Designing A Website For Your Class

Its clear that there seems to be a rush for people to design a personal web page for all sorts of reasons. Educators are challenged more and more to create a web page to keep current with（随时了解） whats happening in the world of technology and teaching. If you check just about any school district， youll see that at least two or three of their teachers have web pages. But is it worth the time？ Is it difficult to create？ Are there any risks？ Most importantly， is it educationally beneficial（有益的）？

A beginner， making a web page， will need to put in a small number of hours to develop a “simple” web site. But to create an “important” web site， one that will finally benefit students， a great deal of thought and time is required. Like any helpful teaching plan requiring time and materials， it is no different when you create a web site for your students to visit. However， if you have a large， well-organized plan， the computing part is easy and getting easier everyday.

The Benefits

A well-designed website will greatly improve communication between you and your students. Students will feel more at ease knowing that they can find you when school is on. One of the great benefits of a website is the increased communication between you and the parents of your students. This means of communication also allows parents an easy way to stay in touch with school related things.

In this paper， we will supply free services on hand to help you make a web page， the way of designing your own independent site， creating a newsletter（简讯）， what your page should have， and sites that can help you get started.

What Should a Teacher Site Have on It？

1. Class Calendar.

2. Relevant links （相关链接） for students to learn more about what they learn. Also， for you to learn more about the subject matter. For help in this area， check our Teachers “Subject Matter” Section （部分）.

3. Links that make your subject more fun—For help， check our Teachers “Sites To Use With Students” Section.

4. Contact （聯络） Information—This can include ways that students or parents can contact you. However， you may not want to include your home phone or any personal information. There are ways to set up a separate e-mail account just for your professional use.

5. Materials—Anything important that you hand out in class can be posted online.

6. Class Rules and Guidelines- In this section， you can explain what materials your students need for your class and any other consistent （一致的） information that students need to be successful in your class.

7. Homework—Posting of assignments helps to keep students following you. This section can also offer students help with any assignments. This section can also be a place for what students need to finish and a reminder of what needs to be done.

8. Course Description—Explain what students will be learning， goals， objectives， procedures that will be used in teaching and learning， etc.

9. Your Most Favorite Sites—Share the educational sites or student-centered sites that you visit the most.

10. Information for Parents—This is information you want parents to know that can help you to achieve educational goals. It is a great way to get parents actively involved in a partnership role.

12. Announcements/Events—This is an efficient （效率高的） method of communicating anything that needs to be known.

The Bottom Line

Many educators develop a web site only for the experience of creating one. However， if you take your time to develop a good web site， it can directly and indirectly influence the quality of your teaching. A well thought-out web site can teach your students by providing links to other pages that reinforce （強化） what they are learning in class. A web site can also be a valuable source （来源） of information by letting students know what they missed. The greatest quality of a web site is the increased communication between the teacher， students， and parents.

Designing for the web is no easy task， but if you put in the time you will soon discover that it doesnt require an engineering degree by any means.

段庆珍 改编