This article describes the basic setup and management of a Wiki Activity

A wiki activity can be used for project collaboration, group research, peer review, individual student journals/notes, and more. The wiki can be a very serious activity or something fun aimed at team building or encouraging creativity. There isn’t a specific gradebook item for a wiki, but instructors can set up a manual grade item to record wiki grades

2. Click Add an activity

3. Select the Wiki tile

4. Name the wiki activity, add instructions in the description box, and (optional) check the box next to Display description on course page

5. Just below the description box, locate the dropdown menu and decide whether you want a collaborative wiki for the entire class, a collaborative wiki for separate groups, or if you want each student to have an individual wiki page. The individual wiki page can only be viewed by the instructor and the student assigned to that wiki

6. Name the wiki in the First page name block. You will not be able to change the name. If you decide that you need a different identifier for the wiki, you will need to delete your wiki and start over.

7. Under the format tab, retain the HTML setting and click the Force format box.

8. If you want to break your class into groups, select either Separate groups or Visible groups in Common module settings. If you select Visible groups, all students will be able to view the work of all groups. The following wiki setup example is for separate groups.

9. Next, select the groupings you want to participate in the wiki. Do this in the next dropdown menu in Common module settings

10. If you don’t assign a grouping, your students will encounter the error message below. If you don’t know how to set groups and groupings, review the Adding Groups and Groupings guide

11. If a Group mode is set, students not assigned to a group will not be able to participate

12. If you would like to set completion tracking, do that under Activity completion

13. Always scroll to the bottom of each page to see if there is a save option for the step you are on

14. Within your course, you will now be able to see the link to your wiki. The image below was taken in Edit mode

15. At this point, the wiki is not yet fleshed out. There is still some building to do before the students see it. The default option for the dropdown menu above your wiki title is View. This wiki is called Country Studies

16. By opening the dropdown menu, you will see all options associated with the wiki. Except for the Administration option, students will see the same options you see

17. This wiki is a collaborative wiki divided into three separate groups named Group One, Group Two, and Group Three. The groups are assigned by typing the group name between double square brackets. The Edit option must be selected in the dropdown menu. Note that the groups can be named anything. For example, [[George Washington]], [[Ben Franklin]], and [[Samuel Adams]] could be character group names in a collaborative history project

18. After clicking Save at the bottom of the page, your groups or categories will be displayed in italics

19. When a student clicks the wiki assignment link, that student will see the name of the wiki, the dropdown menu in default view mode on the left, and the group membership on the right

20. The group leader can then enter a page assignment for each member of the group. This is again done in Edit mode with the double square brackets. Notice that Group One has now been assigned three European countries

21. After clicking Save, the subcategories in Group One display in italics.

22. Any other student in this group will see the newly added choices after clicking the wiki assignment link

23. Now the group members can select their page and get to work. In this example, a student in Group One has chosen Spain. The assignment instructions require an image of the country’s flag, the country’s total population number, its type of government, its majority language(s), and its majority religion(s). The student has typed the assignment criteria on the page below

24. The student used the ribbon to change text font size and color and to add a flag image. If the ribbon isn’t visible, click the word Advanced below the input box

25. By selecting Comments from the dropdown menu, other students in the group as well as the instructor can add questions or feedback

26. By selecting History from the dropdown menu, clicking two version radio buttons, and the Compare selected button, the instructor can view the page changes and project progress

27. The Map choice in the dropdown menu displays a wiki glossary in alphabetical order. Notice in the image below that this wiki does not have page names beginning with letters like B, F, or Q. That’s because there hasn’t been wiki input with a word starting with that letter. If a page called France had input, France would appear here under the letter F.

28. The Files option will display all files uploaded to the wiki. In this case, only a Spanish flag image has been uploaded

29. To delete a wiki page with inappropriate content, select the Administration option from the dropdown menu and use the trash can icon to get rid of the page.

30. If group members are collaborating on the SAME page, delete the offensive version history.

31. Many potential problems with a wiki assignment can be avoided by planning each step before creating the wiki

Checklist for a group wiki assignment: