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From Information about Isaak, Brock University's Sakai-Based LMS

Example of how different version of a wiki page can be compared

[edit] How to Add, Edit or Delete Wiki Pages to CLEW

[edit] Adding a Wiki Page to CLEW

To add a page to your site's wiki:

1. In your site's left menu, click on Wiki link, which will take you to the Home page for your site's wiki.
2. From the top menu, click on Edit icon.
3. In the editing field, you will see the text and formatting notations for the Home page. Determine where you want to place the link to your new page, and then create the link by typing the page name enclosed twice by square brackets (e.g., [[New page]]). You cannot use the following characters in a Wiki link or title:
   • : (colon)
   • @ (at)
   • # (hash)
   • | (pipe)
   • \ (backslash)
4. To return to the Home page, click Save icon. You will see that your page name has become a link with a question mark (?) after it. The question mark indicates that the page to which the link leads doesn't have any content associated with it yet. Once you add content to the new page, the question mark will disappear.
5. Click the link for your new page. You will see a new page that contains the following warning:
   PAGE DOES NOT EXIST. The page you just accessed does not exist, and so has been created for you. You may now edit this page to change its content.
6. To add content to your new page, from the top menu, click on Edit icon.
7. In the editing field, you will see the text and formatting notations for the warning message mentioned above. Delete this text and add your own.
   Note: You will find several formatting options just above the editing field using a small WYSIWYG editor. To use a formatting option, just click its name; Wiki will automatically insert the appropriate notation into the editing field. Also, to the right of the editing field, you will see a Help Tips sidebar that includes commonly used formatting options and their corresponding wiki notations.
8. To save your work when you are finished, click on Save button. Alternatively, to preview your page before saving, click Preview. To cancel your changes, click Cancel.

[edit] Editing a Wiki Page

To edit a wiki page in your site:

1. In your site's left menu, click on Wiki link
2. Find and navigate to the page you wish to edit.
3. At the top of the page, click on Edit icon.
   Note: If you receive a Permission Denied message, you do not have the appropriate permissions needed to update pages. If you think this is a mistake, contact the site leader.
4. Make your changes in the text box. At the top of the text box are a series of icons and links for saving your work, formatting text, and inserting tables, links, and images. Use the tabs to change between Edit and Preview modes. To the right of the text box, under "Help Tips", you will see a partial list of the codes used for text formatting. To view the full list, click Full Help Page.
5. Once you are satisfied with your changes, click on Save icon. Check the box next to Minor Change for small updates that do not require notification or updates to the RSS feed. To cancel, click on Cancel button.
   

Warning on Overwriting Content

Note: If another site participant edits and saves the page while you are editing it, when you attempt to save your changes you will see a message saying that the page has altered. The other participant's page will be displayed above yours. You can then decide to overwrite their changes (using the Save icon) or to keep their changes by clicking on Cancel button to abort the edition.

[edit] How to View and Search for Content on Wiki Pages

[edit] Viewing Wiki Pages

To move from page to page in Wiki, follow the links within each page. Links with an arrow icon beside them link to external websites or to attachments. These will open in the same window unless you open them in a new tab/window using your browser's right-click options.

As you navigate around Wiki, your breadcrumb trail will appear at the top of the page. (A breadcrumb trail lists the pages that you have visited in order under Recently visited at the right side) You can use this to return to any page at any time.

Unlike some wiki tools, Wiki does not have a separate menu to navigate through the pages. All navigation must be done through links on the pages.

[edit] Searching for Content on Wiki Pages

To search for content, type your search term in the search box and press Enter key. All pages on that wiki site containing your search terms will be listed. Do not forget that pages which are not in the wiki will not be searched. This includes other Sakai pages (e.g. Calendar, Syllabus) and attachments to the wiki.

This search will be recorded in your breadcrumb trail and you can return to your results page at any time.

Wiki will recognize the and operator but not not or or. For example, searching for children and dahlias will find pages which contain both the word children and the word dahlias but not pages which contain one of the words but not both.

[edit] How to Create Subsections on Wiki Pages

By default, a wiki is not organized following a clear hierarchy. All wiki pages are created at the root level, meaning that every page has to have a unique name to avoid confusion. The Wiki tool offers a convenient way to create subsections or, in other words, to create a page hierarchy. In addition to solving some page naming confusion, using subsections will give instructors the opportunity to use a specific default template for each subsection. To create a subsection, add a forward slash (/) in the name of a page when creating a link.

Subsections are ideal to help you create student-, team-, or assignment-specific pages.

Student-specific: you could ask all your students to create a personal profile. In such a case, you could pre-populate a page with a series of links to individual student pages. For teams, you could follow the same pattern as with students, but replace the subsection name by Team/ instead:

Assignment-specific: You could create subsections for assignments to avoid having students delete each other’s work. You could define subsections and ask students to put their name or team number after the forward slash (/).

