Syllabus

Course Description/Purpose This course is designed to assist educators in creating a professional website while building an understanding of effective educational website characteristics, communication strategies, and applications. Emphasis on efficient and effective communication between the educator, students, and parents/guardians. By the end of the course, participants will have created their own website embedded with meaningful content, communication strategies, and information relevant to their specific content and grade. Course Objectives At the end of this course you should be able to: 1. Explain the key reasons for using a professional website including the pros and cons of using Google as a document hub and website. 2. Apply some strategies and techniques to find and organize professional material for your website. 3. Apply some strategies and techniques to create a meaningful professional website home page. 4. Apply some strategies and techniques to add pages and content relevant to your educational purpose, with the emphasis on teacher-to-student/guardian communication. 5. Apply some strategies and techniques to streamline student/guardian communication to you. 6. Add and embed tools to your website such as calendar, videos, and more. 7. Find and understand laws that pertain to using a published website for k-12 education responsibly and ethically. 9. Acknowledge the importance of alt text and add alt text to your website. 8. Publish and showcase your website on professional pages and in other communication. Modules ● Module 1: Introduction to Google Sites and Googe Drive integration, Quiz 1 ● Module 2: Finding, organizing, and preparing relevant material, Quiz 2 ● Module 3: The “About Me” page, themes, banners, and images, Quiz 3 ● Module 4: Building Pages and effective teacher-to-student/guardian communication strategies, Quiz 4 ● Module 5: Effective student/guardian-to-teacher communication strategies, Quiz 5 ● Module 6: Adding and embedding Google Calendar and other tools, Quiz 6 ● Module 7: Copyright and safe use laws, Quiz 7 ● Module 8: Understanding and applying alt text, Quiz 7 ● Module 9: Publish and communicate your website, Quiz 8 Grading Each quiz must be passed at an 80% or higher (retakes allowed). Final website must be approved by the instructor prior to course completion. Format This is a self-paced, asynchronous (no required live meetings) course. Instructor offers online group support through weekly Google Meet hours. 1-on-1 support by appointment only. Throughout the PD course, you will find it helpful to take notes along the way to assist with the quizzes. Within each module, you will find specific tasks that will help you build a professional website specific to your goals and needs.