- \n
- highlighted\u00a0keywords\u00a0(hypertext links serve as one form of highlighting; typeface variations and colour are others)<\/li>\n
- meaningful\u00a0sub-headings\u00a0(not “clever” ones)<\/li>\n
- bulleted\u00a0lists<\/li>\n
- one idea\u00a0per paragraph (users will skip over any additional ideas if they are not caught by the first few words in the paragraph)<\/li>\n
- the\u00a0inverted pyramid<\/a>\u00a0style, starting with the conclusion<\/li>\n
- half the word count\u00a0(or less) than conventional writing<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Now in the context of school I am not required to produce a true website but I do use our intranet (the portal) as the gateway to teaching and learning resources for my students for each unit of work I teach. I do very much see these to be act like the contents page of the units book and have endeavoured to keep them as such uncluttered and effective.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/neilcommons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/portal-start-old-300x215.png\" "\\"portal")
<\/a>My old car safety unit portal page<\/p><\/div>\n
A basic structure would be 1) a title followed by some additional useful additional links, 2) A list of assessment tasks, and 3) A table breaking down the content into topics and the related resources.<\/p>\n
So now I need to reflect upon this format with respect to the student.\u00a0 Does the typical student really care about the additional websites and options that I identified?\u00a0 Now even if a student was interested in these hyperlinks it would still not be an every lesson occurrence so clearly these need to be moved further down the page. \u00a0What students care about is what do I have to do now \u2013 lesson content \u2013 and what am I going to be assessed on.\u00a0 So I am going to bring the lesson content table up and follow that by the assessment tasks. \u00a0Considering my audience is a digital generation I am less concerned that to access those additional resources will involve some additional scrolling especially if I can use this model with all my classes.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/neilcommons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/portal-contents-old1-300x263.png\" "\\"portal")
<\/a>My old portal content<\/p><\/div>\n
Now I look at the more subtle features.\u00a0 Typeface can be used to highlight points so in turn this means consistency in typeface is important.\u00a0 I read an article about \u201cWhich fonts do children prefer to read online<\/a>?\u201d which shows that research indicates comic script.\u00a0 Yet this is not an option within the editing page for the portal so I just set everything on Arial font.\u00a0 \u00a0I was also informed that a font size of 14 is also preferable and again this is not a built in option.\u00a0 So the bulk of the text is set at font size 12.\u00a0 I do recognise that with a bit of cut and pasting I could fix both of those problems but that really does not feel like a good use of my time. The sub-levels in my contents table are all meaningful as they highlight the relevant topic.\u00a0 Yet I can improve on this by setting them in bold and aligning them to the left.\u00a0 I have also removed all underlining \u2013 using font size or bold \u2013 to highlight points and to save confusion with hyperlinked options.<\/p>\n
I also spot the opportunity to consolidate my key learning objectives with visual prompts under each of these topic headings.\u00a0 Is this beneficial for my students?\u00a0 I have to do some more research on this feature.<\/p>\n
So I have tweaked my first portal page with a greater consideration for my audience.\u00a0 I will endeavour to adjust all my portal pages with the student in mind.\u00a0 I wander if anyone will notice? \u00a0And feel that an even bigger change is required.<\/p>\n
- half the word count\u00a0(or less) than conventional writing<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/neilcommons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/portal-new1-300x172.png\" "\\"portal")
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