100,000 Free K-12 Wikis – and 250,000 More!
September 9th, 2008 by Sarah
This weekend we gave away our 100,000th free K-12 Wikispaces wiki!
So today, we’re celebrating and sharing with you our continued commitment to the educational community.
Great Work So Far
Two and a half years ago we decided that all K-12 teachers should have advertising-free, private, unlimited use wikis for free. No fine print, no usage limits, no catches.
So far, it’s been a great success. We’ve given away over 100,000 free K-12 wikis used by over 535,000 educators and students!
We have worked with hundreds of you every day and heard your stories of engaged students and excited teachers. We have loved supporting such a vibrant community and learning how to build a better service for you. It’s what gets us excited about coming to work every morning. Thank you for making this such a rewarding experience.
A New Commitment
As the 100,000 wiki mark has approached, people have been wondering whether there would be any K-12 wikis left. Well, we know better than to mess with a good thing. So today, we’re announcing our new commitment to K-12 education:
250,000 More K-12 Wikis
Like the first 100,000, all of our K-12 wikis feature all the benefits of our Plus service:
- full privacy, only the people you allow in can see your wiki
- no advertising, your online classroom will remain ad-free
- unlimited use, as many users, pages, edits, and files, as you like, no limits
- a customizable look and feel, so you can make it feel like home
You’re welcome to start as many K-12 wikis as you like. Have 10 classes? Start 10 wikis! Want one for your PTA, your school library, or anything else at your school? Start another one!
The offer is worldwide and is available for any wiki that is used exclusively for K-12 (primary and secondary) education.
Features and Resources for Teachers
We’re doubling our commitment to improve Wikispaces with features specifically designed to help you, the K-12 teacher. Keep an eye out on our blog for upcoming releases.
We’re going to be hosting free live online events to share Wikispaces news, give short tutorials on how best to use Wikispaces in the classroom, hear success stories and best practices from educators like you, answer your questions, and connect people so we can all share and learn from each other. Stay tuned for dates, times, and details.
We know how important examples, articles, tutorials, and getting started material is to teachers with limited time. So we’re collecting and developing these materials to help you be successful in their classrooms quickly and easily.
Start Your New Wiki
Looking to begin your free, fully-featured K-12 wiki? Start one now in seconds.
Enjoy, spread the word, and help us bring 250,000 more free wikis to K-12 education.
And don’t miss the Classroom 2.0 event with Steve Hargadon this Thursday.
[...] we would love you to share your experiences using Wikispaces in education, tell others about our new K-12 offer, and help us reach those looking to bring technology into their [...]
Thanks so much for this… I’ve found Wikispaces to be a fantastic means of levering technology in the classroom.
Congratulations!!! In just two years you’ve become a household term. You’ve done more to connect kids and the world than I’ll bet even YOU imagined you would.
Congratulations!
Thank you so much for such a wonderful resource. We use pbwiki with ALL of our students here at our school in their English classes. Each student is building a digital writing portfolio with their wikis. It is such a great resources for our teachers and students. Thanks so much!
AJH, Instructional Technology Resource Specialist
This is the BEST! I’m only surprised that there aren’t more!
Congratulations! As someone who regularly presents using a wiki, not a PowerPoint file, and tries to plug Wikispaces whenever possible I’m delighted that you’re not stopping at 100,000.
Thank you so much – wikispaces is part of our k12 vocabulary now. I am very pleased with our Private Label and assume the upcoming additions will be part of that as well.
Sharon
Thank you Adam and team. Your commitment to supporting educators as they become enmeshed in the world of collective intelligence and Web 2.0 makes a difference to kids around the world.
All the best,
Phil McRae
Congratulations. Great to hear, I love your product and am starting to see more and more teachers starting to use them in education!
Just curious, do we know what is the 100,000 site?
[...] educators. They reached that number this weekend. And are ready to start on the next 250,000! Wow. 250,000 More K-12 Wikis Like the first 100,000, all of our K-12 wikis feature all the benefits of our Plus [...]
Hello,
We’re excited to learn about the education program! We began using our first Wikispaces blog last year and I’m wondering if it can be converted into your “Plus” program…that would, well, a PLUS!
