Wikitox was created by Andrew Dawson in an effort to set up a teaching resource for the management of acute poisoning, a major health problem in the developing world. After a colleague mentioned that he did not have time to create teaching material for his course, Andrew decided to take on this project and chose Wikispaces for its interface. He began with a free space under the Basic plan, but decided to upgrade to a Private Label as he was pleased with the service and wanted to begin creating and managing more wikis.
Wikitox is a repository of information, in which individuals can upload teaching materials to be used freely by other individuals and teachers. Wikitox, one of the wikis on the Private Label, is evolving into an open-source curriculum and will be the basis for a Masters course being delivered from Sri Lanka later this year.
A number of other private spaces exist on the Private Label, including one which enables communication between multiple research centers in Asia. By using Wikispaces, all partners can access the same information and post their research without going through the trouble of bulk emails. The Private Label has also been an effective tool for members of the Asian Toxicology Society to collaborate and co-inform each other.
Andrew takes advantage of the embed widget tool to add spreadsheets and mindmaps to the spaces, enhancing the flexibility of the site. He intends to continue growing the Private Label to facilitate multiple-author scientific publications. As for his experience thus far, “Dealing with Wikispaces feels a bit like I have walked into a family store or business….friendly and responsive.”
One Comment
It’s great!