Creating a Web Page
Phase of Development: Middle Childhood
The following matrix describes the key learning area outcomes that were spotlighted in this unit of work. It should be recognised that many other outcomes, from this and other learning areas, will also be achieved during the course of the unit. While I monitored the Technology and Enterprise outcomes other teachers monitored and assessed other learning areas involved in the websites (e.g. S&E, English, The Arts).
Learning Area Outcomes
Curriculum Framework | Strand Statements
Outcomes & Standards Framework |
T& E
The Technology Process:
Students apply a technology process to create or modify products, processes, systems, services or environments to meet human needs and realise opportunities. |
T&E
The Technology Process:
Students apply an understanding of how attitudes towards technology, its development and use are influenced, when they pursue and realise opportunities through the development and application of innovative strategies. They apply a technology process and appropriate technology skills to create or modify technologies to meet human needs. |
Information:
Students design, adapt, use and present information that is appropriate to achieving solutions to technology challenges. |
Information:
Students use appropriate technology skills when designing, adapting, using and presenting information to meet a technology need. |
Materials:
Students select and use materials that are appropriate to achieving solutions to technology challenges. |
Materials:
Students use appropriate technology skills when selecting and using materials which are appropriate to achieving intended solutions to meet a technology need. |
Enterprise:
Students pursue and realise opportunities through the development of innovative strategies designed to meet human needs.
Technology Skills:
Students apply organisational, operational and manipulative skills appropriate to using, developing and adapting technologies. |
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Brief Description
Students volunteered to work in groups to create a web page to find a solution to a problem within their local area. They worked within the existing support structures, criteria and time frame provided by the  Australian School's Web Challenge.
This project was completed with one group of 9 children in a withdrawal situation in 1998, when the topic was Cool Solutions to a Hot Problem.
The topic they chose was to investigate solutions over time to the problem of ships being wrecked off the Western Australian coast. In 1999, for the theme of Celebrations, we had 9 groups of students-a total of 58 participants.
Context
| Author/Teacher: | Pauline O'Brien
Art Specialist and Coordinator of Technology & Enterprise,
Beaconsfield Primary School
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| The School: | Beaconsfield Primary School has an Intensive Language Centre as well as its 7 mainstream classes. Technology and Enterprise had been a school focus, with a focus on materials in 1997 and with a focus on systems in 1998. |
| Students: | Up to 58 Year 6s and 7s, working at Levels 2 to 5 in the relevant strands of T&E. |
| Learning Technologies: | At the time this project was done, there was only one computer connected to the Internet in the Library. The senior classes involved had one 486 PC and one 386 PC in each room. We also used a variety of tools. |
| Learning Context: | As Art Specialist I use the technology process approach, so children are constantly being encouraged to experiment with and make appropriate choices of materials and tools.
Prior to the project no children in the school had been exposed to image manipulation software or to composing for the web in either HTML code or with a WYSIWYG Editor.
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Project Duration
10-12 weeks
Learning Technologies
Students used a variety of learning technologies throughout the project:
- The Internet
- Email
- Telephone
- Fax
- CD-ROMs
Objectives
(For a description of the place of objectives in an outcomes-based environment, click here.)
Students will:
- design an information product that meets all criteria of the project (see Information Strand, Outcomes and Standards Framework).
- demonstrate increased skills in the selection and use of software products, e.g. email, Internet and software drawing programs to manipulate images and compose a web page, to the extent that they will be able to act as peer tutors (see Materials Strand, Outcomes and Standards Framework)
- show enterprise by working as part of a team to create this product that meets all criteria within a set time frame (see Technology Process Strand, Outcomes and Standards Framework)
- · consciously move between all interlinked substrands of the T&E Technology Process (Technology Process flow diagram in the T&E Student Outcome Statements, p. 4.) throughout the project, and be able to describe and evaluate what they are doing at any time in the their process and product (see Technology Process Strand, Outcomes and Standards Framework)
Learning Principles and Processes
The Australian Schools Web Design Competition presented an opportunity to enable students and teachers to develop skills and understanding of information technology.
