As I make (and re-make) plans for some extended travel, I’ve found myself thinking about the web presence I’ve built for the Northern Virginia Writing Project that will soon pass into the hands of someone else. However, before I let go, some changes need to happen to better address three goals: simplicity, collaboration, and reality.
Simplicity
I want the web presence to be as simple as possible, both for users and for future site administrators. While the current site is useful as a front-end, the user tools for site members could be more intuitive and integrated, and the back-end is fairly involved.
The site is built on Joomla, a tool I’ve used in the classroom effectively and, up until recently, was the only tool that allowed me to build a fairly comprehensive social network before social networks were everywhere and freely available. However, Joomla required that I install the software, add components and modules, configure them to work together, and theme it all to appear seamlessly integrated. Now, I can create the equivalent in Ning with a quick sign-up and a little time on the “Manage” tab.
I’m not condemning Joomla–nor am I praising Ning–but I am finding that the benefit of having complete control over the software and content doesn’t seem to be worth the cost in labor anymore given the many web-based offerings that are emerging … at least for networks intended to be used by “adults.”1
Collaboration
I want to take advantage of the best “Web 2.0″ offerings so that NVWP can “practice what it preaches” digitally. By this, I mean: the workshops my colleagues and I have developed with NVWP have promoted asynchronous and collaborative technologies as powerful tools to help improve the teaching of writing. It follows, then, that NVWP’s online presence should incorporate those technologies. However, the question quickly becomes: which technologies should we offer? Which really becomes: which technologies do NVWP Teacher Consultants (TCs) want and/or need, and which will they actually use? Which leads me to the third item.
Reality
When I first added interactive components to the site, I was driven more by what I could create than by what the TCs actually needed. However, I thought the site could lead by example: by offering all of these collaborative tools, the site would compel TCs to use them. This proved not to be true, and other Technology Liaisons in other project sites reported the same things. Apparently we couldn’t make the horse drink.
So now, I’m trying to redesign and reconceive the online offerings: easy to use and maintain, collaborative, but offering only what the project and its constituents (TCs and parents) actually need and will use.2
Tentative Plans
Based on what we’ve seen in the past, responses from teachers, input from the board, and thoughts of other Technology Liaisons, here’s what I know we need:
- Main Website: with static information about the major components of the project, but also with occasional news, announcements, and related articles (probably in blog format); I will probably use WordPress to meet this need
- Mailing List: for parents to receive updates on the offerings of the Young Writers program, with the ability to subscribe and unsubscribe directly (without the need to contact the project); I will probably setup a “subscribe by email” option through Feedburner that delivers blog posts in the Young Writers category
- Directory: so that TCs can update their contact information themselves and find other TCs if necessary; I have no idea yet how I will meet this need … help!
That’s it. As for all the other collaborative tools, social networking options, etc., I’m beginning to think: maybe they don’t need it.
I still believe that some of our TCs would take advantage of additional collaborative offerings: a discussion forum or extended profile options or the ability to form groups. Ning can offer these things, but it seems like overkill for directory needs and too limited in the number of potential regular participants for collaborative needs.
This makes me wonder if the project should be providing these solutions at all, or if instead we should only suggest other tools and communities, pointing TCs to Google Docs, WikiSpaces, or Classroom 2.0, for example (since there is no official National Writing Project social network of which I’m aware).
Teachers, TCs, Technology Liaisons, or any other interested readers: got suggestions, recommendations, success or horror stories, etc. related to this little debate? I would love to hear from you. What do teachers need and/or want? Which of those should an organization like NVWP attempt to meet? Which tools best suit those purposes?
- Many (most?) districts still want student networks to be hosted and maintained privately for security reasons, which I can understand, and which is why I will probably continue to use Joomla or DrupalEd for the classroom. [back]
- Again, I’m thinking here about a professional web presence that meets the needs of adults. My questions and possible solutions would be different if I were thinking about students. [back]
August 24th, 2007 at 10:48 am
Hey Eric, I echo your thoughts above and am in the same dilemma as you are. I’m glad you’re calling for others to brainstorm on this topic. It is a big hurdle for us all. I am the TL for the South Central Kansas Writing Project. I have the tech skills to provide all sorts of tools, communities, and solutions for our project. I’ve created several things that don’t get used. Learning what our TC’s need or are willing to learn and use is a wire we all walk =)
You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make them drink but YOU CAN SALT THE HAY! What is our salt??
At SCKWP Our TC’s utilize our wikispaces area and our account on ClassBlogmeister more than any of the tools that I’ve shared. I think a couple of the reasons are that they are easy AND they are easy to replicate in schools. We are dealing with an adult audience and the tools that we need for our writing project community as adults can differ a little from what teachers need to use in schools. I have found that the tools that teachers latch on to and learn how to use are the ones that they can use themselves and can also easily begin using with their own students. I would add to your list of needs – that the tools we use in our projects should always serve as models for what teachers can use in their K12 classrooms.
