Web to Web: Writing in HTML
Writing in html offers several benefits to
teachers and students. In the first instance, it answers the question,
"How can we post this on the Web?" When the document is done, it
is ready to post. Well not quite, but it is in html format.
But, one of the greatest advantages of hypertext assignments as they can
be authentic meaningful work. Assignments that are shared with the
class aren’t make work projects and the opportunity to share with a wider
audience should motivate students to produce high quality work. In
addition, using hypertext makes it easy to make a quality presentation.
There is freeware that does most of the coding required and adding animation,
images, and sound is as easy as finding what you want to use. Hypertext
offers the student both the motivation to do well and the tools to do well;
two good reasons to use hypertext in the classroom.
Its Easy
Contrary to popular opinion, writing html
documents is no harder than writing any other type of document. For
example, I am writing this document using Netscape Composer. I have
basic formatting available. I can bold, Italic, and underline
in a variety of font type and sizes. Also, there are the usual alignment
options and built in headings. Of course, the program handles lists
well. However, there are several other editors available for free
or inexpensively such as Front Page or Pagemill, which may offer different
features.
You
can cluster; You can mind map; You can Web
Building a web site is an interesting way
of moving a student or class project from a mind map or web to a presentable
product. The mind map is a model for the web site and students chose
portions of the map to present on the web. The students can build
their own web pages and sites, but collaborative projects and the web were
made for each other Personally, I would do the brainstorming
on the black board, but you can do it while building a web page -- a webbing
to web approach. I've been doing it with the table above while I
was writing this. As I think of a topic I want to include, I add
it to the table. (Just a note. I ran out of spaces and a
"tab" when I was in the last cell added a row. I added a couple of
extra rows while I was at it. If I don't need them, I can delete
them.) (Index)
Collaboration
Once the mind map, web, or cluster is done
and the central theme is established, students can chose one of the associated
nodes to explore and write about. The central theme page will be
the home page. All of the topics chosen by the students will be linked
to home page creating a web site. Of course groups of students assigned
to a topic can create their own web and web site. When all of the
students have finished their pages, they can prepare a short paragraph
to include in the home page. Then the class or a small group of students
can edit the home page to make it a coherent and readable document.
(Index)
Structure
I've been thinking about an appropriate web
site structure as I am writing this document. The simplest thing
to do would be to make one big web page. Just copy each students
work into one document. However, this doesn't give the reader much
choice about how to use the document. This could be improved by using
a Table of Contents linked to "targets" within the document. I have
done that with the headings in this document. But, with a collaborative
project, it makes more sense to have a central document or home page that
is linked to other pages. For this site, I have decided to work from
the table I have constructed. I can link each topic to an external
file by using the "Link" command from the menu. I just highlight
the topic; click on link; and type in a file name. To avoid problems,
file names should be short, contain no spaces and end in htm or html.
(Index)
Navigation
The ability to move from one section of the
web site or page to another or to have a word linked to an associated document
is what makes hypertext, hypertext. In 1945, Vannevar
Bush suggested that the current technology (microfiche) could allow
the worlds knowledge to be stored in a compact form. The problem
he saw was that linear indexing models would make accessing the information
difficult. He suggested that non
linear links between associated documents could be made. This
would allow a researcher to associate articles on one topic from different
linear indices such as the encyclopedia Britannica and Science. With
the advent of the internet and the World Wide Web, his speculative suggestions
for linking documents by association are a reality. By putting all
of the links to the pages in a navigation bar and including that bar on
each of the pages, a reader can move from a page in the site to any other
page in the site. This can be done quite simply. In the collaboration
section I suggested a linking all of the other pages to the home pages.
In its simplest form a navigation bar could be created by pasting the links
in a row accross the bottom of the page. If you use a table like
the one I am working with, all that needs to be done is to add a link to
the home page in the table and then to copy the table at the bottom of
each page. Hypertext goes beyond Bush's suggestions by allowing
creation of links from words within a document (Vannevar Bush) to other
documents or to parts of a document (non linear links). (Index)
Copyright
The article that I have included under Classroom
Ideas was copyrighted. This is something that you need to be
aware of when using resources that are available on the web. Generally,
I avoid the issue by linking directly to the article. But, in this
case a direct link wasn't available and I actually have the text on my
site. However, on Sunday I searched for the journal and found a contact
and then I searched for the authour and found the school website with her
email address. Monday afternoon I had permission to use the article
from both parties. Also, you should copyright the students work and
have them decide what uses they will allow.
© Larry
Phillips 1999 (Index)
References
Sites
Hypertext
Sites and Essays
http://www.marist.edu/humanities/english/hsite.html
Building
Web Pages
www.ualberta.ca/~ljp/infoway/website.htm
Articles
Anderson, Daniel, "Hybrid://Literature/Cognition/Design",
Kairos, Fall 1998, #3.2, found at, University of North Carolina-Chapel
Hill, http://sites.unc.edu/~daniel/hybrid/index.html (July 27, 1999)
Barkhouse, Nancy, "Grasping the thread:
Web page development in the elementary classroom," Emergency Librarian,
v.24(3) Ja/F'97 pg 24-25.
Bush, Vannevar (1945) "As
we may think," Harpers, June 1945, found at http://www.ps.uni-sb.de/~duchier/pub/vbush/vbush.shtml
(July 27, 1999)
Morris, Charlie, (July 1999) " Writing
for the Web" found at Web Developers Virtual Library, http://www.stars.com/Internet/Writing/
(July 27, 1999)
Vielstimmig, Myka, "Not
a cosmic convergence: Rhetoric, poetics, performance, and the web,"
Kairos, Fall 1998, #3.2, found at
http://www.ps.uni-sb.de/~duchier/pub/vbush/vbush.shtml
(July 27, 1999)
Wysocki, Anne Frances, "Monitoring
order, visual desire, the organization of web
pages,
and teaching the rules of design," Kairos, Fall 1998, #3.2 found
at, Michigan
Technological University, http://www.hu.mtu.edu/~awysocki/mOrder/mOrder.html
(July 27, 1999)
(Index)
This site is maintained by Larry
Phillips. Suggestions for additional online resources
and lesson plans that could be added to
this site are welcome. (July 27, 1999)
© Larry
Phillips 1999