TIE 542 Final Reflections

I am extremely proud of the work that I have done in this class. The use of Dreamweaver was a totally new piece of learning for me. for someone who would like to be a web designer, I think CS4 is a great piece of software. It is obvious that there are no limits to the possibilities of what can be done within the software if you are somewhat familiar with HTML code. A large amount of time was put in learning the software in order to fulfill the requirements of the class,I tried to create a site that would not just fulfill the requirements, but be functional and useful for me in my professional life. I think I have accomplished that. I don't think that I have a real use for such an expensive piece of software because I don't foresee any website creation outside of web-based WYSIWYGs. I for one like Weebly. It is easy to use, and free, and it has all of the functionality that I truly need in a website.

Research and Selection Web-based Material

As a teacher, choosing web-based material that is appropriate for use with your students can be a daunting task. Don't even mention the apprehension that teachers feel when sending students to research controversial topics that are appropriate and essential to the learning of teens and young adults. The best thing that you can do as a teacher is to do research yourself so that you are familiar with what student will encounter when they venture out. Teach them how to use good searching techniques using phrasing or Boolean Logic. See this website for more information.
Another way to scaffold for students so that they don't spend wasted time researching is to create a list of web resources for your students from which to jump-off. This list can be created on a classroom website, or a free internet portal such as Portaportal, and My Bookmarks Online. You could also create a Wiki that student could use a jump-off for research. One that is free and easy is PBWorks.
Another issue that teachers encounter is not having access to the same resources at home and at school. If you plan to use web-based resource with your students, be sure to try it out at school, on the computer that you will use for the lesson. If you don't you could run into the problems of being blocked by the school firewall, or not having the software needed to run the web resource. The most important thing that a teacher can do is preview, preview, preview before using Internet resources with your students. Preparing for technology integration increases the likelihood of successful implementation.