Many teachers are getting their own teacher websites . . . 

Now you may wonder - what's the purpose?  Why would a teacher 
have their own website?  It can take a lot of time to make and 
maintain one.  Where do the students and parents benefit?  What 
are the most important features?

If you are a teacher considering getting your own website, read 
on.  For you may get a better understanding of the needs of 
students and parents that with a teacher website.  Understanding 
where the students get value will help you realize why you need a 
teacher website and where to focus your effort.

The web is a recognized communication medium.

Communicate thoughts and ideas . . .  Some of the information 
doesnt change very much (like information about you the teacher). 
Some of it will change daily - like homework.

What types of things do they need?


INFORMATION NEEDS OF A TEACHER WEBSITE

PERSONAL INFO:

Parents and students may want to know a little bit about their 
teacher (or child's teacher).

A teacher website can help let them get to know the teacher -
perhaps by having a "Biography" or "Qualifications".  Having a 
picture of the teacher is always a benefit so students and 
parents can recognize the teacher when they meet them in the 
classroom or in teacher conferences.

CONTACT INFO:

This is a must.  If the teacher has an email account or phone 
number or other info to share with the parents or students, 
having this on a website is a great help in encouraging 
communication.

CLASSROOM INFO:

This can be a wonderful resource for the students and parents.

The most important resource to post on the classroom section of a 
teacher website is the daily homework.

This does take a consistent effort to post, but parents and 
students really appreciate having this always available to them.

Also, it would be nice to post project information, exams, and 
current events (such as fund raisers and class parties).  And for 
those who are really ambitious, they can post files up to the web 
such as classroom rules, spelling lists, project handouts, exam 
prep guides, and permission slips.

Consider a student who is ADHD or for other reasons has 
difficulty remembering or writing down the homework.  A website 
that has homework posted on it can be an essential ingredient to 
their success.

FUN STUFF:

Of course there is always the fun stuff.  You may want to put in 
some useful or fun classroom-related links. If you are a math 
teacher you may want to put in links to math games websites.  If 
you are a biology teacher, you may want to put in links to sites 
that are about the current study topic like marine animals.

Or you may want to have a picture gallery of the latest event. 
These are always great to have.  Students like to see pictures 
of themselves in an event.

They also appreciate suggestions of where to find useful 
information.


DESIGN NEEDS OF A TEACHER WEBSITE

WHY:

Good design is a must - for your students and parents to make 
good use of a teacher website.  It should not confuse them or 
make them easily lost.

SEPARATING CLASSES:

Many teachers have more than one class.  Each class data should 
be on its own page (or group of pages) - to keep the students and 
parents from being confused about what homework, exams and 
projects relate to them.  Then they can bookmark their class 
pages and easily access them later. This way they would only be 
seeing what they need.

GOOD NAVIGATION:

The navigation of your teacher website should be simple and 
consistent.  There should be navigation links at the top and/or 
left that help the student get to where they want (and to easily 
back out).  If you build a teacher website, I would recommend 
having a couple of students test it out before showing the whole 
class.  If your test students get lost trying to find the 
information they need, you will need to make modifications to the 
navigation of your teacher websites.

LOOK AND FEEL:

The look and feel (backgrounds, color scheme, and position of the 
navigation) should be consistent and intuitive throughtout the 
site.  This is important to show the students that they are still 
on your class pages - and haven't strayed to a different website.

WRAP-UP:

If you are a teacher, having a teacher website can be of great 
value.  Consider it.  If you don't have the time to put into 
building all the pages yourself, there are services out there 
that offer websites to teachers at a very reasonable cost.  The 
one I built is at http://www.SchoolAndTeacher.com .  The layout 
is already designed, and you just need to fill in some forms to 
put your data out there.

One of my favorite features is that students and parents can sign 
up to get regular emails of their homework.  And the cost?  The 
first year is free and after that it is only $19.95 USD per year. 
(Many have found this to be a huge time saver.) 

Robert Fuess is a veteran website designer who built and 
maintains http://www.SchoolAndTeacher.com
He also builds editable websites for other customers - including 
calendar and e-commerce features.  If you are interested in such 
a service email him at robert@spiderweblogic.com, or visit his 
website at http://www.SpiderwebLogic.com, or call (805) 720-0789.