The IT Committee at Oxley College is looking at revising the school Web site. I’d like to offer three as examples:

Professional Web design

The Abbotsleigh site is a terrific example of a professionally designed and developed school Web site. Besides its very pleasing appearance, it uses flash animations for interest and navigation as well as Quicktime VR for virtual tours. Clearly a high-end production, the site also excels at providing parental access to information such as:

• Academic reports
• Attendance records
• Medical information
• Subject information
• K - 12 notices
• Community notice boards
• Online surveys
• Contact details for key staff
• Sport updates and fixtures
• Online newsletter
• Library catalogues and resources

Looking at sections like the Employment pages suggest that the initial large investment in the design and production of the site perhaps hasn’t been carried into its maintenance. This is not an overt criticism, more an appreciation that all sites are a give and take that includes initial and ongoing costs, both in money and human effort. For a Web site to live and thrive, I would tip the balance toward ongoing support.

Content Management system

I have built many sites with the creator of the John Paul College web site. It uses ASP scripts to create a shell that is populated by anointed users. Virtually all new content is added and edited through Web-based forms. Once a template design / look-and-feel is established, the site pages conform to this pattern. The ability for the hierarchical / dropdown menus to be edited from the Web-based management system give the site room to grow and its different permission levels allow devolution of page editing to a wide range of people. Experience has shown me that it’s a rare school that can support this good idea of broad-based community contributions. Schools are busy places and unless it’s someone’s job or a natural part of the school day, keeping the site up-to-date is a receding dream.

Web 2.0 School Site

The best example that I have seen of a school site that leverages the power of Web 2.0 is Mabry Middle School in Georgia, USA. Here’s a concise description of this amalgamation of blogs by the principal. Also notice the easy and frequent use of podcasts and online learning experiences.

The hardware and software costs for such a site are the least of these three examples. Clearly, a talented graphic artist is on hand to keep adding the appealling graphics. Teachers most likely use RSS to stay in touch and update their blogs.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 10th, 2006 at 12:25 pm and is filed under Web site. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.