Setting Up A School Website: What Content Can Go On A School Website?

Almost anything that can be put into a printed school document can be placed on the WWW. Here is a list of the types of content areas that are most commonly found on school websites:

• School Information: address, population, location, phone, etc.
• Teacher and student home pages.
• Academic projects for all subject areas. These might include essays, poetry, fiction, scientific results, and artwork.
• Extracurricular activities: clubs, literary magazine, yearbook, sports schedules and results, student government documents, PTSA newsletter, etc.

To examine the various types of content possible on the high school level, you are invited to visit the North High website directory, which contains the main projects and links to the site.

An Editorial Note:

Comments received by the North High webmaster via e-mail show that a school's website is superior when it focuses on student projects and achievement. It is critical that teachers and students ask themselves why they are publishing content on the World Wide Web. The answer must involve some sort of contribution to the learning process and to the body of knowledge that is accumulating and available on the Internet. The school's website rises above the average when it becomes more than just a showcase for the school. The site must be a resource for students and teachers, interesting, and fun all that the same time. Moreover, almost the entire Internet has been developed by adults. The site must have evidence that the students are involved in its planning and composition. When students have a hand in developing content and deciding what is posted to the site, the visitor knows that the site is a reflection of the learning process.

A few projects that demonstrate a positive use of the Internet in the area of curriculum integration include"

The Interactive Atlas of Western Maryland
The Civil Rights Movement: A Black History Celebration
On The Road Again: A Geopolitical Survey of the United States

I hope you'll take a look at these projects and evaluate them as to how they enhance instruction in their curricular areas as well as how they act as a resource for teachers and students visiting the school's web site.

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What makes a School Website "cool and compelling?"