School Websites

Schools may use websites for a variety of reasons. They could be a good way to introduce the public to teachers. Websites could list popular (and approved) links for students. It could be used as a way to communicate with any school patron about up coming events they may be interested in attending. A website can prove very useful to its school. A website, however, puts a lot of the initiative on the seekers—the information is there, if they’re willing to go look for it. If they are willing to go looking, what should they be able to find. It seems like, after looking over various school websites, what one may find depends on the school’s respective goals. It seems as though larger districts have a more sterile atmosphere. They are “all-business,” lacking classroom pictures and athletic event scores on their home pages. Large districts, like Sioux Falls, jump right to their bus schedules and other important information. In contrast, a smaller school like Chester shows us the scores from the most recent high school games. Flandreau, some where in the middle in size, lists the Homecoming dress-up days along side a student spotlight section on the home page. Does this mean that the smaller schools are more “student driven?” The smaller schools’ websites seem to establish a more relaxed feel to them. Maybe in these small communities most patrons know the students. Parents and grandparents come to the website to see the recording of the spring concert. Or to find pictures of their student working on a science project. I think that the number of people a district like Sioux Falls is trying to help may be the reason for their more “informative” focus on their district website. Also, it seems like it’s better to avoid student photographs altogether than worry about permission for every student—especially when you are dealing with THOUSANDS. I realized that when I was looking at this collection of school websites that I thought of Sioux Falls as a different animal altogether. The workings of a district that size are going to require something different on their website than the smaller school districts in the rest of the state. The schools next in size (Brandon and Flandreau) tried to create a community atmosphere. They wanted a connection to the community—as shown in their personalized notes for administration and staff. Several of these websites had correspondence from the superintendent. I think this is a great way for them to connect with patrons. Often this is an elusive position. And I think it may help people to recognize the superintendent’s connection to the school community. Some of the schools had links to teacher webpages. (Several did not.) I like the idea that a teacher’s lesson plans are available online. It could when students miss school. Or if a parent wants to know what their student is learning about. On the other hand, I think that lesson plans on a website can be restricting to a teacher. As a teacher, you don’t know what lessons your students may need extra time on. Or maybe your students are really interested in a topic so you decide to spend a few more days on that topic to go more in-depth. When you have months worth of lesson plans it can really stop a teacher from allowing the students to control the pace based on interest or just gaining a good grasp on some material. Finally, I think that a district website can and should serve as a place to showcase student work. The College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Writing requires students to: “Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others.” A page on a school districts website can serve as an excellent place for students to publish their work. A school website can be an asset to the district. It can be fashioned to the specific purpose of meeting each school’s goals, no matter how different the goals may be.