Establish a Web Presence

Establishing a Web Presence and Peer Review with Accountable Talk Stems (75 Points, Rubric)

Given that you are an educator looking to build your skills and develop a network of other individuals to support your growth as both a learner and leader within your setting, this project will help you establish a professional digital presence provide you with ways to:

• identify professional learning goals

• actively test out ideas in concert with other professionals

• support your quest for new resources and improving pedagogy, and

• provide a platform in which to share your vision for empowering learning, improving equitable access, and meeting diverse needs

• demonstrate for others the use of new digital resources and tools for learning.

Additionally, as you have read/viewed in our introductory materials, you will be cultivating the site as your own professional portfolio throughout the 10 courses in your MALDT program. Getting your blog or other web presences started in EDU 590 the right way -- by using tags/categories effectively, building the menus, and creating links to/embedding artifacts -- will set you up for continued success in the next few semesters!

Assignment Purpose/Objectives

After participating in this activity, learners will demonstrate the ability to:

• “Pursue professional learning interests that are supported by research and address personal professional learning goals that lead to empowering diverse learners.” (ISTE 1b)

• “Model for colleagues the identification, exploration, evaluation, curation and adoption of new digital resources and tools for learning.” (ISTE 2c)

• “Demonstrate cultural competency when communicating with students, parents and colleagues and interact with them as co-collaborators in student learning.” (ISTE 4d)

Prerequisites/References

Before starting this assignment, learners should know the following:

• Gain a general understanding of the ISTE Standards for Educators, and read Sections 1 and 2 (pp 1-34) in the Edtech for the K-12 Classroom book.

• Choose a service such as Edublogs (Fremmium), WordPress (Freemium), Wix (Freemium), Weebly (Freemium), Google Sites (Free), or Reclaim Hosting (Paid). This should be a space where you are creating, effectively, a digital portfolio (it is not meant to be a learning management system for your students, though it may contain curated resources).

• Understand the difference between a classroom web site (Face of the Classroom) and a professional presence (digital portfolio). Review the comparison below in "Revisiting Anchor #2 - Web Presence".

Section 1: Assignment Instructions

For this assignment, you will create a blog or other web presence, regularly post content over the duration of EDU 590, and collaborate with cohort members and other educational stakeholders.

Your site should have:

1. Home Page: usually includes a visually appealing home page with an image (your own, or one used from public domain or Creative Commons sources) that represents you and your teaching,

2. About Page: usually includes a brief bio and head/shoulders professional picture of you, your professional experience/credentials, social media handles, teaching philosophy, professional goals, and organizations, memberships, etc.

3. Instructional Page: usually a showcase that includes your artifacts and examples of your use of Ed Tech, projects, research, or ideas.

4. Additional Resources: add at least one additional page as you see fit. Choose an appropriate title, and showcase elements of your professional practice, great lessons, awards and honors, certifications, or other appropriate materials.

For a planning template and suggested elements, explore this Website Planning and Considerations template.

To find some inspiration and models, you might look to:

• 50 Ideas For Your Class Webpage

• Top Elements to Make a Great Teacher Website

• 20 ideas to jump start your class website

• 17 Winning Teaching Portfolio Examples That will Inspire You

Please note that this is not a class website/learning management system like Google Classroom, Schoology, Edmodo, or other similar platform. You will be creating one of those, but we will do so in the Facilitator pathway. For now, this website/page should be your new “professional home” on the web.

By the end of EDU 590, we would encourage -- though will not require -- you to post at least one of your artifacts (a 25 or 50-point task) from each pathway as an online resource that aligns with one of the ISTE standards and supports student learning. If you choose to add these, they will be posted in your blog as posts, or as pages on a website, wiki, or other form of web presence.

Section 1: Assignment Submission - Professional Presence Web Link (75 points)

In Bb, even though we mentioned an "editable by anyone" document... that doesn't really make sense. Sorry about that! Please just submit a publicly accessible URL to your site. No additional reflection or information is needed.

Please note, we will be posting these sites on our EDU590 site for sharing. You will be able to continue to add artifacts that show your skills and abilities in anticipation of #ISTECert throughout your #MALDT journey. If you do not wish for your site to be public, please work with your instructor on an alternative.

Once you have completed Section 1, move on to Section 2.

For more on creating a web site, visit the 21things4educators.net - Thing 2 - Face of the Classroom or the 21things4 Getting Started with Online Learning