Week+4+Assignment+Part+4.4.+Reflection+on+EDLD+5365

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This course was very informative. It made me realize all that goes on behind-the-scenes at a school or district website. Having to list all the elements of our district homepage made me appreciate all the levels of information that are displayed. When I had to design and plan an upgrade to the school website, I once again realized how complicated it really is. When I am just clicking around on a site, I take for granted good layout and intuitive design. But I guess that's the point, isn't it? Good design means you don't have to think about what you are doing. It in intuitive to be able to do what you want to do.======

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Working with drupal and with newschoolsites.net brought back bad memories of working with Schoology. If the reason we are using these sites is because they are free or open-source, then it doesn't make the argument for me that schools should rely on it as has been suggested by Guhlin (2007). The other elements in this course were making a podcast, which is always sort of fun. I even got to use some music I recorded with Garageband as my intro and outro for the podcast. Finally, the assignment were we had to do write a document to show how to use newschoolsites.net and audacity was interesting and informative. For my job once, I put together a combination of screenshots and text to show how the other Math Coaches how to use Entourage, (the Mac equivalent of Outlook) on their new iBooks.======

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I had to design my plan and website with the end in mind. Once I knew what I wanted it to look like, I was able to plan the necessary steps in the proper order (McTighe & Thomas, 2003). The new information in this class was an extension of what I previously knew. I have designed a very simple home website before using Apple's iWeb, but this assignment was much more complex. However, I think having some familiarity with how web pages are designed was helpful.======

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I found I had to be very methodical in designing the website and the plan. There were so many interrelated components it was the only way I could do the task effectively. I was able to take what I already knew about web design and apply it to this assignment. When I read about website usability (Kaiser, 2006) something clicked for me. I realized why I liked ordering merchandise from some websites and not from others. The ones I Iiked incorporated usability features. I think my assignments were adequate. This was a whole new area for me, and I think I covered the basics. Discussing the assignment on the discussion board and emailing other students helped keep me on track.======

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I am definitely interested in learning more about web design. I actually have about half a dozen software programs of varying complexity to build websites with. I know that I will need to work with colleagues and other end-users to develop a user-friendly site. I want to continue to learn how to develop web 2.0 technologies into my home website.======

Guhlin, M. (2007). //The case for open source//. Technology & Learning, 27(7), 16-21 Kaiser, S.E. (2006). //Deliver fist class websites: 101 essential checklists.// Collingwood, Vic: Sitepoint.

McTighe, J. & Thomas, R.S. (2003). Backward design for forward action//. Educational Leadership,// 60(5), 52-55.

 * Course Artifact: **

Web Design Podcast media type="file" key="Web Design Podcast.mp3" width="240" height="20"