Artifacts - Classroom Web Site

Classroom Web Site

Artifact: Mrs. Jensen's 5th Grade Class
Discover what's happening in our classroom.

Report:
Multimedia Authoring: Web IT 5600
Summer 2002

Problem Statement
I was in need of an additional communication tool between my parents and myself. There are a number of working parents in my classroom and I wanted to provide them with an additional form of communication. I needed a tool that would allow me to provide parents with the most up-to-date information about events in our classroom, electronic copies of paper handouts, and online resources that parents could use to help their student’s learning.

I was also looking for opportunities that would allow my students to publish their work outside of our classroom. Giving them this chance would allow students to work towards the various writing standards that address writing purpose and focus. It has been found that when students have an authentic audience to write to, the quality of their work increases.

A central location was also needed for posting Web resources that I was using in the classroom. Due to the fact that I am in a year-round school, I have to change classrooms throughout the school year. By having this one location, I could easily keep my book marked sites and classroom resources in one, central location.

Situation Analysis
I will be working with this same group of students and parents for two years, during both 4th and 5th grades. This will give me the opportunity to assess the needs of everyone, create a site based on those needs, and then reassess. Prior to beginning the construction of the classroom Web site, I administered a parent survey during back-to-school night. This allowed me to learn what my parents were looking for in a Web site. The parents were mainly looking for a site that would contain homework, homework help, examples of their student’s work, and general resources that were helpful to them and their students. You can download and view the first survey.

From the survey I learned that all but three of the families had computers and Internet access. Of these families that stated they had Internet access, the majority also stated that they used the Internet for email, school research as needed, and entertainment. In this survey I did not ask what type of connection speed families had, so while designing the site, I felt it best to keep graphics to a minimum.

Outside of the school, I had a dedicated server that would allow me to post the class Web site. I will not be using any school resources to create and maintain the Web site.

Rationale
After evaluating the survey results, I realized that what I had in mind for the Web site was very similar to that of my parents. The one major difference in our site expectations was that of homework. The parents were looking for me to include daily homework. I knew that this was something I did not want to include for two reasons. The first being time. Due to the fact I was maintaining the site from home, I would have a platform conflict since all of our school computers are Macintosh and we don’t have Dreamweaver software. Posting nightly homework upon me reaching home was impractical, and I did not want to make this type of time commitment. The second reason for not including daily homework was to promote student responsibility. At the end of each school day we complete our homework planners as a class on the overhead. I felt that in 4th and 5th grade, students needed to learn how to handle their planners, homework, and time. Offering them their homework online, I felt, was too enabling. I think posting homework is more appropriate for older students. I did decide to compromise and include the homework that doesn’t change from week to week.

Results
I have been maintaining the classroom Web site for the last year. I have used the Web site to post electronic copies of items such as: classroom volunteer schedule, daily schedule, and standard homework assignments. I have also included photographs of classroom activities like our region presentations and summer garden work. The Web site has also been home to student work. During our study of Ecosystems, students dissected owl pellets. Students selected their favorite owl “part” and wrote a paragraph about it. I then took a digital photograph of each part and included the photos, along with the students’ paragraphs, on our Web site. Finally, our class Web site contains a number of online learning resources for students. These resources include: games and activities that students utilized during their learning of states and capitals, online flashcards, and a number of other sites. I have even included a page of general links that provide additional resources just for parents.

The page that contains online resources used in class has proven to be very useful. As I had planned, I am able to include the “favorite sites” from our classroom work. It serves as a great way to bookmark sites, and sometimes allows students who are absent, to work on various assignments.

Throughout the school year I publish the URL of our Web site in my bi-monthly newsletter. I have also included a short “Web Site Updates” section to notify parents and students when new information has been posted. While tracking the site stats, I found that I have only been receiving an average of 5 – 6 visits a month.

Evidence of the value or usefulness of the product.
The Web site has also provided a way for students and parents to contact me during the evening, weekend, or off-track times. This has been nice to have in order to keep communication open, while also keeping a high level of privacy for myself. Students can ask homework related questions, and parents can notify me about their child missing the upcoming day.

During my most recent parent-teacher conferences, which occurred in late September, a number of parents were looking for resources to extend or reinforce classroom learning. These comments prompted me to search the Internet for specific resources that would meet their needs. These resources were then posted on the class Web site. At this point in time, I haven’t heard if the resources have been helpful, but I would like to talk with some of the individual parents and get their feedback.

