I have begun using a wiki for my ESP classes for the first time. The wiki platform is WIKISPACES, which generally is a WYSIWYT applcation. You can find it at htp://www.wikispaces.com
So far, students like it, and they do not have to struggle much with technology, but rather with their language

Other than uploading the files, all you need to do is set the permission for one folder to 723.

You can see an example running at http://www.manythings.org/tesl/moodle/

This one shows how you can even use a wiki as a CMS and only allow invited guests to edit.

Craig, thanks for sharing the link to your site.
Wow! Wikis are coming out of the woodwork now.

One of the disadvantages to many wiki software is the technical hurdle involved in knowing how to format text and make links. I think this scares many people away. Why can’t a wiki provide a WYSIWYG to make participation easier?

http://eflcourse.wikispaces.com/

It’s hard to say what to do. I’m also with Roger on the no advertising approach (except for my hosting footer). Perhaps there’s room for two, perhaps not. Perhaps the focus will end up being slightly different for each and they will both serve a (slightly) different audience.

I guess that makes two wikis in TESL now. Hmmm…how best not to overlap? Or should I say, the more the merrier?

If you would like to join an email list that discusses development of Wikigogy.org, send a blank email to:
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Cheers Roger Chrisman
http://Wikigogy.org/User:Roger
Wikigogy Founder
(650) 387-4732
Palo Alto

Yes, let’s see how this wiki can work. I’d just love to see it blossom into something that everyone can benefit from.

Aaron

Sean

I thought I was being constructive (not “counter productive”) in pointing out that the wiki is a really good idea, but that a greater number of people might be willing to donate time and effort if you didn’t lay claim to the wiki upfront. I am not saying that it is “doomed to fail,” only that it ought to be presented in a different way that would make its success more likely.

I’d like to see a useful collective resource in our field, too, that’s why I offer my comments. Please see them as constructive, not as antagonistic.

I disagree with the it won’t work until it becomes “ours” The wiki works through community building and I can’t exactly call it ours until more than one person is contributing and even then it would still be mine because I would own the domain and be the one paying for the hosting and the one who owns the software and the one putting in the time to customize the feel of the site (I haven’t yet customized the look)

Having said all that, I do want others to contribute and build the wiki. Additionally I hope that it will be organic and grow in whatever way the community decides to take it - things don’t always have to follow the founders goals or plans.

The whole thing for me is to build a community and many communities are built around a concept or a person who starts it, if that is me then why not - I’m not doing this to make money (their is no advertising or fee structures on my site). I’m also not doing it for fame, since I blog anonymously. I’m doing it to help others and to hopefully provide a centralized resource that teachers will find useful and enjoyable.

I fail to see how a wiki is destined to fail just because it is integrated into another site that offers other features such as forums (underused as of yet) a blog and a photogallery (should I choose to use the integrated one I have available). A community has multiple features that draws people - it doesn’t have to be just a wiki or just a forum etc.

I think daniel and marco make good points, but Aaron your comments are ones that I would never say to students since they are negative and counterproductive. You have essentially decided that I am doomed to fail since it doesn’t fit your veiw of what a wiki should be. You may be correct (I don’t think so), but your approach is not good.

So EFL Geek, although the ESL/EFL wiki is a very nice idea, it won’t work unless we feel its ours. When you refer to it as “my wiki” and present it as integrated with your blog and your forum, you are taking personal ownership of the space from the get go. How likely is anyone to donate their valuable time and energy to contribute to something that someone else is laying claim to? If I installed a wiki here on e-poche and asked people to contribute, nobody would because it would reek of me. There is little incentive to collaborate, for it would go against the spirit of a wiki: that of selfless contribution to a community resource.

If you want this idea to work (and I think it is a very good idea), set up the wiki and offer it to the community. Remove all traces of yourself from it, register a unique URL, ask for help, start adding content, and call it ‘our wiki’. I’d be much more willing to help work on a project like that, and I’d imagine others would, too.

However, there is still the question of necessity to consider. What would be unique about the content there? There are already some very nice, link-rich resources available, like manythings.org. We wouldn’t want to work hard to reproduce a resource that already exists. So what would the wiki look like?

I would be interested in a specific-time-frame “course” on (say) how to use wikis for EFL. But an open-ended project with a beginning but no end and no “events” or “stages” to particularly draw me in… will inevitably get shoved onto the back burner, into the “someday/maybe” file.

i’m sure that the reasons for this are too numerous to list but in general i’d have to surmise that the “rewards” of the task (blogging) just aren’t a)there at all or b) immediate enough to keep most people engaged.

for the wiki to reach critical mass, visitors are going to need to have a positive (useful?) experience with it immediately which will draw them back. after all, think about how many websites (blogs) we’ve quit visiting b/c nothing engages us.

I agree with you 100% on the need of a number of dedicated individuals to put in a major effort to build up pages and resources. Currently I’m the only one who has done anything. And even what i have done is mostly create a number of pages that need much more content.

I think that this project has a lot of potential but, like forums, will take a lot of work to reach critical mass in order to become self-sustaining. I look forward to you are your readers contributions.