Classroom Website? New Websites?

[Jennifer Dunnaway]

I really want to start working on a classroom website for this school year!  I want a website that will be interactive for students and parents and is easy to update/maintain.  I've been looking at edmoto.com and classnotes.com - I'm wondering what you guys use?

Also, are there any cool new educational websites you've discovered lately?  If you haven't checked out prezi.com, you really should.  It's a new twist on presentations that my kids enjoyed alot this year.

[Kristi Barber]

I have looked at Edmodo but I am sold on schoology.com. This website seems to offer everything that Edmodo has but also has the quiz creator feature. I am able to import questions from my test maker! I do have laptops in my room so I am really excited about using this. I have a subscription to quia.com which also has a quiz feature that self grades, BUT I can't import my questions and the students have to keep track of another user name and password. Check schoology out, very Facebook like, but secure.

Kristi

[Michael Grzelak]

Hello Jennifer,

 

If you want a social media site that I would continue exploring edmodo, but if you want to create a website that is more traditional, check out Google Sites.  I use Google Sites for our school's website.  I would use it for my individual class site, but we are a school that is modeled on a program and we are expected to use a provided website template (which is not good at all).

 

Also, if you want something that is just for information, then you could look into wikispaces.com.  If you want to create an easy website that looks flashy, then check out wix.com.

 

I hope these help!

[Shawn McCusker]

I have kicked this around too.  I have a school website that is really a simple resource site.  I like Google sites but I would need to have a link to it on my school website. That is getting more complicated than I want.  I dont want them to have to do a lot of clicking around.  I want the resources right there in front of them.  I have also started to create QR codes for my sites that the students can use to get there fast.  It will be useful because I teach high school and the students mostly have the tech to make it effective.

 

Have you tried the online quizzes? I am interested but wonder if it will yield valid results.  Will you have them quiz at home or at school? In the Computer lab?

[Dana Schroeder]

If you plan on making daily updates, you may consider adding your resources to a basic blog.  They are easy to create and maintain and one can upload information such as worksheets, internet resources etc. that may not necessarily need to be posted for a long period of time. 

[Ken Uhde]

Hey Jennifer, 

 

I use www.wix.com. Its free for your basic classroom site and has some awesome features.

For creating really cool travel websites I had my kids use glogster.com.

 

I have also created a free social studies resource for 6-12 teachers that you might want to check out. 

www.gosocialstudiesgo.com

 

Hope these help

Ken

[Ann Wright]

I just discovered weebly.com for a vrey easy to use website that includes a blog.  It's free but there is a pro version with a few more features including embedding documents.  It seems much easier that sites on the google app side.

[Carlos Fernandez]

For class websites I have used a lot of what has currently be touched on. 

 

 - Edmodo: this site is amazing but you need to be 100% committed to it the whole year if you want it to run smooth.

 - Schoology: Great site as well. 

 - Wix- I did not like WIX because it was flash based, so my students with iPads could not visit it. 

- Weebly - Very simple, but did not like the look of it. Just was not for me but a great easy site to create. Might be the easiest. 

 - Sharepoint - Run away from share point unless you have used it in the past. Not user friendly.

- Google Site - easy as can be, I just was looking for a different look.

 

Now I am currently using Blogger or Blogspot.com.

I use Edmodo as well as Livebinders.com religiously so I needed a good looking shell for these two sites and went with blogger on them. I love the look and it just makes so much sense.