These people had virtually no ICT skills other than the basics and certainly none in web design but were able to utilise some of the brilliant new applications now available to make something they were pleased with and which, most importantly, brought a fresh look to their students' learning environment.
Saturday, February 10, 2007
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These pages provide a simple guide to some of the e-tools used by colleagues at Dunstable College to create a range of on-line notes, information and links to resources.
Web pages: Pageflakes
Strange to think that you can just make a web page without lots of specialied training or expensive software? Well, follow these instructions and you'll be surprised .
Start at the Pageflakes web site and create an account. Because your site address on the web will feature your login name it is a good idea to keep that simple, ideally a single word and with some relevance to its content. Don't be too specific, though, because you will find that you can use the same login for lots of pages and others may relate to different units or topics perhaps.
You will then have a blank start page to which you need to add what they call flakes (but which I refer to as panels).
There are literally hundreds of panels available but initially you will find that these ones will do all you need.
Note
Use this panel for simple text - a bit like this section. It can be as long as you like and you can copy and paste text into it. Ideal for an introduction or short notes.
Web note
This is better for text that you'd like a little larger and is more suitable for longer notes. The font size, style and colours can be changed. The main thing about this panel is that you can have a collection of notes here. Write the first one and Save it with a sensible name. Then Create new notes and save them and you will see that each name then gets added to a list accessible under Open note.
Timetable / Calendar
The Timetable and Calendar panels provide options to set out a weekly schedule, for instance, and future important dates. The timetable is editable so you can change the spread of times and enter details in each box. In the Calendar you can display basic titles but further detail will appear when users hover over a date.
Top Links
The TopLinks panel is ideal for a selection of recommended links to other resources. Edit the panel and replace the four default links with your choices.Add Feed (not Flake) to bring onto the page a panel of your Web log headings or choose from a selection of general interest or subject-related ones available.
Layout
All the panels can be dragged around the page and will lock in to appropriate available positions.
They can also be set as either open or closed by clicking on the little icon top left. To change the title of a panel, just click on the title text and retype it. (It will be displayed in capitals.)
To edit any panel, click on Edit and it will open to show the options available. Don't forget to save any changes! This can be used to Add More TopLinks to a links panel as you may find that you need more than four.
The Page Title will initially be My New Page which, of course, you will wish to change. That is easily accomplished by clicking on the little arrow to the right and that pane will also give you the choice as to who can see it - with options to make it public or restrict to a group, with or without a password.
Your RSS Feed
To add your web log content to the page, use the Add Feed link as mentioned previously. Then use the ADD YOUR OWN section and the address to put in the box will be your Blogger web log address. Pageflakes will check that it is available and you should select the Atom option.
Alternatively, add /atom.xml to your http://yourtitle.blogspot.com address.
Normally you will find that just displaying headings or titles of posts works best but there is an option for a few lines of introduction to be displayed. Choose to open entries in the RSS Reader rather than Source or Original and your posts will be nicely set out by the internal feed manager, including pictures!
This is a very nice feature and effectively gives you the facility to have lots of your own resources on hand in one place - and when you update them they will automatically be updated here too!
Start at the Pageflakes web site and create an account. Because your site address on the web will feature your login name it is a good idea to keep that simple, ideally a single word and with some relevance to its content. Don't be too specific, though, because you will find that you can use the same login for lots of pages and others may relate to different units or topics perhaps.
You will then have a blank start page to which you need to add what they call flakes (but which I refer to as panels).
There are literally hundreds of panels available but initially you will find that these ones will do all you need.
Note
Use this panel for simple text - a bit like this section. It can be as long as you like and you can copy and paste text into it. Ideal for an introduction or short notes.
Web note
This is better for text that you'd like a little larger and is more suitable for longer notes. The font size, style and colours can be changed. The main thing about this panel is that you can have a collection of notes here. Write the first one and Save it with a sensible name. Then Create new notes and save them and you will see that each name then gets added to a list accessible under Open note.
Timetable / Calendar
The Timetable and Calendar panels provide options to set out a weekly schedule, for instance, and future important dates. The timetable is editable so you can change the spread of times and enter details in each box. In the Calendar you can display basic titles but further detail will appear when users hover over a date.
Top Links
The TopLinks panel is ideal for a selection of recommended links to other resources. Edit the panel and replace the four default links with your choices.Add Feed (not Flake) to bring onto the page a panel of your Web log headings or choose from a selection of general interest or subject-related ones available.
Layout
All the panels can be dragged around the page and will lock in to appropriate available positions.
They can also be set as either open or closed by clicking on the little icon top left. To change the title of a panel, just click on the title text and retype it. (It will be displayed in capitals.)
