Week 3 Reflection -Websites

This week, I managed to start my own webpage. I decided to use content from the subjects that I am studying for the Bachelor of Learning Management course. The two areas that I am interested in are Manual Arts and Junior Maths. Therefore, my pages are based around these subject areas.

For Manual Arts and Graphics, I would include a daily overview of the lesson with video clips showing examples of how to do the activity shown that day. I would also include information covering Occupational Health and Safety and instructional information on use of tools and equipment. Plans of jobs that are in progress could be uploaded and students work could be recorded by taking photos, these also could be shared on the website. It would be easy to include links for any other tutorials needed. Students could also be involved in group project work and create their own websites. Manual Arts and Graphics students could create business webpages that include their designs and products.

For a Maths website, I would have links to fun, interactive activities. I would also have a daily overview of the work completed each day. This would be a good place to include revision work, even reminders of the homework (therefore parents would also be aware of the set tasks!). A Help thread would also be incorporated to prevent the repetition of some questions. There is also the option of using the website for a ‘flipped classroom’, this is when some of the teaching is delivered through video at home then the students are able to ask questions and problem solve with their peers back at school. This creates a collaborative learning environment.

 

I quite enjoyed the creating of a webpage and found the instructions simple and easy to follow. I managed to add dropdown menus, pictures and YouTube videos. I discovered that I was able to change the font colour, add forms and include written content. I was discussing this activity with my own children (18 and 22), both of them commented that they would have loved to have access to a resource like this when they were at school, as when they had forgotten how to solve a maths problem and they were home they would give up whereas with a class webpage, they would simply be able to review the information on the website.

I would prefer to use the Learning Place Virtual Classroom to create a webpage in as you can put the content from the entire term into the webpage, perhaps over the holidays, with each lesson under a different tab. These tabs are then closed. Then you could open the content in each tab when ready, rather than all at once. The danger of students going ahead too far would be the fact that they could create misconceptions if the information available was not clearly explained or discussed. Another positive is that The Learning Place is not accessible by the public.

Strengths:	21st Century learners, simple format, student centred, ICT, can link to high quality resources, relevant, customisable, can cater to individual learning styles.
Weaknesses:	Open to everyone, students would have access to all content, one author, time consuming.
Opportunities:	Collaboration, increased communication, individual.
Threats:	Students ability to access from home, accessible by all members of the public, parental concerns, would need to be aware of students or school being identified, need to be aware of copyright and plagiarism.

 

You can follow this link to my website (Remember it is 'Under Construction')

http://990207444914996845.weebly.com/index.html

 

References:

Learners Cloud. 2013, 23 April. Bart Simpson in flipped classroom. Retrieved from http://learnerscloudblog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/whats-all-fuss-over-flipped-classrooms.html

 

Pretty Good Plan. 2013, 14 June. WWW. Retrieved from http://prettygoodplan.com/2011/06/how-build-a-successful-website/