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Strategies for dealing with your
"technologically advanced" students - This was the single largest
obstacle I had to learn to overcome following the first time I taught
this course. The differential in knowledge and skill entering
the course was significant, and individualized instruction became critical,
particularly once we started building web sites. Some of
the students already had several sites on the Web, while others had
only used a word processor. Once we starting building web sites,
some students would be "done" in a week or two, while others were just
beginning their second page. As in any good teaching, the key
is keeping them busy without giving them "busywork" - giving them meaningful
work that will enhance their educational experience that can be individualized.
Easier said than done, eh?
This one turned out to be "not so bad"
after I'd been through it once, and I suspect you'll feel the same way.
There are many "technical" enhancements that can and should be
made to a properly prepared web site, and providing your advanced students
with these enhancements makes sense, allows them to learn as much as
time provides, and they can do it without you lecturing to them.
Here is a list of some of the things that your "quicker" students should
be working on once they feel that they are finished
- ALT tags. Go back
to the top of this page and hold your pointer on top of the chalkboard.
You will see a little yellow (or some other color) box that appears
with some words in it. This is an ALT tag. These are little
pieces of "code" that your students can insert into their pages that
have significant meaning! First, they give you another opportunity
to provide information to your visitor. More importantly, they
give you a chance to repeat keywords for the sake of being found in
a search tool! If I wanted this page to get found in a search
tool with the search "e-commerce," you can bet that the ALT tag for
each of my images would begin with the word "e-commerce." It's
a chance to repeat keywords over and over again, adding to your "score"
in search tools, without being penalized. You'll also notice
that when you did your analysis on Web Site Garage, you were scorned
because you didn't have ALT tags. They serve a good purpose.
Your students should have them for EVERY IMAGE ON THEIR SITE!
I know, I know, I don't. But hey, we had a lot to do in a few
short weeks. I'll put them in soon - honest. If you need
more information on how to insert ALT tags, e-mail
me. I think I have a write up for you, and if I don't, I'll
make one. They're very easy to do - really!
- Tweak the META tags. They are
critical to search engine rankings, and there is a LOT written about
them! I have written quite a bit about how they work and how
to coordinate them with other parts of your pages. You can start
there, but your students can find a TON of information about them.
- Use the hotlinks
page. I devoted quite a bit of time to this page, and students
have added to it. When you get there, go to the "Web Page Gadgets/Toys"
section. In there you will find tools such as:
- Cut and paste javascripts to add
exciting features and effects to your site
- Web polls and surveys to generate
return visitors
- 3-D Graphics and text builders
- GIF and JPEG (image formats) "crunchers"
Crunchers reduce the size of the images on your pages, making them
smaller in size and faster downloading. This is CRITICAL in
good web page design, and EVERY IMAGE ON EVERY PAGE should get "crunched".
There's no excuse for them not to. I took off big points for
pages that were too big, and the students knew it!
- Trackers to tell you things like
how many people have visited, was it their first visit, how did
they find you, what browser were they using, what key words did
they use to find you, etc. If you want to see some of this
data, click on the little box in the lower left hand corner of the
hotlinks page and snoop around. It's great marketing stuff!
- Message boards and chat rooms to
put on their sites, encouraging repeat visit and high "stickiness,"
or length of visit.
- Forms, making feedback or other
data collection easier for the visitor.
- News headlines that can be customized
to your topic, keeping a dynamic home page and encouraging regular
visits (I use this for my Internet
Current Events page).
- And the list goes on. This
hotlinks page can be your best friend. Use it or build your
own. If you come up with some useful links, I hope you'll
pass them along to me! Your students can utilize the hotlinks
page and never run out of meaningful work. In fact, I allow
them to teach some of these tools as lessons. The GIF cruncher,
for example, I will assign to a student or two and have them learn
and demonstrate to the rest of the class. They especially
enjoy facilitating under circumstances where they are the "expert."
- Go to the
color page and experiment with colors in web design.
Mickey Kosloski
Virginia DECA
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