[edit] How to Modify the Default Template

The Wiki tool comes with a default template for all new pages, but instructors can modify this template to better suit their needs. This template is an excellent way to provide instructions to your students regarding the way they should use the wiki. When you create subsections (see How to Create Subsections on Wiki Pages), you also create a unique template page for that subsection. You can customize this page without altering any of the other templates in other subsections and at the root level of the wiki.

To modify the default template follow these steps:

1. If it is the first time you are using the wiki tool in a site, the first page shows a list of Recent Changes at the bottom.
2. Locate the page called Default_template and click its link. This template is the root level template.
3. To change the root level template, click on From the top menu, click on Edit icon.
4. When you create a new subsection page and access it, you will see a link to the default template at the bottom of the page. Clicking on this link will modify the subsection default template.

Note: You can also use the index macro to access a specific template.

Customizing your default template is an excellent way to provide intrinsic support to your students, as they are about to modify a page. This support can be of multiple natures:

• Direct instruction: If you are assessing your students’ work in the wiki or if you are expecting something specific of them, the default template is a perfect place to provide some instructions. For instance, you could indicate where students should write their names, what question they have to answer, how many words are expected, etc.
• Fill in the blank: For a specific task, where students are asked to provide data, for instance, you could build a template where students would fill in placeholders. It could be something simple like a line to replace, or a complex page organization using tables or mathematical formulas.
• Advanced code samples: If you are expecting students to use complex code and macros, you could give them code samples that they could copy and paste as needed.
• Usability tips: Usability is always a concern in a wiki. Giving students instructions in a template on how to keep the information usable is a great way to avoid a potential mess (see How to Promote Usability with Headings, Links, and Anchors to learn more about a strategy to keep a wiki usable: creating anchors).

[edit] How to Look at the Wiki Site Map

It is always interesting to have an overview of all the pages of a wiki. Though it is possible to have such a view in the Wiki tool, knowing how to view it is not intuitive. Using the Index macro, it is possible to access every page in your wiki, including the ones that have no incoming links (like default templates).

To show the wiki site map follow these steps:

1. Find and navigate to the page you wish to edit.
2. From the top menu, click on Edit icon.
3. Add the code {index} on a new line.
4. Click on Save button and you will now see the wiki site map, including all subsections.

Note that you can collapse and expand subsections. Showing the wiki site map might be a good way to provide one-click navigation for any page in your wiki. This is particularly useful for large sites that require a lot of clicks to access content.

[edit] How to Use the Built-in Navigation Patterns

When a lot of people work collaboratively on a wiki web site, you are bound to be lost from time to time. The following built-in navigation patterns will allow you to track the changes made by a large group:

• The Reset Button: At the top left of the wiki tool bar, next to the name of the tool, there is a little icon with two arrows. This is the Reset button. It allows you to go back to the main page of the wiki tool. It also resets the history breadcrumb (see next item).
• The History Breadcrumb: Located under the wiki tool bar, this series of links is a trace of the recent pages you have viewed. It somewhat replaces the Back button of your browser. Note: It is not the usual breadcrumb that shows you a path from the Home page.

[edit] How to Track Recent Changes

Recent changes lists all page creation and edition activity on your wiki site. There are three ways to view the recent changes:

1. The Wiki Home: By default, recent changes are listed on your wiki home, at the bottom of the page.
2. Visit the Recent Changes page: If you have used the index macro (see How to Look at the Wiki Site Map), there is a link to a page called Recent Changes. You can subscribe to get email notifications on that page by clicking on the Watch icon in the toolbar.
3. Use the recent-changes macro: Just like the index macro, you can type {recent-changes} on a new line anywhere in a wiki page and then click on Save button to view the list.

[edit] How to Promote Usability with Headings, Links, and Anchors

Being an open and unstructured system, a wiki does not do well at providing shortcuts and a navigation bar by itself. Users have to be made aware of the consequences of not providing a clear structure to their content. A messy wiki can be a serious barrier to adoption. Here are some guidelines to help you keep your wiki usable by using headings, links and anchors.

• Using headings helps users find the information in a page by providing clear visual cues on how the information is organized, following a hierarchy.
• A link is a clickable section of a page that triggers an action. Usually, a link will take a user to another section of a site or to an external resource. A link is the basic way to navigate web sites.
• An anchor identifies a specific location within a page. It is possible to link to an anchor so that users can find specific information, especially within a long page (more than one screen long).

[edit] Headings

Headings are easy to use in the wiki tool. All you have to do is to start a new line with hn, where n represents the level of the heading.