Our address is avhs-apush.wikispaces.com.
I will share your offer with other teachers on our staff and look forward to introducing more of our kids to Wikispaces!
Gordy Hagert
Media Specialist
Would you extend that offer to higher education? I know faculty who want try out wikis but are not crazy about offering students a course tool with advertising messages they have no control over. It is a barrier for many. I know you can’t give everything away, but I think this would help you develop a market.
I use my wikispace for training other educators, sharing information with parents, class projects, and more. Thank you so much and keep up the good work. My students and II couldn’t function without our wikis.
Jennifer Whitt- Technology Teacher
Madison County, Alabama Schools
http://wiki911.wikispaces.com
http://mmaker.wikispaces.com
http://photostory3.wikispaces.com
http://sparkmanmiddle.wikispaces.com
and more…
Thank you so much for offering free wikis to teachers! I created my first REAL wiki on Wikispaces and learned so much! I’ve been able to help a few others get started as well. What a great tool! Create a website in seconds! Amazing!
I have used a wiki as a comminication tools for members of my department – they have every file, exemplars, assignments with a simple click of the mouse. I have also begun to use it for my philosophy class. It is an incredible resource – the students love it and so do I! Thank you for helping make my job easier!
¡Enhorabuena! Y… ¡miles de gracias! Es una herramienta genial para estimular a los alumnos y despertar su creatividad.
Dr. Antonio García Megía
Wikis are now becoming a classroom tool to enable to aspects: instant publish to share children’s work and/or a collaborative area. Both break down the barriers of institutional walls and enable children to connect and learn, anytime, anyplace anywhere. Feel free to use my wikispace http://juniorschool.wikispaces.com or the global collaborative one with over 65 schools around the world http://votw.wikispaces.com.
Sharon
Lecturer Primary Education (Technologies)
Thanks again for your work with educators and for the supremely high quality of your site. You have been more reliable than even our district’s servers (which are pretty reliable) and I continue to benefit from your innovation.
Bravo and congratulations!
TeachersFirst is delighted to know that you’ve hit the 100K mark. We hope that the TeachersFirst Wiki Walk-Through has helped steer many teachers your way. We will update the Walk-Through with your new counter and the new 250K offer as quickly as we can so you can reach at least another 250,000 classrooms!
It is a delight to see another free service interested in real learning for real teachers and real students. You are more than user-friendly; you are learning-friendly!
[...] [...]
This is fantastic! Thank you!
Not only have my pupils had great fun and learning from the wikis we’ve made, but also your support, which has always been almost immediate and personal, has made it a really easy experience for us all. Knowing that you are there, responding to queries and providing solutions makes all the difference.
Thanks again to the whole team.
[...] Then we might be forced to explore cheaper ideas, like free wikispaces wikis. [...]
I love wikispaces. I can direct my colleagues and parents to items saved on the wiki. I have received awesome comments of appreciation that others can receive curriculum I’ve developed for my class!
Congratulations and thanks for the great concept.
[...] See our full announcement. [...]
Thanks for your work.
There is a lot of spanish wikis that you can see at
http://aulablog21.wikispaces.com/EduWikis
Muchas gracias por vuestro trabajo.
Enhorabuena.
¿Y… ahora también en español?. Ánimo
Thank you so much for this service. I train teacher in the use of technology in the classroom. We had a session Saturday, when you hit the 100,000 mark, on the use of wikispaces in the classroom. The teachers loved wikispaces. They are using them in the classroom and building websites as I type. Thank you! Thank you! for this service, again. I will spread the word and train other teachers to use this great tool for their classrooms.
Barbara Winningham, librarian/media specialist/technology trainer
[...] Starting this week, WikiSpaces is giving away 250,000 more free Plus wikis for K-12 education. As with the first 100K, our K-12 wikis come with all the benefits of the Plus Plan – full privacy, no ads, a customizable look, our great customer service, and no usage limits. They are also doubling their commitment to improve Wikispaces for teachers. Look for new features designed specifically to make your K-12 wikis easier to use, more productive, and more fun. And we’ll be hosting free live online events to share Wikispaces news, give short tutorials, showcase your success stories, answer your questions, and help you connect with others. – The URL: http://blog.wikispaces.com/2008/09/100000-free-k12-wikis-and-250000-more.html [...]
