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September 15, 2002
Plan It. Design It. Build It. Put Your Web Site To Work (cont'd)
Choosing Your Best Options
In the earliest days of Web publishing, educators had to learn HTML, or HyperText Markup Language. This consisted of codes, or tags, describing how information should be formatted, and how the pages were interlinked. Some educators still practice this wizardry, but most have moved to using sophisticated Web editing software that makes creating a Web page as simple as using a standard page-layout program, or even a word processor.
Combo Platter
Some Web producers find a combination of HTML and editing software works best. Laura Candler, a teacher in Cumberland County, N.C., went live with her site, Candler's Kids in 1999. Candler used Microsoft's FrontPage to put together her site, and continues to use this program-instead of one of the newer, simpler online services-to maintain and grow it because, she says, "It offers the freedom of being able to create the site exactly the way I want it and not according to a prescribed template." In addition, she taught herself enough HTML code to troubleshoot problems without the Web editor, when necessary.
Candler's Web work over the years has made her a technology-savvy educator, but for many others who may just be getting up to speed with technology, commercial template services that provide Web space and online tools for creating and maintaining sites can be a very good solution. These template services use online databases to store page content that is submitted by the educator through a Web form. When a student or parent accesses the teacher's Web page, the content for that page is pulled from the database and plugged in to a standard Web page template, creating the finished page "on the fly," in about a second. Then the page is sent to the student or parent's browser.
These services are especially appealing to educators who want to deal strictly with content and not the nuts-and-bolts technology underneath. The teacher simply adds, edits, or deletes text through a Web form and hits the Submit button to update the page. With some of the services, teachers can even upload images and other types of files to become part of their own pages.
One of the most popular and simple template style services is TeacherWeb. Each page has a public version which displays a divider both above and beneath the content. When the teacher who owns the page clicks the divider above the content the edit version of the page appears. This version includes one or more Web form elements that let the teacher add or edit content. There is also a text box for the educator to enter the required private password. Clicking the divider beneath the content will load a tool for adding, deleting, renaming pages, and performing other functions.
Maria Cristina Castro de Mitma, a Spanish teacher at Colegio Franklin D. Roosevelt international school in Lima, Peru, maintains a traditional Web site on one of the school's servers. But she posts information that changes frequently-such as class projects and assignments-using TeacherWeb because it is less time-consuming than using a Web editor.
HTML
How well information is communicated is just as important as the information itself. Simple formatting can do a lot to help your message be understood and used. In addition to white space, small bytes and indenting, bold text can draw attention, making it easier for readers to find certain pieces of information.
To accomplish this with an online template service, educators should know a little HTML. If you are writing a project description for parents, and you want to emphasize the instructional objectives, simply place "<b>" in front of the text you want bold, and "" at the end of the text. Then display the page and view the effect. Most template services will accept simple HTML codes and format the text accordingly, and it takes almost no time to add them. For additional tips, see "Four Must-Know HTML Codes."
Customized Templates
Because he wanted to insure site content security and eliminate the advertising that is frequently a part of commercial template services, Doug Johnson, Director of Media and Technology for Mankato Area Public Schools in Mankato, Minn., contracted with a local Web publishing firm to create a customized template service to be used by teachers in his district.
The Mankato Schools determined that simplicity should be a key factor of their template, as they wanted educators to easily and often update Web information about classroom activities without spending an inordinate amount of time. The ensuing design features individual teacher Web pages with the school district's logo and essential links at the top, with tools for including a variety of personalized information and additional links below. Each site also has an administrative page where teachers can log in and receive Web forms or edit a version of their page to update the information.
If you are interested in having an Internet firm construct a Web publishing template service for you, there are several tips and suggestions to consider. (See "Tips for Choosing a Web Publishing Firm.")
Customizing as Student Enterprise
The Beacon School in New York City took an imaginative spin on hiring a professional firm to build a customized template. Technology coordinator Chris Leyman saw template production as a great opportunity to engage students in an enterprise-style activity while at the same time offering a locally designed Web publishing environment for teachers. At The Beacon School, which focuses on technology as well as humanities, each incoming freshman is required to take a technology class to learn, among other things, HTML Web coding. During this class, students who distinguish themselves with skill in code writing are invited to join the Tech Team.
On the Tech Team, older students teach younger students the high art of HTML and PHP, a programming language that can be embedded within HTML to create highly interactive Web sites. During their four years on the team, students work with the teachers, their clients, to identify needs and plan Web-based solutions. Then they continue working with the teachers to implement and refine their classroom Web page tools. Many students take jobs after school and during the summer as PHP programmers.
Worth the Effort?
I recently had a conversation with Joan Troy, a math teacher at Cardinal Gibbons High School in Raleigh, N.C. At the time, she was using the template service HighWired (a pioneering application in the field). She told me about a student of hers, a bright boy but one who frequently did not complete his homework. Troy reported that once she began posting assignments on HighWired-a task that took only two minutes a day-the boy started turning in assignments every day. Other work also started improving in quality because he had the benefit of homework practice. Troy said that the improvement in performance of this one student was more than worth the time she spent establishing and maintaining her site.
The story of this student's revitalized efforts through Web technology is just one in hundreds, even thousands we regularly see and hear about as educators involved in the digital world. Sure, we're also aware of the myriad barriers to this kind of progress: lack of time and training, concerns over safety and responsible behavior, and more. When all is said and done, however, there remains a central, inexorable fact: the Internet is a doorway between our classrooms and our communities. It is up to us to either open that door or leave it locked.
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