This is an example of some of the idea that might be considered when considering a web site as a publishing method. It is only a brief starting outline but it may give you an idea of some of the things you could note on your blog post. Notice that I have not given any specific reference to sources of information. We will look at how to this in the next few weeks, for the moment I am interested in you formulating your own ideas although you might want to read some sources to help you to do this.
Before I can make any detailed comments about the advantages and disadvantages of using a web site I must consider two questions:
- what is the purpose of my web site;
- am I considering the web site from the user’s point of view or the creator’s point of view. [ or possibly both]
Let us assume that I am creating a web site to help students with their learning and I am looking at it from both a user and developer point of view.
You could consider the module web site as an example of this type of web site. [ Here I could make a link to an example on my web site.]
So how well does the site alone aid the student in learning?
To answer this I need some idea of the needs of a learner. Let us assume that they include the following which is a brief and not exhaustive list.
To be able to learn a student must:
- be aware of the expected learning outcomes of the module and understand what they need to do to achieve these;
- have access to the subject matter of the module;
- be given an opportunity to test their own understanding of this material and share their ideas with others;
Next I might consider the general characteristic of a web site as a publishing method.
A web site might:
- present material to the student and make links to further information;
- provide examples to help in the understanding of concepts;
- present an interactive tutorial allowing ideas to be presented and tried out;
However there are some characteristics of a web site which might hinder it’s ease of use:
- it takes time to learn the skills necessary to set up an effective web site;
- there is a relatively complex process that must be gone through to update a web site;
- a basic web site is “read only” and does not provide an easy way of creating a dialogue;
Hopefully this post will help to get you started in producing your own posts