I would like to say “ditto” to the comments. I have just started using the wiki and my AP European class loves them. So thank you for the addition of more free teacher wikis.
Lance McConkey Sequoyah High School Madisonville TN.
Thanks for adding more free teacher wikis.
Interesting. I think its very helpful for me to reach my students after classes.
[...] about on their blog and sign up at Wikispaces for [...]
[...] week, we let everyone know about our commitment to give away 250,000 more K-12 wikis. Based on the influx of support and praise, you were as [...]
I didn’t know free spaces were available for teachers (secure and without ads.) I’ve been trying to get my students to participate in the discussion portion of my page, but parents aren’t comfortable allowing their children to post to a site with ads on it. Can my current page be converted over to a free page under your offer? This would be fabulous and news I would share with all teachers in my building. Thank you!
[...] I rely on Wikispaces for almost all of my teaching and professional development. Read more about their new K12 initiative in this [...]
Sure Pam. Drop us a note at help@wikispaces.com and we’ll get you converted.
Could you please upgrade my wiki,
http://www.salisbury21.org/blog/index.php/rj,
to a wikispaces in education wiki, so the adds can be removed?
Thank you,
rjs
I’m thrilled that wikispaces is so supportive of k-12 teachers. as a professor in educational technology i am a big promoter of wikis and other web 2.0 tools with my teacher candidates. so keep up the great work!
Alas, wikispaces does not seem to support professors in higher education. i was using wikispaces for my tech course when i could get it ad free, but lately when i tried to create a new course wiki i found that i can only get ad free if i pay. as it’s not in my budget, i’ve had to move on elsewhere :0(
Congratulations to the wikispaces team! Great to see that you added 250.000 more wiki’s. Wiki’s are great to use in an educational way. There is just so much you can do with it!
@Pam: Those same parents have no problem at all letting their children watch the television for hours with advertising they really don’t have any control over. At least the ads on the wiki are (in some way) related to the content of your page. Just because they hear all these terribel stories about internet they think it is all bad… Maybe a wiki to educate parents about the (use of) internet would be a good idea!
I have set up wikispaces for each of my five classes and am so glad that I did. I am able to use them for most of what I’m teaching and it has been a great source of communication with my students and parents. I have even found some of my students completing assignments and adding to it after school when they are at home. Anything that gets the students excited about classwork, even outside of class, is a great thing.
I began a Wikispace for my fellow students so we can collectively combine our notes and information.
This has made things far easier. Thanks Wikispaces!
RJ,
Send an e-mail to help@wikispaces.com with the address of your wiki and we will convert it to a K-12 wiki.
Sarah
Can Boy Scout Leaders get a free wiki like the ones you are giving to educators?
Congrats!
Two years ago, kids grade K-12 signed up on Wikispaces and shared their education with the world. People still do it today. Since it’s free more and more people want to use Wikispaces.
What I like best about establishing my wiki is that parents can see what their children are doing in my class and can keep up with their assignments even when the children are out sick. If you are still providing ad-free wikis, please add my name to the pot!
As global communication and interaction becomes increasing important in education it would be nice if the k12 community throughout this wiki community could have the students interact with other schools. I have three high school teachers who would like to have their students communicate with other high school students via wikispaces reading books, exploring math, and social studies from around the world. The teacher k12 wikis are listed as private but is there a way that sharing could happen just between the students in k12 for the many private wikis? Thank you for providing this resource for us.
Leslie,
You can add the students from other wikis to your wiki by going to ‘Manage Space” and “Invite People.” Once they log in and accept this invitation, they, along with your students, will be able to view your private wiki.
Sarah
Hall,
Boy Scout and Girl Scout wikis don’t fall under our K-12 plan as they aren’t strictly K-12 education.
Best,
Sarah
Hi, do you offer any free, non-ad supported, wikis for Higher Education? We are pushing our faculty towards use of wikis and right now we prefer PBWiki because it is free for all educators, not just K-12. We’d love to be able to recommend Wikispaces as well.
[...] http://blog.wikispaces.com/2008/09/100000-free-k12-wikis-and-250000-more.html [...]
