Embedded Files
TEACHERS
TEACHERS
Creating a website is a fairly traditional way to embed technology in your curriculum, but it doesn't have to be boring. Make the exercise meaningful for your students by allowing them to create something they want to use. Ideally, it will be a site that will continue long after the assessment is over. Give them ownership. Allow them to publish live on the web. With the right tweaking, a task using website creation can cover:
- Creating with ICT: generating video, photographic and text content as well as the site itself.
- Communicating with ICT: allow comments or feedback sections on the site, and give the link to students or out to the school, or even out to the real world! (gasp!)
- Investigating with ICT: let the students figure it out for themselves. There are millions of resources on good website creation. Help them learn to find tools that will be useful to them forever.
- Managing and Operating ICT: Talk to students about what devices will be used to access their site. Is it suitable for mobile? Does it have touch features for tablet or smartphone?
- Social and Ethical Practices: Talk about whether their site identifies them to the public. Will they get spammed if they add an email address? How can they avoid it? Should they create a twitter and facebook account just for the public version of themselves? Is the content on their site suitable? Have they used Creative Commons images? Do they have permission to add that video?
What makes a good or bad site?
What makes a good or bad site?
Look at these examples. What do you like? What do you dislike? What works? What doesn't?
You must ALWAYS take the user experience into account - after all, that is what your website is there for. You might have tonnes of fun creating a site with html and CSS, but if your user can't find what they're looking for, what's the point? WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editors might be more useful for your purpose. Think first, then design, then create.
http://strategicplan.bournemouth.ac.uk/
Design
Design
The next step is to do some research into design. Evan Brown at DesignMantic has written a range of articles on Colour Theory, Typography, and more. Google as much as you can. Look at what works on other sites.
Tools
Tools
The Resource
The Resource
Google Sites (you are currently looking at a Google Site)
The Good Stuff
The Good Stuff
- It's free!
- Attractive and easy to use. Go with New Sites rather than Classic.
- Create as many sites as you want under your school account.
- Add YouTube content straight from your school YouTube account.
- Easy to share with your teacher or classmates.
- You can change privacy settings.
The Not So Good Stuff
The Not So Good Stuff
- If you set it up with your school account, you can't access it once you leave school (which may or may not matter to you) unless you share it with an external account.
The Resource
The Resource
Weebly (here is an example of a Weebly)
The Good Stuff
The Good Stuff
- It's free!
- It is super easy to add content
- It looks very pretty with very little effort
- Heaps of in-built content you can add immediately, or you can upload your own.
The Not So Good Stuff
The Not So Good Stuff
- You have to publish live to the web - there's no option to share just with your teacher or your class
The Resource
The Resource
Wix (here is an example of a Wix)
The Good Stuff
The Good Stuff
- It's free!
- Easy to add content
- You can easily check how it will look on mobile.
- Lots of free templates to create great looking design without much effort
The Not So Good Stuff
The Not So Good Stuff
- You have to publish live to the web - there's no option to share just with your teacher or your class
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