Teaching & Learning with wikis

http://ascilite.org.au/conferences/perth04/procs/augar.html

Wiki security and trackingPossible problems faced when using wikis for e-learning include inappropriate posting of content and unintentional deletions. Several precautions were taken by SITWiki administrators to ensure that problems relating to the security of wiki content could be avoided if possible and could be rectified if they did occur.


The first step was the development of a set of four clear usage guidelines. Powazek (2002), advises that usage guidelines should be short, simple and written in a positive tone. Consequently, the SITWiki Commandments were developed and are depicted in Figure 8. The guidelines encouraged users to be considerate of others and be active and friendly in their wiki posts. The SITWiki Commandments appeared in a disclaimers page that is a default feature in MediaWiki. A link to the disclaimers page appears on every page in the SITWiki. In addition a link to the SITWiki Commandments was placed above the 'save button' within the editing interface. This ensured that users were reminded about the usage guidelines every time they made a post on the wiki.