EDCI 5825 Week 5 Web site Reflection

SITE:
Amanda's English Language Arts Classroom

REFLECTION:

What is your reaction to the entire web development process? Please describe any positive and negative reactions.
Positive reactions
- I have never created a website of my own (besides a social networking site) so this was a completely new experience for me that I enjoyed very much.
- I will definitely use a website like this in my future classroom and I believe it is important to do so.
- As we were new to this online activity, our class really worked together exploring.
- The Weebly site is user-friendly and allows for creativity that some sites block.
- When we were first exposed to the different ways to use technology and online activities I wasn't sure how to incorporate all of them - but I believe that having a class website with links to sites like Diigo, Ning or others would provide a 'home-base' for students to access the different tools for classroom activities and assignments.
- Using a site like Weebly would truly engage students more to the classroom community and the material exploration as well.

Negative reactions:
- Navigating the MacBook and Weebly exploration at the same time was frustrating at times
- I had many ideas and was only able to work with a few of them - but I plan to explore further!

What was involved in the process of developing your site? What obstacles did you encounter? How did you overcome those obstacles? What successes did you encounter?
I explored tools and options first - playing around with ideas. Then I tried to imagine what students should see on the first day of school or right before then. I wanted the site to be welcoming, and definitely NOT overwhelming with information - so I kept it simple for now. As I have more experience with students, classroom setting and the teaching process I will develop the site to meet student and classroom needs. Obstacles were frustrating at times -> I had some difficulty with dragging and dropping elements exactly where I wanted them, getting links to work, creating a layout that was visually satisfying to me with my limited knowledge of site tools. I asked classmates for help and did some research at the Weebly Support Site. Overall I believe I had success with the site. I feel proud of my accomplishment and what I have learned. There is a part of me that wishes I could have done more but I think that feeling will go away when I have more time to explore and manage my creation!

Will you continue to build on/update this site after this course ends? Why/Why not? Please explain.
As I stated before, I plan to use a site like this one day in my classroom to provide a 'home-base' of sorts for my students to access tools, homework, online activities and more from one focused place. Our students will be much more information literate as the as time passes and I think a class website could be a way to make online activities and classroom activities more aligned with their interests and learning styles. I have already shared my site on Facebook for friends and teachers to comment on. So we will see...

What errors/issues did you find when you tested your web site for 508 compliance? Based on those errors/issues, what changes would you make to your site?

Example (1) [
508 (C)] [WCAG 2.1 (1)] The use of color must not be a single method for indicating important information on a web page 1
Description. Manual check. Ensure that all information conveyed with color is also available without color, for example from context or markup.
Response: I would check appropriate standards and use a different design template or manually change items to meet standards for color.

Example (2)
[508 (J)] Flicker rate must be in the specified limits 5
Description. Manual check. Page shall be designed to avoid causing the screen to flicker with a frequency greater than 2 Hz and lower than 55 Hz. Check gif images and objects, applets, embed elements.
Response: I would check gif images etc to change flicker effect to lower standard Hzs.

Example (3)
[508 (B)] [WCAG 1.4 (1)] Multimedia presentation and its equivalent alternatives must be synchronized 1
Description. Manual check. For any time-based multimedia presentation (e.g., a movie or animation), synchronize equivalent alternatives (e.g., captions or auditory descriptions of the visual track) with the presentation.
Response: I would change the auditory or caption descriptions of the visual track to match the presentation.