Week 10, Website Assignment

This was a very interesting assignment. I'd never actually made a website before, so this was a bit intimidating at first. After reading over the tutorial a couple of times, I felt comfortable enough to give it a shot and just dove in. For the most part, it was far easier than I expected. I had a little trouble with picture and text aligning, but for the most part, everything came out pretty well, I think. I think that website creation is definitely one of those things that one gets better at through making more and more of them, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

My Page

Week 8 Project Reflection

This week's projects provided some new tasks with which I was unfamiliar. I had never used or even heard of any of these websites prior to reading the assignment. Since I as unfamiliar with most every aspect of this assignment, it took a good deal longer to complete than the last one, however, once I found my pacing, everything started to go pretty smoothly.

The website evaluation assignment was by far the easiest. Choosing a website was a little tough, but after I picked the one I wanted to evaluate, the assignment went by without a hitch. I chose to evaluate a site on teaching English (literature, composition, creative writing). The site was very simple and it was apparent that the creator didn't have much experience in site creation. While it wasn't much to look at, the content was superb and it was apparent that the creator (a retired teacher of English for over 30 years) knew his stuff.

The web tools portion of the assignment was a little trickier, but after reading over the tutorials, everything came along. The rubric was easily the toughest of the web-tools assignments. After some planning and deciding on a subject, the sections just kind of began filling themselves in. I was rather pleased with the end result. The test and puzzle were exceedingly simple to figure out after reading the tutorials. I decided to stick with my content area for the subject matter for both of them.

Lastly, the trackstar assignment was very daunting. I read over the tutorial several times. However, much like the rubric assignment, the only real hard part proved to be choosing the topic. I decided to go with a unit on Romeo & Juliet as the overlying theme of the track. I included websites that would be useful to students while studying the play, some of which included a site listing and defining various forms of literary devices, some history behind William Shakespeare and Elizabethan theatre, and some guides for better understanding Elizabethan English. All in all, I found the assignment to be useful practice and I think trackstar has real potential for a tool in the classroom.

Here are links to the assignments:

Rubric

Puzzle

Test (with answers)

Trackstar

Website Design

Website Content

Week 7 Reflection Question

3. How can a classroom web site improve communications with students, parents, and community? What is an acceptable use policy? What impact does it have on the use of the Web in the classroom?

A classroom website can be an invaluable too in the hands of an innovative instructor. A well designed and streamlined class website can provide classroom and assignment information to students, teachers and interested administrators both at and outside of school. A classroom website also provides the service of allowing the teacher to provide links to any outside sources that could be useful and/or informative to the students or whoever has taken an interest in what is being taught in the classroom. According to our text, many districts are now allowing class sites to be uploaded to the official district or school website, which makes getting to your particular class's site even easier and safer.
When providing a web source and allowing your students access to the internet while they are in school, some terms of acceptable use should be set forth. This is usually done by a signature from the parents or guardians claiming that they have read and gone over the terms of acceptable use with their child and acknowledge consequences of breaking the aforementioned policy. This goes for teachers as well. They should be well aware of their school's terms of use for internet service and only provide links and information on their site that does not violate the school's policy. Also, it is very important that the instructor not provide any personal information about his or her students on the web page. If any photos or work of the student is to be displayed, permission from a parent or guardian should be obtained first. Just as always, instructors should check their school's terms of use if this situation is ever to arise. Finally, in situations where internet use in provided at school, it is the responsibility of the school to filter internet content. There are many many sites that contain images, videos and information that is inappropriate for children. The school must take responsibility for protecting children from these inappropriate and sometimes dangerous sites.
The internet is really the great innovation of our time and anyone would be hard pressed to find a recent development in technology that rivals its usefulness. However, like many great inventions, the internet is still just a tool. In the hands of a good, creative and careful teacher, the internet is an invaluable source for information and method of organization. In the hands of a not-so-careful teacher, the internet can be a lawsuit waiting to happen. Like most tools of great power, one must exercise great responsibility and constraint to use it safely and effectively.