[edit] Links

To create a link, put words between square brackets ([ ]) and save your page. To use an alias (a name for your link), you need to type the alias followed by a pipe ( | ) then type the link. The following example shows the same destination page without and with an alias.

[edit] Anchors

To create a link to an anchor, you use the same syntax as to create a link, but you have to add a pound sign (#) in front of the destination. In addition, you need to use the anchor macro in your page

If your content is sequential (minutes from meetings for instance), it would be smart to insert a navigation area at the top of your page. Simply put a link to the previous and next page. This way, users will not have to go back one level to drill down again.

If you have a long page with a lot of content, you can put a bulleted list of the topics that are covered on this page at the top. Then it is fairly easy to add anchors to that list to direct users to the content they are looking for. This serves a dual purpose:

1. Helps users see what is on this page at a glance without having to scroll down.
2. Gives access to specific content in one click.

When using anchors, it is also good practice to put a link back to the top of the page (the page navigation area).

[edit] How to Add an Item (File, Image, etc.) from Resources to a Wiki Page

While editing a wiki page, you can add an item from Resources. You can add a link to an item, such as a text document, or you can add an embedded image, such as a picture.

To add an item from Resources to your wiki page:

1. While you're editing your page, from the formatting options above the editing field, click the Link icon to add a link or the Image icon to add a picture.
2. On the Add Attachment page, you can choose a file from your site's Resources, from your My Workspace Resources, or from the Resources of any other site to which you belong. To view Resources files from My Workspace and other sites, click Show other sites.

   Note: If you use a file from My Workspace or another site, make sure the file is publicly viewable (i.e., accessible by participants outside of the site where the file resides). For more information, see Making your Resources items publicly accessible.
   

3. To select a file, to the right of its name, click Select.
4. Click Continue to add the link to your wiki page. From here you can choose to save, preview, or cancel the changes you have made.

[edit] How to Add Mathematical Notations to a Wiki Page

The wiki tool supports the jsMath Javascript library which generates mathematics formulas in web pages through your browser. You can find useful information on jsMath at jsMath Javascript. To add a mathematical notation follow these steps:

1. Click Edit icon to edit the page.
2. Type {math} to activate the math processor.
3. Type your equation using mathematical notation (i.e.: LaTeX Math Commands, LaTeX Math and Text Modes)
4. Type {math} to deactivate the math processor
5. Click on Save icon and you will see the equation or expression in mathematical symbols.

Note: You can click on Options and set the math font display to be larger.

See also: Editing an Equation Demo)

[edit] Superscripts and Subscripts

You can use superscripts or subscripts by using the following markup language:

• Superscript: Use two circumflex signs (^^) before and after your target content.
• Subscript: Use two percent signs (%%) before and after your target content.

[edit] Spreadsheet Functions in Tables

Two simple operations are available in tables. You can do a sum or an average of numeric data. Within the table macro, you have to use the sum, avg, min, or max macros, as follows:

[edit] How to Add, Edit or Delete a Comment on a Wiki Page

Comment Window

To leave a comment on a wiki page follow these steps:

1. At the bottom of the page, click on Be the first to comment or Add Comment icon.
2. In the box that appears below, type your comment, and then click on Save button. Your comment will appear at the bottom of the page beneath a Comment by line, which will include your name and the time and date you posted your comment.
3. If you need to edit your comment, on the Comment by line, click on Edit button. In the box that appears, make the necessary edits, and then click on Save button.

There is no way to delete a comment, but you can click on Edit button and then erase the text. The Comment by line will remain, but the comment itself will no longer be visible.

Note: You can also comment on a comment. To do so, on the Comment by line of the particular comment, click on Comment button. In the box that appears below, type your comment, and then click on Save button. Your comment will appear below the first comment, indented to the left, similar to a threaded discussion view.

[edit] How to View Information about a Wiki Page

To get technical and statistical information about a Wiki page, click on the Info icon. This option gives you the following information about the corresponding Wiki page:

• The page permission details (roles to create, edit and administrate the Wiki page) and page options for public edition and administration.
• List of all the pages the Wiki page links to.
• List of all the pages that link to this Wiki page.
• The number of comments received per section.
• The notification preferences for the Wiki page.
• The Feeds or alternate views of the Wiki page:

Printer friendly

Public View HTML

Rich Text Format RTF

Portable Document Format PDF .

• The Wiki page owner (usually its creator).
• The global page name to allow linking to it from outside the Wiki environment.
• Permission Section and the Page ID.
• Date of last edition.
• Security digest to track changes performed on the Wiki page.

[edit] How to View History of a Wiki Page

To get the history of a Wiki page, click on the History icon. This option gives you the following information about the corresponding Wiki page:

• List of all previous versions of the Wiki page (with the username who made the changes and the respective dates).
• Option to view details of any previous version.
• Option to compare the contents of any previous version with the current one.
• Track the last changes made by each one of the users.
• Option to revert the changes and restore a previous version.