In 1998 I worked with a group of nine Year 6 and 7 volunteers over 12 weeks who were all interested in developing their information technology skills. The primary aim was to develop peer tutors who could in turn help both other students and teachers develop their skill levels.
While focusing on the cyclical and interlinking nature of the Technology Process, the following considerations and practices shaped this activity:
- We continually evaluated both process and product throughout the project, through observation, discussion and critical appraisal, focusing on content, web design elements, teamwork, personal and group organisation and proficiency with software. I was able to monitor students' progress-and students monitored themselves and each other-through keeping checklists of their proficiencies and their progress in the relevant T&E strands. Where desirable, I could add criteria to these checklists that indicated appropriate progress at each level.
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 for a checklist of proficiencies the students needed to develop.
for a checklist based on the Technology Process Strand.
here for a checklist based on the Materials Strand.
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- We involved the parents by letting them know the desired outcomes for the group and informing them of their children's progress on the monitoring.
- I encouraged parents to be involved in the learning as tutors or co-learners. This saved invaluable time in the classroom, broadened the knowledge base and developed students' social skills.
- The students and I shared home email addresses so that we could communicate out of school hours.
- We used a variety of learning technologies information sources such as the Internet, email, telephone, fax, books and CD-ROMs, which enabled the children to access a wide range of current resources. Making personal connections with experts
How to Develop Students' Learning Experiences
Note: I have organised the following discussion by means of the substrands of the Technology Process Strand, with additional references in brackets to the Information and Materials Strands.
Investigating Substrand
(Also Information Strand, Nature Substrand)
Web Design
- Immerse students in many exemplar home pages (good and bad), identifying positive and negative features and compiling their own criteria of what makes an excellent web page.
- Establish the design brief and relevant criteria, and ensure that all members become familiar with them. While the Challenge criteria [link to http://www.learning21.org] were set, we agreed on further criteria. For an excellent web page, we agreed we also needed to:
- maintain the same font, background, and navigation system on each page for continuity.
- use small images for speed of download time.
- ensure that the feel of the site reflected the content.
- Discuss copyright issues, and ensure that there is a shared understanding of the School's and EDWA policy on this.
- Allow time to experiment with new software and web design components to test their earlier investigations.
Content
- Investigate a wide variety of sources, including experts on the topic - from searching the Internet or visiting a museum to recording a personal interview.
Audience
- Consider: Who will read the page? What will be the average reading level? What will make them want to stay? Will they want to come back again?
Devising Substrand
(Also Information Strand, Nature and Techniques Substrands; Materials Strand, Nature Substrand)
- Apply the Keep-It-Simple philosophy for website design.
- Plan and map the content of the site and the design layout on paper. This will assist in identifying the extent of information needed, enable students to develop a better concept of the presentation, and overcome the issue of time at the computer to explore layout.
Producing Substrand
(Also Information Strand, Nature and Techniques Substrands and Materials Strand, Nature and Techniques Substrands)
- Consider strategies to make the site user-friendly (for example, include a final site map).
- Use group learning strategies to develop group experts and achieve the design template, the investigative questions and the necessary research.
- Employ active learning to make the experience more meaningful-students enjoyed putting it all together and the doing is often why the kids have come on board in the first place.
- Be familiar with the various software you use to compose web pages and encourage the students to choose the most appropriate for their purposes. You might also use parent expertise.
- Set up procedure folders to assist students to become familiar with the various software programs.
- Allow more time than you think will be needed.
- Establish the file naming protocol to be followed.
- Proofreading is essential.
- Check the site once it is online in both Netscape and Explorer.
Evaluating Substrand
(Also Information Strand, Nature and Techniques Substrands, Materials Strand, Nature and Techniques Substrands)
- Continually, throughout the project, focus on the evaluation of content, web design, teamwork, group organization and proficiency with software. This monitoring should be carried out by self, by peers and by the teacher. (In 1999, when working with a whole class, it became essential to timetable group conferences to discuss progress and problems, and brainstorm possible solutions. Monitoring agreed at such group conferences could be recorded on the T&E Process Template, the Information Strand Checklist and/or the Materials Strand Checklist for each group.)
