Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Weighing the + and - of Google Sites

I am currently building a Google Site resource for studying English Language and Literature (Learning Lit) and I am very convinced that having a website as a resource for students, parents, and/or teachers (or all three in my case) is so unbelievably useful to getting everyone on the same page!

PROS (+) :

Right now I am in the middle of adding a number of resources for the different audiences that addresses the importance of learning and teaching English through a number of strategies.

Google Sites allow you to add a Google Calendar with all your events, assignments, tests, reminders, birthdays, etc.

The site provides a common space for all parties to address questions or concerns.

CONS (-) :

Limitations you may ask?

Well, there are some. The limitation I see right now (because I haven't quite figured out how to incoporate it yet) is the lack of ACTIVE DISCUSSION (a forum, discussion board?).

It is important NOT to use the website as only a teacher-directed tool or else you a minimizing how the site could truly be used to enhance student/parent/teacher learning. To open these topics up to discussion, we are learning from one another and therefore, engaging in ACTIVE LEARNING.

1 comment:

  1. The google pages default to having a discussion section at the bottom. If you don't see the discussion section: when you're not actively editing a page, click on the more button, then page settings and click on the box beside allow comments. I haven't yet tried it out, so I'm not sure how effective it is, but it seems to be an option.

    ReplyDelete