EDLD+5365+Web+Design+and+Development

=Web Design and Development= = = =Assignments=

Week One: [|EDLD_5365_Week_1_Assignment[2.doc]]

Week Two: [|EDLD_5365_Week_2_Assignment[1.doc]]

Week Three: [|EDLD_5365_Week_3_Assignment[1.doc]]

Week Four: [|EDLD_5365_Week_4_Assignment[1.doc]]

=Discussion Prompts=

Week One: The most pressing issue w​e are facing today is protecting our students from online pornography and predators. This fact was emphasized by Soloman and Shrum when they cited a survey of principals and administrators "commissioned by Thinkronize in fall 2006... 61% said pornography and 58% said adult predators were a great or significant danger".

This is also one of our greatest challenges. How do we protect our students from the dangers that are lurking in cyberspace while still allowing them access to the amazing resources and tools that are available on the internet? This is a tightrope that we are all going to have to walk.

Week Two: What are the most important best practices for usability in Web design that you have learned about this week? "If you use graphics in navigation areas, be sure to cater to visitors who use low-bandwidth connections and/or alternative devices"

This is advice that hits very close to home. I live in the middle of nowhere. I love living out in the country, it's quiet. I have room for all of my animals. My kids can ride horses and swim in our pond. It's perfect, except... my internet connection is horrible. There are some sites that I will not even try access from home. They are too graphics intensive and I know they will take forever to load. I just have to wait until I am at work. Kaiser, S. (2006).Deliver First Class websites: 101 essential checklists.Coolingwood, VIC, Australia: Sitepoint

Week Three: Discuss the benefits of the Drupal Content Management System Drupal is open-source CMS. Add on modules are available for Web 2.0 technologies such as Blogs, Collaborative authoring, podcasting, picture galleries and more. It is multi-platform and can run on Apache or IIS, UNIX / Linux / BSD / Solaris / Windows / Mac OS X. Drupal provides online help. It also allows for other content options such as creating polls, exporting RSS, and adding discussion forums. It seems to be a very versatile software package. I am looking forward to working with it and learning more about it. Week Four: Do you currently use podcasting as a communication platform in your school? If you do, what has your experience been? Yes I do use podcasting. I started this year making simple podcasts from my powerpoint presentations. I post the podcasts to my teacher webpage so that my students who were absent can see what they missed. At first the podcasts were just the powerpoints and then I started adding audio as I became a little more comfortable. I recently earned a digital camera from the district. Maybe next year I will be even more adventurous and add some video podcasts. It has been a wonderful experience. I try to post the podcast the day after we finish a powerpoint lecture. I told my classes that I was posting the podcasts and reminded them about them a couple of times. I didn't hear from any of my students and honestly didn't think that my ninth graders thought about biology at all once they got home. I really thought that I was probably just wasting my time. After about two months of this, I got a little lazy and didn't post a podcast right away. A dozen students came up to me the next day and asked me why I hadn't posted it. Apparently they weren't only using the podcasts to catch up when they were absent, these students were actually going home and reviewing the material. I was shocked!