Rules of the Road

In the assignment, Online Rules, I created a website that provides my students with information they will need to successfully navigate and use internet content in my class. The website included an internet rules, internet safety, a page on copyright, fair use, and penalties for plagiarism, and finally useful resource links for my students to learn more about science. This website provided the information to my students so they could use it at their own pace and was available to students wherever they had a computer with internet access. Being online, allows the parents of my students to have access to the information given to their children. As students navigate through the internet it is important that they are instructed on how to navigate safely and politely.

I felt that this project illustrated the following NETS education standards:

-Teachers exhibit knowledge, skills, and work processes representative of an innovative professional in a  global and digital society. Teachers communicate relevant information and ideas effectively to students, parents, and peers using a variety of digital-age media and formats.

-Teachers understand local and global societal issues and responsibilities in an evolving digital culture and exhibit legal and ethical behavior in their professional practices. Teachers advocate, model, and teach safe, legal, and ethical use of digital information and technology, including respect for copyright, intellectual property, and the appropriate documentation of sources. Teachers promote and model digital etiquette and responsible social interactions related to the use of technology and information;

Using the website I communicated relevant information and ideas effectively to students, parents and peers using youtube.com and a website. It was effectively because students could read the information at their own pace and could view it wherever they had internet access. As internet users, it is important that the students are made aware of the responsibilities and issues that have evolved from digital culture. It is important that our students are aware of safety, legal, and ethical issues that come with the use of digital information and technology. The main focus of the web page was information students about copyright, intellectual property, and the appropriate documentation of sources.

I have learned a lot from developing this product. Before this project I had never created a web page that was actually viewable from the web. Now I feel comfortable using Google Sites, even though I know I have much more to learn. I learned how to incorporate a youtube.com video. I have also learned how to link pages together and make a visually pleasing website. After this project, I feel more confident in my technology competency level. I went into this project not knowing how to do anything and left feeling confident that I could edit my page with ease. 

This was the first time I had created my own website from scratch. I was very pleased with the outcome. This is one resource that I plan on continually using and supplementing as I continue on in my teaching career. If I end up teaching middle school students, I believe that the classroom could be benefited by students creating their own web pages for different subject content. As a social studies and integrated science major, I can definitely think of project ideas that would include the students creating their own web pages.