For my final vision project I decided to build a
website and to use Weebly as my platform.
Originally, I thought I was going to use Google Drive because you can
have team folders and I like the potential for sharing resources in this
manner; but, after discussing with my co-librarian we decided a website would
be more accessible for those teachers not using Google products and it would
allow for more diversity in what we can achieve overall. In addition, I think it is a more visible platform which will work well for what we are trying to achieve.
So far my website building is going well. I have used
Weebly before for my teacher website so I am familiar with many of the
features. I opted to use Weebly as it is
the same platform that our library website is hosted on. We wanted to keep
consistency between the two websites and we already have a Pro Account with
Weebly which is supported by our District. This enables us to use more of
Weebly’s features, which are not offered on the free platform such as password
protected pages, uploading large files, etc.
Although I have experience with using Weebly building
my classroom website, I am finding that
I am learning new things about the platform. For my teaching website, I
generally used it to upload documents for students to access and keep a running
tally of what was happening in class. This didn’t really require much
sophistication in term of formatting. For my Teacher Collaboration website, I
want a more professional design and look so that it will appeal to my
colleagues. As a result, I am fiddling
with many features on Weebly which I haven’t used before. For example, I am creating
columns and aligning text and images. I
am also creating buttons to link to other pages and resources, linking
documents, and using screen shots of Google slide decks to link to the actual
presentation. I’ve also added a blog
within the website, which is something I haven’t used before.
So far, I’m pretty happy with how it looks. There are lots of tutorials online about how
to use Weebly and I find that whenever I get stuck, I can easily find the answer
with a little searching online. Weebly also
has a user support forum where you can ask questions if you get stuck. I have
yet to use this feature, but I have read other people’s questions to answer my
own.
The biggest formatting challenge to date has been
aligning my text with images and creating columns. Weebly is quite an intuitive website as it
has drag and drop features for most things. But, to create a column you must
manipulate the text on the page which isn’t obvious when you start. But, now
that I know how to do that, it’s quite easy.
The other challenge I think I might face as we come to
completion this week is trying to do too much with one website. We’ll see how I progress this week. Most of
my website looks at how the LLC and
Teacher-Librarians can be a resource for teachers and this is a vital
component as I often think what we do in the library isn’t always visible. It is imperative that staff are
aware of what we can do for them and that this is a great way to showcase it. I
am also excited to highlight great things happening in our school on our blog. This will be a great way to create community in our school and promote sharing.
The part I am unsure about is the teacher resource
section. I wonder if it will be utilized. I created all these tabs for each of
the departments in our school, but wonder if teachers will buy in and want to
share resources. I can’t really know unless I try, so I will
likely leave it as a part of my website design.
Overall, I’m fairly pleased with my progress and I
just need to keep plugging away at it this week. If you want to take a look at what I have so far, see the link
below.
All photos are taken from Pixabay are are used under the CCO Creative Commons.
Bibliography
Fulton, F. (2014, August 05). Retrieved November 27, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dH3p8JoS28M
We are here for you. (n.d.). Retrieved November 27, 2017, from https://hc.weebly.com/hc/en-us
Well done overview of your progress and technology integration. I am glad to read that you have dived deeper into the features and abilities of weebly, more so than you ever have before. The old adage that if you build it, will they come? will most likely come true, you just need to ensure you have what they are looking for, and take opportunities to showcase and remind everyone what you've got for them. Your discussion of some of the small challenges and design questions you have overcome is insightful for others.
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