Do these Web sites work? Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. Learn what our online experts, Odvard Egil Dyrli and Gary Stager, say is right--and wrong--with these district Web sites.Anne Arundel County Public Schools Anne Arundel County Public Schools is the public school district serving Anne Arundel County, Maryland. The AACPS school system is the 5th largest in Maryland, and the 39th largest in the United States. (Maryland) www.aacps.org DESIGN * This site presents useful information on one of the 50 largest school systems in the U.S., but the opening screen does not specify the state or town where the district is located. Also, too many colors and fonts were used in the opening screen, which detracts from its appearance, and the content elements need to be better organized. * The main menu on the left side of the home page and the "frequently visited" menu on the right included unnecessary duplicate links to the school calendar. While the acronym acronym: see abbreviation. A word typically made up of the first letters of two or more words; for example, BASIC stands for "Beginners All purpose Symbolic Instruction Code. AACPS can be understood in context, others used in headings such as ERO ERO European Radiocommunications Office ERO Education Review Office (New Zealand) ERO Explicit Route Object (protocol) ERO Eastern Regional Office ERO Electronic Return Originator and SEMS SEMS Standardized Emergency Management System SEMS Screw and Washer Assemblies SEMS Student Emergency Medical Services (various universities) SEMS Support Enforcement Management System should be defined.--OED * The formatting in the box "From the Superintendent" is messy and confused by the use of right alignment of the text bullets and the budget icon below. --GS NAVIGATION * The site is an effective gateway to the more than 100 schools in the large district, and the "QuickLinks" pull-down menu Also called a "drop-down menu" or "pop-down menu," the common type of menu used with a graphical user interface (GUI). Clicking a menu title causes the menu items to appear to drop down from that position and be displayed. provides overview information for each school and easy access to their Web sites. Also, the top menu usually remains in place and side menus are carried from page to page, so it is always easy to move to other content areas.--OED QUALITY OF THE INTERACTION WITH THE USER * The site provides resources targeted specifically to students, parents/community and teachers, with timely and useful content for each group including announcements, programs, policies, online forms and related links. --OED * When I clicked on the Schools button, I went to a page where the text was garbled in my Safari browser. There appears to be some sort of compatibility problem.--GS SCHOOL-TO-HOME INTERACTION * It is difficult, if not impossible, to find e-mail addresses See Internet address. e-mail address - electronic mail address for teachers, principals and school district officials. The individual school sites do not even contain direct e-mail links to the principals. As a parent, I need a way to communicate with teachers and administrators via e-mail. --GS * The home page features content of interest to parents and the community including school safety information, district goals, a presentation on the upcoming fiscal year budget, district press releases, and Board of Education decisions.--OED CREATIVE USE OF ONLINE TECHNOLOGIES * Most district site pages are heavily text-oriented, though a few use graphics and photographs sparingly spar·ing adj. 1. Given to or marked by prudence and restraint in the use of material resources. 2. Deficient or limited in quantity, fullness, or extent. 3. Forbearing; lenient. . That makes the content presentations less appealing to users and inaccessible to individuals who are visually impaired. Future development might also explore how multimedia technology could enhance and expand the site with audio, video, animation, online tutorials and interactive simulations.--OED UP-TO-DATE INFORMATION * The quality of online access among the separate schools ranges widely, from well-developed sites, to "placeholder place·hold·er n. 1. One who holds an office or place, especially: a. One who acts as a deputy or proxy. b. One who holds an appointed office in a government. 2. " sites with only opening screens, to schools that do not have Web sites at all. Establishing an online presence for every school and making the content more uniform among the sites should be district-wide priorities.--OED Plano Independent School District Plano Independent School District (PISD or Plano ISD) is a public school district in Plano, Texas (USA). Plano ISD also takes students from some areas of Dallas, Richardson, Allen, Murphy, and Parker. [1] Led by Superintendent of Schools Dr. (Texas) www.pisd.edu DESIGN * The site has a very clean welcome page. The "New to Plano" ad on many pages takes you quickly to useful information. The site has an excellent search capability built into each page and the results include the URL URL in full Uniform Resource Locator Address of a resource on the Internet. The resource can be any type of file stored on a server, such as a Web page, a text file, a graphics file, or an application program. and an excerpt ex·cerpt n. A passage or segment taken from a longer work, such as a literary or musical composition, a document, or a film. tr.v. ex·cerpt·ed, ex·cerpt·ing, ex·cerpts 1. from the matching Web page.--GS * This is an exceptionally well organized, informative and easy-to-use district Web site, with a clean, inviting and highly functional format. Menu selections for the three major user groups are also highlighted through prominent labeled tabs that read "for Parents," "for Students" and "for Staff."--OED NAVIGATION * The effective site menu remains on the screen at all times, so users never lose their way among the pages and can jump immediately to other sections. It is also easy to find specific information from anywhere in the site, since links to a search tool and a site index--arranged alphabetically al·pha·bet·i·cal also al·pha·bet·ic adj. 1. Arranged in the customary order of the letters of a language. 2. Of, relating to, or expressed by an alphabet. for easy access--appear at the top of each page. Submenus are placed consistently on the left margins for each section--such as "Know Your School District"--and the content is so well designed that users can click every item from top to bottom and gain a comprehensive view of that area.--OED QUALITY OF THE INTERACTION WITH THE USER * All site content and menus can be displayed in Spanish, by clicking a button at the top of every page, which makes everything accessible to parents for whom English is a second language.--OED SCHOOL-TO-HOME INTERACTION * The site does not include e-mail addresses for teachers or administrators. This is one of the primary features I desire in a district Web site. I need to know how to contact the educators who care for my children. Also, while I am not interested personally in monitoring my children's grades, the ability to do so from the district Web site would appeal to many.--GS * A link to the current district calendar is located at the top of every page, with hotlinks to selected items such as meeting agendas and exam schedules and an early look at next year's calendar. Separate content boxes also highlight events such as upcoming registration and school open house dates. And directories for contacting admmistrators are accessible through the district site, though for some reason few individual e-mail addresses are included. Directory information for teachers is available only through the school sites. -OED CREATIVE USE OF ONLINE TECHNOLOGIES * This site is incredibly well executed and filled with information for members of the community. It would have cost a small fortune to design and maintain. The site goes out of its way to promote the district's accomplishments, big and small.--GS * Although this is an effective mad well-designed site, it does not take advantage of online multimedia technologies including speech, music, film, and video that can take teaching, learning and communications to even greater levels.--OED UP-TO-DATE INFORMATION * The site is kept up-to-date meticulously me·tic·u·lous adj. 1. Extremely careful and precise. 2. Extremely or excessively concerned with details. [From Latin met , with weekly news items on the opening page and timely announcements that keep users coming back.--OED Odvard Egil Dyrli, dyrli@uconn.edu, is senior editor and emeritus e·mer·i·tus adj. Retired but retaining an honorary title corresponding to that held immediately before retirement: a professor emeritus. n. pl. professor of education at the University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut is the State of Connecticut's land-grant university. It was founded in 1881 and serves more than 27,000 students on its six campuses, including more than 9,000 graduate students in multiple programs. UConn's main campus is in Storrs, Connecticut. . Gary Stager, gary@stager.org, is editor-at-large and an adjunct professor at Pepperdine University Pepperdine University is a private institution of higher learning affiliated with the Church of Christ in unincorporated Los Angeles County, California, United States. The university's location overlooks the Pacific Ocean and is adjacent to the city limits of Malibu. . |
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