Wikispaces

Wikispaces is a simple website creator that is in the process of giving away 100,000 free, advertisement free accounts for teachers. You can use wikispaces just like a school website, it's very easy to add information and format the page. What makes it even better than a website is that other people can add information to the site and collaborate on it. Invite those you want to collaborate or just create a public account. Just click the Edit This Page button and type all you want. Since it is online, teachers are able to work on it anywhere they have an Internet connection. Pages can be added quickly and then those pages can be connected together with hyperlinks between pages. With the same hyperlink button, links to websites can be included on the page. Easily edited and navigated. No advertisements on the free teacher pages. Informative video podcasts take you through the step-by-step process of starting a page, adding information and links. Another feature I really found useful is that pictures, Word, and Excel documents can be uploaded very easily. Then take the thumbnail picture of the file and place it on the page where you want it. Other people can then open those files or images. The colors and layout can be changed under the Manage Space link. Recent changes can be seen and all it takes to make a New Page is to click on New Page. I even have an RSS feed showing me all the changes that have occurred to my Wikispaces site on my Bloglines account.
Sometimes symbols, font type and spaces will make the layout of the page change from the way you want it to look. There can be problems with symbols affecting the HTML code. Math problems do not line up well. Like I said before there are free accounts and if you sign up for an educator account there will be no advertisements - even though the ads are very subtle.
Students would be able to create pages of information on topics they are covering in class. Teachers can list websites for students to use. Add a homework page that lists the assignments for each day of the week and update them daily. It's a great way to put all resources, strategies, and ideas into one place. Use it just like a school website. Also, any Word documents used in the class can be uploaded onto the page to create accesible study guides, worksheets, rubrics, or any other Word or Excel documents. Wikispaces is a terrific site that on plan on using in the future. I'm even thinking of using a Wikispaces page next year as the second grade site, instead of the school Website, I should probably check with my IT coordiantor about that first. Come and check out my updates to my wikispaces site.