Week+1


 * Assignment - **


 * Reflection ** - This assignment was to create a Web Policy for my school. I found the readings for this week very interesting.

The jobs of our website team are as follows. The main school website is maintained by the school receptionist. The District provides a Web-shell template through a company called NetStart Gold. The District wants all campus sites to look uniform on their homepages. This template is created and managed by our District Webmaster. The only part that the campus maintains on the main page is a brief listing of campus happenings. There are additional pages that vary by campus that the receptionist also maintains. These are less structured. Each teacher in the District is required to have and maintain a “web presence”. The District provides a basic classroom template for teachers to use. It is very user friendly. Teachers are encouraged to use their site for teaching, learning and communication. There are many district resource sites that are maintained by different departments in the district. These are linked to each campus site. The linked district pages and personnel updates are the responsibility of the campus technology specialist. There is a uniform look to these pages as well. The ultimate role of making sure that the teacher’s sites adhere to district policy rests with the principal. They are supposed to be checking periodically that all information is accurate and up-to-date. I think the District has done a good job of dispersing the roles needed to maintain a viable district and campus web presence. As Kaiser says in __Deliver First Class Web Sites: 101 Essential Checklists__ in the chapter “Too Many Cooks”, we have delegated the duties in a practical manner. (Kaiser, 2006) We have had small groups of teachers pilot using wiki’s for instruction. They have had varied success with this. They do find that the students can be fantastically motivated, to the point that the teacher is feeling obligated to provide 24/7 access to provide feedback. This is often not what the teacher bargained for but often what keeps the learning motivating. It is as Solomon and Schrum say, “The difference is that they (the students) can do the posting. They control the tools of production and publication.” (Schrum, 2007) These web 2.0 tools open up many doors on a teacher’s website for teaching and learning. I know I will pass on to these teachers who have wikis, David Warlick’s “The Student and Teacher Information Code of Ethics.” (Schrum, 2007) pg. 149 His main points were, “Seek Truth and Express It”, “Minimize Harm”, “Be Accountable” and “Respect Information and It’s Infrastructure”. I think these guidelines will help teachers have students take responsibility for their postings and act in an ethical way. With the web 2.0 tools available these days I feel teacher’s websites need to adapt, change and embrace these tools as well. =Resources= Kaiser, S. (2006). //Deliver First Class Web Sites: 101 Essential Checklists.// SitePoint. Schrum, G. S. (2007). //web 2.0 new tool, new schools.// ISTE.
 * Discussion **
 * What are the job roles on the Web site team at your school?**