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 Assignment 4a: Major Project 
C & I 335     Summer 1998   

Brian Abeling   
Pekin District 108   
Pekin, Illinois  


School Webmasters Training Program 
 
Introduction Training Schedule
This years Objectives Session #1
Content goals Session #2
Skills goals Session #3
Who is responsible for the training? Session #4
Materials Session #5
Session #6
Session #7
Session #8
Session #9
Session #10
Session #11
Session #12
 
 
 

Introduction: 
There are only ten school webmasters (one per building) and they run the top level of their school web site.  This group received introductory web page training last year, but this year we hope to continue the training to allow them to expand their web site and to be able to provide support for the other teachers that are producing classroom pages. 

Overall objectives and goals for this year: 
There are two sub-objectives for webmasters this year: content areas that need to be focused on during the coming school year and the skills that they need to learn to accomplish the content areas. 

Content areas of focus: (these were determined by the district instructional leadership team and listed in the order of importance) 

  • Develop an on-line version of their school improvement plan which will include assessment information from district tests and IGAP. 
  • Post exemplary student products such as writing samples and powerpoint presentations. 
  • Develop a section devoted towards enhancing communications with parents and other community members. 
The skills needed:  
This list of skills was determined by an e-mail survey that was done with the school webmasters.  After they submitted their training needs, I compiled the final list and created one last survey to determine the level of importance for each training area.  The survey was conducted on-line at the following web site. The final needs in order of importance (the scale being used was 0 to 3 with 3 being the most important need for training)… 
 

Rank and Item                                      Avg Score (scale of 0 to 3.0) 
1. Photoshop Clipping Groups                                       3.00 
2. Creating animated GIFs                                             2.86 
3. Using Adobe ImageReady to decrease download time2.86 
4. Creating 3D text and graphics in Photoshop                2.86 
5. Digitizing Videos for web use                                      2.71 
6. Creating Vignettes in Photoshop                                 2.57 
7. Creating PDF files                                                      2.43 
8. Creating form pages for the web                                 2.43 
9. Creating pictures pages with Thumbsplus                    2.43 
10. Translating Excel in HTML                                       2.29 
11. Troubleshooting basic problems with web pages       2.14 
12. Learning how to configure cuteftp                             2.00 
13. Translating Word documents into HTML                  1.86 
14. Working with Tables in Netscape Composer            1.71 
15. Working with targets in Netscape Composer            1.71 
16. Using Adobe Photodeluxe                                       1.43 
17. Using the scanner and digital camera                        1.43 
18. Creating e-mail links                                                1.43 
19. Review of how to use cuteftp                                   1.14 
 
 

Who is responsible for the training:  
I am responsible for this entire training program and the follow up support that is given. 

Materials needed to accomplish the plan:   
 Upgrade webmaster laptops to 64Mb RAM and 3 Gb harddrive 
 Upgrade webmaster software to Adobe Photoshop 5.0, ImageReady 1.0 
 Budget for substitute teachers to provide release time for the webmasters 
 

Training Schedule:  
As seen by the survey, the webmasters have a variety of training needs.  Due to the various skill levels of this group, I have decided to only require attendance at the first three training sessions.  After that each training session is optional and attendance is to be determined by each webmaster.  All training materials will be posted on the district web site (including print directions and tutorial videos) so they can train themselves if they feel attendance isn't worth while. 


Training Session #1:  
Goals & Objectives for the year 
Date: TBA (early September) 
Materials need: each webmasters needs to bring their laptop 
Location: District Tech Center 
Time: 3 hours 

Agenda: 
1. Discuss the three primary goals of the year 

  • Develop an on-line version of their school improvement plan which will include assessment information from district tests and IGAP. 
  • Post exemplary student products such as writing samples and powerpoint presentations. 
  • Develop a section devoted towards enhancing communications with parents and other community members. 
2. Discuss strategies and action plans for accomplishing these goals.  This activity will be a brainstorming session done in small groups that are organized by grade level. 

3. Since webmasters are also responsible for the after school technology club, we will also discuss their responsibilities for this club and also brainstorm ideas strategies for carrying out the club. 
 
 


Training Session #2:  
On-line databases and webboards 
Date: TBA (late September) 
Materials need: each webmasters needs to bring their laptop 
Location: District Tech Center 
Time: 3 hours 

Agenda: 
1. Learn how to operate and maintain the following on-line databases that the district will be implementing this fall…. 

  • Staff Directory (draft version can be seen at http://www.pekin.net/pekin108/staff 
  • Tech Repair Database 
  • Tech Center Materials 
  • Curriculum WebLinks Database 
2. Learn how operate the following O'Reillys Webboards which will be implemented starting this fall. 
  • Lesson Plans webboards for science, social studies, language arts, and math 
  • Student Projects database that will hold exemplary student projects. 
 

