Wiki Tool
The Blackboard Wiki Tool lets you create a self-contained, collaborative website within your course site. A wiki is a website that is collaboratively authored by a group of users. An instructor can allow the entire class or groups to add text, graphics, files and links to build the content of the site. The popular site Wikipedia, which is a collaboratively-authored encyclopedia, is one example of a wiki.
Why might I want to use the tool?
With the Wiki Tool in Blackboard, the wiki can be shared only between members of the class or it can be configured to be shared only between the individual student and instructor or between specific student groups and the instructor.
Instructors can use a wiki in courses for:
- Collaborative writing projects
- Shared course resources
- Assessing group participation
Types of Wikis within Blackboard
The Blackboard Wiki Tool provides a Central Course Wiki and additional wikis. Each course or organization has one Central Course Wiki that you can turn on or off, but you can create as many additional wikis as you like. These wikis can be configured in different ways to create different learning activities.
The Central Course Wiki
The Central Course Wiki for the entire course is found within the Tools area of your course. Instructors need to configure and make the wiki available through the Control Panel. See instructions on configuring the Central Course Wiki.
Additional Wikis
To create, configure and access additional wikis within any Blackboard course or organization Content Area, such as Course Documents, Course Information or Assignments, see instructions on creating and configuring additional wikis.
More Help
You can get more ideas about designing class activities with wikis and other Blackboard tools by talking with a consultant from the Center for Instructional Technology; email cit@duke.edu to set up an appointment.
For more information on setting up and using the Wiki Tool in your Blackboard course,
1. See the step-by-step online documentation at http://www.learningobjects.com/training.jsp - look for Teams LX.
2. Click the question mark icon at the upper right corner of each wiki page, which will take you to the Users Guide for Teams LX.
3. Refer to the Quick Start Guides.
