Based on what you know RIGHT NOW – don’t look up information – how can a teacher effectively use a classroom web site?

When I woke up this morning, I had 2 software updates waiting for me. They were quicktime and iTunes. One can now download movies via iTunes.  I have a few ideas about leveraging this technology in schools – but for a later post.

If you have bought into the notion of a classroom web site, you have probably wanted to upload PowerPoint presentations to your site.  This will work fine for awhile and then your classroom web site service will set limits on your storage space and then you are lost.  I suggest that you stop using PowerPoint and use a presentation web service called Thumbstacks. You can store all your presentations on the web.  Here are the features of the service:

1. Access to your presentations from any computer
2. If you share your log-in – with a trusted colleague – you can collaborate on a presentation without attaching bulky PowerPoint presentations
3. By publishing your presentation, you can link to it from your teacher web site
4. You can do a remote presentation – your audience sees your presentation and you control the action.  With Skype – you can talk for free too.

Here is how I see this being used in the classroom:

1. Students create accounts and presentations
2. When their presentations are completed, they send the links to the teacher for approval
3. The teacher links to all the presentations
4. Students can now visit each presentation from the teacher’s web site

No CDs, no jump drives, no file attachments – just collaboration!

There are three main functions of a classroom web site:

1. Communicate & Gather Information

   1. Edit Home Page
   2. Calendar Entries
   3. Message Board
   4. Forms
   5. Upload Photos – create slideshows
   6. Booklists
   7. Classroom News
   8. Polls

2. Launch Instruction

   1. Edit Home Page
   2. Forms
   3. Message Boards
   4. Photos – slideshows
   5. Polls
   6. Quizzes

3. Publish Student Work

   1. Slideshows
   2. Message Boards
   3. Puzzles
   4. Edit Home Page

* note: the examples under each section are features of My Teacher Pages

Students of today can be referred to as Digital Natives.

• Who are these youngsters and Why are they labeled as such? Will a classroom web site really benefit them? Find out with this web page.
  • Digital Natives in the Classroom by Marc Pensky

The quickest way to extend your classroom to parents, colleagues and administrators is to develop a classroom web site. There are many companies to choose from, e.g.:

• MyTeacherPages *MY RECOMMENDATION
• Quia
• TeacherWeb
• Scholastic (Free)
• Web Worksheet Wizard (Free)

When you establish a classroom web site with MyTeacherPages, you can:

1. send classroom news to many people very quickly, in fact some of the people that read it might not have been in your intended audience, e.g. grandparents, future employers, or teachers from across the world
2. organize classroom events on a calendar
3. extend student learning by taking students directly to web sites of your choosing
4. design polls to gather data and teach students about the power of one person, one vote
5. share learning experiences captured with pictures by creating slideshows
6. recommend your favorite books to your students
7. collect parent and colleague emails to send information instantly from MyTeacherPages, no need to fire up an email application like Micorosoft Outlook or Thunderbird
8. post homework as quickly as it takes you to type
9. encourage student contributions by connecting a blogging web site (like word press) to your classroom web site
10. archive (have it backed up) news, calendar events, homework etc.

Education has changed, you do a diservice to those in your charge by NOT creating an open classroom. Imagine if you still had to rely on telephone booths to make calls, could you live without your cell phone? Yes, you could, but life would not be as convenient.

If you make learning more convenient, more learning will take place.