- Involve other students in feedback on the site. A useful review sheet worked well for us in 1999.
- Eventually put the site online and ask for feedback. Outside objective evaluation often has greater power to reinforce a teaching point than all the advice from a teacher or peers. For this reason it is important to promote the site.
- Acknowledge all responses and make modifications based on feedback.
Planning Considerations
The Design Brief
It needs to be a meaningful learning experience. Make the investigation relevant to another area/theme/issue the children are studying.
Provide, or Negotiate as a group, very specific criteria for evaluation [Refer to Information strand criteria above]
The Enterprise Process
Work as a team
Help students to develop a knowledge and understanding of how collaborative use of expert skills enhances the whole.
Promote the site
Submit it to search engines (eg. Web Site Garage), local press, school newsletter, expert sources, reciprocal links with other sites with a similar theme... After all that work you have put in, you want others to be able to find you.
The Team
Always consider the balance of numbers needed to spread the workload versus the difficulty of organization.
As a group of volunteers set up a response to a challenge.
Contract of commitment to the project, the team and a realization of the need for out of school time.
As a whole class train up experts, use peer tutors, think cross-curricular.
The Tools We Used
Future Considerations - Hints
- Media/PR - simplify the address you give for publication in any press release.
- Consider acquiring a Domain address through your ISP.
- Enjoy being a co-learner with your students and your peers.
- Celebrate sharing what you learn with others.
- All good sites are continually being reworked and updated.
- Don't expect perfection first off.
- Just make a start somehow, somewhere!
- Respond to everyone who has taken the time to email your site with a query or a comment.
- It helps enormously to have someone that you can contact about a problem with web construction software or procedures at the point of need.
- Once the school is networked you have the flexibility to access work from folders in the H: drive from any other networked computer in the school.
- The purchase or lease of three laptops made an enormous difference to spreading the availability of computers around classes involved in the project. Managed by a timetable, along with highly motivated staff, they were the single most important reason that we were able to handle the involvement of nine groups in two classes in 1999.
Student Examples
1998 Australian School's Web Challenge
The GUIDING LIGHTS web page.
www.beacy.wa.edu.au/lrng21/lrng21.htm
1999 Australian School's Web Challenge
You may access all nine entries from this page.
www.beacy.wa.edu.au/L21_99/21_99.htm
Outside Feedback to Students
here for some of the feedback we received.
Assessment
- Throughout the project I assessed the students' progress on all three relevant strands by monitoring and annotating the relevant checklists. The students assessed themselves and each other in the same way. The intrinsic criteria based assessment built into the competition was a bonus as we ended up being National winners of the Primary section BUT we didn't need that outside recognition to know that we had done a good job or to know that we had achieved our expected outcomes.
- The students' self-reflections, which are part of the website, indicate the level of personal growth, development of skills and ownership of the team effort.
- Making judgements about the ability and development of the students through the Information and Materials Strands of the Student Outcome Statements could encourage the students to perform at a higher level. We developed a criteria checklist for this project.
- Teacher annotation over the term could provide detailed information about individual students' progress. This is particularly relevant for students not performing at their potential or for students working at levels higher than the majority of the class.
Reflection
In 1997 I had established an online Art Gallery as the very first part of our school web page. I was keen for other teachers to consider publishing children's work on the Web. At that point, there was a strong feeling of, But we've got so much else to do!
By 1999, the peer tutoring process was well and truly in operation. The scanner had been moved from the staffroom to the Year 7 room, where children were often called on to work with younger students to show and teach them how to scan. This also helped to solve the problem of teacher supervision of learning technologies.
By 1999 we noticed that the students had become more critical of their own work. They now have a greater knowledge of the software they are using, and it is an easy decision to delete a section and recreate it in a better format. Previously, for instance, the time taken originally to create a banner made it unbearable to consider deleting it and beginning again. Time-wise, this means that while the finished product is still taking a similar time to complete, the amount of evaluating and time spent on modifications results in a superior product.
I am thus constantly reminded of the value of students reflecting on their learning and evaluating what they have done.
Pauline O'Brien
Art Specialist and Coordinator of Technology and Enterprise
Beaconsfield Primary School
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