HiTechHall’s Tech Waves

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A few weeks ago I was asked by the Modern Languages department to come up with some options for creating a departmental website to benefit instruction. I met with the department head and then later with ML teachers to sketch out an idea of what they were looking for. I then went to work on what I understood was needed, presenting my creation to them at their next departmental meeting. And… they hated it. Well, hate might be too strong a word, but they saw major problems with my original designs.

I’d assumed that the department would want separate sites for each language (French, Mandarin, Japanese & Spanish) as well as for each section (Middle School & High School), as most subjects,  I assumed,  would want. But what they were asking for was a  “web-architecture” that mixed the grade levels within each individual language.

Additionally, they needed not only a “public” site — for students, parents and the general public to access — but also a “private” area, part of the site restricted to language teachers only. Here they could communicate with their colleagues to post notes, access meeting agendas/minutes, and collaborate.

So I had to go back to the drawing board (literally — web sites are often best planned by sketching-out the individual pages with pencil and paper). What I came up with this time might get closer to satisfying their requirements. But I’m sure there will be more tweaks needed — and that’s part of the challenge as we try to adapt helpful digital tools to our analog thought-processes.

Please take a look around the site, and if you think your department might benefit from something similar, let me know. Notice that currently only the “Spanish” portion of the site has been created, and that’s not the only rough edge.  The site is very much a work-in-progress, and really, that’s how it always should be.