Studying Online;Succeeding through Distance Learning at University

Using study forums 101 
students’ contributions to be altered or even deleted. Tat’s not 
possible with forums, chats, or discussion groups where everyone 
can see everyone’s individual contribution. On a wiki, it is possi-
ble to alter or remove the contribution of others, and so this can 
lead to reluctance to use wikis because someone’s work could be 
changed, or others would not know the originator of the material. 
If your module leader requires you to use a wiki, especially if it 
will form part of your assessment, then it is crucial to get to know 
how you should edit wikis and be able to contribute. Read the help 
fles for the particular software you are using, or check out the 
video links on the website I have created to accompany this book, 
https://studyingonline.tips. It would also be a good idea to ensure 
you know the rules or etiquette for using your university wiki so 
that you don’t make mistakes. It’s not necessarily as straightfor-
ward as you might think. Wikipedia, the world’s most extensive 
wiki, has 26 “principles of etiquette” in addition to a range of other 
TABLE 5.1 Differences between formatting 
text in a word processor and in a wiki 
To make something bold in a 
word processor 
Highlight the word and select 
“Bold” or type Ctrl + B 
To indent something in a word 
processor 
Hit the indent button on the 
menu or press tab 
To insert a table in a word 
processor 
Choose the menu option for 
tables and insert 
To make something bold in 
a wiki 
Insert three single quotation 
marks before the word and 
three single quotation marks 
after the word 
To indent something in a 
wiki 
Type two colons before the 
indented material