Group One Tools (Blogs, Wikis and Websites) – Looking at Websites

Websites are an extremely useful way to provide information to other people. For any web based space to be effective, it needs to adhere to certain design principles. These include not cluttering the page, logical page layout, clear easy to read text, and ease of navigation. Having written many websites using just Notepad and the HTML and JavaScript mark-up and scripting languages, I can appreciate how frustrating this can be. The internet has come a long way however, and web apps such as Weebly make this task very simple and enjoyable.

This task involved creating a website in Weebly and publishing it to the web. My website can be found here. I mentioned in the posting about the use of blogs that the group one tools are not necessarily mutually exclusive. My website actually includes a blog. I actually use this website in my role as a music tutor at university. The information is easily accessible by students if they need to look something up, and the blog summarises what material we covered in tutes and general announcements. As the free version of Weebly does not include support for embedding audio, I created another free site using Google Sites where I uploaded all my audio files, then used a custom HTML Flash widget to make them play on Weebly. This can also be used on blogs.

Below is a PMI for the advantages and disadvantages that a website offers:

Plus:

• Can display a large amount of information that can be navigated in sections
• Information cannot be changed by outside sources
• Hyperlinks can connect students with expert knowledge, other resources and activities
• Embedded multimedia can provide examples

Minus:

• A basic knowledge of HTML may be necessary to embed some features
• No scope for collaboration
• As with online resources, cannot be accessed without an active internet connection
• Copyright and privacy issues involving uploaded content

Interesting:

• Online calendars can provide good ways for students to keep track of assessment
• Many classes have their own website about their members

Classroom Uses:

• Providing downloadable homework tasks
• Compiling information
• Showing examples
• Collating links to Youtube and other resources