For this blog post I chose to examine the district in which I have had the most contact with, that being the Clifton Public Schools. As a former student of Clifton High School I can honestly say I only ever used the website to check for school closings, and now they seem to have a news feed right on the main page, colored bright yellow, for everyone to see.
At first glance, the webpage seems simplistic but the more complicated the page is, the more likely it is to drive away students and parents because of cumbersome navigation. Under the district subsection, I can find information about the administration and who they are, information about adult evening classes, Board of Education, employment opportunities, an events calendar, and even individual "report cards" for each of the publics schools. The next subsection breaks apart the different schools into: high school, middle schools, and elementary schools with links to each individual school. The high school's web page also links to an online database services that students can use (EBSCO for example), online databases are important for students who are preparing for college.
For parents this seems like a great way to find out information about the individual schools are there resources. There is also a link to a technology page that gives information about the Clifton District Technology Plan. There is also a convenient "contact" link that allows parents to email there questions to the district. The district is looking to answer questions rather than hide from them.
Overall the Clifton Public Schools website gets the job done. While it may not be as lively as MSU's welcome page, it still conveys that the district cares about what is going on in the schools and that they have a duty to present it publicly as well as online.
Sounds like your teachers missed a great opportunity to extend the classroom walls. Websites, according to Dr. McKenzie, can be used for content like student work, making the website more interactive.
ReplyDeleteI too rarely looked at my high school web page while I was a student there. But, when I entered college I found that I used my University's web page, especially the library database, constantly. I think its interesting that the Clifton web page has "report cards" for each of the schools. That seems to give parents a quick glimpse at the pros and cons of the Clifton public schools
ReplyDeleteI myself am a bit dissapointed by the Clifton High School website. I also wrote about it on my blog. First of all I couldn't view the video. Second of all, it is too generalized. I wished I seen more about what is going on in classroom, life inside the school. I wished that it provided links to teacher's pages, not just their phone numbers.
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