After searching a few school district websites, I was really pleased with the overall feeling I got from the Haledon School District site. The opening home page showcased the students in a slideshow which depicted them in various activities, such as concerts, plays, commutinty service and a graduation ceremony. It was a great display of the overall feeling and character of the school district. It was colorful, cheery and very inviting.
Aesthetically, the site is very well organized and balanced, with easy to find tabs for students, teacher and parents. The site made it very easy for parents to access the latest news and updates from their child's school. The informtion included everything from PTA meetings to sports schedules. Most importantly, it had webpages for each faculty member, which had the teacher's information as well as updates on assingments and links to resourseful websites pertaining to that particular subject.
The student link was my favorite. The students are a click away from educational brainteaser sites to the school's library media center. They have quick links to museums and resources from around the world, as well as reference resources which they can access from home. Overall, Haldon School District really makes it a point to to involve their students in the new way of using technology, which will be such a benefit to them as they move through school and life.
This website is a good source of information - but how does it do as a portal to student work, like Dr. McKenzie refers to in his article?
ReplyDeleteI also really liked the school's opening web page. I see how the pictures and set up make ti really inviting. The page where you can browse the teacher's websites was organized really well. If a parent had multiple students in the school they could easily navigate this page.
ReplyDeleteOh, Haledon! I grew up very near to this town, and most people I know from NJ have no idea where it is. It looks like they have an excellent PR staff and/or web developers, as their school's website is pretty fantastic for the most part. User-friendly, aesthetically pleasing, and interactive. I used to maintain (but did not develop) this NJ state website: www.hesaa.org - and Haledon's site would have made our IT department jealous!
ReplyDeleteActually, the site does not do a great job at showcasing the kids work. As a future Art teacher, it would be very important to have a place for the students to feel proud of what they have done and have a place to show it off to their peer and parents. Thanks for pointing that out.
ReplyDeleteI also noticed that the site does a poor attempt at showcasing students work.
ReplyDeletePutting the projects on the website is a great way to have students put more care into their work, especially when they know it's going to be viewed online, which is more public than just having it displayed inside the school.