The focus of my professional development plan this school year is the integration of technology into my lesson plans and classroom. The page within our Web site that contains online resources used in class has been useful in the documentation process of meeting my goals. This same page has also been useful in maintaining a consistent list of the online resources my students use in class. This consistent list prevents any bookmarks from being erased by my teammates when we track in and out.

As previously mentioned, I have maintained the classroom Web site for a little over a year now. In order to get an idea of how my parents and/or students used the site, I decided to conduct a second survey. The survey asked parents and students how frequently they visited, which pages they visited the most often, and how the Web site might be improved. You can download and view the second survey.

Sixteen of my nineteen families returned their surveys. Seven of those stated that they had not visited the site, while twelve had. Of those nine who had visited, five said they visited on a weekly basis and four visited on a monthly basis. I was somewhat surprised at the number of parents who said they had not visited the site, due to the number of times I have discussed it in class and my newsletters.

Out of all the pages I offer on my Web site, I discovered that the most frequently visited one was the “Learning Resources” page, with the “Homework” page coming in second, and the “Contact Mrs. Jensen” page coming in third.

The feedback I received on this survey varied greatly. Below I have included a number of the comments written by parents.
“The things at the Learning Resources are very useful.”
“For the homework, put in the actual day (06-31) so we know it is updated.”
“I enjoy the site.”
“We weren’t aware of the web site.”
“It would help if this web site was updated at the end of each school day.”
“I think the web site is fantastic.”
As you can imagine, several of these comments were very shocking. I had a hard time understanding how a couple of them had no idea it even existed! The URL is on every newsletter, updates are mentioned in my newsletter, and I even had the URL on my back-to-school packet. I also realized the need to restate my stance on posting daily homework. I will more than likely address this in my upcoming newsletter. I was encouraged that there are several families who use the Web site consistently and enjoy its overall contents.

Reflections on lessons learned as they relate to your professional goals, next steps, and guidelines for use of your work.
I would say that my survey really provided me with some honest feedback. The use of the Web site doesn’t exactly coincide with what the parents had originally wanted, except for the homework. I had really hoped for the Contact, Learning Resources, and Student Work pages to be utilized on a more consistent basis.

While looking at the survey results, as well as the stats from the past ten months, I realize that I need to find a new way to communicate to my parents about the Web site. Providing information in my bimonthly newsletter doesn’t seem to be effective.

During the remainder of the school year, I will be looking for a more successful way of promoting the class Web site. I will also continue to maintain this same site, updating as necessary. When the 2004-2005 school year gets underway, I will survey my new group of parents and evaluate whether or not the time and energy I invest is worthwhile.

Demonstration of Responsibilities
Responsibility #2: Designs instruction or human performance strategy to meet the needs of learners.
I implemented the ADDIE process during the continued development of our classroom Web site. The primary focus rested within the needs of my parents. These needs originated from the survey given at the beginning of last school year. Since the original survey, I created a second survey that evaluated the effectiveness of the class Web site over the past school year.

Responsibility #3: Uses a variety of media to deliver instruction to students and to engage students in learning.
The classroom Web site has been a valuable electronic communication tool. I can quickly disseminate information and provide my parents with additional copies of notes.

While designing the site and determining how many graphics to include, I kept two major factors in mind. The first being the fact that most of my parents do not have high-speed Internet connections, which would result in slower download speeds of the graphics I include. The second factor I considered was that of one of my main audiences, my students. From observing them in the classroom, I witnessed a lack of patience while working online. These two factors resulted in a limited number of graphics on the class site.

Responsibility #5: Manages complex projects and resources in support of learning.
As previously mentioned, I have been maintaining and managing the Web site now for over a year. I try to update resources and student work two to four times each month. The time between updates really depends upon what is going on in class and the needs of my parents and students. As for the student work, I add new work as needed to support the current curriculum.

Responsibility #6: Uses incisive and relevant assessment and evaluation techniques.
Prior to developing the classroom Web site, I conducted a needs assessment of my parent community. The results of this assessment were a driving force in the development and construction of the site. I also evaluated the effectiveness of the Web site through the use of a second parent survey. These survey results will be used while maintaining and improving the site for the remainder of the year.