Getting Your Message Across: Exploring New Online Website Editors

Getting Your Message Across: Exploring New Online Website Editors Anastasia Trekles & Helen Jancich Purdue University Calumet Hammond, IN, USA

What the heck is “the Cloud” anyhow? Internet based computing All resources, software, and information is available on-demand on the Internet Few or no ﬁles are needed or kept on your personal computer, meaning that you can work from anywhere

The Cloud can give you some great tools for publishing online... SquareSpace.com Google Sites Wix.com Doodlekit.com Jotform.com Prezi.com

The Cloud and the Classroom Workspace and publishing for Working with cloud resources student work, portfolios to create and publish concurrently improves digital Provide a place to aggregate literacy skills classroom resources, documents Gives teachers an opportunity to teach students important, Individualize educational fundamental, and lifelong resources and instruction lessons about Internet safety, Provides nearly unlimited data security, privacy (and the lack storage and access to a wealth thereof), and ethics of information from anywhere See http://smart.com.ph/SmartSchools/SmartTools/CloudComputingInSchools.htm

SquareSpace http://www.squarespace.com Easy to use blog and website tool Very customizable with many sophisticated templates and galleries Can aggregate data from social networks (i.e., Flickr, Twitter, RSS feeds) Able to import existing blogs iPhone/iPod/iPad app available

SquareSpace http://www.squarespace.com The down side: Cost No free version although 14-day trial is available Basic account: $8/mo (use offer code TWIT or TECH to receive 12% monthly discount) Custom domains, more storage, and additional stylesheet options available in the $14/mo and $20/mo accounts

Editing a SquareSpace page http://www.squarespace.com/total-creative- control/

iPhone/iPad Post and preview your site from your mobile device

Creative or traditional... SquareSpace has a template for everyone

Google Sites http://sites.google.com Free service allowing the publishing of sophisticated websites Choose from a variety of starter themes and edit everything from text and graphics to tables and more Blog-like format allows for full integration of other Google products, including search, Picasa (images), Maps, Calendar, and Docs Many available extra gadgets and widgets

Google Sites http://sites.google.com The down side: Not for very young students or computer beginners Requires some exploration to get used to navigating and editing your site See http://www.scribd.com/doc/12740926/Google- Sites-Tutorial or http://www.google.com/nonproﬁts/ sitestutorial.html for a good tutorial on using Google Sites

Our Site on Google http://sites.google.com/site/istenecc2010/

Edit Text and Objects Edit the Sidebar and Navigation of Your Page All with this little toolbar!

Wix.com http://www.wix.com Create beautiful Flash-based websites without knowing anything about Flash, ActionScript, or programming! Simple drag-and-drop interface Many attractive templates to choose from, or you can create your own Each website contains a great deal of built-in functionality for that “professional” look and feel

Wix.com http://www.wix.com The down side: Not many templates for education, not ADA compliant Primarily designed as a tool for personal homepages, artists and photographers showing off their work, and small businesses advertising their products, Wix.com does not “cater” to education users Flash by its nature is not fully accessible to users with disabilities or users of mobile devices like iPad and iPhone

Visit Our Wix site! http://www.wix.com/stacitrekles/ISTENECC2010

The Wix.com Editor Screen

DoodleKit http://www.doodlekit.com Creates fun, attractive websites and content management (blogs, news pages, etc.) with many useful features Available in both free and paid versions, each with different features Those who understand HTML and CSS code can create their own code, or use the Advanced Editor (extra free download)

DoodleKit http://www.doodlekit.com The down side: Free version contains some ads, does not work well on a Mac Advanced editor can crash Firefox and does not appear to open correctly in Safari Despite problems that will surely be rectiﬁed over time, Doodlekit is a very attractive, easy-to-use blog and web publishing tool

JotForm http://www.jotform.com Only for forms, including contact sheets, polls, signup entries, quizzes, and more Many extra features, including survey and rating tools, password and signup tools, and even options for having users pay you through PayPal or Google Responses come to you via email Share forms via a JotForm URL or by copying and pasting code into your website

JotForm http://www.jotform.com The down side: You must have a website before you can use JotForm forms JotForm also cannot store responses in a database - you may only receive responses in email, where you can then copy entries into your own spreadsheet or database

JotForm’s main interface - note the tabs along the left with different tool options. Simply drag and drop items from the left menu into the content area

Prezi http://www.prezi.com Primarily for presentations only Provides a rich, attractive visual aide for any presentation - a unique alternative to PowerPoint Relatively simple, intuitive interface Free education account provides additional storage space and option to download and view your Prezi ofﬂine

Prezi http://www.prezi.com The down side: Not ADA compliant The only problem with Prezi is that it is Flash-based, and thus not accessible to users using screen readers or some mobile devices Otherwise, it is an excellent service! For an example Prezi, check out Staci’s recent presentation on the digital divide at SITE 2010: http:// prezi.com/ocjihsiew7in/

The Prezi interface uses this wheel to add items, change the presentation path, and run your Show When you want to edit an item on the page, click on it and use the wheel to resize, move, edit, or delete. You can copy and paste text, videos, links, and insert pictures or PDFs from your computer.

Other Favorites Jing (Flash-based screen capture software): http:// www.jingproject.com Weebly (free blog with discussion and other tools): http:// education.weebly.com/ Glogster (online posters): http://edu.glogster.com SurveyMonkey (surveys and forms): http://surveymonkey.com MapMash (map mashups and data visualization: http:// www.mapmash.in Slideshare (presentation sharing): http://www.slideshare.net

Summary In the end, it’s the not the tool but the message Teachers and students can publish their messages online easily in lots of ways: e-portfolios, assignments, WebQuests, reports, inquiry-based projects, stories, and more! Many tools out there do the same things slightly differently - some may meet your needs at any one time better than another The key is to build a list of your personal favorites and choose the tool that can best get the particular job at hand done!

Thank you! Staci Trekles - atrekles@purdue.edu Helen Jancich - hjancich@sbcglobal.net Slides on Slideshare: http:// www.slideshare.net/andella Purdue University Calumet - http:// www.calumet.purdue.edu/ education

Getting Your Message Across: Exploring New Online Website Editors

by Staci Trekles on May 24, 2010

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