AbbyTLITE

This Visitor, Resident distinction is useful when considering which technologies to provide for online learners. For example if your learners are mainly Visitors they are unlikely to take advantage of any feed based system for aggregated information you may put in place. They are also unlikely to blog or comment as part of a course.

All in all the experience was nothing short of wonderful and I loved that it was them teaching us. 

However I think “choose your own topic” can be very difficult for students who have spent years being fed criteria checklist style assignments.

The teachers that are facilitating these spaces are as new to social networking as the students.

In January 2006, we decided to give away 100,000 free Plus wikis for K-12 education. We didn't set out with a grand strategy, just an interest in helping teachers with our easy to use wiki technology. In September 2008 we gave away our 100,000th K-12 wiki. We know a good thing when we see it so we're giving away another 250,000 ad-free, private K-12 Plus wikis! All the features and benefits that normally cost $50/year - for free. No fine print, no usage limits, no advertising, no catches. Thank you to all of you who have brought Wikispaces to your classrooms. Supporting the education community has been extraordinarily rewarding experience for us. You have made our work a pleasure and helped us to build a better service every day. For more about our new offer, check out our blog post. Try a wiki at your school now, and help us spread the word! - Adam, Bisma, Dom, James, Jeff, Jessica, and Sarah Start a Wiki in 30 Seconds

We have learned that Critical Friendship, an essential ingredient for learning communities, is best achieved through providing deliberate time and structures to promote adult growth that is directly linked to student learning.