1. Creating & Using A Website To Enhance Your Teaching (or Confessions of a Teaching Tech Junkie ! ! !)

3. Why are we here? Examine the characteristics of a good teaching website Discuss reasons for using a website in class Create a website using Microsoft FrontPage Create PDF files using Adobe Acrobat Examine incorporating a website into your teaching using web space on Board server Discuss “fair use” and copyright issues dealing with web sites

4. Teaching high school math & science for 8 years Taught for 7 years in the Yukon Began using website in class 5 years ago Learned more about tech as I went Glad to be teaching in Halifax & at Sackville High! Who is Jason Jennings?

5. Why use a website in the classroom? Convenient access to lecture notes & activities by teacher and students Saves time for more instruction/demos Saves photocopying credits for teacher

6. Why use a website in the classroom? (cont’d) Makes students responsible for acquiring notes (i.e. lost notes, study guide) Useful for Resource/IPP students Good communication for parents Can be linked to your school’s website

7. Characteristics of a good teaching website Overview of course Course outline and marking scheme Hyperlink to Dept. of Ed. Online Curriculum documents Lecture Notes (on web pages & Word/PDF format) Assignments/Projects

8. Characteristics of a good teaching website (cont’d) Study questions Practice tests Instructor resume Guest book Date of latest site update Email address Links to other course-related websites http://hrsbstaff.ednet.ns.ca/jenninj2

9. Tips for Designing a Good Teaching Website Keep it simple & easy Make it fast Offer proper print documents for notes/assignments Make navigation simple Use descriptive titles & links

10. Tips for Designing a Good Teaching Website (cont’d) Limit use of unnecessary graphics Avoid wide widths on web pages Follow copyright & “fair use” guidelines (see end of presentation) http://hrsbstaff.ednet.ns.ca/jenninj2

11. Getting Started in Microsoft FrontPage Go to Start, then Programs Open Microsoft FrontPage

12. Creating a homepage: To Name and Save a web page… From File, choose Save As… Name this page “index” (homepages are ALWAYS named “index”) Save “index.htm” on Desktop (usually this page & subsequent pages will be saved in your Board web space

13. Creating a homepage (cont’d): To view different panels… Click on either Normal, HTML or Preview buttons at bottom of screen

14. Creating a homepage (cont’d): Normal panel allows you to add text, pictures and links

15. Creating a homepage (cont’d): HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) panel shows programming code (unless you know about it, STAY AWAY!)

16. Creating a homepage (cont’d): Preview panel displays what the web site will look like in web browser

17. Creating a homepage (cont’d): To Change Background Color… Go to Format Select Background Find the Change Background Color area Change your color

18. Creating a homepage (cont’d): To Change Text Font & Color Highlight existing text to change Go to Format Select Font Find the Font & Color areas Change your font and color

19. Creating a homepage (cont’d): To Insert Headings & Buttons…(www.cooltext.com) Type in address Select Render a Logo

20. Creating a homepage (cont’d): To Insert Headings & Buttons…(www.cooltext.com) Choose a style

21. Creating a homepage (cont’d): To Insert Headings & Buttons…(www.cooltext.com) Edit Logo properties, then edit logo text Click on Render Logo

22. Creating a homepage (cont’d): To Insert Headings & Buttons…(www.cooltext.com) Right click on Copy (or save it as a file for later use) Paste logo into web page

23. Creating a homepage (cont’d): To Insert a Picture (from ClipArt or existing file)… Select where you want to place the picture Go to Insert Select Picture Then select Clip Art or From File

24. Creating a homepage (cont’d): To Insert a Picture (from ClipArt or existing file)… Copy and paste the file into the web page (JPEG files work well) Adjust size of picture using scaling arrows

25. Some interesting, convenient components of FrontPage that can be used on a web page: To insert a horizontal line… Choose a place to insert the horizontal line Go to Insert Select Horizontal Line

26. To insert the date and time of the last time your site was updated using FrontPage… On your homepage, type “This site was last edited on…“ Go to Insert Choose Date and Time… Choose “Date this page was last edited” Select proper Date and Time formats Click OK

27. To insert a hover button (a button that will show an effect when the cursor passes over it)… Go to Insert Select Web Component Under Dynamic Effects, choose Hover Button Under Hover Button Properties, set appropriate properties such as button text, link to (i.e. Other website, page within your site), color, effect)

28. To insert a marquee ( a message that scrolls or slides across the screen; good for test and assignment dates!)… Go to Insert Choose Web Component Under Dynamic Effects, choose Marquee Set Marquee Properties (i.e. Text to be displayed, direction, speed, behavior)

29. To insert a hit counter (a counter showing how times you site has been visited)… Go to Insert Choose Web Component Choose Component Type: Hit Counter Choose Counter Style Note: Insert this hit counter after a phrase like “The number of hits to this site is…”

30. So far, here is an example of what your homepage of your site should look like…

31. To create a new page in your web site… Go to File Choose New Page Type in a title for your new page (i.e.. Chapter One – Connecting Links; it is here that you would type lecture notes) Change Page Properties (i.e. Background & text color) by going to Format then Background Creating Additional Web Pages:

32. To create a new page in your web site (cont’d)… Save this page as “chapter_one_connecting_links” under Save As…

33. To set up navigation (connecting to other pages) in your web site, begin by inserting a table… Find a good spot on homepage for table Go to Table, then Insert Choose Table Set the dimensions of your table (i.e. 2 rows, 2 columns to begin)

34. To continue setting up navigation in your web site… Type the title of the new page with which you would like to link Highlight the title Insert a Hyperlink

35. To make a hyperlink… Go to Insert Choose Hyperlink Click on the new page in your web Click OK Note: instead of linking to a new page in your site, you may wish to link to another web site by typing in the URL address in Address box

