This document provides an overview of a 6-week online course for students to learn web design and create their own websites. In the course, students will sign up for web hosting, learn HTML tags, and add various elements like images, links, and navigation to their sites. Peer and self-assessment will take place using a rubric, and the best student sites will be displayed on the school website and receive awards.

1. Going Live! By Joshua Ashton Introduction by Bill Gates

2. Introduction by Bill Gates Blabberize

3. Background This unit is designed as a step-by-step culminating activity for students enrolled in a semester-long online, web design course. Students spent the first quarter of the semester learning about the elements of design, examining professional and student websites, experimenting with HTML tags and learning the initial steps in creating html documents.

4. Essential Questions What design elements are necessary in effective websites? What free multimedia tools and resources can you incorporate to foster sophistication and effectiveness? What am I trying to communicate to my website visitor?

5. Standards Standard: The student will create video and multimedia productions. Students will: • Create multimedia presentations for an audience, demonstrating an understanding of visual design. (MN Standards)‏

6. Timeline “ Going Live!” is 6 weeks long and covers the following topics: Week 1 – Signing up for Yahoo GeoCities and uploading first website Week 2 – Adding absolute images and backgrounds to live page Week 3 – Adding relative images to live page Week 4 – Adding internal and external links to live page Week 5 – Discussion about improving page based on peer examples to live page Week 6 – Adding internal and external navigation to live page Week 6 – Peer assessment, self assessment and instructor assessment using rubric to live page

7. Resources - Readings Nearly each week has text-based readings on a subject based on varying degrees of experience: Required Readings So, You Want A Table, Huh? - http://www.htmlgoodies.com/tutorials/tables/article.php/3479851 This page is for visual learners. Our old friend Joe Burns shares tips on building tables and includes lots of illustrations. Advanced Readings Table Tutorial - http:// www.htmlgoodies.com/tutorials/tables/index.php Joe Burns offers more tips to make your tables have color, rounded corners and advanced table commands. Further Readings Tablemaker - http:// www.bagism.com/tablemaker / Use this site if you're completely baffled by tables. It offers you a fill-in-the-blank table generator.

8. Resources - Lecture For most subjects, a video lecture is also linked to review terms and provide the “big picture” from Harvard Extension School’s Understanding Computers and the Internet Example: Webservers - http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~cscie1/play/podcasts/2006/votw/4/Web_Servers.flv

9. Resources - Video Tutorials Instruction for an application are given in two forms: written directions with screenshots and video tutorials Colin Manning – http://one.revver.com/watch/100339/flv Personal Screenshot Videos - http:// www.mydeo.com/videorequest.asp?XID =19502&CID=145894

10. How do you make an asynchronous course interactive? Incorporate student work into weekly lessons as models Publish feedback Discussion boards Individual conferences on the telephone For example, in one lesson students had to examine peer websites and figure out how they added a bell or whistle: Dylan (Scrolling Marquee) http://www.geocities.com/yockey.dylan/ Emily (Music) http://www.geocities.com/sunnymuffins_x/ Damian (Media Player) http:// members.thebestisp.com/~damian/webdesign /

11. Assessment Ongoing Assessment Each week I give students feedback on the new technical requirement they added to their page and the lessons incorporate comprehension questions based on articles, lectures and videos Self, Peer and Instructor Assessment of website in that order using the same rubric - http://www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/score/actbank/WebPageDesign.html and requirements

12. The Frosting Student websites are displayed on the school website 3 websites receive awards ($10 gift certificate for Best Buy) for best use of text, graphics and navigation I write letters to the winners and contact parents notifying of achievement