EDLD+5388+-+Web+Development+&+Design

As I reflect upon this course, I found it provided me with background information that might have been recorded at the development stage of a school district’s website. I was not present in the beginning stages of the existing website for the college I work, but I am now employed as their main Web Designer that reconstructs and maintains the website for a college campus and three satellite educational centers. The exposure to the three competency areas of website design and development in this course, as well as site administration, will be very helpful in visualizing an overall picture of web design.

There were many tools we learned about in this course that I was not familiar with including surveys, parent and student portals, wikis, blogs and other social media, as well as support for online learning through podcasting. I found that these are essential tools for today’s teachers for use in the classrooms and for our students to access; according to Rhoades (2009) “Today's faculty members (elementary through college) are using podcasts, wikis, chat rooms, online curricula and virtual realities to help students become successful in the classroom” (p. 24).

There was great emphasis focused on the required supporting school policies and guiding documents that offer direction for website development and web publishing. Policies that I follow and would implement in any classroom setting would include making sure all website content has a consistent look and feel, that it follows a content style guideline, has consistent navigation abilities, and communicates a message consistent with the campus, as well as district goals. Without this type of guidelines and a firm policy support, as the website is developed and updated, it can easily become disorganized and inconsistent in the information that it relays to the public. As different staff members rotate in the responsibility of the upkeep of the website, it would be increasingly difficult to find the information they were seeking.

As website navigation becomes more and more a critical component of website design, so does the relevant content that fills the pages. However, if your audience cannot find the relevant information that they seek, the effort is wasted. As website browsers increase the competition between their companies, users find favor in one navigation system over another. Kaiser (2006) reminds us that “If it is to be most helpful to your visitors, your web site will probably need to incorporate a combination of navigation types” (p. 119).

**References**

Kaiser, S. (2006). //Deliver First Class Web Sites: 101 Essential Checklists//. Melbourne, Australia: SitePoint Pty. Ltd.

Rhoades, E. (2009). Can Web 2.0 Improve Our Collaboration? (Technology Usage in the Classroom). Techniques, 84(1).