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This Week's Topic Creating Your Course Web Site Writing up a plan, defining your goals, and sketching out your design are all fundamental components of designing a Web site. This week we will discuss the process of creating a course Web site. (See the Web site planning template in the Download Depot. This plan assumes that your school will host your Web site.) This Week's Tips Resource Assessment (Monday) Assess your school’s Web site (authoring and hosting) resources before developing a written plan for your Web site. Many schools are using some type of courseware offering a variety of options. Questions worth asking are: How much space (i.e., megabytes) is available? How do I send files to my site? Are there any preset formats or courseware software that I need to use? What services (e.g., online quizzing, tests, chat groups, etc.) are available?
Planning Your Course Web Site (Tuesday) Plan out your course Web site before beginning development. Take into account the needs of your students and course as you write up your plan. Include the following information: goal of Web site; timeline for creating the Web site; budget; resources, tools, and training needed (software, hardware, site requirements). Include a basic sketch of the Web page design and Web site structure on paper. Setting Goals (Wednesday) When setting your goals, consider your students’ needs, as well as your technical expertise and resources. Here are a few suggestions for potential goals: Reinforce your students’ learning by providing online quizzes. Provide a list of updated reference site links for research. Offer a venue for online discussion by setting up chat groups. Showcase student projects. Web Page Creation (Thursday) You may use Web design software when creating your Web page. Depending on your expertise and school’s course software, consider one of the following types: HTML editors create the Web page in HTML. As such, the HTML file needs to be opened in a browser to see the results. WSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) Web Design programs edit and show the result of HTML. Similar to MS Word, the underlying code (HTML) is hidden. Web Site Characteristics (Friday) Design a well-organized Web site that is easy on the eyes. It’s tempting to include bells and whistles, which may get in the way. Here are suggestions to keep in mind: Use a one color background (or no color at all). Design your site with simple text and graphics for easy access by students who use dial-up service. Do not use animated or blinking graphics unless absolutely necessary. |
