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WEEK 1
How is Web governance handled in my school today?

I chose this question, because it has been a great mess to begin with. Our school is lagging behind many others. I've been at this school for 7 years and when I first came on board, I was surprised to see that our website only consisted of a one page with school address and contact information. After working there for a while, I understood the reason why. It all boiled down to "know how" on our campus. Many of the teachers, even now, have been teaching for over 20 years. They have very little technology experience. For many on our campus, posting an attachment to an email is challenging. Another reason is and always will be, time. Time is always a barrier in an educators life. Fortunately, last year our school had an administrative assistant with a technology background that started working on a school website for us. We were all expected to use it for campus documents and newsletters. The goal for the year was to have teachers become accustomed to it. An additional goal was to have each teacher post a biography of themselves. Unfortunately, this never happened. The webmaster took a job at with the district's technology department. Even though our campus website looks better, it's not too much better. The problem has now become, how to update or change anything. My new principal says she can't update anything because her expertise is limited and she doesn't have access into the website. She is attempting to contact the old webmaster for help. Our school is missing out on the advantages a website can provide for students, teachers, parents, and it's stakeholders. In the book //Web 2.0 New Schools, New Tools// the authors suggest 3 factors necessary for change as provided from Gladwell, M. Gladwell, M. (2002) states, "...Three factors necessary for change to occur: exceptional people who drive change by their own habits, stickiness or memorable qualities of the ideas that move others to act, and the power of context, which includes the skillful use of groups and the power of communities." My campus has exceptional people that can make this happen. Now with my new abilities, I'm certainly there to help. But until we can gain access into the website, nothing will change.

Source Cited:

Gladwell, M. (2002). //The tipping point: How little things can make a big difference.// New York: Little, Brown and Company

WEEK 2
The design principle that has now appeared twice in the course of our studies is CRAP, or Contrast, Repetition, Alignment, and Proximity. Several courses ago we were charged with creating a newsletter that employed these principles. In brief, we learned about the importance of contrast in color, the repetition of color, font and logos, the alignment of our design, and the proximity of one item in the newsletter to others on the same page. CRAP makes a page pleasing to the eye which helps keep our readers focused and engaged. We now see this design principle mentioned again in Shirley Kaiser’s book, //Delivering First Class Web Sites.// According to Shirley Kaiser (2006), contrast “…adds visual interest to your design,” repetition “…provides visual cues that unify…your site’s design…” alignment “…helps to create cohesion…” and proximity “…helps to show relationships between elements…” I truly enjoyed applying these design principles in the newsletter, and since then I always think about them. In fact, part of my field experience hours involved taking photos for a still picture video project. As I was taking the pictures I remember not to center the pictures. I think about this design principle every time I snap a photo. Prior to this I use to center drawings, photos, home accessories, etc. It’s funny how I’ve changed my thinking. It’s even extended into my personal life. Have any of you had the same experience?

Source Cited:

Kaiser, S. (2006). Deliver first class web sites: 101 essential checklists. Collingwood, VIC, Australia: SitePoint.

WEEK 3
Do you have a programming background? How long do you think it would take you to master HTML, XML, and CSS for standards-based page development?

Unfortunately I don’t have a programming background. As Shirley Kaiser (2090) mentions, “…these markup skills are basic prerequisites for anyone who needs to create and maintain a web site.” During the course of this class, I’ve learned one very important thing. It is not easy to program a website. I feel that I’d need to practice on a daily basis in order to master HTML, XML, and CSS skills. Since this is not a full-time job for me and I already have a very demanding job in teaching, I’m not certain that I could ever master these skills. It is difficult to say how long it would take me to master these skills. I do know that the more I practice them, the quicker I’d learn them.

Kaiser, S. (2006). Deliver first class web sites: 101 essential checklists. Collingwood, VIC, Australia: SitePoint.

WEEK 4
Do you currently use blogging as a communication platform in you school? If not, why not? If you do, what has your experience been?

My school has a lot of technology inside the classrooms. All of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade teachers have a laptop, document camera, projector, Smartboard or Interwrite board, and one or more desktops. Our campus has two computer labs for a total of about 350-380 students campus wide. Although many of us use our technology daily, we have never used blogging as a communication platform. I can’t speak for why this is so for the other teachers on my campus. However I haven’t used blogging, because I don’t know how to effectively implement it into my classroom or campus. In other words, how can I use it as a tool for learning rather than socializing? Also, how do I effectively monitor the content of the discussions to ensure only appropriate information is shared. Micheal E. Dobe, Sr, Ph.D. states, “Blogging has become very common in the new web world. Using the Blogging environment in your hosted web site, you will enable multiple contributors to add to a discussion.” What does this really mean for elementary school? What type of discussions and contributors should elementary children be dealing with have? These concerns along with my limited experience in using blogs for educational purposes contribute to the reason why I don’t use blogging in my classroom.

Source Cited: Dobe, M. E. (2010, June). Web 2.0 Tools.//Web Development and Design Course Lecture.// Lecture conducted from Lamar University, Beaumont, TX.