I really enjoyed the website design project. I have never build a web-site before, so the project was definitely a learning experience and very time-consuming. I found the Weebly website to be very user-friendly and helpful for designing webpages, and I was really pleased with my site design. I liked that Weebly allowed you to make your own banner within your site by adding a background picture and text. It took me a little bit of time to decide how exactly I wanted to set up the homepage, but by using spacing and dividers, I was able to get the website how I like it. This project taught me a lot about page layout and how to insert pictures to make the webpage look professional. On the course materials site, I decided to provide both the Google Drive direct links and to upload the actual documents, so students could have their choice of how to access material. I was really pleased with how Weebly lets you upload documents and how well that works through Weebly. For some of the google drive files, I went ahead and converted them to PDF, so I could have them uploaded directly for easy student/parent access. I loved the way my assignments page turned out, and I am excited to have a page like this on my future class website. It is great to have assignments posted in such an easy manner for students (and parents) to access. The resources page was probably my least favorite page to create, just because I wasn’t sure yet what all resources would be necessary for my classes. I decided to include the resources I have already included in my lesson plan along with some resources to help with writing. It was extremely easy to add the comments and suggestions page, as Weebly has a user-friendly way of accomplishing this.
I am so excited for my future classroom and my future class webpage. I plan to use Weebly because of how user-friendly it is and how convenient it will be for my future students. I think webpages are great to integrate into the classroom as you can keep students and parents updated and reminded of what’s going on. Parents and students can also find the necessary information to easily contact the teacher. As a future teacher, I plan to post podcasts of my classes to upload to the class website, so students who miss can easily catch up. Also, by having homework assignments posted online, students can easily be reminded of what is due. For future class websites, I also think it may be important to perhaps include some sort of student spotlight/recognition page, where students can be recognized for their good work. I think building a class website has been the most useful project so far from IT 645, and I am excited to utilize a webpage for teaching.
Web communication tools open broad new opportunities for interaction among students across the globe. Of the communication tools you have learned about, which do you think holds the most promise? What are its strengths and weaknesses? How might you use this types of tool in your classroom to develop and promote 21st century learning skills?
I think learning management systems offer the most promise. These allow web integration to become seamless and allow interaction with technology. These will allow a shift in classrooms to become virtual, which will provide more schooling alternatives in the future. In my future classroom, I may use these to supplement in class instruction with virtual instruction students can view at home. By delivering instruction in a variety of ways, I may have the opportunity to reach more students.
Weaknesses of LMS would be that there is less actual human interaction, which is an important skill for our students to learn. Additionally, because virtual classrooms are still evolving, the learning environment may remain unstable until all the kinks are worked out. Additionally, there could be les opportunity to teach students necessary social skills and future students would become even more technology dependent.
link to class website:
http://teachermsgibson.weebly.com/