Creating An Educational Website/Blog

By Kevin McCrumb

Why Design A Website/Blog

• Our students need to be able to use technology to be successful.

• Can save time and can provide students with additional resources that they can use to help guide their own learning.

• Can provide additional opportunities for student assignments.

• It’s not as hard as you think!!

Based on ideas from: http://www.socialpsychology.org/articles/top99.htm

Tips For Maintaining An Effective Educational Website

• Know The Purpose Of Your Website• Know What Resources Are Already Out There• Make Sure The Site Is Easy to Navigate• Make Sure The Site Loads Quickly• Make Sure You Update It!

Know The Purpose Of Your WebsiteBefore designing the website, make sure you have an idea of what you want the website to be used for. The students should know why the webpage exists and why it will help them in your class.

Suggestions:1. To Provide Resources Based On

Your Content2. To Provide Interactive Message

Boards3. To Provide Class Documents such

as Syllabus4. Class Calendar

Know What Resources Are Already Out There

Be aware of what resources are already out there on the web. Why re-create the wheel?

Suggestions:1. Search for other educational websites, see what sources they offer.2. Find websites that you have screened so your students don’t need to find them.3. When looking for resources, be very specific with your search terms.

Make Sure The Site Is Easy to NavigateIf your site isn’t easy to navigate, your students won’t use it!

Suggestions:1. Keep the design simple and easy

to understand. Remember our study on multimodality and modes.

2. Don’t use too many flashy graphics or flashy fonts.

3. Don’t use too many hard to read colors or too many different colors.

4. Use common sense, if the site is hard for you to navigate or for someone else to navigate, change it so it’s easier!

Make Sure The Site Loads QuicklyIf your website takes too long to load, then your students will likely not use it.

Suggestions:1. Make sure your website

isn’t linking to gigantic images that take a long time to load.

2. Make sure your website is hosted on a reliable service such as Wordpress.

Make Sure You Update It!If your website isn’t updated on a regular basis, your students will not value the website.Suggestions:1. Make updating the website a

part of your daily or weekly routine.

2. The purpose of your website is going to help to determine how often you need to maintain the website.

3. Emphasize to your students that you are actually updating the website.

Where Can I Go To Create My Own Website/Blog?

There are tons of resources on the web.. You just need to find one that you’re comfortable with. Keep in mind that many sites have different packages that cost $$ but many free services will do what you need.

Below are several possibilities:

1. Wordpress –http://www.wordpress.com2. Wikispaces – http://www.wikispaces.com3. Edmodo – http://www.edmodo.com4. Weebly – http://www.weebly.com 5. Schoolrack – http://www.schoolrack.com 6. Blogger – http://www.blogger.com [Google]7. Yola - https://www.yola.com/8. Snappages - http://snappages.com/ 9. Webnode - http://us.webnode.com/ 10. Edublogs - http://edublogs.org/

Other Resources..

• http://teach.com/teach100 -> A ranking of the top 100 educational blogs online.

• http://educational-blogging.wikispaces.com/ -> How to design an educational blog.. Has videos, etc..

• http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2012/06/ultimate-guide-to-use-of-blogs-in.html -> Another list similar to my own site about how to develop your own blog.

Web Resources:

• http://writing2.richmond.edu/writing/wweb/blogging.html

• http://www.socialpsychology.org/articles/top991.htm