A common theme, point,
and blanket of information that was mentioned in all four of our readings this
week was the fact that the first step in designing a web-site or using a
website for instructional purposes, is to define
your goals and determine your purpose. In
the first couple of paragraphs in all of these articles you will find the same
key concept of defining your purpose and your goal of using websites in the
classroom, the only difference being the wording. Clearly, this is a key piece of information;
we as educators need our students, parents, and users of our website to go onto
the site and use it with ease and with purpose.
The article written by Miller, Adsit, and Miller, Frequency of Appearance and Stakeholders’ Judged Value, left me with solid information that I will remember when making a classroom website. In their study, they aimed to “determine what elements are currently contained in representative school based websites and the degree to which various users of school websites value specific features that are included.” (Miller et. Al., 2005, p.35). A total of 70 elementary websites were reviewed in the metropolitan area of Atlanta and participants (simply put) were students, parents, and teachers. The results showed that the physical location of the school was the component most commonly included followed by listing of faculty and staff. The third commonly represented feature was the school calendar which was followed by the schools mission statement. These components are all pretty static in their information, which says they will most likely not change from year to year. As teachers, this next part is important, the part that talks about what the three groups felt was most worthy to be on the classroom websites. “All three stakeholder groups felt that the school calendar was most worthy of inclusion in the school website.” (Miller et. Al., 2005, p.37). Students, parents, and teachers all ranked the homework hotline high as it was third, second, and fifth respectively. The table on page 38 that shows the grand mean for all links that are on the website is extremely informational and something that I will refer back to when I am building my classroom website!
Julie Coiro and Jay Fogleman’s article, Using Websites Wisely, focused on three types of web-based learning environments which are: informational reading systems, interactive learning systems, and instructional learning systems. In the web-based instructional learning systems section I learned about Google Lit Trips which I was thrilled to learn more about and research. “When readers download a Lit Trip from the lesson database, they can follow the plot and characters of a given book through those areas of the globe that serve as the book’s setting.” (Coiro & Fogleman, 2011, p. 38). This is one of the great features and benefits that comes out of the 21st millennium classrooms, students have easy and quick access to research where in the world they are reading and learning about which is only enhancing and growing their worldly knowledge base.
The article written by Miller, Adsit, and Miller, Frequency of Appearance and Stakeholders’ Judged Value, left me with solid information that I will remember when making a classroom website. In their study, they aimed to “determine what elements are currently contained in representative school based websites and the degree to which various users of school websites value specific features that are included.” (Miller et. Al., 2005, p.35). A total of 70 elementary websites were reviewed in the metropolitan area of Atlanta and participants (simply put) were students, parents, and teachers. The results showed that the physical location of the school was the component most commonly included followed by listing of faculty and staff. The third commonly represented feature was the school calendar which was followed by the schools mission statement. These components are all pretty static in their information, which says they will most likely not change from year to year. As teachers, this next part is important, the part that talks about what the three groups felt was most worthy to be on the classroom websites. “All three stakeholder groups felt that the school calendar was most worthy of inclusion in the school website.” (Miller et. Al., 2005, p.37). Students, parents, and teachers all ranked the homework hotline high as it was third, second, and fifth respectively. The table on page 38 that shows the grand mean for all links that are on the website is extremely informational and something that I will refer back to when I am building my classroom website!
Julie Coiro and Jay Fogleman’s article, Using Websites Wisely, focused on three types of web-based learning environments which are: informational reading systems, interactive learning systems, and instructional learning systems. In the web-based instructional learning systems section I learned about Google Lit Trips which I was thrilled to learn more about and research. “When readers download a Lit Trip from the lesson database, they can follow the plot and characters of a given book through those areas of the globe that serve as the book’s setting.” (Coiro & Fogleman, 2011, p. 38). This is one of the great features and benefits that comes out of the 21st millennium classrooms, students have easy and quick access to research where in the world they are reading and learning about which is only enhancing and growing their worldly knowledge base.
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