Susan Rucker’s Web Design Document Assignment

July 2008

 

Purpose

I will be creating a web site for the business department at the Tina-Avalon R-2 School.  The purpose of this web site will be to inform and educate students, parents, administrators and the community of the business department.  We are moving to an “on-line society” were it is important to put classroom resources at an individuals fingertips.  I hope to create a student and parent friendly environment where they can access class files, resources, and information before, during and after school.  My web site will be informative of upcoming events in my classroom and will coordinate with the school web site.  I hope that everyone that uses my web site will be able to easily navigate and understand it.

 

Needs Assessment

To determine the need for my web site, I completed a survey of 12 summer school students, two administrators and six parents of students attending the T-A School.  I had to use the summer school staff and students because this is a summer course.   A summary of the needs assessment found that students and parents would like to have access to classroom web sites that would provide teacher contact information, assignments, examples of what is expected from the assignments, deadlines, and additional resources to better complete the class.  They also wanted the information to be presented in a useful, organized and easy to understand manner.  They felt that if all of this was incorporated into the classroom web site, they would frequent it regularly.  Administrators thought that an informative classroom web site would benefit all because it would help students access their resources at any time and it would keep parents informed of the work their child is completing.  Everyone surveyed requested a site that was not full of graphics.  They all wanted a site that would load easily on their home computer.  The students also noted that they would like to see pictures of them in school related activities on the site.  This would require a great deal of work.  I would have to have permission forms signed from each student in order to put their picture on the web site and I would have to find a way to put pictures on the site that would load in a different window if they wished to preview the pictures.  I am learning how to do that, and I would eventually like to incorporate that on my site if I can get permission from the administration.

 

Audience

The targeted audience of this web site is the 80 students in seventh through twelfth grades enrolled in the business courses of the Tina-Avalon R-2 School.  Other intended audiences would include parents, administrators, and other interested persons in the community who would be interested in knowing what the school has available for the students of the high school.  Students enjoy and are intrigued by the use of technology so hopefully they will use the site regularly to gain knowledge of classroom curriculum, resources and assignments. 


Content

This site will include:

 

The information provided on this site will clarify assignments and give clear examples of how work should be completed.  All information on this site will serve as a tool to both students and parents.  Parents often do not know what their child is learning in individual classrooms.  Hopefully this web site will serve as a communication network for both the teacher (me) and the parent.

 

Presentation /Organization of Information

The home page will set the look for the web site and will be the starting point for all other links.  The home page will consist of a frameset with a fixed size top frame and a nested left frame.  At the top of the page I will have Mrs. Rucker’s Business Education Activities and Resources.  In the left frameset I will have links to all of the classroom courses/resources mentioned above that will open in the middle frame.  The home page middle frame will consist of a welcome, contact information and one or two pictures of the new business room.  We are remodeling the business room this year because of the enhancement grant and I think that everyone in the community would be interested in seeing its new up to date look.

 

All of the links on the home page will consist of assignments and resources that will be used in that specific class.  The nested left frame will remain constant throughout the web site so that there is always a link to the other pages.  The information should be clear and easy to navigate.  I plan to keep it simple yet informative.

 

Media and Rationale for Including It

The media used for this site will mainly be the buttons used to represent the links to the other pages in the site and perhaps the school mascot.  I will not be using a lot of graphics or animation due to the fact my target audience is 7-12 grade students and their parents.  It takes increased time for the graphics to load and my web site is to be informative and educational not entertaining.  Since my target audience can read easily, I will not need to use a lot of clipart to further describe links.

 

Color Scheme

The color scheme for this web site should have a professional appearance and be designed to support ease in user navigation and understanding of the presented information.  I will follow the school color theme of kelly or hunter green, black and white.  I will use a white background with black text and green links for all pages.  Visited links will appear as a different green.  The side panel will be a light kelly or hunter green on all pages.  The top of all pages will be a green graphic or a picture of the school mascot (a dragon).

 

Outline of Web Site Organization

Home Page:

Top Frame:

Instructors Name and Title of Web Site

Main Page:

Welcome

Business Teacher Contact Information

e-mail link

Photos of the business room

Name of person who created the Web site

Left side frame with links to the other pages:

Accounting

            Planned Assignments/Rubrics

Business Technology

            Planned Assignments/Rubrics

Computer Applications

            Planned Assignments/Rubrics

Computer Literacy

            Planned Assignments/Rubrics

Desktop Publishing

            Planned Assignments/Rubrics

Introduction to Business

            Planned Assignments/Rubrics

Keyboarding

            Planned Assignments/Rubrics

Multi-Media

            Planned Assignments/Rubrics

Resources

            Additional Resources for Student Assignments

            Dictionary Link

            White Pages Link

Student Work

            Examples of exemplary student work

Homework Assignments

            Deadlines and due dates for assignments

Links to sites within our school and surrounding community

            Links to informative and usable web sites in our area

Date of last update

 

Flowchart: