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October 15, 2001
Posting Student Work on the Web
By Jeffrey Branzburg
This page is designed specifically with the new-to-technology educator in mind. Please feel free to reproduce it for use in your teacher training sessions or other staff development efforts.
The Internet can be a wonderful place to make your students' work accessible to parents, community members, and others. Here are a few ways to make Web publishing happen for you and your students, along with some tips and precautions.
On your school's Web site. If your school or district has its own Web site, you may be able to post your students' work there. In some cases you need to speak with your school or district Webmaster about how to do this; in other cases the system may be sophisticated enough for you to easily post work yourself.
On your own Web site. There are many Web sites that will host your content for free. These sites (such as geocities.com or angelfire.com) may give you up to 50 megabytes of space along with easy-to-use tools to create pages and upload information. Be aware that these services are usually advertising-supported, so you should check if your district has a "no advertising" policy.
On an educational Web site. In addition to the general-purpose free Web sites mentioned above, there are a number of services listed below specifically designed for educators. As with general-purpose Web space providers, they may contain advertising.
--MySchoolOnline offers free Web space to teachers. Sites created here can include images, text, links to other sites, and more.
--MidLink Magazine is a digital magazine by and for students from ages 8 to 18. This, an award-winning project, sponsored by SAS inSchool, North Carolina State University, and the University of Central Florida, is an excellent place for students to publish their original work.
--Scholastic offers teachers Web space on which they can create a class home page and provide information for students.
--TeAch-nology is an education portal offering a multitude of services, including free Web sites for teachers. They have site-building tools, such as Web page templates, and offer personalized Web site names, (such as "branzburg.teach-nology.com").
--Yahoo! Education is a new service from Yahoo! aimed at middle school through college which provides a space for instructors to easily create an online course or upload student-created work.
Computerizing Student Work
No matter which place you choose to post your students' work, you need to think first about how to get it into the computer.
The simplest way to get computer-ready copy for Web posting is by having your students create it on the computer. Then you can simply upload the file to the Web site. A caution, though: if you use this method, your Web site viewers will need to have the program that created the work. For example, if you upload a student's AppleWorks file, then viewers need to have AppleWorks or another program that reads AppleWorks files installed on their computer in order to see it. A way around this issue is to have your students save the file in a generic format such as TXT (for words) or JPEG or GIF (for pictures).
Another method is to use a scanner to get the "hard copy" into your computer. When you do so, save the file as a JPEG or GIF image, and then upload it to the site.
A third method is to take a digital picture of the students' work, and then upload the file to the site. This method works, but does not result in as clear an image as scanning does. |
Some Cautions about Displaying Student Work
We all know why it is called the World Wide Web-people anywhere can view your site's content. Here are some precautionary tips to ensure the safety of your students.
--Do not post easily identifiable pictures of students. Many districts require a signed parental release before any picture of a student is published. Ask if your district requires one before posting any picture of students.
--Do not include student last names or addresses, or any other easily identifiable personal information. Although it would be nice to credit students online for their work (such as "this poem written by James Smith, third-grade student at the Oak Tree Road Elementary School in Lakeview, N.Y."), doing so may compromise a student's safety and well-being.
--Lastly, remember copyright issues-any original work is automatically copyrighted, even if the author or artist is a 5-year-old kindergarten student. Parents must consent to displaying their child's copyrighted work. |
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