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=Welcome to Year 11's Class Wiki!=


 * 1) ====What is a wiki?====
 * 2) ====Getting around in here====
 * 3) ====Working the wiki====
 * 4) ====What makes good wiki?====

What is a wiki?
A wiki, a term that comes from the Hawaiin word for "fast", is an [|easily editable website]. It allows two or more people to work together easily to create and share content from any computer that has an internet connection. A wiki automatically keeps a history of all revisions to any document, so partners can easily easily review and restore any changes or deletions. Teachers can also use this revision history to track the contributions of each student. Finally, each wiki page has a discussion board where students and teachers can give feedback and plan future work. 

Getting around in here
You will see a list of links to pages available to you in the //Sidebar// at the left. Click on these to open up to more pages in the various subject areas. 

Working the wiki
Generally, you will do two things on this wiki:

A good contribution addresses the following questions: //Is it related to current content? Is it accurate? Does it include an extensive amount of detailing? Is the language accurate enough to be understood easily?//
 * Make a significant contribution.** A significant contribution is a new content addition to any wiki page. To qualify as a significant contribution, your entry must be at least 4-5 sentences long, include accurate information and reflect a deep level of understanding about the topic that you are writing about.


 * Make a constructive modification.** A constructive modification is when you edit someone else’s work—not your own. You might correct a significant error or several small errors. Maybe you want to reorganize a page or the navigation from the home page. Maybe you want to edit someone else's entry, not for content, but for the way it's written such as by adding some meaningful details, interesting language or graphics. The main idea here is to move this section of the wiki forward in some constructive way.

Good modifications address the following questions: //Were the modifications done correctly? Did the corrected information need correction? Did the modifications clarify language that was confusing? Did the modifications make the language more interesting to read or more fluent? Did the modifications add to the piece in a meaningful way? Is the entry noticeably improved after the modifications?// 


 * Trust.** It's true that anyone in the class can edit anything in any way he or she feels in this wiki. This is both the power and the risk of using wikis: Many minds can make short work of a problem; or they can make a hash of it. Everyone must act with respect for their colleagues and for the project and must trust that everyone else will do the same.


 * Patience.** Building knowledge collaboratively takes time and patience. The point of working in a wiki is not to find an answer -- you can often look that sort of thing up, or ask someone directly; the point is to come to a better understanding the matter at hand and that can take a lot of back-and-forth. A wiki can work something like a conversation, but one extended over time and space, where a group of people work together to make sure everyone in the group understands equally well.


 * Integrity.** The wiki is a collaborative project and that means we ought to hold everyone - especially ourselves -- the the same standards of argument, respect and good spirits.


 * Courage.** Wikis are public documents, shared with many others, and it takes courage to speak honestly and openly on them. Sometimes we will have to stand our ground when many others are trying to push us off our position. Our ideas and comments will be open to critique and we need to be able to face that fairly and with a spirit of good sportsmanship.


 * Empathy.** A wiki can generate many different, sometimes conflicting, ideas and opinions. Even if we do not agree with them, we must try to reconstruct accurately the arguments and reasons for opposing views. This is not to say all views are right. But, in imaginatively putting ourselves in someone else's shoes and looking at our arguments from their point of view, we can gain new insight and understanding of ourselves and our own ideas and beliefs.


 * Perseverance.** Sometimes understanding comes easily; but when it doesn't, we have to struggle through a lot of hard work.


 * Faith in Reason.** Not all discussions on a wiki will be contentious; sometimes--often, we hope--they will be just telling good stories. But when issues do clash, a wiki tries to give the freest play possible to reason as the tool to resolve them.


 * Fairmindedness.** All ideas presented in a wiki ought to be treated equally, that is without reference to our own biases or vested interests.

(Parts of these guidelines are inspired and reworked based on the work over at [|IPS Wiki at PBWorks.] )