Students are involved in "Digital Composition" by building a website! This composition involves writing, of course, but it is so much more: selecting and arranging materials, graphic design, visual rhetoric, addressing an audience, presenting a persona, creating a mood, providing a path of navigation, etc. Here is a general breakdown of the students' web project:
Planning!
- Students familiarized themselves with the tools and medium through tutorials and experiments using our class tool, Weebly.
- They described what their website would be like, and storyboarded the web pages.
- They investigated TIME's Top Websites and identified best practices for web design - PLUS they will use the list of Web Design Elements & Best Practices at Smashing Magazine to make a list of best practices for their own site-building.
Creating Content!
- Students will incorporate in their site a broad selection from the following elements: photo galleries, slide shows, prose writing, links to external content, blog integration, resume, video links, social media connections,etc.
- Students will create the following "pages" in their sites:
- Welcome/Home/Landing Page
- Feature Page (focus on a topic of interest selected by the student)
- Bio/Resume/About Me Page
- Blog Page (or link)
- Portfolio Page
Links and discussions will appear on their blogs throughout the construction process.
