of the page. If you require site administrator approval, you will have to approve new accounts at Site Administration > Users > Approve Pending Users. Integration with your existing authentication system Go to Site Administration. Select the Settings tab. Go to Authentication. Add your authentication source. If you have questions, check out our integration help page, or send us an email at help@wikispaces.com. Additional resources You might also want to check out our Private Label video tours or the Wikispaces help wiki. We’re here to help through the entire process, so don’t hesitate to reach out when you need some pointers. You can always find us at help@wikispaces.com.

This week, we released two new authentication options for Wikispaces Private Label: Google Apps, and Basic LTI that can be used with Blackboard, Sakai, and other LMSs. Large organizations like schools, districts, and universities need great technology for their users deployed in a way that users are comfortable enough to actually use. Our authentication options let your users sign into your Private Label site with the usernames and passwords they’re already using for other programs no matter what internal systems you use. And, with fewer usernames to confuse and passwords to remember, it’s much easier for users to get more out of the services you offer. Here’s where to find these integration options: Make sure you’re logged in as a site administrator. Go to Site Administration. Go to the Settings tab. Click on Authentication. Select the type of integration you want to add from the authentication source list. Hit the Add button. Follow the instructions on the page to add your new authentication source. (Our help wiki has more detailed instructions for the Basic LTI and Google Apps integrations.) Integrated systems make it easier for your students, faculty, and staff to spend more time on projects and work, and less time fighting with software. That’s why we support so many different authentication options. And we know not everyone your faculty and students want to collaborate with have a Blackboard or internal account. That’s why we make it easy for you to set up multiple authentication sources for your Private Label site. Send us an email at help@wikispaces.com if you want to learn more.

This week, we released two new authentication options for Wikispaces Private Label: Google Apps, and Basic LTI that can be used with Blackboard, Sakai, and other LMSs. Large organizations like schools, districts, and universities need great technology for their users deployed in a way that users are comfortable enough to actually use. Our authentication options let your users sign into your Private Label site with the usernames and passwords they’re already using for other programs no matter what internal systems you use. And, with fewer usernames to confuse and passwords to remember, it’s much easier for users to get more out of the services you offer. Here’s where to find these integration options: Make sure you’re logged in as a site administrator. Go to Site Administration. Go to the Settings tab. Click on Authentication. Select the type of integration you want to add from the authentication source list. Hit the Add button. Follow the instructions on the page to add your new authentication source. (Our help wiki has more detailed instructions for the Basic LTI and Google Apps integrations.) Integrated systems make it easier for your students, faculty, and staff to spend more time on projects and work, and less time fighting with software. That’s why we support so many different authentication options. And we know not everyone your faculty and students want to collaborate with have a Blackboard or internal account. That’s why we make it easy for you to set up multiple authentication sources for your Private Label site. Send us an email at help@wikispaces.com if you want to learn more.

On (or shortly after) January 3, 2012, we will be making some small changes to the way some of the elements of the Wikispaces interface look. These changes will affect all Wikispaces wikis — and we hope you like the improvements. The first change is that the page title and row of tabs you’re used to seeing at the top of each page will be moving down into the page itself. The second is that the global navigation elements (your username, My Wikis, messages, etc.) will be getting a new, more modern style. So if you are using our popular Tatami theme, the changes will look like this (click on each thumbnail to see a larger version): None of this will change the way your wikis work, just the way they look. It’s the first phase of some larger improvements that will let us improve the speed of Wikispaces, build a more modern user interface, and build some great new features. In most cases, you do not need to do anything. If you’re using one of our premade themes, or have only made minor changes (such as changing colors or adding a custom banner to the top of the theme), it’s likely your theme will continue to work just fine. If, however, you have made substantial layout changes — in particular if you have added or altered the tabs in your theme, or are using Javascript or CSS to hide parts of your theme — you may need to make additional changes to maintain the look and feel you want. If you have any questions or concerns about these changes, please contact us at help@wikispaces.com.

On (or shortly after) January 3, 2012, we will be making some small changes to the way some of the elements of the Wikispaces interface look. These changes will affect all Wikispaces wikis — and we hope you like the improvements. The first change is that the page title and row of tabs you’re used to seeing at the top of each page will be moving down into the page itself. The second is that the global navigation elements (your username, My Wikis, messages, etc.) will be getting a new, more modern style. So if you are using our popular Tatami theme, the changes will look like this (click on each thumbnail to see a larger version): None of this will change the way your wikis work, just the way they look. It’s the first phase of some larger improvements that will let us improve the speed of Wikispaces, build a more modern user interface, and build some great new features. In most cases, you do not need to do anything. If you’re using one of our premade themes, or have only made minor changes (such as changing colors or adding a custom banner to the top of the theme), it’s likely your theme will continue to work just fine. If, however, you have made substantial layout changes — in particular if you have added or altered the tabs in your theme, or are using Javascript or CSS to hide parts of your theme — you may need to make additional changes to maintain the look and feel you want. If you have any questions or concerns about these changes, please contact us at help@wikispaces.com.