[...] Wikis, Wikispaces happens to have a great interface and provides unlimited ad-free pages for K-12 educational purposes. It took about two days for me to upgrade a free wiki that I created to the “Plus” account that the [...]
[...] up on that. Of course, none of this is an issue for universities with an enterprise edition. Also, teachers in primary and secondary education can obtain free wikis for their [...]
Wiki Spaces gives me the opportunity to create, store, and use educational activities that are enhanced by the use of technology. It made me a digital educator. Very helpful!
Pedro
Bronx, New York
Hi Brian,
Thanks for your feedback. We don’t currently offer free wikis for higher education. However, we have tried to keep our pricing low for higher education and individuals at $5/month or $50/year.
Best,
Sarah
Hallo!
One year ago, I ordered a K-12 teachers page in Wikispaces, called http://nissenmedia.wikispaces.com/
My students have now used/made this page and I am very satisfied with the possibility to make an internet page free like this.
Now i want one more page called http://nissenmedia.wikispaces.com.08/10 and I wonder:
1) Can I get this page?
2) How do i make usernames for my pupils/students. I want them to write but no other people to write, just read.
3) Is there possible to work with the lay out /design on this page? I am not so very fond of the three.
Yours sincerely – Heidi Mobekk Solbakken
Hi Heidi,
1) You can create your new wiki by logging in and going to http://www.wikispaces.com/site/for/teachers. You can make your new name something like nissenmedia08 and it will live at nissenmedia08.wikispaces.com .
2) You can create usernames for your students by logging into your wiki, selecting Manage Wiki, and selecting User Creator. You can read more about creating accounts for your students here: http://blog.wikispaces.com/2008/12/create-accounts-for-your-students-yourself.html You can make your wiki protected at set up so that anyone can read it and only members can edit it.
3) If you know HTML or CSS, you can change the look and feel of your wiki by selecting Manage Wiki and selecting Look and Feel under Settings. We are also looking to create more themes for Wikispaces so keep an eye out for new looks.
Cheers,
Debbie
[...] has given away 100,000 ad-free educational wikis, and has just announced they are going to give away 250,000 more. We’re going to celebrate the general use of wikis in education and Wikispace’s amazing [...]
I found out about your free wiki and would like to have 2 for 2 classes I teach. ESL 313 and English 102. The studetns in these classes read at a 9th to 12th grade level.
Many thanks.
Maggie Fieler
I am a teacher of junior and senior technology classes. I would love my students to create their own wikis as a class project. Then share our knowledge and skills with other faculties in our school as well as other schools through teleconferencing.
Thank you so much
Alex Smith.
Hello,
I am a technology resource teacher and would like the free private account. This would help a great deal when I train teachers how to integrate this technology into their curriculum.
Thank you,
Mary Norris
Mary,
If your wiki will be used exclusively for K-12 education, you can request an upgrade to your wiki by going to “Manage Wiki” and then “Subscription.” The link is at the bottom of that page.
Best,
Sarah
I also would love to have a free subscription to Wiki.
Hope to hear from someone soon!
Lisa
Lisa,
To create a free wiki for your K-12 classroom, visit http://www.wikispaces.com/site/for/teachers . You can learn more about our education plan and begin your wiki there.
Best,
Sarah
[...] http://blog.wikispaces.com/2008/09/100000-free-k12-wikis-and-250000-more.html [...]
I love the fact that you give free space to K12 people, but I work in a community college, our budget has been axed, and i need a wiki without ads. Is there any way that you will extend this offer to K14?
The “request an upgrade” to switch to a free K-12 site doesn’t have a working link. It’s just a .jpg.
Hi Joanne,
I believe I helped you with the link at help@wikispaces.com Let me know if you still have any trouble with your wiki.
Cheers,
Debbie
I teach at a community college and would like to use Wikispaces for my online classes. Like most CCs, we are budget crunched.
Any chances for a free wiki?
Andy
Hi Andy,
Currently, our free education plan is only available for wikis in K-12 education. However, we have tried to keep our pricing low for individuals and higher education. You can find more information on our pricing page at http://www.wikispaces.com/site/pricing . We also offer free ad-supported wikis on our Basic plan to everyone.
Best,
Debbie