Wikis are spaces in which all users come together to view, edit and contribute content to a page or group of pages. A wiki created within Blackboard is accessible only to those who have access to the course, and not the general public. For more information about wikis (outside of Blackboard) and how they are being used for education, please visit the Learning Technologies page on Wikis.
Creating a New Wiki
- To create a new wiki, go to Control Panel > Course Tools > Wikis and click the Create New Wiki button at the top of the page.
- Give the new wiki a Name and Instructions or a description.
- Choose the wiki Availability as well as Date and Time Restrictions, if you wish.
- Under Wiki Participation, choose Closed to Editing if you would like to disable users' ability to edit the wiki. Choose Open to Editing if you would like to allow students to edit the wiki. By default, the access will be set to Open to Editing.
- If the wiki contributions will be graded, check the bubble for Grade in step four and enter the Points Possible in the given field.
- To publish your wiki, click Submit at the bottom of the page.
Creating Pages and Linking Content
- To create a new page on your wiki, go to Control Panel > Course Tools > Wiki > wiki name and click the Create a New Wiki Page button at the top of the page.
- Give the page a Name and begin writing Content in the given field.
- While you write the content, you will come across some phrases or words that you would like to link to other pages in your wiki. For example, if you are writing a wiki page about Blue Whales containing the phrase "The Blue Whale is a type of whale belonging to the suborder of Baleen whales", you will probably want to link "whale" and "Baleen whales" to their own pages, providing they exist.
- To do this, highlight the text you will be linking the wiki page to.
- Click the Link to Wiki Page button within the text editor. The button is highlighted in the screenshot below:
- A window will appear, allowing you to choose from existing pages to link the word or phrase to. Choose one from the drop-down menu.
- If you would like to change the text the link will display, type the new text in the box titled Rename Wiki Page Link.
- Click Submit.
After you have written or edited a page, click Submit to publish the page. Once the page is created, any other user with access to the wiki can edit or comment on it by clicking on the appropriate buttons to the left of the page's content out of editing mode.