"Many teachers have a classroom website with varying levels of success. How have you made your classroom website more useful to students, families, and other educators?
What gaps still remain?"
As I do not have my own classroom yet, I had to think a little out of the box for this week’s discussion. I think one of the first issues to discuss is the purpose for a classroom website. How will the website be used? Who is the intended audience? What types of information will be included?
The type of website I see most often is an information type website or a teacher’s page. It typically has calendars, homework information, upcoming events, and newsletters. In lower grade levels, the audience is primarily made up of parents or adults, although it may be geared toward students in upper grades. I was very grateful as a parent for the website my son’s kindergarten teacher created. Kindergarten students are not the most reliable when it comes to taking care of papers…or at least mine were not! This website was simple and yet I could view the weekly newsletter, look at pictures from classroom activities every month, review classroom procedures, or find contact information for the teacher. The one drawback to this type of website is equal access. The teacher still had to send the same information home in the student’s backpacks as not all families have internet access. This creates double work for the teacher in maintaining the website on a regular basis. As a parent, I appreciated the extra work the teacher took to keep parents informed.
Informing was also the purpose behind my creation of a page for my large group of Cub Scouts. We have over 70 families in our pack and communication is one of my priorities. After looking at several options, I chose to create a Facebook group for our pack. Here I post information on upcoming events, share pictures, ask questions, and upload documents. I have found I receive much faster feedback from my parents through Facebook than through traditional phone calls or emails. I chose to create a group as I can monitor the privacy settings only allowing members access to our information which would not work for a classroom setting. I regularly post information about the time and place where a large number of young boys will be. In the interest of safety I chose not to broadcast these details to the general public. Teachers, however, can create pages in which parents can subscribe. This type of website would be for parents or older students only as Facebook has a minimum age requirement to create an account.
The second most common type of classroom website I have noticed being used is for student resources. Teachers can post up links, quizzes, or other information ahead of time. When students have access to the computer, the information is readily available saving time. Most of the classrooms in our district only have one or two computers in the room. A teacher must book time in a computer lab or reserve one of the mobile labs in order to use computers in the classroom. In the middle school science rooms the only computer available is the teacher’s. Teachers in my district utilize Quia for this purpose. Each student has a login and password and then selects which teacher page to view. In this way a student in the upper grades can access multiple teacher pages without requiring a new login. The downside to this particular program is the price as it requires a subscription. The other obstacle in using this program for the younger students is the need for them to remember the login and password.
Sadly, the type of website I have seen the least is the type to showcase student work and allow for collaboration. In a previous week we explored how Wiki’s are being used to allow for collaboration and sharing of student work. I wish there were more of these types of websites being used in my school district!
On a final note, one of my favorite programs for a classroom is Edmodo. While this program also requires a login and password, it is free to use. However, like Quia, students can access multiple teachers’ areas with only one login. Parents can be issued a code so they are also able to view what is taking place in the classroom and be kept up to date. I also love the community section of Edmodo. Here I can connect with other educators and ask questions or offer my own ideas. I use the site for my after school science club. Here is a short video showing some of the possibilities for Edmodo. Do you use Edmodo? I would love to connect with you.
Hi Val. There are a ton of different websites out there that teachers use, that's for sure. I looked at Quia. I'd never heard of it before. It's funny, isn't it, that a district would pay for a subscription like that when edmodo is free? I don't have any experience with edmodo but after reading yours and Mr. Cissell's posts, I'm going to have to check it out. I love that you're using it with your science club. I also like the idea of a community area where you can communicate with others who are working in a virtual environment. That sounds helpful. We just started using schoolwires this year. I went through a 3 hour training but there's still a lot to learn about it. Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI have also had success in using Facebook as a communication tool. I coach a junior league cheer squad and Facebook seems to be the fastest way to communicate, share pictures and videos, and to get feedback from parents. Too bad I can't use it with my high school cheerleaders!
ReplyDeleteTeachers and schools in my district just started to use Facebook pages to communicate with their parents. Edmodo is clearly a favorite too. As I commented on Darril's blog, I think that all students should be exposed to some type of Learning Management System (LMS) because they will certainly have to use one when they are in college. Cathy- You can use it with your highschool cheerleaders as long as you are not actually "friends" with them. If you create a fan page you can do it under the new laws as long as you are not privately sending your students messages. However, I would check with your building administration first.
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