Journal #4 - Project Plan

Write and post to your blog a plan for your final project. Your plan should include your idea for the website, an image of the site map and wireframe, and description that covers the following points.

• Site title - Mrs. Yanko's Science Page
• Developer - Roxana Yanko
• Rational or focus - The purpose of this website is to keep parents and students informed of current assignments, projects, and daily binder pages.  Although students have access to assignments on the school's school loop website, this site will present additional class materials in a concise and user-friendly manner.
• Main features outline - This site will include the daily warmups and reflections for absent students, as well as links to reference materials needed to complete the class binder.
• Content 
• Weekly Lifelines
• Science Schedules
• Academic Toolkit
• Table of Contents
• Pages
• Unit Packets
• Unit 1
• Unit 2
• Unit 3
• Unit 4
• Unit 5
• Assignments
• Classwork/Homework
• Upcoming
• Prior
• Activities/Labs
• Upcoming
• Prior
• Tests/Quizzes
• Upcoming
• Prior
• Extra credit
• Upcoming
• Prior
• Target audience - The audience for this site is my students and their parents.
• Design considerations. The design goals for this site is to be simple to navigate for parents and students alike.  The reference materials linked on the site should directly reflect the class daily routine and class binder so that it is convenient for students and parents to use.
• Limiting factors - The biggest limiting factor would be any redundancy this site might have with the school website.  I would want this site to be useful in a separate way and not be neglected because of that.

Journal #3 - The Case for Social Media in Schools

Kessler, S. (2010, September 29). The Case For Social Media in Schools, http://mashable.com/2010/09/29/social-media-in-school/

In this article, a 7^th grade teacher argues that social media can be useful in schools, based upon evidence that her school experience reduced absenteeism, an increase in grades, and a visible increase in student investment in online assignments.  Based on her research, she states social media in schools provides educational benefits that far outweigh the risks.  She has several arguments for her stance on using social media in schools; 1, it should be taught instead of fought; 2, it engages students more than traditional assignments do; 3, there is a surge of safe and school friendly programs now available for use in classrooms; 4, it provides a productive activity for students to do online instead of what they will do alternatively; and 5, it promotes collaboration similar to that they will be expected to participate in as adults in the business world; and 6, cell phones can be used to promote attendance and updates via texting.

I am a believer that social media, when used effectively, can be extremely beneficial in getting students to open up about their ideas, work collaboratively, and access online resources.  Students are usually very excited to use computers for classwork, and sites such as Edmodo and Edublog being used effectively in classrooms across the country.  This is a platform that most today's students are accustomed to communicating in and expressing themselves with.  I agree that it can be a dangerous tool, which is why it is important for teachers to be aware of the pitfalls and to have a structure in place to promote online responsibility and to follow a code of conduct for behavior online.  With the abundance of classroom-friendly programs now available, it is easy to manage student work and to cultivate a responsible online presence within classrooms.  I think that there needs to be a lot more education for teachers on how to use social media as a resource, because I agree that the benefits can far outweigh the risks when used properly.  I myself have started to use social media in the classroom, and while I have managed to enforce a code of conduct for behavior and expectations among my students, I think I could use a few lessons on how to use it to its full potential.

Q1:  How can I use social media to enhance the learning in my classroom?

Students can use social media through blogging and sharing their knowledge with other students on certain topics.  Shy students may be more apt to participate in discussions, and to contribute to polls to enhance student discourse.

Q2:  What tools are available for teachers to use social media safely in their classrooms?

Kidblogs, edmodo, edublogs, schoolology, remind101, and a variety of other free online services are just a few of the the closed-system, classroom friendly social media sites that are currently available for teachers to use in the virtual classroom.  Hopefully there will be more in the future as teachers begin to see the benefits of social media use in education.

Journal # 1: Chapters 1-3 Summary

Journal #1: Chapters 1-3 Summary.  Robbins.  (2012, August).  Learning Web Design, 4^th Edition.

Summary:

The first chapter of Robbins’ book summarizes the internet, and the language used to create the web pages of the world wide web.  He introduces HTML and shows how webpages are structured with HTML as a foundation.  It then goes on to introduce CSS as the language that writes how websites are styled with colors, backgrounds, font size, and formatting.  Lastly, Robbins goes on to explain how Javascript is used to add interactivity and behaviors to webpages.  The author describes these languages as layers of a cake that is used to create the structure, presentation, and behavior of web design.  In the second chapter, Robbins distinguishes the internet from the world wide web.  He explains that the internet is a network of computers, whereas the web is a way for information to be shared over different internets using HTML. This chapter also explains important concepts such as servers with IP addresses and how URLs work and how it uses http to direct to web addresses.  The third chapter of this book explains concepts on how web design is varied to accommodate a variety of platforms such as browsers, and mobile operating systems on the various web devices now used to access the web.

In addition to the abundance of information in these chapters, Robbins also details the history of how the internet and web design has been developed over the decades since its inception, and helps the reader understand how it is structured today.

Q1:  What do I need to know in order to design a website?

I need to understand the various layers of web design, not only the languages used to create the web sites, but also the knowledge to consider the way the site will function in various aspects.  There is the Interaction Design, User Interface, and User Experience to consider when creating a website with the various languages and tools involved in web design.

Q2:  What are your interests involving web design?

My knowledge of web design right now is very limited.  I have had some experience with html from decades past, and have had recent exposure to working with CSS.  I like the idea of creating a place where my students can access important information for my courses in an organized, visually appealing, and user friendly layout.  I’m looking forward to becoming proficient at creating a web site that would be beneficial to me and my students that won’t be redundant to my school’s current teacher websites.