Training Session #3:  
Web Page Troubleshooting 
Date: TBA (early October) 
Materials need: each webmasters needs to bring their laptop 
Location: District Tech Center 
Time: 3 hours 

Agenda: 
1. Learn how to analyze the following web page problems that may occur and learn how to solve them… 

  • Graphics that don't show up 
  • Browser can't find the web page 
  • Browser has to scroll horizontally to view the entire page 
  • Background sounds that don't play 
2. Learn how to install and configure SocksCap and Cuteftp to transfer files on to the web server.   All webmasters are currently using Cuteftp to load their pages, however, they configuration was done for them.  Now that we are expanding the number of teachers who receive web page training, we feel that it would be beneficial for the webmasters to know how to do this configuration. 
 

Training Session #4:  
Netscape Composer 
Date: TBA (late October) 
Materials need: each webmasters needs to bring their laptop 
Location: District Tech Center 
Time: 3 hours 

Agenda: 
1. Creating, editing, and managing tables 
2. Creating links to other websites, non-web documents, and e-mail 
3. Creating targets 
 


Training Session #5:  
Sony Mavica, Thumbsplus, and the scanner 
Date: TBA (early November) 
Materials need: each webmasters needs to bring their laptop 
Location: District Tech Center 
Time: 3 hours 

Agenda: 
1. Tips for taking better pictures with the Sony Mavica 
2. Downloading and installing Thumbsplus software 
3. Using Thumbsplus to edit and prepare images before placing on the web 
4. How to create a picture page from a collection of digital pictures. 
5. Learn how to scan photos through a scanner using Adobe Photodeluxe. 
 
 


Training Session #6:  
Adobe Photoshop 5.0 
Date: TBA (late November) 
Materials need: each webmasters needs to bring their laptop 
Location: District Tech Center 
Time: 3 hours 

Agenda: 
1. How to resize and crop a photo 
2. How to add text on to an image 
3. How create drop shadows and bevels 
4. How to create vignettes 
5. How to create clipping groups 
6. Saving graphics as jpg or gif for the web 
 
 


Training Session #7:  
Adobe ImageReady 
Date: TBA (early December) 
Materials need: each webmasters needs to bring their laptop 
Location: District Tech Center 
Time: 3 hours 

Agenda: 
1. Using Adobe ImageReady to decrease the file size of web graphics 
2. Learn when to choose gif or jpg for your web graphics 
3. Using Adobe ImageReady to create animated gifs 
 
 


Training Session #8:  
Microsoft Office 97 and Portable Document Files 
Date: TBA (early January) 
Materials need: each webmasters needs to bring their laptop 
Location: District Tech Center 
Time: 3 hours 

Agenda: 
1. How to translate Word documents into HTML form 
2. How to translate Excel documents into HTML form 
3. How to translate Powerpoint presentations into HTML 
4. How to convert any Office 97 document into PDF format 
 


Training Session #9:  
Web Page Accessibility 
Date: TBA (late January) 
Materials need: each webmasters needs to bring their laptop 
Location: District Tech Center 
Time: 2 hours 

Agenda: 
1. Learn how to use Bobby 2.0 to analyze your web site for web page accessibility problems 
2. Learn how to use Dr. HTML to analyze your web site for problems with graphics and javascript. 
 
 


Training Session #10:  
Form Pages 
Date: TBA (early February) 
Materials need: each webmasters needs to bring their laptop 
Location: District Tech Center 
Time: 2 hours 

Agenda: 
1. Learn how to create form pages that interact with e-mail and/or on-line databases. 
2. Brainstorm and discuss possible uses for form pages that may help their schools web site. 
 
 


Training Session #11:  
Digitizing Videos 
Date: TBA (late February) 
Materials need: each webmasters needs to bring their laptop, VCR or laserdisc, VHS tape to digitize, HyperCam software 
Location: District Tech Center 
Time: 2 hours 

Agenda: 
1. Learn how to digitize videos and compress into proper format for the web 
2. Brainstorm and discuss possible uses for digital video on your website. 
 
 


Training Session #12:  
Advertising your web site 
Date: TBA (early March) 
Materials need: each webmasters needs to bring their laptop 
Location: District Tech Center 
Time: 2 hours 

Agenda: 
1. Learn how to tailor your web pages to enable search engines to find your web pages easier. 
2. Learn how register your web pages with the main search engines 
 
 

 

 

 

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Course Instructor: Michael Waugh <mwaugh@uiuc.edu>
Last Updated on June 19 1998