U.S. School Web Site Survey
Carl E. Carlson
Educators' Study of U.S. School
Web Sites Gives Less Than Passing Grade
While more and more schools throughout the U.S. are
developing their own World Wide Web sites, few site
developers seem to have a clear understanding of what
they want to accomplish and how best to accomplish
it, say three professional educators.
Their findings, based on a random sampling of the
nation's more than 7,500 school sites, are presented
in a pilot study, "What's on the menu? School Web
sites in the United States, 1998," published by
teacherzone.com.
The study was commissioned by teacherzone.com in
association with the Ed's Oasis Web project, and
developed with students in a Pepperdine University
graduate program.
(The full report, with graphic analysis and links to
a number of school Web sites labeled "noteworthy" by
the authors, can be found on the teacherzone.com Web
site at
http://www.teacherzone.com/specialreports/onmenu/
index.html.)
The authors say they found that while many educators
and students know how to create Web sites for their
schools, few seem to know "why." And, if they do know
why, there is a lack of knowledge as to how to
achieve that goal.
"Unfortunately," the authors say, "the impetus to
create school Web pages has preceded the development
of a theory governing their contents. So...many
school Web sites are not the robust education
community resources they should be."
The study researchers note that basic teaching skills
are not necessarily those needed for effective Web
usage in the classroom, and certainly not the skills
needed to design and maintain Web sites.
(The researchers' vitae are presented at
http://www.teacherzone.com/specialreports/onmenu/
onmenuauthors.html.)
"To make the most of the Internet and the World Wide
Web, we need to know how to find resources, organize
them, introduce our students to them, and help
students manage the information they find there," the
researchers say. "Another set of skills comes into
play when we are asked to create the school's
Internet presence."
The report also notes there are few role models to
pattern school sites upon, there is a lack of
"expert" resources to call upon for help, and too
many schools rely upon the use of students, volunteer
staff, or parents to create and manage the site.
--
Carl E. Carlson
teacherzone.com
http://www.teacherzone.com
Swan Communications, Inc.
http://www.swaninc.com
Granny Nannie
I just finished reading this article...and walla...here it is on another
newsgroup. Great article and so true. I've just finished making my own
classroom's web site. Other teachers were critical because I didn't have
the children make the site...but I didn't want a children's site. I
wanted a site that would be useful to the parents and would show off
classroom work, etc. What have others done about classroom web sites?
Nanci :)
Joni J Rathbun
In a previous article, hamilton...@att.net (Granny Nannie) says:
>I just finished reading this article...and walla...here it is on another
>newsgroup. Great article and so true. I've just finished making my own
>classroom's web site. Other teachers were critical because I didn't have
>the children make the site...but I didn't want a children's site. I
>wanted a site that would be useful to the parents and would show off
>classroom work, etc. What have others done about classroom web sites?
>
I'm responsible for the school website (and various pages therein).
I work from the perspective that the web and internet are changing
the way in which we express and exchange knowledge and information.
In turn, I work with students to explore how communicating via
the web can be different from traditional communications (etc). That
is, I see it as a learning opportunity for the kids.
Students examined professional web sites and determined some of
the qualities that make a site visually appealing to different
audiences, qualities that attract repeat visitors to a site,
etc.
In the end, we developed a website designed with parents as
our primary audience. Community members as a target audience
runs a strong second. To this end, our page is updated on a
daily basis (reasons to return to the site), an alumni center
is being developed (find old friends, share info about
upcoming reunions), scholarship and senior deadlines are
provided, and so on. In the works are a discussion forum,
a voting center to collect votes on controversial issues
that arrise at our school,and an expanded postcard center
with postcards that appeal to parents, students, and
alumni.... We also hope to develop a "museum" that
covers the history of our school (we're about to move
out of it and into a new facility... and have
learned many ppl have a strong emotional attachment
to their old school... we are producing a
video with interviews of many of those people...
which is proving to be a very touching experience,
even to my rowdy high schoolers... ANyway, some of
those interviews will be incorporated into the
musuem which should, in turn, draw alumni and
community interest).
We have not gotten into posting student work at this
time because we just don't have the time. We do have
one project with a language arts teacher (local legends,
myths, etc) that will go online. And we are playing
around with the idea of a student art gallery if we
have time. But it is my hope
that individual teachers and departments take on this
responsibility once they are online.
Teachers have not been a particular focus group for
us yet because few of our teachers are online (tho
a number of teacher resourcse HAVE been developed).
More teachers will be online next year and our efforts
will be stepped up. Many of our students are, however, online
so a student life section is our next priority.
We have a temporary page up but the *real thing*
is being developed in the background. Within the
student life section, students will be able to
deviate a little from the foundational design
of the site, to speak more directly to their
intended audience. We also have an online
library with links being chosen specifically
for our students and curriculum (always in
progress).
I think the day may come when our website serves
as the main communication piece for our school --
communication with parents and communication with
our community. And that's what we are preparing
for.
--
-- Joni Rathbun | jrat...@orednet.org | lincolncity.org/schools --
Monthly Newsletter: Bookmarks
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-- If you need a vacation you should see the state I'm in! --
Bryan Griffith
You make some great points, and I think you have definitely thought things
through. I went through that process last year. I set up our schools
website, then assited in developing a course that would teach the students
to maintain it. Unfotunately, the teacher who is now teaching the class has
taken it in the wrong direction, there is very little learning going on, but
lots of students get "play time" messing with all our resources in one
computer lab. Nonetheless, a lot of the site is designed well still, so I
thought I'd throw up the URL and let you take a look. I'd give it a solid C,
it has some good features, but is difficult to navigate and is not easily
managed, except by the few students who have taken the initiative, and they
don't understand how any of it works. I think that needs to be the drive
behind setting up a website, teaching the kids how it works. I find the
whole process fascinating and I understand it thoroughly, so I may end up
guest teaching a few lessons. Everything from picking the right machine to
run your website, to registering a domain name, working with servers, and
even advanced web design and database connectivity could be tought using a
website, but often times (as in our case) the politics of the district, has
placed pressure on the teacher to put out content, before a single lesson
has been taught.
Well, here goes: http://scioto.dublin.k12.oh.us
Regards,
Bryan
--
br...@bryan.cl
UIN: 1842951
"He who dies with the most toys wins!"