I wrote the code for this site in HTML5 :-)
Sunday, February 23, 2014
Website Analysis
The first site
I analyzed was National Geographic Kids. I believe the purpose of the site is
to be a resource of things for kids to do related to science. The reason I
think this is because right across the top of the site is a list of tabs of
things for kids to do, such as play games and watch videos. The targeted
audience for this site is kids. The name of the site implies this, but there
are lots of kid friendly aspects of this site that proves that. There is even a
quiz down the side of every page asking kids to vote on things like their
favorite animal. There are also specific pages for parent resources and
information on the site for parents. Yellow is the main color accent on the
page, which makes sense for National Geographic. The most important information
on the page is found in the top navigation bar, which is definitely above the
fold. They also have a revolving banner featuring top stories to pull kids in.
Farther down the page are kid friendly advertisements, popular activities on
the site, and fun facts. Everything is very well laid out and easy to access. I
think the site would be easy for kids to navigate.
The second site
I analyzed was Pinterest. This is not specifically an educational website, but
it has quite a large teacher population using it daily. I personally have an
entire account on Pinterest dedicated to teaching ideas (as opposed to my
personal account I use for crafts, recipes, etc.) The sites major purpose in
general is the sharing and keeping of ideas. If you find a great pumpkin pie
recipe you can save it for later and share it with friends. If you find a
fantastic classroom blog you can save it and share it with other teachers, some
whom you know personally and some you do not. Pinterest’s about page states
that it is a tool for collecting and organizing things you love. I found an
info-graphic on Pinterest about Pinterest’s users. It states that 80% of
Pinterest users are women, 50% of Pinterest users have children, and the most
popular age group on Pinterest is 25-34 years old. I think their site
definitely reflects that. The most important thing the teachers I interviewed
for another assignment this week said about websites they frequent, was that
they had to be well organized and easy to navigate. Pinterest is definitely easy to navigate. It
has a very simple design and good navigation tools. The thing about Pinterest,
is that the content is user created. So the site attracts more people
interested in that same content.
Interview Field Experience
I interviewed three teachers and the results were surprisingly
similar. All of them said a well organized website is the best. It needs a
simple layout that is easy to understand and navigate. They need to be able to
find information easily. One teacher said if the site was color coordinated
that would be ideal. This particular teacher has a completely color coordinated
classroom, so I wasn’t surprised by this. I also enjoy color coordination in my
life, so I can relate.
The main thing that turned them off to a website was difficulty in
finding information. If the site was too wordy, or badly organized, or took too
long to load they would simply switch sites. If the site was too cluttered with
information, or unnecessary graphics, or too many bells and whistles that made
it hard to find things they would leave that site. One of the teachers said she
never uses sites that can be changed by anyone, like Wikipedia, because the
information isn’t necessarily credible. I expected this answer from someone.
People bash on Wikipedia, but I personally think it is a good resource. If I
need a fact quickly I almost always go to Wikipedia first. I also have my third
graders use Wikipedia because it is one page of compacted information and they
don’t need to do too much searching around. I also use it as a lesson in
analyzing information you find on the Internet and not just taking everything
you see as truth without verification. My students are also eight years old. If
I taught older students I probably wouldn’t let them use Wikipedia. Another
teacher was very adamant that if she found a misspelling or improper use of
grammar on the site she would stop using it immediately. She said she didn’t
trust information from people who use the wrong “your.” I completely agree with
this.
Overall, the teachers
had much more to say about why they would leave sites than why they would use
them. I found this interesting. They all clearly had experienced poorly
designed websites often.
Wordpress Analogies
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Wordpress Analogies
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Wordpress themes
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Wordpress themes
are like dance. Dance allows you to express yourself, just like your theme
does. There are specific genres of dance to choose from just like there are specific
theme templates to choose from. But everyone dances a little bit differently
within that genre, and everyone can tweak their theme a little bit to match
their personality and express themselves. Dance allows you to be seen, as
does your Wordpress theme. Without a good theme, nobody would look at your
Wordpress.
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Dynamic content
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Dynamic content is
like teaching. The topic of the blog content is the same, just like the grade
level and students are the same every day (for the school year.) But how you
teach the content and what you teach within each specific lesson is different
every day. Teachers always say their jobs never get boring because the
students are always different.
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Page
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A page is like the
brain. When we learn we add information to our brain. When you post to the
page you add new information. After a while you build up knowledge and
information in both the brain and the page. The newer information builds upon
by the older information in both.
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Wordpress dashboard
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The Wordpress
dashboard is like a fuse box (circuit breaker.) When you are on your
dashboard you have control over everything on your wordpress. When you are
looking at your fuse box you have control over all the power in your entire
house.
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Wordpress email
Hello!
There are tons of
great website resources available out in cyberspace, and Wordpress is a great
tool. Wordpress.com is the site I
would recommend you use over Wordpress.org.
The .com site has free hosting, but your
name will be at wordpress.com, which doesn’t always put off a good impression. There
are tons of templates, but they aren’t customizable. (I think that is totally
fine for a classroom site, but some people want more control.) You can put in
lots of tabs and different pages. You can add hyperlinks and widgets and all
sorts of pre-made goodies. There are options you can adjust for a cost. There
is a cost for customizing your design, and for having your own domain name
without the wordpress attached. You can take advertisements off for a price and
add videos for a price as well. It all can add up pretty fast.
On the flip side, the .org is completely
customizable. There is an initial cost associated with it, but you get what you
pay for. You can adjust the code and adjust the theme and all the plug-ins. In
my opinion, it has too many features for what teachers need. The publishing
capabilities are similar to any other blog site, but can easily be transformed
into a static website. All of that part is free, but you would then have to pay
for the hosting. When you pay for hosting you get to pick your domain name. And
overall the site will look very professional. Again, almost more professional
than we need it to look as teachers. I’m not saying teachers don’t need to be
professional, but we work with kids. I use the comic sans and chalkboard fonts
all I want and am not judged for it. We have to have a little kid/creative
side.
There are lots of advantages to using
Wordpress. It is fairly customizable and inexpensive. It’s pretty user friendly
and you can do a lot with it. Another advantage is that is it well known and
used. There are lots of tutorials and reviews and youtube how-tos out there
about Wordpress. Like any other website it just needs some time to be explored
and figured out.
The biggest disadvantage I see to using
Wordpress is that unless you are willing to pay (I know you have all that extra
money laying around since you’re a teacher) there are going to be
advertisements and lots of extra stuff floating around the site. That may be an
issue if you are planning on having students on your site. It isn’t secure or
password protected like some other sites specifically designed for school
are.
I hope that answers your questions. Let me
know if you have any others or want help setting up a website! Thanks so much!
Christie Cutshall
Instructional Technologist
Prospect Ridge Academy
Instructional Technologist
Prospect Ridge Academy
Blank Capstone
We had to create our blank capstone website to later fill with information. Here is my link:
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