I am in Kansas City with a whole group of very talented and smart representatives of the National Writing Project where we are exploring ways we can use a new NWP Social Networking site to the advantage of the teachers in our various sites. Last night, we had some initial activities, including discussing the elements of a website that makes us want to come back it time and again. Themes that emerged included:
- Usefulness to a specific interest
- Fun, and use of humor
- Collaborative elements
- The voice of someone with experience
- Multiple points of entry to content
- Easy to navigate
- and more
We then broke into our site teams (I am here with a wonderful teacher from the Springfield schools) and worked on a paper activity using widgets that might be available as we work today to design our space. My partner, Anne Marie, and I talked about simplicity of design and which elements would allow for the easiest way for our teachers to enter into conversations. It was pretty interesting and will lay the groundwork for some activities today.
Peace (in the NWP),
Kevin
Thanks for the useful information Kevin. You certainly give us lots to think about. Hopefully some of those elements are on my website making people want to come back…for the rest, I will have to get working.