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Summary
Assignment
Materials
Resources
Student
Examples
Reflection
on Assignment
Rationale
Challenges
Strengths
Weaknesses
Recommendations
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Assignment
Adoption Recommendations
Although I particularly
liked the fit of topic and medium in this assignment, another topic could
have worked as well; collaborative web page design can be adapted for
almost any course topic. Here are a few tips that may help you if
you decide to use this assignment:
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Establish a collaborative
community environment prior to the start of this assignment. While
I have used collaborative projects with which to begin a semester, I think
Web site construction, particularly for inexperienced students, has the
potential to cause frustration on its own, without coupling that with the
uncertainty and sometimes frustration of working with strangers.
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Make sure that you
and your students have sufficient access to computers.
While these may seem self-evident, I think it’s critical that you have
enough time to work with your students on computers. Even though
students can, and will, work on their own time on these projects, they
need support during the initial stages. I constructed a “how-to-create-a-basic-Web-page”
tutorial, to which my students always have access, but there is something
inherently more reassuring for them to have a person telling them what
to do, rather than working through a tutorial.
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Invite extra help
during computer “work days,” or wear roller-skates. Even once
I became proficient in rudimentary Web site construction myself, it was
difficult to answer everyone’s questions in the computer lab at once.
I felt that I couldn’t possibly move quickly enough to help everyone.
The more experienced of your students can act as peer consultants, but
if you don’t have Web-savvy students consider inviting former students
to act as assistants. They’ll be honored, and many students are more
likely to ask for help from a peer than from the instructor anyway.
This semester, I split my class of 24 students into two groups, so that
I was only working with half of them on each lab day.
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Showcase what students
are doing throughout the semester. Several times throughout the
semester, have “show-and-tell” time in which each group shares the progress
they’re making on their Web projects. Students can give one another
feedback during these times, and such public previews keeps groups working
throughout the project rather than waiting until the eleventh hour—when
a late-started project is doomed to fail.
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