EDLD+5365+Web+Development+and+Design

I really enjoyed this class as it was right before my work on the school web page. the timing couldn't be greater. Week 1 At our school the web governance is only covered under the Acceptable Use Policy. The responsibility for the school website is place on the shoulders of the Campus Instructional Technologist. The web page provides links to teacher webpages. These teacher web pages have a template designed by the Campus Instructional Technologist. This goes against Shirley Kaiser's advice in Delivering First CLass Web Sites: 101 Essential Checklists she says, "The team behind the web site project may have a multitude of terrific ideas about content, features, and functionality that should be included on the site" (Kaiser 2006) pg. 2. I truly believe it is best when a team works on a site as important as a school's website. There are many legal issues that may a rise. There are also may people that you need to please with the one site. It can be hard to know if have meet all their needs without input from them. I think a team made of a teacher, a parent, and the CIT would be a great way to build a very useful site that will meet as many of the needs as possible.  Kaiser, S.E. (2006). //Deliver first class web sites: 101 essential checklists.// Collingwood, Vic: SitePoint.

Week 2 To me the most important practice for information architecture is improving findability. Shirley Kaiser (2006) says, "It's important to organize your web site's information architecture so that users can find content easily." We have been trained to expect order in modern society. Even our stores have adopted this policy all nationwide stores have been working to provide a clear layout to help shoppers get in and out with the items they wanted. In order to increase findability webmasters must organize from the consumers point of view. For us it is a bit more difficult. We will have three different consumers all three having varying systems, knowledge, and needs. The three consumers being students, parents, and school staff. I think having a plan will definitely help in developing a well organized site. I know that I will be creating a model on paper before trying to get on the computer. I have a lot of ideas and need to see it laid out quickly to see which will work the most effectively. I have a natural affinity for the "Broad and shallow web site hierarchy" described on page 99 of Kaiser's book.  Kaiser, S.E. (2006). //Deliver first class web sites; 101 essential checklists.// Collingwood, Vic: SitePoint.

Week 3 I think the open source systems will be very important to K-12 education systems. I believe the ability to share, alter, modify, share again is at the heart of education. I know i learned so much from others and then alter it to make that trick or style my own. I think as districts and schools get more people who are open to the open source software we will see a truly incredible abundance of educational tools in the software. I think that as districts realize that open source software is often less expensive than its closed source cousins. I believe that districts will have to begin to look at these alternatives as the many districts, states, and the nation face tougher economic times. But as the districts look at open source software a key issue will be compatibility as Kaiser states you want to be able to reach as many people as possible. I know in working with open office I sometimes forget to save files as .doc versus the .odt format. Many people are not able to open the odt. style. That is just one instance I'm sure that as we see more open source software we will need to be increasingly aware of areas where compatibility may be an issue.  Kaiser, S.E. (2006). //Deliver first class web sites: 101 essential checklists.// Collingwood, Vic: SitePoint.

Week 4 Our district tried a few schools setting up a microblogging system on Twitter. This failed in part because the District blocks Twitter. It also failed because the administration never believed in it (or at least not at the school I subscribed to). My school was not one of the test schools. I decided to follow the nearest school. I received three tweets before I heard they were canceling the program at the school level. The district still uses it at the District Level. I believe this in due to the hard push made for it by the head of the technology. She is very interested in using Web 2.0 tools and is trying to overcome the districts reluctance on several of these tools. The district even puts on an event called the Digital Media Fair to showcase projects. They are interested in seeing as many teachers a possible using "new" technology. Trying to get teachers using technology before it old technology can be a large problem. Many teachers feel they need to be experts at it before they have the students use it. I think the reading did a good job of showing that students may know the programs already or can pick it up with a little bit of help. Plus we have the valuable resource of a class of students to help any that are not as technology savvy.  Solomon, G., & Schrum. L. (2007). //Web 2.0: New tools, new schools.// Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education.

Week 5 There are many mechanisms to influence our districts to adopt a savvy approach to web 2.0 tools. I think the most important tool is the community. If you can get the community to believe in the adoption of web 2.0 the district will be more likely to take notice. In doing this we need to get a wide range of community members. These should include but shouldn't be limited to students, parents, teachers, home owners without students, and business partners. Once the community by enlarge wants these tools it would only make since that board will adopt safe but effect policy regarding these tools. Another influence may be speakers such as David Warlick. His description of a "New School" is very inspiring and would greatly improve school and home communication. There are way too many areas for him to speak to all of the different districts but he has made several videos that can be found on Youtube. This would be a great way to show the district it is time for web 2.0 tools by using web 2.0 tools. Getting information out the people about what is available and why it can improve learning and lower budgets will be another major selling point.  Solomon, Gwen & Schrum, Lynne (2007). //Web 2.0 New Tools, New Schools//. Eugene, OR: ISTE