Putting Curriculum Online: Four Steps to Consider The World Wide Web used to be a patchwork quilt, of sorts, when it came to school and teacher Web pages. One teacher had a page here, another there, yet another over there. School A had its own site, while School B -- in the same district -- had none. Those days are over as schools and districts become more digital, take ownership of their online presence, and mandate what can and cannot be posted for all the world to see. The idea of putting curriculum (or any information, for that matter) online is a dream come true for some, and a potential nightmare for others. As an educator, you know that online learning is most likely in your future and in the future of your students. The question is, what form will it take and will you be ready? If you are thinking about putting curriculum material online, you may want to consider the following four steps. Step 1: Identify Your Audience Be clear about who you are targeting with your online content: Is it news or information for the whole community or just your school or district? Are you planning on sharing resources with your colleagues? Will parents be part of your audience or is the information just targeted to students? Answering these questions will help immeasurably as you plan your school or district's online content. Step 2: Communicate with Your School and District A huge frustration for teachers occurs when, after laboring to create their own Web pages and online content, they learn that it is not compatible with the district's Internet Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) -- and the work is as good as lost. Be sure to ask about your district's AUP, as well as its technology plan and available resources. You should be able to work with your district and, if you're lucky, use their resources to further your own online objectives. Step 3: Choose Your Method for Publishing Curriculum on the Internet There are essentially three ways to put curriculum online: do-it-yourself, use a Web designer, or take advantage of an outsourced solution. The following is a brief explanation of each: Do-It-Yourself Perhaps the most common approach to putting content on the Web has been the in-house or do-it-yourself method. Creating your own Web site on which to store and share class materials can be quite a challenge, even if you are comfortable with Web page development. In fact, it's probably less of a technical challenge for many educators than simply a question of time and money. Web Designer Few schools or districts have opted to hire Web designers, mainly because they usually cost money. Beyond budget concerns, though, what they build oftentimes doesn't present a real solution that can scale to the entire district and be easily standardized across all schools. Content modifications can take longer and there may be little or no technical support included in this approach. Outsourced Solution Many schools are now opting to use Web-based communication services that offer template-based or customizable Web pages and online classrooms with archival functionality, file-sharing, interactive calendars and more -- to avoid the time and frustrations of do-it-yourself publishing. In this scenario, it is important to find an outsourced solution that can solve the standardization issue across multiple schools and districts, while allowing for easy individual posting of class and school information. While there are countless companies supplying Web-building tools for the individual developer, few provide whole schools with communication/collaboration platforms, and only a handful offer these capabilities at the district and state level. For more information about choosing outsourced vendors wisely, read eChalk Reports, Vol. 1, No. 3. Step 4: Post Your Material on the World Wide Web Now for the fun part. It's so gratifying to see your work -- or the work of your students, colleagues or staff -- live on the Internet. Of course, there are a few informal rules and regulations intended to make the Web experience safe and valuable for everyone. A good rule-of-thumb to start is: Always check your school/district's Internet Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) before publishing anything online. It typically provides some sound advice, such as "Do not post students' personal information online." The following are some other considerations you may want to take into account: Integration Whatever method or service you use to create your school or district's Web pages, make sure it can easily incorporate Web pages that have already been created, so time and effort won't be lost. Form and Function Form and function should be weighted to balance each other. You want your site to be good-looking, but you also want the information on it to be quickly grasped. A visit to the World Wide Web Consortium illustrates well the complexity -- from aesthetics to usability -- involved in good Web site design. For more advanced users, there is the Web Developer's Virtual Library, where you'll find good tips like: Use Web-templated colors; Set your screen size to fit in the Web-standard of 800x600 pixels; and Try to keep your pages "light" -- don't use too many pictures, video, or audio, so that people with slower, dial-up connections can still access your work. Accessibility Users with disabilities should be considered when building any educational Web site. For example, different users may not be able to see, hear, move, or may not be able to process some types of information easily or at all; they may have difficulty reading; they may not have or be able to use a keyboard or mouse; or they may have a text-only screen, a small screen, or a slow Internet connection. Luckily, a lot of great research has been done into ways to create Web sites and content that work for everyone. As an example, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines site includes W3C specifications providing guidance on accessibility of Web sites for people with disabilities. Copyrights and Fair Use Laws In a nutshell, the only tangible works that can be copied without asking permission or by considering fair use guidelines are works that exist in the public domain and those that are not copyright protected. What does this mean for teachers? For now, educators can rely on the Fair Use provision of the 1976 Copyright Act to enable them to reproduce and distribute copyrighted materials for educational purposes without infringing on copyrights. That said, in many cases -- and especially when freely using materials on the Web -- it's a very good idea to get permission to use that material. You'd be surprised at how often permission comes back quickly and with a heartfelt "thank you for asking." For more information on updated copyright law for schools, click here. Citing Online Resources According to the Modern Language Association, there are specific rules to follow in citing Web sources, both when re-posting materials on the Internet for your classes, and for your students to learn when using the Web for research. To learn more, go the MLA Web site. Online classrooms and communities are not a thing of the future. They're here now, in schools and districts across the country, connecting students who might otherwise be left behind, connecting the inhibited child directly to his or her teacher. They are stimulating the bored remedial student and challenging the advanced. In the very best scenarios, they are connecting children to their parents, parents to the teachers, and all members of the academic community to each other. Torrance Robinson President & Co-Founder eChalk More Useful Links The Fair Use Test from The Copyright Website http://www.benedict.com/basic/fairuse/fairtest.htm The U.S. Copyright Office of the Library of Congress http://www.loc.gov/copyright/ "Using Software: A Guide to the Ethical and Legal Use of Software for Members of the Academic Community" from the University of Miami School of Law http://www.law.miami.edu/legal/educom.html Useful guidelines for creating school Web sites http://www.massnetworks.org/~nicoley/schools/index.html