Wikis for educators: Easy and now Ad-free!

I just read an email that another wiki software tool, Wetpaint, is now offering advertisement-free wikis for educators. So, you can create a wiki for free and avoid those annoying ads. All of my three favorite wiki tools now provide ad-free wikis for educators: pbwiki, wikispaces, and now wetpaint. I have not done much with wetpaint, but it is a very nice looking tool, very visual, with an interface that doesn’t scream “wiki.” So, I am going to play around with wetpaint for a while and see what I’ve been missing . . . especially now that they are offering advertisement-free space.

I’ve become a real wiki-evangelizer for many reasons–wikis are free, easy, quick, and simple. They provide ways for groups to collaborate, contain resources in one easily-found space, and always provide you with a way to revert back to a previous page edit. Try to do that in Dreamweaver. I’m not saying that building a website in Dreamweaver isn’t a good thing to know . . . but I AM saying that for many applications, a wiki works even better. Wikis are interactive and dynamic. You can subscribe to a wiki, comment on a page, and put in all sort of cool little widgets, such as a calendar, a chat feature . . . you name it.

Several English professors here at BSU are using a wiki for their course site. They like the flexibility of a wiki, the fact that students and others can contribute and collaborate, and that they are very easy to learn and use. Create a wiki for your personal ToDo list, for instance and see how easy it is to use.