Record of Evaluation Pt 1
Part 2 | References
Reason for this Project
When I started this project I had a clear idea in mind; As a computer skills teacher I should have access to a computer lab for at least some of the time. I could, therefore look at using the Internet or the school's intranet to deliver content for lessons. This guided the criteria set out at the beginning of the folio.
Having taught computer skills to years 7-10 in 2003, I already had units of work for yr 7-8, and various related materials for yrs 9-10. This had to be reworked into an online format, and example code that could be cut and pasted added, as well as a number of screen shots. As it is online learning, I wanted to add extra ways of sorting out errors in the absence of a teacher.
As I researched the website design process I found a number of the practices I had learned previously and still used were out of date. This meant that I had to go back and redesign the site using more forward looking techniques, and I also had to modify some of the content in section 2 to reflect the new practices. I also had to add some theoretical content about the nature of the internet to explain why the new techniques are preferable.
This evaluation record is essentially a list of the decisions and modifications I had to make to my original concept as my knowledge and understanding of the topic expanded.
The Folio
The design of the MDP site came first, a relatively straight forward site, with a header, footer, and three column main section. The only tricky bit was the appearing and disappearing sub-menus underneath the navigation bar. This was created using JavaScript created using the JavaScript editing tools in Dreamweaver. Once the graphics and layout files had been finalised I created placeholder pages for each page in the site so I could set up all the links throughout the site. The folio design was completed and uploaded by the 12th March.
WebSchool
This site took some time to get right. The graphics in particular took several revisions and alterations to reach their present state. The design was more complex in that it had a number of layers sitting on top or alongside each other. These effects are only possible with the newer CSS-based design (What is CSS?). It can be hard to get these pages to display correctly in older browsers, requiring hacks, or workarounds, to take into account idiosyncrasies in the way these browsers rendered CSS files. For this reason professionals often do not use to its full capacity due to the extra work involved.
As this is an educational, rather than a commercial site, it is appropriate to require minimum levels of hardware and software. The main requirement is a CSS compliant browser, and as there are several free versions available, there is really no excuse for not having one. Secondly, I have specified a 1024x768 monitor size, but the site can be used on an 800x600 computer with a minimum of horizontal scrolling as all the centre column will display. The WebSchool site design was finalised by the 15th March.