Thursday, April 3, 2014

Weebly or Google sites !

                                                              

             After a long week  I have decided to choose weebly . I made this decision  based on my experience not just reading from here and there . I tried to design  a web page at Google .  I found it easy but not attractive and lacked some vital features. Today I designed the same contents with Weebly and I found the differences:
* There are  sub pages in weebly  as   Google  sites,  you can create many sub pages as you like .
At weebly there are sub pages  but you can't navigate from one to another as Google site
If you have a lot of information that you want to include on a single page, experiment with layouts to find the best way to organize and present it to your visitors.  Click here 
 * At Google you can't use slide photos
* At Google you can't use You tube easily as weebly
* At Google you can't use face book or twitter etc.... easily such as in weebly.  They are parts of the  weebly  front page
At Google  I can upload files one after the other but it differ in weebly because every time you upload a file you need to drag the word file from the side bar on the left .  I think it is easier .
*  At weebly You can use drag and add any thing you like  from the left bar and use it easily .
* At Google you can view the files or download them.
* At weebly you can download them only .
* At Google you can leave  a comment at the end of every page.
* At weebly there are two kinds of contact :
  • Contact Form
  • RSVP Form  
 * At weebly you have to add face book or twitter by adding an account to them to appear at the page .
Unfortunately, it is a trick there are no social links in weebly because i tried  to log into the face book  , I found myself in my e- mail  
* At Google you can add twitter  from add gadgets but  there is no face book and the icon itself is not like we used to see it ( in Google it is in a box )
* Both are easily to add and change anything you want even after you published them.

The Survey 

I think it is not an easy job as we think because the expectations  from others are big . After reading the summary of the survey responses and analyzed it we realized that we have to create something useful that can satisfy others .

Thursday, March 13, 2014

The purpose of the survey



What is the purpose of this survey?

As I said before in my previous post ''For teachers and by teachers''


'' what, why, how'' three questions are needed to be answered. Thus, I think the goal of this survey   is to get information about the content which is going to be used to form the website. If we know the target of the survey, we can formulate the questions. I think the survey is not just a decoration or something we have to do because we are told to do it. So the questions should be logical, related to the purpose, specified and limited. As we all admitted, Reham had exerted her efforts to do it. I admired some of the points she included in the survey. So let me share with you my suggestion and I hope you will like it:
Introduction 
·        This is a survey about '' a suggestion for designing a new website for teachers'' so please answer the questions to the best of your ability.
1-How important is the internet to you?
a-     Not important           b- Somewhat important 
b-      c- Very important   d- Extremely important
2-Are you interested in browsing a new website for teachers?
A-Very interested     b- Interested     c- Uninterested            d- Neutral
 3- How satisfied are you with your professional development?
Very dissatisfied    b- Dissatisfied   c- Neutral     d- Satisfied    e- very satisfied
4- Would you like an educational site that is easy to navigate and all resources are findable?
a-     Sure         b-  Sometimes    c- I'm not sure       d-Don't care
5- The website is useful if it provides
-Applicable resources
-Free resources
-Valuable resources
-Printed resources
-All of the above and other
6- I'm looking forward to a website that has
-lesson plans & assessment materials
-links & dictionaries
-Videos/ songs/photos
-activities & games
- Sheets &PowerPoint
-discipline strategies
-All of the above and other
7- I will recommend this survey to others
-Totally agree    b- agree   c- disagree   d- neutral   

Thursday, March 6, 2014

For teachers and by teachers



For teachers and by teachers

After surfing the internet for a week, reading here and there, I was still in a loss. I thought about our project ''a website for teachers and by teachers''. I like this logo which I had seen in one of many sites I've been browsing. All right! Let's do it.  There are arrays of sites dealing with teachers' issues. All I have to do is to ask Google so what is the difference?
There are these three questions that bother me ( how/ who/ why?)
How can we set up the website?
For whom is this website? (I know it is for teachers but what kind of teachers? all teachers, English teachers, Egyptians, Or is it for all teachers all over the world?
What is the purpose of this website?
I mean what is the vision of our website?
Hence, I asked myself and some of my colleagues this question (if there is a website for teachers, what do you want to see in it?  ) one of them said as a teacher I would like to find resources for my teaching ,  for how to be an effective teacher, how to deal with my students etc… that means professional development is the key issue for some of them.
For me I use Google when I search for something. However, it will be easy if there is a website where I can find what I want easily.

So what do I want? 

-I need to find information that can help me inside the classroom.
-What others do inside their classrooms or their experiences?
-What are the oldest and the newest theories of teaching?
-Some lesson plans for teachers in different countries.
-What are the curricula in other countries?
-How can I explore my students' creative sides?
-I need to find some activities, videos and worksheets
-Some stories from other teachers.
When I read some articles in Nelta Choutari , I liked them very much they share their visions with us . Sharing is the key word which we need to understand and adopt.So we need to evaluate the strengths, the weaknesses , the opportunities and  the threats  of our  project.

some useful links

Teaching Ideas and Resources

 http://teachers.net/chatboard/mission.html

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