QUB | Centre for Educational Development | 2009

A Guide to using PBworks A free tool for collaboration

Note: PBwiki has recently changed its name to PBworks. All the instructions in this guide are still relevant despite some screenshots depicting the PBwiki name

QUB | Centre for Educational Development | 2009

Table of Contents

1. Set up your PBworks Account .................................................................................. 1 2. Accessing your wikis ................................................................................................. 1 3. Notification of changes made to a wiki ...................................................................... 1 4. Navigating through a wiki .......................................................................................... 2 5. Adding to your wiki .................................................................................................... 3 6. Adding comments about a page ............................................................................... 4 7. Adding additional pages to your wiki ......................................................................... 4 8. Returning to the Home Page of your wiki ................................................................. 6 9. Adding links between pages ..................................................................................... 6 10. Uploading other Documents and Files .................................................................... 7 11. Viewing all Pages & Files in a wiki .......................................................................... 7 12. Viewing the wiki history ........................................................................................... 8 13. Returning to your wiki account page ....................................................................... 9 14. Logging back into your PBworks account. .............................................................. 9 15. Go directly to your wiki .......................................................................................... 10

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1. Set up your PBworks Account You will receive an email inviting you to join a wiki. When you click on the link in the email you will be brought to the PBworks website and asked to set up an account. Enter your name and password, then click Save. Note: It is important to stress to the students to use their real names not abbreviated versions as this is how they are identified within the wiki.

2. Accessing your wikis In your PBworks Account there will be a list of all the wikis you have been invited to join. To view a wiki just click on it’s name.

3. Notification of changes made to a wiki

Every time a wiki is modified you will be notified by email that changes have been made. This can lead to a large number of emails. To disable this feature you need to change your Preferences so that it displays Never in the drop down list and click on the Submit button. Alternatively you want wish to monitor wiki activity and set notifications to a reduced level.

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4. Navigating through a wiki When you view a wiki it will present you with the FrontPage. As information is added to the wiki additional pages may be created and there may be links to them in the main text area or the sidebar

All additional pages added to the wiki and uploaded files can be viewed using the Pages & Files link in the top right hand corner.

All Pages and Files within the wiki are listed on this page. Clicking on the name of a page or file will allow you to view it.

Sidebar

Main text area

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5. Adding to your wiki You will automatically be presented with the FrontPage in your wiki. It will contain some initial content which has been added to help you start using your wiki. To edit your FrontPage click on the EDIT tab

Your page will change to edit mode and a toolbar will appear at the top of the page. You can now type, copy and paste text, delete text or add web links to your page. When happy with the changes you have made click on the SAVE button and the page will return to normal view mode.

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6. Adding comments about a page

When a page has been edited by other members of your group you may want to add comments on what they have done. This may be a way to agree upon what changes are going to be made before committing to make edits. To add a comment type into the text field at the bottom of a page and click the Add comment button to submit it.

7. Adding additional pages to your wiki

As the information added to the wiki grows in may be useful to add additional pages to the wiki and give it a more logical structure. To add a new page, click on the Create a page link in the top right corner.

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You will then be required to add a name for your page and click the Create a page button

You will automatically be taken to your newly created page where you can add some content and then Save the page.

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8. Returning to the Home Page of your wiki To return to the FrontPage of your wiki click on the title of the wiki

9. Adding links between pages For easier navigation between different pages in the wiki, text links can be added in the page content. To create a link to a new page click on the EDIT tab then

1. Highlight the text to use as the link 2. Click on the page you want to link from 3. Click Save

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10. Uploading other Documents and Files If you want to add other pre-existing files to your wiki such as Word documents, PowerPoints or Images click on the Upload files link in the top corner of the wiki.

Click on the Upload files button and then select the file you want to include.

11. Viewing all Pages & Files in a wiki All additional pages added to the wiki and uploaded files can be viewed using the Pages & Files link in the top right hand corner.

All Pages and Files within the wiki are listed on this page. Clicking on the name of a page will allow you to view it. Clicking on a file will allow you to download it.

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12. Viewing the wiki history On every page in the wiki there is a Page History button. When you click this, it displays a list of contributors to that particular page.

If you want to know what level of contribution has been made there is a facility to select two different revisions of the page and then compare the changes.

Additions or alterations to the page history are colour coded and clearly identified.

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13. Returning to your wiki account page To return to your main wiki account page, click in the account link under your email address in the top corner of a page.

Your wiki account page provides the easiest way to assess the different wikis you have access to and gives an overview of how much activity there has been on each of the wikis.

14. Logging back into your PBworks account.

When you want to access your PBworks account in future go to https://my.pbworks.com/ You will be prompted to enter your email and password and then given access to your account from where each wiki can be viewed.

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15. Go directly to your wiki You can go directly to any of the wikis to view them by using a browser and typing in the unique wiki address. If you are viewing a wiki and wish to make changes, add comments or review history you will need to login. Click on the Log in link on the top right hand corner of the wiki.

You will be asked to enter your email address and password to enable access to the wiki.