I too am looking for that one tool that gathers all of the things together that our TC’s want/need and that they can use with their students. I am hoping your conversations yields us some answers!
August 24th, 2007 at 12:59 pm
Hi Eric,
Your dilemma and Tonya’s response echo what we are experiencing at RCWP. We were fortunate enough to have a grad student design a social network type back end to our semi-static front end (although we have RSS for news and events). That said, there are some bugs in the site and TCs (and me, when I was TL) flocked to other read/write web tools like Wikispaces, Blogger, Edublogs, and Google Docs.
So, we are in a similar situation to you, in thinking that the “home” page (the one affiliated with the university) will be mostly static and that we will then invite TCs to use other sites like Wikispaces (ours grows in fits and starts, but TCs love it) as they see fit. In fact, one of our current TCs just launched another Blogger site for a new initiative this year.
Maybe, then, the work of the TL is not to create a super-cool, totally integrated website that only he/she can manage with some user inputs. Perhaps we need to just keep our main “presence” updated and, perhaps, built in HTML, while other places online work in other ways for our sites.
One final question — in passing off the site, are you also moving on from writing project work? I hope not!
Take care,
Troy
August 27th, 2007 at 12:47 am
Hello, Eric,
In reading through your post, I can’t help but feel a sense of deja vu — I have been hearing people around the blogosphere (and particularly from within the WP) say similar things for the last 6-12 months.
In building a system (or a series of connected systems) it really gets down to two related questions:
1. What tools help people (of all ages — those of student age and those of more advanced teacher-age
) learn more effectively? How can we provide those tools so that they are available tomorrow?
2. What recourse will these learners have when something better comes along? How will they move their content into another location?
These two facets (1. what supports learning and 2. how can the content that shows learning be transported) need to be considered when designing or choosing a system. Many/most of the platforms in the TechCrunch post you link to are closed silos — ie, you can get something in, but good luck getting it out. Additionally, many come with advertising and/or terms of service that require that users surrender rights to their intellectual property as a condition of using the site. And when something better comes along in twelve months time, you have no way of moving any of this content from one place to the other.
FWIW, in your “tentative plans” section, DrupalEd does your first and third options out of the box. Maintaining static web pages is a no-brainer in Drupal, and DrupalEd features extensible user profiles that could be used by TC’s to create a directory. Additionally, DrupalEd can be extended to support embedded google maps with proximity searches only available to selected users, so this profile data would be private among specific site members. For the newsletters, the Simplenews module would give you an easily created newsletter people can subscribe to.
Really, though, the focus needs to be less on the tools, and more on having a smooth learning experience over time. How do we learn? How do we reflect on our learning over time? How can I carry this with me to show this to other people over time?
Cheers,
Bill
August 27th, 2007 at 10:52 pm
Thanks for the thoughtful comments so far.
Tonya, I agree that the tools we use should serve as models; that was a major goal behind our decision to create an online community to begin with (and also why we had numerous sessions throughout the Summer Institute to get the Fellows comfortable with the tools).
I also agree with your reasons for using tools that can also be used in the classroom. However, I do worry about what Bill brings up in his second point: I don’t want to setup NVWP services that force TCs to give up their rights to or control over their own content. (An issue to consider with students, too). That concern was the reason we created everything from scratch to begin with.
I’m starting to lean toward a middle ground of sorts: a blog-ish main website (built on Wordpress) and a limited TC community (probably built on Joomla, with a profile system, discussion forum, and an individual/group blogging). Then, as Troy is suggesting, point TCs to other tools/resources they can use as the need arises. The details are still fuzzy, though.
I want to be careful that I’m not creating tools just because they’re cool. The tools should be in response to a need, which was why I titled the post as I did: maybe I’m assuming needs that aren’t there. I think this is what Bill is referring to in his first point.
Perhaps I should be asking: What needs do the teachers you know seem to have that a site like NVWP should attempt to meet using online technologies?
(And, to Troy: I’ll continue with the writing project, but am also planning to do some long-term traveling. When/if those plans work out, I know I won’t be able to monitor and update whatever the NVWP site is using, so I wanted to get everything stable and easy-to-use before I left.
August 27th, 2007 at 11:22 pm
From the Inbox:
Mary at Prairie Lands Writing Project says: “My feeling is that teachers just do not have the time during the school year to do much of anything but teach. This is the big reason they do not use all the opportunitites offered by any site.”
This is definitely true, so whatever the service, it needs to be quick and easy to access, find what you need, and share resources or add to the discussion. It’s probably also helpful if something is coming to you to remind you of the resources.
The other side, of course, is that there must be an active community. If you build it, and they don’t come, you’ve wasted your time building!
September 15th, 2007 at 9:49 pm
Hi Eric,
Sorry for the delayed reply here. We, too, are thinking something similar with the “lite” blog (not a social network) for our main site so we can get info out there in RSS and find other places for the TCs to do their work that works for them.
Glad to know that you are staying connected with the writing project. Enjoy your travels!
Troy