Lesson Objectives

• to identify potential uses of PBWiki
• to consider possible structure for use of PBWiki

Outline

PBWiki is a free wiki.  It supports communication and collaboration.

I can create a number of pages to support each lesson, each linked to a unit title page, detailing the outline of the unit.

I placed a calendar on the outline page to record when the lessons were scheduled to take place.  I also included details of homework tasks.  Homework tasks could be included.

PBWiki allows me to make my wiki public or private.

The editor makes it easy to add text, images, create tables and attached files.  There are also a number of usefull plug-ins that I will include in subsequent lessons.

Initial Impressions

I like the simplicity of creating a page and including resources.  There is a limit to the amount of storage space provided with a free PBWiki page, 10Mb.  This would lead me to host files on sites such as ourmedia.org or blip.tv and create hyperlinks to these files.  An account can be upgraded to provide more storage, but this is at a cost.

I can add many pages to my wiki, and also create new wikis for different units.  This would allow me to place a single url for a lesson in my learning platform for students to link out of the learning platform and in to PBWiki.

If I have a learning platform and am keen to develop my use of it, PBWiki could be used to compliment my use of the learning platform.  The collaboration element could be supported through editing a page or using the chat tools.  I could also use it to embed one of the many google plug-ins available - I will include these in the 3rd lesson.