Here it is, the last REQUIRED blog post for the Introduction to Teaching with Digital Tools at Rutgers, my first online course ever . I emphasize “required” because I have much to say about the course itself, but I’ll save that for another day! My purpose here is to reflect on my experience of creating a website for this class.
When I first considered this assignment, I did not want to create yet another online place for my eighth grade students when each of them already has a blog linked to our class blog. As I added to what I knew about technology integration, however, I realized that a blog, while definitely a website, is not designed for the kind of work that I wanted my students to complete, and share, for their Book Clubs. To that end, I created Join the Clubs! using Google Sites. Before I chose Sites, I visited one of Dr. Beaudry’s former student’s site (just as you may be doing now if you’re reading this). In her reflection, she advised anyone using Google Sites not to get hung up on appearance and thus convinced me to give it a try.
I will be honest, I am proud of what I have done, and after about five hours of instruction with Mike Ravenek, I have begun site construction—and envision what the finished site could be—however, the way it looks does not please me. I know the fault is mine. I am so busy thinking about content, that appearance sits low my list of priorities. I have struggled and failed to add a Voki with an embed code despite yet another youtube tutorial. I would love to integrate Voki into my site, and the students’ repertoire, but embedding it has been FRUSTRATING! Generally this is my common initial experience with any new tech tool. Fortunately I have grit!
What I have discovered, the definite advantage of Sites, is the way it seamlessly incorporates links from Google Drive and youtube, as well as other options, into its pages. Students will easily be able to contribute, and because my students will be using Drive as their primary collaborative space, this feature outweighs my disappointment with the site’s lack of visual appeal. Additionally, while the option to edit page settings within the site can be cumbersome to manage, once I understood how it works, the advantage of being able to alter individual pages to include editors added appeal for my purposes. I originally envisioned this space as a place for the different Clubs to put their work and teach others. Sites will be perfect for this. When you visit the site, you will see that this is what I have done, for example, with the vocabulary videos. Ravenek (tempted to call him “Mike” after all our time together) urges creators to link rather than embed to save storage space. It works for me despite aesthetic drawbacks.
As far as the kids are concerned, however, if they were interested in a more artistic approach, I would urge them to use Weebly. Three years ago my classes created themed magazines. (I vividly remember many of them having difficulty in transferring some of their work from Drive to Weebly though, and these were singular projects rather than collaborative.) Yesterday I reviewed some of them and was impressed with their content as well as the aesthetic. I am linking to Emma’s and Sophie’s, so you can see what I mean. They are both password-protected, so use “versatile” if prompted. I think you’ll see the difference. The students have artistic flexibility, and as a student in the web-design class I am taking now said, “Hey, it’s pretty much ‘drag-and-drop’ but looks really good.”
A solid take-away from this course is that it is not about the technology; the tech is a tool. It is about leveraging the tool to get the learning. I think Sites does that for me in this case.