Recommend Contents of School District Web Pages

In visiting school districts' web sites from all over the state of Texas in the process of keeping our school district pages up-to-date, I have had the opportunity to explore a variety of web pages. These explorations have given me a unique perspective. I have listed below my opinion of what makes a good school district web site.

Authorship

The person or group who created and maintains the web site should be clearly stated. The best and the worst school district sites I have visited have been student created and maintained, but I always like to see the students involved instead of just a teacher, parent or local service provider.
A link to the current web master should also be provided for communication purposes.

 

Audience

Web sites should be designed for multiple audiences and the path for each should be clear. Audiences I have seen targeted at Texas ISD web sites are listed below:

• students
• teachers
• parents
• community members
• prospective students, parents and teachers
• alumni

Content

The content should be varied and with specific audiences. It needs to be kept up-to-date and have a email link to the webmaster on all pages. I have listed some of the content I have found at sites around the state.

• school district information including board members, departments, maps, etc.
• campus information, leadership, building pictures, maps, etc.
• information about the community
• individual teacher & class web space
• links organized by audience, by subject, state centers, etc.
• lunch menu and events calendar
• athletics information, schedule, articles, etc.
• employment pages
• contact information for school district: address, phone, fax and email
• email for web master

Layout, Design and Navigation

The layout should be consistent throughout the site unless a clear separation is wanted (i.e. different campuses). A balance needs to be maintained between page length and number of layers. Long pages need anchor tags (internal links). The navigation for the entire site needs to be consistent and easy to understand.
Change the default page name so that it is titled (shows up in the title bar as) anything besides "home page", "untitled" or "My First Web Page".

 

These suggestions are the personal opinion of Kathrine Box and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of TCET.

Texas Center for Educational Technology

If you have any suggestions that would be of interest, contact tcet@unt.edu