Designing Your Own Website

1
Designing Your Own Website

• Introduction to Using a Classroom Website

2
Example Teacher Websites

• Physics teacher from Fayette County -
  http//www.staff.fcps.net/kgill/
• Chemistry teacher from Fayette County -
  http//www.staff.fcps.net/jswango/
• English teacher from Jessamine County -
  http//podcasting.jessamine.kyschools.us/groups/ej
  hsbeachwiki/
• My own personal website http//mrnorton.com

3
How I use my website

• Use 1 Planning
• Through the assignment calendar on my website, I
  plan instruction and compare to prior years
  lessons.
• Use 2 Dissemination of Information
• Students have access to notes and other files for
  things given out in class. I also use a section
  for reminders and have created RSS feeds for
  important announcements.

4
How I use my website (cont.)

• Use 3 To provide links to things I require
  students to do online.
• Web homework
• IMMEX
• Turnitin.com
• Use 4 To direct students to help online.
• Resources page
• Links to online help tutorials
• Links to current events related to my subject area

5
You got to promote it!

• Encourage parents and students to go there.
• http//mrnorton.com/modlogan/index.html
• 2006-2007 School Year
• Avg. 18 visits per day
• 2007-2008 School Year
• Avg. 65 visits per day
• 2008-2009 School Year
• Avg. 123 visits per day
• 2009-2010 School Year
• Avg. 234 visits per day

6
My method of creation

• I use Microsoft Sharepoint Designer to program my
  website. The software itself costs 140 on
  Amazon.com.
• I purchase file space from a hosting service for
  around 60 per year.
• I purchase my own domain name http//mrnorton.com
  for about 10 per year.
• My first website took about 60 hours of my time
  and was for a graduate course.

7
Free Alternatives

• If you are interested in programming this first
  route may be a viable option, but will take time
  to learn.
• There are alternatives that do not require
  programming knowledge, are free, and work well.
• I have researched a few free services and created
  accounts through their service to show you what
  they look like.

8
Free Alternative 1

• Recommendation 1 http//pbworks.com
• The benefits of this option
• 2 Gb of free space to upload files
• A very easy, customizable space
• The ability to add plugins and html code
• Quick attempt to create a webpage by me
• http//mrnorton.pbworks.com/FrontPage
• The science department wiki using the same
  service
• http//oldhamhighschoolscience.pbworks.com/

9
Free Alternative 2

• Recommendation 2 http//www.schoolrack.com
• The benefits of this option
• 100 Mb of free space
• Very easy to use
• View statistics
• Create groups
• Quick attempt to create a webpage by me
• http//www.schoolrack.com/mrnorton/

10
Free Alternative 3

• Recommendation 3 - http//www.teacherpage.com
• The benefits of this option
• Specifically designed for teacher websites
• 20 Mb of free upload space
• Nice calendar and other useful functions
• Quick attempt to create a webpage by me
• http//www.teacherpage.com/mrnorton/

11
Next steps

• Go home and create an account and play around
  over fall break to get comfortable.
• Come back Thursday afternoon for a working
  session on getting stuff set up.
• Bring a flash drive with files you want to
  upload.
• Send your websites address to Kara so she can
  put up a link on the school website.