To edit any panel, click on Edit and it will open to show the options available. Don't forget to save any changes! This can be used to Add More TopLinks to a links panel as you may find that you need more than four.
The Page Title will initially be My New Page which, of course, you will wish to change. That is easily accomplished by clicking on the little arrow to the right and that pane will also give you the choice as to who can see it - with options to make it public or restrict to a group, with or without a password.
Your RSS Feed
To add your web log content to the page, use the Add Feed link as mentioned previously. Then use the ADD YOUR OWN section and the address to put in the box will be your Blogger web log address. Pageflakes will check that it is available and you should select the Atom option.
Alternatively, add /atom.xml to your http://yourtitle.blogspot.com address.
Normally you will find that just displaying headings or titles of posts works best but there is an option for a few lines of introduction to be displayed. Choose to open entries in the RSS Reader rather than Source or Original and your posts will be nicely set out by the internal feed manager, including pictures!
This is a very nice feature and effectively gives you the facility to have lots of your own resources on hand in one place - and when you update them they will automatically be updated here too!
Web pages: Protopage
Here's another way to make a web site using the very new and quite different-looking tools offered by the Protopage people.
Start at the Protopage site. Signing up is free and simple. Use a content-related name as this will appear in your web address - for individual units or topics you will be able to have separate pages so don't be too specific.
There are simple instructions provided on the first page. To add items you will need to use Widgets, available on the bottom bar.
These you then drag into any position on the page. Gravity on helps to keep things tidy.
The background and colours of panels are very customisable and pages have a unique appearance which can be quite stylish.
Sticky note
Use this panel for simple text - a bit like this section. It can be as long as you like and you can copy and paste text into it. Ideal for an introduction or short notes.
HTML / Rich text sticky note
This is better for text that you'd like a little larger and is more suitable for longer notes. The font size, and colour can be changed. You can also include links and things like lines in the text easily.
Calendar
The Calendar panel provides options to highlight future important dates. You can't display titles on the panel but further detail will appear when users hover over a date.
Bookmarks
The Bookmarks panel is ideal for a selection of recommended links to other resources. Edit the panel and add as many as you like.Add a newsfeed to bring onto the page a panel of your Web log headings or choose from a selection of general interest or subject-related ones available.
Layout
Panels can also be set as either open or closed by clicking on the little icon top left. To change the title of a panel, just click on the title text and retype it.
You can add new tabs or pages, even new categories of pages. Click on the arrow to the right of a category tab and Add new tab. Similarly you will get options to change colours or delete individual tabs.
This will also provide options to make pages public, private or restricted to users with a password.
There are lots of privately created widgets available for Protopage pages and even a facility, Web page, to feature a complete external web site within your own page. A To Do list can be useful and a comprehensive search facilty is included by default.
Add your RSS Feed
To add your web log content to the page, use the Add Feed link as mentioned previously. Then use the ADD YOUR OWN section and the address to put in the box will be your Blogger web log address. Protopage will check that it is available.
Start at the Protopage site. Signing up is free and simple. Use a content-related name as this will appear in your web address - for individual units or topics you will be able to have separate pages so don't be too specific.
There are simple instructions provided on the first page. To add items you will need to use Widgets, available on the bottom bar.
These you then drag into any position on the page. Gravity on helps to keep things tidy.
The background and colours of panels are very customisable and pages have a unique appearance which can be quite stylish.
Sticky note
Use this panel for simple text - a bit like this section. It can be as long as you like and you can copy and paste text into it. Ideal for an introduction or short notes.
HTML / Rich text sticky note
This is better for text that you'd like a little larger and is more suitable for longer notes. The font size, and colour can be changed. You can also include links and things like lines in the text easily.
Calendar
The Calendar panel provides options to highlight future important dates. You can't display titles on the panel but further detail will appear when users hover over a date.
Bookmarks
The Bookmarks panel is ideal for a selection of recommended links to other resources. Edit the panel and add as many as you like.Add a newsfeed to bring onto the page a panel of your Web log headings or choose from a selection of general interest or subject-related ones available.
Layout
Panels can also be set as either open or closed by clicking on the little icon top left. To change the title of a panel, just click on the title text and retype it.
You can add new tabs or pages, even new categories of pages. Click on the arrow to the right of a category tab and Add new tab. Similarly you will get options to change colours or delete individual tabs.
This will also provide options to make pages public, private or restricted to users with a password.
There are lots of privately created widgets available for Protopage pages and even a facility, Web page, to feature a complete external web site within your own page. A To Do list can be useful and a comprehensive search facilty is included by default.
Add your RSS Feed
To add your web log content to the page, use the Add Feed link as mentioned previously. Then use the ADD YOUR OWN section and the address to put in the box will be your Blogger web log address. Protopage will check that it is available.
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