Several things need to be considered when creating media center web page. First and foremost is the intended audience. The information needs to communicated with the audience in mind. Therefore, using “teacher jargon” would not be expected on any web page unless the page itself was for teachers. Second, the page needs to be visually appealing. The audience will be drawn to a colorful and organized page. Third, links need to be useful and easy to use. The fact is the media specialist will not be with every person to explain something if needed.
When I visit media center web pages, I look for the simplicity and usefulness of the tools located there. One of the most important links should be parent resources. I have found that many parents want to help but do not know how. If we link resources for parents we may find we have better results. The parent will then not feel inferior or “stupid” for not knowing how to help their child.
The use of Web 2.0 tools is fast approaching some schools and not thought of in others. I would like to see all media centers begin using venues of contact through social media as Creekview High School has with their “Unquiet Library” (https://sites.google.com/site/theunquietlibrary/social-media-presence). Our students are such collaborative beings these days that we need to allow them to use their collaboration to further their knowledge in and out of the school building.
Not sure if this is happening in other areas but our school system has a “pre-fab” web page already created. It is not visually appealing regardless of what you add to it. It is a dull grey background. I hope that in the near future this discarded and other options come available. This “pre-fab” web page allows for no creativity of the one creating the page. To be said nicely "I abhore our school web page for this very reason."
When I become a media specialist and am responsible for creating and maintaining a web page, there are several things I will want to include beyond the basics. Of course, a parent resource section as I have previously mentioned, special honors for students with achievements in reading, a teacher resource section for highlighting new technologies in my local building as well as new technologies being used elsewhere, Web Quests, calendar/schedule of author visits and special visitors and possibly a blog that will highlight students’ favorite books and allows them to give a response as to why it is a favorite. I am still contemplating a wiki or blog. My concern with the wiki is that others can edit the information and I want to prevent others work from being deleted or changed if even by accident. With the blog, editing cannot happen just new information posted. I look forward to the day when I am responsible for creating this.
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SIMPLICITY! Such a "simple" thing that is often overlooked when developing web pages.
ReplyDeleteParents?! I agree that parents are often overlooked when putting together media center web pages. Parents can and should be our greatest ally. Parent resources are key components but should be "user friendly" because I have discovered that parents often aren't as techno-savvy as their children.
"With the blog, editing cannot happen just new information posted." I believe that if you are the "keeper" of the blog, then you can approve comments to be posted. This would allow you to preview student comments on the blog before these comments were posted. This allows students to participate while it provides you some manner of control over what is posted.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your post. I believe that it is very important to have a Media Center Webpage. Students should learn how to use it as well. There can be many sites included on the school webpage for students, and parents to use. Great job!
ReplyDeleteElizabeth Thornton
When I think about creating a webpage or wiki or blog, I think about the CRAP elements. CRAP stands for contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity. These elements should be present in other multimedia presentations, and I think that they should also be present on a webpage. How many times do we find websites with too much going on? We make judgements based on that first impression. Taking time to plan the webpage in advance should help avoid bad elements of design. :O)
ReplyDeleteI am experiencing the same situation you have with your pre-fab” website. We use Teacherweb and the library template was so ugly that I chose to use one of the templates intended for K-2 classroom teachers. There are other limitations as well including not being able to load video or podcasts. It is a very stagnant site but at this time we do not have a choice to not use it so I am working with what we have. The Road Crew Guys and Gals note in their website post that the media center website should be the technological hub of the school. It is easy to see how Carl Harvey’s technological experience and enthusiasm has had an effect on the teachers as they are using Wikis to collaborate and share lesson plans. I really like a quote from the Jurkowski text that states, school librarians are important for the virtual aspect of the library as well as the physical (Jurkowski, p. 85). I am also always looking for ways to demonstrate my value to our principal who frequently visits our webpages to see that they are current and relevant.
ReplyDeleteLike so many of the others, our county has the Sharepoint BLAH site. This is why Buffy and other media specialists have linked their blog(s) to their county sites. But these can get bogged down with "stuff".
ReplyDeleteThe most important component of the site, I agree, is the simplicity. Users must be able to navigate the site without thinking, "Oh, I got here before; now how did I do that?" The web is like that anyway--when we're surfing, we have little awareness of our paths. As media specialists, we have to leave more substantial "bread crumb trails", else our patrons will get lost in the net.
Emily, I'm stealing your CRAP-hahahaha! That concept hits precisely what my complaints are above. Too much information on a page can lead to a bit of nausea. We want to relieve our patrons, not cramp their brains.