Today we hit a bit of a wall. For some reason, the information from the survey is not automatically sorting itself alphabetically on Google docs. It seems that users can sort the information after the data is collected, but our goal is to minimize the amount of moderation needed. Another issue we are having is that while we have set the permissions for the spreadsheet to be public, sometimes it requires users to login to Google, and sometimes it doesn’t. I’m not sure what the issue is or if there is a way to get around that. While it is frustrating, I feel we have managed to tackle our biggest challenges – creating a resource to gather information about ICT in schools, sharing that information, providing resources and ideas on how to use ICT, and creating a place for teachers to share ideas. Tinkering with the site will be an ongoing challenge, but maintenance and updating is necessary for just about everything. The important thing is we have a beginning that is incorporating ideas and concepts we’ve learned and shared in class, and made it possible for the conversation to continue. I’ve been considering what other content we should include on this website and I am having some trouble. I’ve thought about some of the resources we looked at in the first week, such as Twitter, Pearl Trees, Mindmeister, and Pinterest, but I don’t know if our site is the right place for something like that, and if I’d be adding them just for the sake of using technology, or if they would have validity to achieve our goals. It might be better to recommend some of those resources rather than embed them in our site. Pearl Trees could be an effective way to present some of the links, but I don’t want users to have to create account after account to access the information we are sharing. Another thing I’ve been considering is if more visuals are needed. One of my concerns is that more images and embedding will take longer for mobile devices or slow broadband to connect to the site if teachers are trying to get ideas on the go. However, having images can be aesthetically pleasing and appeal to visual learners such as myself. Also, the basic version of Weebly seems to be pretty restricting as to where you can post photos on the page. I’d love to hear feedback on things to add or revise on the site.
Terrence LIBE 477B Summer 2013
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Terrence, these are the kind of developmental questions that need to get asked to create a site that can take on a life of its own. I agree, there might be a split focus if you start to add ICT resources and ICT instructional ideas to this site. On the other hand, it is a reasonable connection – to be talking about what ICT infrastructure is available, and then talking about how that infrastructure might be used for instruction. I wonder if there is a companion site that is called for, a place for contributors to share what they did, where they did it, who they did it with. This would be handy for two reasons. First, you might get ideas for things you want to try, and second, you wouldn’t walk into a class thinking you were going to blow their minds with a super fun learning activity only to have them say, “So and so did that last week.”