[edit] How to Configure Permissions and Roles for a Wiki Page

Permissions and roles

To complete the procedures in this article, you must be assigned a role having the necessary permissions. This often excludes Students and TAs by default. To determine your role, follow the directions in Participant roles.

For a basic understanding of roles and permissions, see Permissions and roles.

The Wiki has 2 levels of permissions: Site-level and Page-level. Site-level permission are the default permissions for all pages but this option can be changed for individual pages. There are 5 levels of permissions within Wiki:

• Read
• Create
• Edit
• Admin
• Super Admin

The permissions cascade downwards (you cannot edit a page if you cannot read it). Hence, enabling Create or Edit will automatically enable Read as well. The following table shows the default configuration for permissions.

[edit] Page-level Permissions

Page-level Permissions

This option applies to a particular Wiki page. For example, you can change the permissions so that wiki becomes edible by all users, apart from one page which can only be edited by its creator. To alter the page-level permission follow these steps:

1. Click on Info icon.
2. Check and uncheck the boxes below the permissions to alter the permissions settings considering that permissions cascade downwards in the order described in the previous section.

The Create permission is not applicable to page-level permissions and can only be changed at site level.

[edit] Site-level Permissions

Site-level Permissions

To alter the Site-level permissions, follow these steps:

1. Click on Info icon.
2. Click on Edit Site Permissions from the middle of the page.
3. Select which role should have which level of abilities in the wiki: Create, Read, Edit, Admin, Super Admin
4. When done click on Save button.

[edit] How to Monitor Activity on a Wiki Page

Example of how different version of a wiki page can be compared

To monitor the activity on a page, you can set up email notifications to alert you when someone has edited the page. Email notifications are sent to your authorized email address; see Changing your authorized email address. To set up email notifications, follow these steps:

1. In your site's left menu, click on Wiki link.
2. Navigate to your wiki page, and near the top, click on Watch icon.
3. Select your notification preferences; choose from the following:
   • Send me each notification separately
   • Send me one email per day summarizing all notifications
   • Do not send me notifications for this subspace
   • I do not have a preference
     Note: Selecting I do not have a preference turns off notifications, and is therefore the same as choosing Do not send me notifications for this subspace. This is a known issue.
4. When you are finished, click on Save button to save your changes, or on Cancel button to cancel.

[edit] Adding an Item (File, Image, etc.) from Resources to a Wiki Page

While editing a wiki page, you can add an item from Resources. You can add a link to an item, such as a text document, or you can add an embedded image, such as a picture.

To add an item from Resources to your wiki page:

1. While you're editing your page, from the formatting options above the editing field, click the Link icon to add a link or the Image icon to add a picture.
2. On the Add Attachment page, you can choose a file from your site's Resources, from your My Workspace Resources, or from the Resources of any other site to which you belong. To view Resources files from My Workspace and other sites, click Show other sites'.
   Note: If you use a file from My Workspace or another site, make sure the file is publicly viewable (i.e., accessible by participants outside of the site where the file resides). For more information, see Making your Resources items publicly accessible.
   To select a file, to the right of its name, click Select.
3. Click Continue to add the link to your wiki page. From here you can choose to save, preview, or cancel the changes you have made.

[edit] Related Articles

Articles that also relate to the Category:Wiki:

Accessibility Information

Move item in Resources

Wiki

Accessibility Information

Move item in Resources

Wiki

Wiki Tool Organization

Wiki Tool Organization

[edit] Other Resources

The University of Delaware has two very useful guides to the Sakai Wiki:

• Wiki Markup Notation in Sakai: http://www.udel.edu/sakai/training/printable/wiki/WikiMarkup.pdf
• Tips and Tricks to Make Your Life Easier in the Sakai Wiki: http://www.udel.edu/sakai/training/printable/wiki/TipsTricksSakaiWiki.pdf

University of Delaware Source

This article is based on information associated with The University of Delaware's Sakai System found at: l.

All respective sources used are under a free-for-reuse license.

University of Windsor Source

This article is based on information associated with The University of Windsor Sakai System, CLEW found at: http://web2.uwindsor.ca/clew/index.php/Wikis_in_Higher_Education.

All respective sources used are under a free-for-reuse license.

Other articles about Isaak/Sakai's tools and how instructors can use them:

Core Tools:   Announcements | Assignments | Forums | Gradebook | Resources | Schedule | Tests and Quizzes

More Tools:   Blogger | Chat Room | Drop Box | Home | Messages | News | Podcasts | Statistics | Web Content | Wiki

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Related articles:   How to add tools to your course | Using the Text Editor | Manage Groups | Permissions and roles | Contact the CTLET for help

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