District Website Module

According to Steven Anderson's ASCD book THE TECH-SAVVY ADMINISTRATOR, "in the 21st century the school website is generally the first impression schools make. So it is important that school websites convey the message that we are a welcoming place where there are many great stories to tell."

For this module activity, evaluate your building's website. How does it foster a vision of learning and sharing? How do all stakeholders participate in meaningful virtual exchanges, interactions, and partnership? What internal support and processes need to be in place to ensure your website is strategically aligned to your vision? Once you are ready to share, collaborate with three cohort members and create a mini-gallery walk using your laptops and share what you have learned about your district's website.

Based on your group discussions, create an action plan on how to improve the website. First, browse through best practice websites. Each year the Web Awards honors the best school websites based on the following criteria: Design, Ease of use, Copywriting, Interactivity, Use of technology, Innovation and Content. Browse through the past five winners (http://www.webaward.org/winners_detail.asp?yr=all&award_level=best&category=School - .VaaeMxNVikp). Then read through Anderson’s suggestions to come up with your action plan.

“There are several key takeaways that are important to remember as you think about establishing your website or improving the one you have.

• Make the Essentials Easy to Find. One of the first things you’ll want to ensure is that your site has basic information in places that make it logical and easy to find. Things like contact information, building hours, schedules, and events should be easy to find and well labeled. A good rule of thumb for navigation is that users should never have to click more than three times to get to the information they need.
• Guidelines Are Important. As much as teachers (and some administrators) may resist, having a standard font, font size, image use, and color standards are very important for the professional look of each site. Having a standard layout is also important. Many parents have more than one student and often they are in different schools. With a standard layout used across the district, parents and the community can find the information they are looking for quickly, because the experience is the same across all sites.
• Keep a Regular Schedule. You’ve probably seen or visited a website in the middle of the school year that still had a “Welcome Back” banner on it. It is important for you as an administrator to establish a schedule for your site to be updated. Posting events, happenings, and stories to keep the site up-to-date will help parents and the community feel connected and informed. Some information, such as events on your calendar, will change regularly. Other items, such as your mission and vision, might never change. Look at your site quarterly and make improvements. Can you post pictures of your students from a recent field trip? How about a sample video from the recent debates students had in English class? Keeping content fresh can be as simple as that.

The bottom line with school websites is they can be difficult to establish but can serve as an important mechanism to build relationships with your students, parents, and community.”