Web Page Design for Seventh and Eighth Graders

Project team: Mike Sennert and Cynthia Clark

Purpose:

The purpose of this project is to provide students with the opportunity to evaluate web sites, create useful web pages, and investigate yet another area of technology. This experience will further students computer skills as well as their use of the internet by giving them a chance to critically analyze and interpret web sites.

Equipment Required:

Networked P.C.’s
Internet Access
Web page server or host server
Display T.V. or LCD projector
Digital Camera
Color Scanner
Clipart C.D.’s

Project Timeline:

Day 1 42 minute period

The teacher will display different web sites on the display T.V. while students watch. These will be preselected web sites that demonstrate well developed and poorly developed web sites. The students will have a copy of the Web Evaluation Worksheet while looking at these different web sites. The teacher will ask students to orally evaluate each web site. The teacher will go through each section of the evaluation and ask for a rating and reasoning.

After completing the evaluation and discussion of 4-5 different web sites the students will then complete the web evaluation worksheet by themselves on a preselected web site. After students are done with this there will be a whole class discussion about their ratings and why the students gave the ratings.

Day 2 42 minute period

The teacher will introduce the software Netscape Composer, using the T.V. display. First showing an example web page created with Composer then the teacher would have the students start the program. Accompanying this the students will have an instructional packet on using Netscape Composer from the University of Illinois web site:

The teacher will cover how to:

Change the background color
Formatting text
Inserting Horizontal lines
Creating a table
Allowing students to experiment with each new concept after teacher demonstration.

Day 3 42 minute period

The teacher will continue teaching the students to use netscape composer covering the following:

Creating lists
Inserting images
Inserting links to web sites
Creating a second page and linking them together
Students will once again experiment with each new concept after the teacher demonstrates the technique.

Day 4 42 minute period

The teacher starts the class by giving the students a printed description of the school’s policy on web page development. The teacher than discusses the school’s policies on pictures, names, addresses, etc… and gives an example for each so it is clear to students what they can put on a web page they create.(Policy) Also, during this discussion the teacher reviews with the students copyright laws and plagiarism of written material.

The last ten minutes of class the teacher will hand out the students’ first web page development project. This first project is to create a personal web page which can be based on a number of criteria.(Example criteria)
Student sites
http://www.quiknet.com/~snedelc/students/stdpages.html
http://206.87.21.49/93_site/students/index.html
http://www.elmwood.peoria.k12.il.us/oz1.html

Day 5 42 minute period

The teacher starts the class by showing, on the display T.V., preselected personal web pages. While showing these pages the teacher will have class discussion on what different items should appear on a web page and what shouldn't appear on a web page. The teacher will be making a list for both columns on a chalkboard or dry erase board so students can have these for a reference.

The students then start creating their personal web page.

Day 6 42 minute period

Students continue working on their personal web page project while the teacher helps individual students.

Day 7 42 minute period

Students continue working on their personal web page project while the teacher helps individual students.

Day 8 42 minute period

Students continue working on their personal web page project while the teacher helps individual students.

Day 9 42 minute period

Students are given the first 20 minutes of class to put the final touches on their personal web pages.

The last 22 minutes of class the students have their web page creation on display at their computer station. Each student then rotates in order from one computer to the next (teacher tells students when to move to the next computer, 1-2 minutes)

Day 10 42 minute period

This class period will be used to finish viewing the student’s web page creations. The time remaining at the end of class will be used by the teacher to discuss different web pages and the different parts that students liked about other’s web pages. The teacher will then use the following rubric to grade the students’ web page. Other assessment tools will include self-assessment and peer assessment.

My school has a web server located in the building that student web pages can be posted to by the teacher. The teacher must obtain a signed permission slip from the parent or guardian before posting the web pages. These web pages will remain on the web server until the end of the semester. Students are also welcome to bring in disks to save their projects on and post them onto home Internet providers.

Alternate Plan

If your computer lab has a limited number of computers and students need to share computers there are various web page projects you could have students do as a team. One example is to have the students pick partners and design a new school web page. The teacher would set the criteria required for the web page. The same rubric can be used for grading of this project. At the end of the ten days the students would then have a contest and decide which group created the best web page. The winners would have their web page posted as a link to the school web page.

Example Criteria

School activities they are involved in
Extra curricular activities
Family information and photos
Friends
Famous people they like
Links to favorite web sites

Personal Web Page Evaluation

AESTHETICS

COLORS BLEND 1 2 3 4 5

BACKGROUND/TEXT CONTRAST 1 2 3 4 5

GRAPHICS ENHANCE PAGE 1 2 3 4 5

NEAT/ORGANIZED--MAINTAINS INTEREST 1 2 3 4 5

LEGIBLE/SPELLING/GRAMMAR 1 2 3 4 5

NAVIGATION

BUTTONS/LINKS WORK 1 2 3 4 5

EASE OF NAVIGATION 1 2 3 4 5

PAGES NOT TOO LONG 1 2 3 4 5

CAN TRAVEL BACK AND FORTH 1 2 3 4 5

LINKS TO HOME PAGE 1 2 3 4 5

EXTERNAL LINKS ACTIVE AND UP TO DATE 1 2 3 4 5

CREATIVITY-ORIGINALITY-UNIQUENESS

OUT OF ORDINARY 1 2 3 4 5

PAGES SHOW VARIATION 1 2 3 4 5

ANIMATIONS WORK IF PRESENT 1 2 3 4 5

DOCUMENTATION 1 2 3 4 5

EFFORT

PROFESSIONAL APPEARANCE 1 2 3 4 5

SUBSTANTIAL CONTENT IN PAGES WITH EXTERNAL LINKS
(SUBJECTIVE OPINION) 1 2 3 4 5

USE OF GRAPHICS 1 2 3 4 5

APPROPRIATENESS

PAGES APPROPRIATE IN APPEARANCE/SUBJECT MATTER
1 2 3 4 5

ARTISTIC IN DESIGN 1 2 3 4 5

100 POINTS POSSIBLE

SCALE:
5 – OUTSTANDING, MEETS ALL EXPECTATIONS

4 – MEETS ALL EXPECTATIONS

3 – MEETS ALL EXPECTATIONS, WITH REMINDERS

2 – BARELY MEETS EXPECTATIONS

1 – NO EFFORT SHOWN

Alternate Plan Criteria
School Name and address must be noticeable
All materials must be school appropriate
Links to all pages currently on the school web page
Easily readable
Easily maneuverable