36. To complete 2-way navigation: Go to new page (i.e. chapter_one_connecting_links.htm) Create a table (2 rows, 2 columns) Type in title of homepage Create a hyperlink back to homepage

37. This is what your new page should look like…

38. This is what your homepage should look like…

39. A few tips to remember at this point…  Check Preview to examine what your site will look like to others  Always save work after any change to a web page in order for the change to appear in Preview  Always keep navigation simple, direct and 2-way (i.e.. Be sure you return from where you came – AVOID making users use the BACK button on the Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator toolbar

40. Adding files to you web page… Go to File Select Import Click on Add File Choose the file to add to Import list Click OK

41. Adding files to you web (cont’d)… Under the navigation table in homepage, type “Download Chapter One – Connecting Links notes (Word document)” Highlight text Create a hyperlink to the file that you just imported

42. To create an Adobe Acrobat PDF (Portable Document Format) file: Open a particular document (i.e. Word and Excel documents) Go to File Select Print Change the Name of the Printer to Adobe Acrobat (Acrobat is a virtual print driver, but instead of making a paper copy of the document, it creates a PDF file)

43. To create an Adobe Acrobat PDF (Portable Document Format) file: Change settings for Acrobat PDF Writer (i.e. page size, orientation, resolution, scaling)

44. To create an Adobe Acrobat PDF (Portable Document Format) file: Save PDF file in My Documents or Desktop Import PDF file into FrontPage as you would a regular Word document Go to http://www.performancegraphics.com/index.html for a detailed instructions on using Adobe Acrobat for PDF file creation http://www.performancegraphics.com/index.html

45. Note: students will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to open and print paper copies of any PDF file. Create a hyperlink on your web site to the Adobe homepage (www.adobe.com) in order for students to download a free copy of Acrobat Reader. www.adobe.com

46. Note: An individual or site license for Adobe Acrobat is expensive. Most schools will not have it installed on machines for this reason. PDF files provide convenient, low-memory files that handle text and graphics well. They are good for transfer between email and web folders.

47. Note: There is free software (freeware) that can be downloaded from the Internet that will allow for the creation of PDF files. Go to www.fineprint.com to download FinePrint PDF Factory.www.fineprint.com

48. To create PDF file from pdfFactory… Go to File Select Print Change Name of Printer to pdfFactory Click OK

49. Publishing Your Website… use Board web folder Go to My Computer Click on Web Folders or My Network Places

50. Publishing Your Website… Click on Add Web Folder or Add a Network Place

51. Publishing Your Website… Type in http://hrsbstaff.edent.ns.ca/usernamehttp://hrsbstaff.edent.ns.ca/username Click on Next

52. Publishing Your Website… Click on Finish

53. Publishing Your Website To gain access to your web folder, you will need to enter username and password (from Board) to gain access to your web space

54. Publishing Your Website… In your web folder (on your Board web space), you will find 2 folders: Private Images Private folder should be used to store files that you do not want your students to see Images folder is for images (i.e.. JPEGs, BMPs)

55. Publishing Your Website Save all FrontPage web pages in your web folder The URL address that will access your website will be http://hrsbstaff.ednet.ns.ca/username Note: Do not put web pages in Private folder. This folder can only be accessed by those with your username and password (i.e. Not one of your students!)

56. Implementing The Website in Your Teaching A few things you’ll need to consider when implement your website: Most students should have access to the Internet and a printer (either at home or school). You may have to be prepared to photocopy some course outlines/notes/assignments for students who have technical difficulties. You’ll will need to have good access to an LCD projector and computer to go on-line with your site and display pages Always have overhead transparencies of the notes and a working projector just in case the “Internet is down” (a.k.a. school server)

57. Implementing The Website in Your Teaching A few things you’ll need to consider when implement your website: Have your school’s IT coordinator or webmaster add a hyperlink from the school site to your site for greater convenience Be prepared to spend time on your website in its creation and maintenance. Learn only what you have to learn and use only what you have to use about FrontPage. Make life easy! Make parents aware of your site at parent-teacher interviews and encourage them to visit it often (i.e. Post important assignment submission and test dates)

58. “Fair Use” & Copyright Issues for Teaching Websites A few issues you must consider…  Is your site for education or some possible commercial gain?  Give credit and citations where necessary. Are you “cutting & pasting” directly from a site or is your work an original composition?  If you use approx. 3% of another person’s material, it can be considered “fair use”. If you use more than 10%, you are in a “gray” area.  Visit http://www.benedict.com/info/fairUse/fairUse.asp for more in-depth details http://www.benedict.com/info/fairUse/fairUse.asp

59.  A very good site that explores more aspects of Microsoft FrontPage and its features is… http://hrsbstaff.ednet.ns.ca/mireauj/teacherscorner/teacherspagetitre.htm Authored by N. Benoit-Canning and J. Mireau for the AST Conference 2003.  Check it out!  Good luck as web artists!  Learn as you go!  Email me with questions: jenninj2@staff.ednet.ns.ca

60. References: 1.Miller, C. Scott. PDF Research.com. Performance Graphics. 2003 http://www.performancegraphics.com/index.html 2.Cooper, Georgeanne. “Teacher Effectiveness Program”, University of Oregon. 2002 http://tep.uoregon.edu/technology/courseweb/websites.html 3.Pinel, John. “Biopsychology”. 1999 http://www.abacon.com/pinel/tip1.html 4.Adobe Systems Inc. 2003 http://www.adobe.com 5.Benoit-Canning, N. and J. Mireau. “Teachers’ Corner.” October, 2003 http://hrsbstaff.ednet.ns.ca/mireauj/teacherscorner/teacherspagetitre.h tm http://hrsbstaff.ednet.ns.ca/mireauj/teacherscorner/teacherspagetitre.h tm