We are pleased to announce full Google Apps for Education Integration with Wikispaces Private Label. Wikispaces Private Label is the most effective way to help teachers and students collaborate, communicate and learn. And now you can have the power of Google Apps for Education tightly integrated with the classroom management, review, monitoring, and organization flexibility of Wikispaces. Read on for details. And you may also want to register so we can invite you to our upcoming Google Apps integration webinar. Today we’re showing you the practical benefits of our new integration. And tomorrow we’ll show you some great examples of how you can use it in your classrooms. When you connect your two environments you immediately get Single Sign-On. This means that your teachers and students can log into your Wikispaces Private Label site using their Google accounts, greatly simplifying the management of user accounts. But our integration goes much further than that. Wikispaces wikis are a great way to organize the work of the classroom. And now that work can include Google Documents, Spreadsheets, Presentations and Drawings as easily as wiki pages and files. Creating a new page? Make it a Google Document. Open your wiki and click on the plus button next to Pages and Files. You’ll see the New Google Doc option, ready for your use. Organize and navigate to Google Spreadsheets and Presentations just like pages in your wikis. And of course, review, monitor, discuss, and set permissions just like wiki pages. With our Projects feature and our flexible permissions infrastructure you can organize Google Documents into class assignments, or even share them outside of your Google Apps domain, with parents or other teachers Get started today. If you are a Wikispaces Private Label and Google Apps for Education customer, then you’re ready to get going! Have a look at our integration documentation for your simple setup instructions. To learn more, sign up to get more information. Or start your free 30 day Wikispaces Private Label trial today. And stay tuned tomorrow for some great examples for your classrooms.

We are pleased to announce full Google Apps for Education Integration with Wikispaces Private Label. Wikispaces Private Label is the most effective way to help teachers and students collaborate, communicate and learn. And now you can have the power of Google Apps for Education tightly integrated with the classroom management, review, monitoring, and organization flexibility of Wikispaces. Read on for details. And you may also want to register so we can invite you to our upcoming Google Apps integration webinar. Today we’re showing you the practical benefits of our new integration. And tomorrow we’ll show you some great examples of how you can use it in your classrooms. When you connect your two environments you immediately get Single Sign-On. This means that your teachers and students can log into your Wikispaces Private Label site using their Google accounts, greatly simplifying the management of user accounts. But our integration goes much further than that. Wikispaces wikis are a great way to organize the work of the classroom. And now that work can include Google Documents, Spreadsheets, Presentations and Drawings as easily as wiki pages and files. Creating a new page? Make it a Google Document. Open your wiki and click on the plus button next to Pages and Files. You’ll see the New Google Doc option, ready for your use. Organize and navigate to Google Spreadsheets and Presentations just like pages in your wikis. And of course, review, monitor, discuss, and set permissions just like wiki pages. With our Projects feature and our flexible permissions infrastructure you can organize Google Documents into class assignments, or even share them outside of your Google Apps domain, with parents or other teachers Get started today. If you are a Wikispaces Private Label and Google Apps for Education customer, then you’re ready to get going! Have a look at our integration documentation for your simple setup instructions. To learn more, sign up to get more information. Or start your free 30 day Wikispaces Private Label trial today. And stay tuned tomorrow for some great examples for your classrooms.

Yesterday, we announced full Google Apps for Education Integration with Wikispaces Private Label. Today we’re showing you some great ways you can use this integration in your classroom. Classroom Websites Say you’ve "flipped" your classroom and want to easily post your lectures and slides as Google Presentations for students to access. No problem — hop onto your Wikispaces classroom website and you can add a Google Presentation as a page within the wiki. Any changes you make within Google Docs are reflected immediately within your wiki. Post your daily homework online or update vocabulary lists weekly in a Google Doc. Do them all, and manage them in your wiki. ePortfolios If you create wikis for each student as an ePortfolio and showcase of their work, your students can now include and share all of their Google Docs work. They can easily create new Google Documents from within Wikispaces or move existing Google Documents into and out of their wiki. It’s so easy for students to organize and present their artifacts, add reflections, and put context around their work in your class for parent conferences. Administrative Fun If you’re using Wikispaces as a home base for your administrative needs, such as holding meeting notes, agendas, and important handbooks and procedures, you can now easily use pages, files, or Google Docs within Wikispaces as needed. Get started today If you are a Wikispaces Private Label and Google Apps for Education customer, then you’re ready to get going! Have a look at our integration documentation for your simple setup instructions. To learn more, sign up to get more information. Or start your free 30 day Wikispaces Private Label trial today.