Introduction to Weebly
Please click on the images below to access three existing resources on Weebly.
Website
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PDF Document
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Video Tutorial
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Mary's top ten tips for using weebly as a tool for teaching and learning
1) Before you plan the website of your dreams play, practice and experiment in a low risk way. I started with really simple pages with one video tutorial.
2) Everyone will tell you to keep it simple, but as a repository of teaching resources it can be a huge sprawling hot mess of content, as long as there are navigable pockets of order, and students are clearly linked in to those pockets.
3) Use the "hide from menu" function to keep unfinished or ongoing work hidden until you are ready to share. Students will be put off using a resource if there are too many blind alleys and dead links.
4) Use the stats analysis to see which pages are getting spanked, and at what points in the curriculum. They also help to pinpoint successful strategies for sharing links (for example, my hits always spike just after a workshop, and whenever I post up the resource in a Blackboard announcement.)
5) Try to avoid using the site as an alternative Blackboard, which is the place for module paperwork, timetables and formal documentation.
6) Publish Publish Publish! Keep checking links, files and content as you go. It can get very messy very quickly if you miss out on a step or link to the wrong file.
7) If you want students to produce something in weebly, invent your own language (Digital Sketchbook, screening site, reflective journal as opposed to Blog website or online portfolio)
8) Don't be afraid to set up design restrictions where the design of the site is not an assessed outcome. Students will waste time playing with fonts, designing tabs and filling up the pages with found content unless you strictly scaffold the interface.
9) Assessment of web based work is a thorny issue, but there are solutions. (Incorporating a formal "live presentation" of web based work into the submission is one strategy, and there are many others, specific to your modules and creative fields.)
10) Always have a back up in case the internet is down on the day. I always springboard delivery from a basic powerpoint presentation, and keep all images on a memory stick for the quick cobbling together of some visual material.
2) Everyone will tell you to keep it simple, but as a repository of teaching resources it can be a huge sprawling hot mess of content, as long as there are navigable pockets of order, and students are clearly linked in to those pockets.
3) Use the "hide from menu" function to keep unfinished or ongoing work hidden until you are ready to share. Students will be put off using a resource if there are too many blind alleys and dead links.
4) Use the stats analysis to see which pages are getting spanked, and at what points in the curriculum. They also help to pinpoint successful strategies for sharing links (for example, my hits always spike just after a workshop, and whenever I post up the resource in a Blackboard announcement.)
5) Try to avoid using the site as an alternative Blackboard, which is the place for module paperwork, timetables and formal documentation.
6) Publish Publish Publish! Keep checking links, files and content as you go. It can get very messy very quickly if you miss out on a step or link to the wrong file.
7) If you want students to produce something in weebly, invent your own language (Digital Sketchbook, screening site, reflective journal as opposed to Blog website or online portfolio)
8) Don't be afraid to set up design restrictions where the design of the site is not an assessed outcome. Students will waste time playing with fonts, designing tabs and filling up the pages with found content unless you strictly scaffold the interface.
9) Assessment of web based work is a thorny issue, but there are solutions. (Incorporating a formal "live presentation" of web based work into the submission is one strategy, and there are many others, specific to your modules and creative fields.)
10) Always have a back up in case the internet is down on the day. I always springboard delivery from a basic powerpoint presentation, and keep all images on a memory stick for the quick cobbling together of some visual material.