The Seven Key Tools of an Effective Classroom Web Site
By David Mahaley

For years, businesses have been using the term “hub” to create an understanding of the flow of goods and services. To achieve the maximum potential from a classroom information hub, it is important to recognize the ways in which the various pieces of the technology will impact the learning processes of the students. Using modern technologies can facilitate individual and collaborative learning experiences.

The Classroom Hub should be designed to include the following 7 Key Tools for the teacher, students and parents to use.

1. Communication
Communication is arguably the most important of the seven tools. In the educational setting, communication involves the transferring of important information between all parties involved in the education of the student. There are many ways in which this information can be disseminated. Parents and students should, at the very least, have the teacher’s e-mail address and telephone number. Some sites allow the user to participate in message boards for classroom topics and concerns or even online chat rooms created for specific needs of a classroom.

Ultimately, integration of the classroom site with a database of the e-mail addresses of students, parents and other teaching professionals provides fast, efficient means of communication. This may require an initial investment of time to develop; however, the long-term benefits of this resource are great. The use of e-mail systems should never completely replace the value of face-to-face conferences and interaction with students and their families, but it does offer an efficient way to deal with the frequent issues that arise in the classroom without spending hours on the telephone.

Communication may also include activities that focus on an exchange of information or ideas. Using your site to foster positive learning experiences through building a communication forum can be educationally rewarding. Classroom activities that involve the exchange of information to complete a project between several classes are a great way to involve the students directly into the communication process.

2. Student Resources
Access to a wide range of study resources on a frequently used classroom page will provide students with a wealth of information only one click away. The ready availability of such resources prevents the time-burning task of searching around the Internet for the resources needed to complete an activity or assignment. It is most helpful to imagine yourself as the Internet Librarian for your students. You can provide a selection of educational resources that fit the curriculum, age level and needs of your students. Pre-selecting resources gives the instructor the ability to pre-screen sites for their educational value and relevance to the topic of study. Commonly used resource links include online dictionaries, thesauruses, encyclopedias and specific search engines.

3. Classroom Calendar
Many classrooms operate using a class calendar. Sometimes the calendar may take the form of a syllabus acting as the reference for units, activities and assignments covered over a selected period of time. The Classroom Hub should include a calendar that can be updated quickly and easily on a day-to-day basis. The classroom teacher should be able to add homework assignments each night, as well as notify students and their parents of upcoming tests and quizzes through the use of the calendar feature. The calendar can also act as a class newsletter, providing details of upcoming events for students and parents.
This is one area that many of the commercially available sites really excel. Many of the standard educational Web sites have a calendar feature of some sort. Your time should be spent here investigating the specific functions a calendar feature offers. Ask these questions when looking at a particular calendar site:

1. How often can the calendar be updated?
2. How easy is it to update the calendar?
3. What special features like the ability to add links directly to a specific date or automatic e-mailing does it offer?

4. Assignment Posting
Posting of assignments on the classroom page either through the classroom calendar or by providing a link to the assignment integrates the class site into the daily processes. Combining the two features of a calendar and the assignment posting is a possibility. I find that the best option is to have the nightly assignments posted on the initial page that your users come to, since this information is perhaps the most often accessed. The details of a specific task can be placed for each student to view or for the parents to have access to in order to monitor progress from home. The assignment posting may include specific direction, links and documents for the students to use to meet the desired objectives. This can replace many of the handouts given in class.

5. Activity Links
A designated space for links on the Classroom Hub is critical. While many of us have become pros at book-marking sites we use on the Internet, the list often becomes unmanageable. In a given school year, the sites I use in class reaches hundreds in number. This is an unrealistic number of links to attempt to place on any one site. The Classroom Hub should provide the links to only those sites being currently used with the topics of study. As the chapters and units change, so should the links. This keeps the list short and specific for the students to navigate through. I have also found that as the students and teacher use the site more and more, it becomes a starting point for class discussions, activities, and lessons. Importing the current links used on a weekly or daily basis becomes more important as the Classroom Hub takes on the roll of the launching point for classroom activities.

6. Documents
Over the course of an academic year, many classroom documents are used, including worksheets, tests, quizzes, or guide sheets, among others. Establishing a document database for you and your students to use can centralize the location of important papers and allow access from home or school. The best demonstration of this is to consider the countless times students have come to request a second copy of a particular handout. Students can retrieve the document from the Classroom Hub, saving both them and the teacher valuable time.

7. Student Information
As part of the ongoing drive to increase communication between teachers, students and parents, providing student information online is education’s new line of rapid response.
The foremost concern in providing the specific student information is privacy. Access should be possible and limited to only the students and their parents. This can be done through a wide range of methods provided by online grade books or information systems. Many schools have approached this as a school-wide initiative.

Beyond the student grades, other important information can be organized and offered via the Classroom Hub. This can include student work samples in the format of a portfolio. These could be protected through the use of passwords or ID numbers. The easiest way to have this happen is to talk to the network administrator in your school and see what the possibilities are to have student portfolios available through the established network system.

Many schools and teachers have also provided parents with a class schedule via their classroom pages. A document that can be viewed by students and parents showing the daily or weekly classroom schedule can help them know the best time to contact you. Parents can consult this schedule when they are planning to pick their child up early from school. They can find out which classes they will miss or are leaving early from. This can be another way in which you, the teacher, can supply parents with good information about what their child’s day is like.

David Mahaley is the high school administrator of Franklin Academy in Wake Forest, North Carolina.