Simple Tool for Planning Classroom Web Content
Storyboards Make Designing a Class Website Easy
Jul 16, 2009
Technology integration is not only an idea being integrated into curriculum; some teachers are finding technology useful as an extension of their own planning and organization. Creating a website to enhance or compliment classroom activities is a popular step towards using more technology, but it is not always as easy as it looks. Putting in some time to plan the classroom web content can make this challenge a little easier.
Planning Educational Web Content
The most important, and first, step to creating a website for the classroom is to decide what it should contain. Is it a site with information primarily for parents, students, the community or a combination of all three? Should it contain homework assistance for students? Will it be used during class for webquests, special links for research or informational scavenger hunts, or a place to display student work? Will it contain a blog, wiki or other Web 2.0 content?
After the initial decisions are made, investigate what is already out there. Instead of creating everything from scratch, look at what other teachers have created. Also, explore template sites for possible layouts that would work well with the desired web content.
How Storyboards Help Design a Class Website
Storyboards are a visual tool that help plan a story or sequence of events. When used for planning the layout of a website, they can help the designer see how each page would be arranged and provide a description as to what information will be on the page. Since each page of the storyboard would relate to each page of the website, it is easy to rearrange the pages while designing the site. This provides a better idea as to what information is being placed where and how it will connect to other pages.
While designing a classroom website, the visual storyboard gives the teacher a way to both see a sketch of the page and read a description of the content. One page would represent the home page for the class website, and should have a way for a visitor, whether student or adult, to easily find the other pages as well as introduce the purpose of the website. Other pages should be designated to hold other specific content; for example, one page for homework assignments, a page for parent information, a page to link to student work that can be displayed online, and a page with useful links for an in-class research assignment.
Each page of the storyboard would represent one page of the website. Once the general content areas are known, the classroom teacher can plan where it will go. Not only will the storyboard provide a general sketch of each page but also a brief description as to what information will be on that page.
For more information about creating educational websites, visit Education World.
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