EDLD+5365+Web+Design+&+Dev

Week 4 Web Conference (June 17)
I just completed another very interesting conference. I am so happy that I am not the only lost person in this course. Each time that I think that I am getting ahead, I fall back 3 places. Although I am counting down the days, I received my cap and gown today while online with the Internship conference. It was exciting, especially since I have been really stressed the last two weeks. In tonight's conference, several of the students shared some great information. I took notes, and I am planning to view the conference as soon as it is placed on the site. I am very thankful for the people on our campus who do all of the work to make our pages look great. It is a nightmare having to not only learn how to do, but make it work correctly. I am sure if I was not having to work 50 hours a week and take two classes, I could be a little quicker in picking it up. I love technology and this, like many of the other assignments will click.....on Monday afternoon, the day after they are due. I am looking forward to getting my work done....even if I am up until 4 am again. I have to learn, I have students depending on me. I was happy that I passed my mid-term and only missed one question...the one that I kept reading the question wrong....oh well, I learned from it.

Week 3 Web Design and Development
What can I say....STRESSED. This is a nightmare. I finally turned in my assignments for this week at 11:55 - they are due at 11:59. It is now 1:48 am and I have to get up at 5:15 am. Looks like tomorrow will be another fun day. This week I learned about Amaya. It was OK, but like everyone else in the course, I could not get my spreadsheet to upload to create my pages. Annoying, especially if you can code a complete web page in 9 hours less than you spent trying to do it correctly in the first place. I love open source, but I will have to try this one again. I am sure it is good, and it probably is similar to what Front Page and Sea Monkey can do, but with all of the stresses this week (again) I have not had time to go back and retry it again. It is now on my list of things to do...starting August 15th.

Week 2 Web Design and Development
It has definitely been and exciting week. In addition to the continuing saga of a car with an attitude, a broken computer, and the issues of every day life, I also have to combat the stress of taking two classes at once in order to graduate. I am STRESSED.

The course is OK, and I am enjoying it, especially the texts. I have suggested that we purchase it for our web design course as a supplement. We continued working with Web Policy and I have learned so much. I spoke with Leslie this week regarding our campus policy and was I surprised. I am also excited about working with Amaya next week. I heard it has a lot of little issues that can be annoying at times. We will see....I like annoying.

EDLD 5365 Web Design and Development
WOW ! What a first week of class. In addition to taking this course, I am also taking the Internship course so that I can complete my masters program and graduate in August. August 14 to be exact. I have worked all week long and just got my first course assignments complete....I think it is going to be a long 5 weeks. Well, 4 weeks and 1 day to be exact. I have really enjoyed reading the Deliver First Class Web Sites: 101 Essential Checklists by S.E.Kaiser. In fact, I have already recommended it to my department when teaching our web design courses. In addition to our readings and videos, we were given the opportunity to answer 1 of 5 questions for our discussion board, something that I really enjoyed. I chose question #5: Here is my response:

Based on the readings and lectures during week 1, and my personal experience, I see the most pressing legal and ethical issues for websites in K-12 schools today to include Internet privacy, Cyber-bullying, Copyright and Fair Use laws.

The Internet is an excellent resource for education. Along with these resources, students may also find other sites that may not be appropriate. During school hours, it is up to the district, school and teachers to provide students online safety, teach them responsibility and take appropriate campus procedures (permissions) before being given access to the network. Although schools have safety policies in place, and stay current with laws, students also need to understand that if they are not responsible web users, that web privileges will be taken away.

Internet Privacy is very important for students, as well as adults, to understand. Personal information can be received from Internet cookies, online profiling, phishing, and unfortunately from the individual – whether intentional or not.Students need to understand privacy issues (age appropriate) and be taught to never provide personal information to anyone. Users should also be taught to look for the web site privacy statement so that they know what the information will be used for. Most of all, if personal information is given to a web site, it should be secure and be able to keep your information safe. If these sites are not secure, users could be faced with identify theft, stalking or even assault. Overall, the Internet should be monitored during school hours and a set of classroom rules should be followed at all times. Precautions are necessary to provide students with a safe experience.

Some of the legal issues include copyright issues and fair use. As Educators, it is important to help students understand that information on the Internet is not “free” to use for whatever they need it for. We need to teach them (age appropriate) that copyright protection is given to the original work, whether it is music, art, text, etc. and whether or not the work is published.Some students understand “Fair Use” to mean that if they find it, they can use it. Again, as students use the Internet and the technology that is available, it is important to help them to understand more about issues that they will face in their educational, personal and professional lives.