Face of Your Classroom
Creating an online presence


This "Face of Your Classroom" thing looks at a variety of resources which teachers can use to create a web presence for students and parents to access information about their classroom online. Blogging, wikis, classroom management or district purchased systems all are wonderful ways to create an online presence.  No matter what tool you use, educators need to have a web presence. 

Pre-Assess your skills for this "Thing"

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Before beginning this "Thing", complete the Pre-Assessment  of your technology proficiency.

Tools for Making your "Face"

We have divided the tools into four core areas. Consider using one of these tools for creating the "Face of your Classroom." The tools vary in complexity. Investigate the platform(s) that your district and ISD/RESA/RESD use for building an online presence. Go to your district or ISD webpage and check out the resources available for you. For example, do they offer an Edublogs or a PB Wiki package for teachers to use? Is your district providing you with an online publishing tool you would like to use? 
 

Aligned to NETS-T: 1.b. 1.c. 1.d, 2.a, 2.b, 2.d, 3.a, 3.b, 3.c, 4.b, 4.c

Connections to CITW9 Strategies: Summarizing and Note-Taking; Homework and Practice; Non-Linguistic Representations; Setting Objectives and Providing Feedback

Classroom Management Systems


Classroom (Course) Management Systems systems are available in most districts. They are a secure environment that requires logging in with a password to gain access. Teachers can post documents, videos, and tests online.     BlackBoard and Moodle are two options. EdModo is gaining popularity with elementary and middle school educators.  This free service has a social network look and feel, complete with your own Avatar.  Classroom Management Systems can function as an extension of the classroom. 

Edmodo

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Free and secure, Edmodo is a social learning platform for teachers, students, schools and districts. It's easy to connect and collaborate, share content and access homework, grades and school notices. Use the calendar, post grades, or create a library of resources.  You can even create badges for achievement.  Check out the videos and supporting materials within Edmodo! 

Blogs & Wikis

Blogs (which is a contraction of the term "Web log") have a web site feel and are maintained with regular entries. Common blogs for educators include: EduBlogs and  Blogger.  Blogs are similar to journals. Blogs let teachers add information on a regular basis to the site. Teachers often use blogs to post assignments, student writing, podcasts, or links to resources.The video below explains blogs in a simple terms. The advantage of using a blog is that visitors can post comments.  Educational blogs, such as those listed above, allow the owner to "moderate comments" or decide what comments get posted or not. 

View the video "Blogs in Plain English"

Edublogs

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Interested in creating a blog?  Check out  Edublogs to get up and running with a FREE account.  Many users choose to go "PRO" or districts can purchase a "CAMPUS" account (e.g. Macomb County).  

Wikis provide another option for a web presence, and also allow visitors to post content to the site if the owner grants permission.  Two excellent wiki sites are Wikispaces and PBWorks. Wikis allow the users to create and edit interlinked web pages.  An advantage of a wiki is that visitors can post content where permission is granted. Wikis are powered by Wiki software and are often used to create collaborative websites.   

View the video "Wikis in Plain English"

Web Site Creators

Using online resources such as Weebly or Google Sites you can create your own web presence in a drag and drop interface.  Websites allow users to quickly create a web presence using widgets (small onscreen tools, like calendars, counters, etc.) provided by each company. They require no software to install because they are cloud based, are free, and you are given a URL for your site. Weebly is one of the easiest ways for teachers to have a website.  You can have multiple pages and even a blog on your weebly site. Weebly is free and we will use it in this activity.

Weebly

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Go to http://weebly.com and click on the "Try Demo".  You can also link to the support page on Weebly for a Quick Start Guide.

When using these tools, you may wonder how you can insert video.  Check out the 21things4administrators site, explaining how you can do that! 

District Online Systems

District Online Systems, or Online Infrastructure Systems (OIS) refer to purchased products that school districts use for their online process. Check with your district to find out if they have an OIS and if you have access to it.  Many school districts subscribe to a paid service such as SchoolCenter, Foxbright, or Edline.  These sites provide a standard framework in which educators must follow, and in most instances don't require the user to know programming or html code.  Subscribers of these sites are looking for standardization for their organization.

21 Things Hands-On Activity and Assignment:

1. Before beginning this "Thing", complete the Pre-Assessment of your technology proficiency.
2. Create your own web presence using one of the tools above or one of your own choosing. Include a page for: About Me, Class Information, Homework or Assignments and Resources. If you already have a web presence you need to update it to include these four pages with content.
3. Your web presence needs to include text, images, documents and web-links. You will be expected to use your site as a means to demonstrate some of the things you have learned from this 21 Things course.
4. Include the URL to your site and a reflection about the ways you plan to use a web page creator to create a web presence.
5. Capture a screen shot of your web presence pages created for this assignment to include in your portfolio.
6.  After completing all of the activities for this "Thing", take the Post-Assessment of your technology proficiency for this "Thing".

Post-Assess your skills for this "Thing

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After completing all of the activities for this "Thing", take the Post-Self Assessment of your technology proficiency for this "Thing". (This is part of your hands-on activity/assignment).

Additional Resources:

1. Websites created using Weebly:
--Teaching With Technology
--The Info LIbrarian--Tech Boot Camp
2. Another site similar to Weebly is Wix
3.  This is another site that is similar to Edmodo: Schoology 
4.  Get started blogging!  Here's the ultimate guide to Getting Started with EduBlogs!
Sample blogs created using Edublogs (NOTE: If your district subscribes to EduBlogs Campus, contact your blog administrator (e.g. Macomb County: click here for an Edublogs Campus Account!)
http://edublogs.misd.net/mlshort/
http://edublogs.misd.net/dangelo/
Other blog samples:
http://hippocampusphysics.blogspot.com/
 
5. Livebinders is a unique system that allows you to take a subject and create a web presence with "tabs" for the different "sections" of your "binder". This could be used as the face of your classroom OR a livebinder about a particular "topic" could be embedded into a classroom web page. For example, you could create a Livebinder to showcase all your resources and assignments for a unit of study, or you could create a Livebinder to house all of your basic resources for the year, with pdfs, how-to videos, etc. It is definitely worth a look when you are considering your online presence. Also see this tutorial which includes student and iPad suggestions.
6.  Sample Wikis:
http://teacherlibrarianwiki.pbworks.com
http://www.mjwhite.wikispaces.com
 

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21 Things for 21st Century Educators by CCRESA, IISD, MISD, SRESD is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at 21things.weebly.com.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://21things4teachers.net/. Page updated August 1, 2012