Great Ideas: A Collaborative Web Assignment

Billie J. Jones
Summary

Assignment Materials
Resources

Student Examples

Reflection on Assignment
Rationale
Challenges
Strengths
Weaknesses

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Collaborative Web Page Design
ENGL 030 Dr. Billie J. Jones

"The Role of Technology in a Post-modern Democracy: Divisor or Equalizer?"
We are about to embark on a technological adventure.  We will be using technology to explore the role of technology in our society.  For your final project in this class, you will be working collaboratively with several other class members to construct a web page that makes a statement about some aspect of technology in today�s "postmodern," "democratic" society.  You might explore how technological advances, such as computers, have changed some segment of society, or you might want to show a glimpse of how technology may change us in the future.  Whatever direction you decide to take, I want you to consider how the technology that you discuss has affected our claims to an "equal society."  In short, has technology had a divisive effect or an equalizing effect on society? 

Procedure:
For this assignment, you will working with other members of your group to compose a hypertextual document.  By the time you begin working on this project will have spent a great deal of time of web page design and evaluation, so you will each have your own idea about what makes a good web page.  One of your biggest tasks in this project may be deciding on a common theme for your collaborative web project.

Although we will be spending lots of class time working on these web pages, you will not have enough time to complete your web pages in class�so plan on spending extra time outside of class to work with one another as well.  How you divide up the work will be up to each group to decide, but this is one instance where our Visto accounts can be a great resource.  I'm encouraging each group to form their own group space where each of you can upload image and text files for possible inclusion in the web project.  Not only will you be able to easily see what other members have accomplished, you'll be able to leave messages for one another on the message board.  This way, you can work "together" on the project, without being physically together or even working at the same time.  Furthermore, because it's your group, no one else in class (including me) can see what you're working on until you're ready to show us, either by uploading it to the Web, or inviting us into your group.


Evaluation: 
Because web page design is new for many students, I will valorize creativity and risk-taking most highly in my evaluation of your pages.  I am more interested in seeing that you have stretched yourself to explore, not only the idea of technology in our "postmodern," "democratic" society, but also the medium of web pages. While I will be looking for such things, I do not intend to assign "points" on the basis of number of links or graphics.  Nevertheless, because you will be receiving a grade for you efforts, I feel it necessary, in some way, to describe what I will be looking for. 
  • First of all, I will be looking for a general theme, or thesis. Because of the hypertextuality of this medium, stating and supporting a thesis will present new considerations for you as authors (even the role of authorship will take on new dimensions). In short, I will expect the theme to be carried out through the inclusion of your own original text, graphics, and links to other sites. (The use of all 3 of these will be necessary to be considered for full credit.) 
  • Beyond theme, I will be looking at the overall impression that the web page prompts: Is it engaging, clearly understood, and user friendly? 
  • Furthermore, I will be looking at how well you have utilized the technology available to us. Included in this area is also your willingness to try to include more difficult components. I will give more credit to a more adventuresome page that has a few technological glitches, than I will a page that has lots of text with one graphic and one link. While I will also be evaluating the text you have written, I want you to use this medium to its best advantage (never forgetting your novice status here) to state your theme. 

A final note: 
Please do not let fear of failure (figurative, not literal�anyone who attempts the project will not receive a failing grade) keep you from trying something new.