Wading through the Web
Module 2, Activity 4.4 - Introduction to Wed Design
Teacher Page
(student page for this lesson)

Introduction:

In this lesson, the students will learn about good and bad design for the internet. They will also start the process of planning their own on-line newspaper.

Resources:

- internet access
- planning aides like markers or sticky paper if applicable
- sample checklist in (.doc) or (.rtf)

Activities:

Task One - Sites that "suck"
Students start by looking at a number of sites that have big problems built into them. The link for this is on the student page for this lesson. Some of the sites are very beautiful site.

You could choose to look at the sites as a whole class and develop the principles based on the issues, or spend less time and just look at the non-examples then discuss the principles.

As students look at each of the five principles, encourage them to make the principles real, visually. Ask questions like "So what would formal balance look like on a web site?"

Students are starting with the principles because these are conventions of good design. There are many other conventions that are smaller issues. For example, a paragraph is not indented on the web, and is rarely fully developed by print standards. You will need to decide how many of these conventions you wish to teach, or if you wish to focus on the bigger principles.

Task Two - Planning the On-line News Site
You should start the planning process by reminding students that we tailor all of our writing to our intended audience. Students will be creating their own on-line news site over the next several lessons, and need to think carefully about the focus of their work.

After students have read through the basic expectations on the student page for this lesson, you could help them focus on how the intended audience shapes the content and style of the examples provided. If there are any local sites to use as a point of comparison, this would be a good point to introduce them. The basic process of the assignment is laid out for students as an advanced organizer.

Students will:

1. Plan out everything about the site
2. Create the basic framework for the site (navigation, header, file structure)
3. Create the content, including text, images and video
4. Put the content into the framework
5. Edit, proof and debug the site
6. FTP the site to your server and publish it on the web OR hand in in to your teacher on CD

Assessment and Evaluation:
At this point, you should encourage students to continually check their plans against the process. As the project progresses, students should also evaluate their plans in the context of the formal evaluation.

If you find a checklist or notes helpful in monitoring student work through a process, you should start the tracking during Task Two.