A WebQuest for Designing a School Web Page

 

Introduction

We will be celebrating another year where we will be actively and ethically approaching new horizons.  One of the newest components we will be working on this year is our school web page.   Another visit from Govenor Parris Glendening and our corporate sponsors, and a premiere visit from our new Superintendent, Dr. Iris Metts will be on our calendar for September.  We will need to design and publish our school web page so we will be able to communicate to our community and parents our plans for the upcoming school year.  This WebQuest will introduce you not only to the correct design of a Webquest, but allow us to examine and critique other school web pages.  We need to consider the efficiency, aesthetics, design and presentation of good web pages and use this knowledge to enable us to create a design for our school page.
 
 

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The Task

You will be working in pairs, to search and evaluate other School Web Pages, and come up with a final draft of what you feel should be included in ours.  This plan will then be submitted to Sue Creamer, so she can use this as a basis for her inservice on Designing the School Web Page.
 

Keep these key questions in mind as you go through this WebQuest:

• Who will be the audience of our page?
• What will we want our introductory page to feature?
• How does it communicate our teaching goals to our students, parents and guests?
• How much and what type of information should be on every page?
• How will we give readers choices?
• How can our readers benefit by what we place on our site?
• What image will we want to portray to our community?
• How can we involve parents in the development of our site?

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The Process

Words and Acronyms -  a glossary of World Wide Web  terms
 

 

Now meet with your ____o'clock buddy (time to be decided by leader) Share with your partner the site that you felt was the most outstanding, according to your checklist.  Also tell them what componets or what about the design that made you choose that to be your favorite.

 

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Resources
 
 

Web Source	School or Non profit Organization	Your Rating
Ray School Web Pages	Look at the front page, then go in the kid's page.
Apohaqui Elementary School	A Canadian school.
Jones Primary Index	Their front page is very different from others.
El Potrero Elementary School	Interesting way of displaying their information.
Chesapeake Center for Science and Technology	Didn't load completely, but has a scrolling feature.
Emigrant Trail School	Interesting way of displaying information - clock only works with Netcape
University Park Elementary, Maryland	This is a PR (personal request) site!
It's a Small World After All U.S. Elementary Schools on the Web	Super Site
Tesseract Schools	Excellent..look at different class pages use this for ideas for main page
Buckman Elementary School	Super site
Highland Park Elementary School	Excellent site
Arbor Heights Elementary	Excellent site
The Rice School	Honorable mention / Internet-based projects and curriculum.
University Park Elementary	This school is located in Fairbanks, Alaska.  Check out the moose!
Fairland Elem. School	Some of the most interesting student-produced projects anywhere. Be sure to look at the Digital Village Project, Tessellations, and Maryland POGS.
Ms D'Amour's Class Page	Another PR (personal request) site.Excellent High School site.  Ms. D'Amour is a fellow of M.T.A. See Montgomery County Schools link below.
Hoffer Elementary School	Excellent Site
Jacksonville Elementary School	This is a great site of my super M.T.A. leader's school.
Prince George's Board of Education	School District
Montgomery County Board of Education	School District
International WWW Schools Registry	School District
Clip Art Theme Page	Not a school site, by check out the layout.
Copyright and the Web	This is a good site to check out before designing any page.
School Home Page Building Blocks	Not a school page, but good site for structure.
T.H.E. Journal OnLineAn Introduction to World Wide Web Page Design	Great ideas!  Check out 2nd graders as WebMasters!

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Evaluation

Use your Alphabet Worksheet to write down a few words that name a component you feel makes up a good School Web Page. Take 1 minute and share these thoughts with your partner.

Alphabet Worksheet

Use the Critique Sheet below to evaluate the sites you have choosen to review.  Please place your names on the back.
 

School Web Design Critique:  School's Home Page

Name of site:  _______________________________

URL of site:     _______________________________

(Please remember we are just evaluating the homepage)

Form:

Speed of Loading:            Good             Poor

If you checked Poor, circle the reason:

Graphics         Page too long          Music                Other _________

Appearance:

____Loads completely in view      ______Must scroll  the page to read

What appeals to you as soon as you opened the file?

______Graphics   _____Color   _____Navigation Buttons        ______Sound        ______Ease of navigation         _____Links Appropriate          ______Split Screen

If there is sound, graphics, video,  or animation:

_______Is it significant to the site ________just there for entertainment

Sound:                         Relevant                       Not necessary

Graphics:                     Relevant                       Too Many

Video:                          Relevant                       Not necessary

Does this site appeal to:

_____Students  _____Parents _____Teachers _____Community

Topic or Content:

Is the information labeled and organized for easy navigation?

Is the spelling correct?

Is there a way of contacting the school?

Is there a date of the last update?

Is there an overview of the school's makeup?

Purpose:

Is the mission statement of the school clearly stated?

Does the school show a home/school/community connection?

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Conclusion

Our URL to our school web page will appear here when we have successfully completed our task.
 

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