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Introducing the Build Your Own Website™ service
Build Your Own Website is a great example of what happens when teachers have a say in how technology should work. “Make it powerful, but keep it simple,” they said. And that's what we did. BYOW features some pretty advanced tools for doing things like managing mailing lists, creating newsletters and sharing files between classroom and home. But all that power is tucked neatly away beneath a simple point and click interface. So you're in control of the technology - not the other way around.
Homepage Builder: Your homepage is your virtual classroom. Use the homepage builder to renovate, redecorate, add new features whenever the mood strikes. How about a mailing list for parents? Put a form on the homepage to let them sign up! Would a calendar be that lists assignments and due dates be useful? Set one up with a couple of clicks. What else? Weather updates? Links to your favorite web sites? A school logo? A search engine? No problem. They're all just a couple of clicks away. Wouldn't it be great if you could rearrange your real classroom so easily?
Template Builders: There's nothing more daunting than a blank sheet of paper… unless it's a blank computer screen with the words “My web site” at the top. BYOW gets around that problem with web page templates. They were designed for and by teachers, so there is bound to be one that meets your needs. Pick it out, fill in the details and you're ready to go. You can even do it from home. Because, let's face it, you don't have time to struggle with the Internet version of writer's block.
Upload Center: Pictures! You have them and you want to share them. The upload center makes it easy. If you have a digital camera or a scanner, you can save your photos and artwork to your own images folder and they'll be available to you in any design template.
Style Center: A consistent style makes for a stylish site. The Style Center allows you to choose the look that is just right for you. With a few simple choices, you can determine the font, colors, background images, text size, and more, for every page on your Web site. In the mood for a change? Simply come back to the Style Center and select new options. With a click of a button, your entire Web site is instantly updated.
Special Services: In addition to the great "point-n-click" Web page designers, the new Build Your Own Website™ service includes a large set of high-end tools that you won't find in other services.
With these enhanced services, you are no longer just build Web pages - you are become a full-fledged Webmaster!
- My Locker: Now this is a great way to get a handle on the paper chase! Why take chances with important documents? Store them in secure electronic lockers and allow as many or as few people as you want to view and download them. There are three kinds of lockers here. "Personal" is just what it says - your stuff, available only to you. "Public" puts documents in a locker that anyone can open from your BYOW web page. And "Restricted" lets you control access with passwords that you create and distribute.
- Web Porter: If you would like to have a copy of your BYOW web pages on your own computer, let our porter pack it up and e-mail it to you! You'll receive a copy of each page with all of the images, text and links that you've created working just like they do on the BYOW server. You can share it with a colleague or even upload it to another web server.
- My Mail Center: This is your personal electronic post office. Use it to send a note to a parent or broadcast a message to hundreds of e-mail boxes at once. You can create as many mailing lists as you want. And visitors to your web pages may sign up to receive messages from any or all of them.
- My Calendar: Make sure no one (not even you) misses an important date this year. You can create calendar entries for homework, field trips, conference days, historical anniversaries, birthdays or anything you like. Visitors to your web site will be able to see the month's activities at a glance.
- Homework Center: No more "my dog ate my homework." This page lets you post assignments (by subjects you define) and then add them to the calendar that appears on your main page. The "Homework Center" link on your main page displays homework assignments by subject or by date...and it even allows parents to sign up to receive the assignments by e-mail so that everyone knows what is due and when!
- My Newsletter: BYOW puts a powerful electronic printing press at your disposal! You can use the tools here to create newsletters for any audience you want to reach. A newsletter for your students? Their parents? The administration? The community? All at once? No problem. The templates make designing your newsletter a snap, and mailing lists let you spread the word with ease. So what are you waiting for? Start the presses!
- Quiz Center: With this tool, you can create either true/false or multiple choice tests and put them on your web pages just as quickly as you can think up new questions. Students can take the quizzes in school or at home. They can be used as genuine tests or as a vehicle for simple review purposes. You may even want to make a few that are just plain fun. You even have the option of having the quiz grade itself and send the results to you in an email.
- My Polls: Everyone has an opinion.....and they all like to be asked what it is! There's no better way to take the pulse of your students or to see if they've been following current events than to invite them to respond to a poll question. The tools here let you create polls quickly and set up a library of them that you can place anywhere on your web site.
- My Feedback: The Feedback Form allows site users to communicate with you. You may use this form to solicit feedback about your site, or for parents to do everything from ask questions and express concerns to volunteer as field trip chaperones. The message sent comes as an email.
- My Galleries: Whether it is pictures of a class fielf trip, a slide show for training purposes, or a stylishly staggered student artwork exhibit, My Galleries can help turn your Web site into a visual garden.
- My Links: The My Links service allows you to accumulate interesting links and place them in one easy-to-find location for your Web site visitor's convenience. In addition, your links can be categorized for indexing on your Web site, and thus provide even greater convenience for your visitors.
- Web Quests: Webquests are a fun and effective way to let your students take the lead in their own education. As an inquiry-based learning tool, a webquest sets the course but allows young minds to seek for answers.
Strategic Partners: The Strategic Partner Library is a unique service that allows local institutions to make educational contributions to a library that is available to all users of the Build Your Own Website service. With a single mouse-click, teachers can include the lastest news from the Toledo Metroparks, the Toledo Arts Council, and other such places on their individual classroom websites. With the number of Build Your Own Website™ users in the thousands, this is a win-win solution for everyone.
Libraries: BYOW makes a variety of different libraries avalable to its members. Photos, clipart, lesson plans, user-contributed Web links, and fun "snap-in" modules are availabe for use on any member Webpage.
Site Statistics: Every member can track the number of visitors to their Web site. The statisitics include a total hit count from the day of account activation, as well as a reset counter to measure usage over specific intervals.
Tutorials: The Tutorials are designed to help you get off to a quick start with the Build Your Own Website™ tools and services. The Tutorials give you step-by-step instructions as well as helpful hints and suggested uses.
Discussion Forum: We have found that among the greatest assets included in the Build Your Own Website™ service are the members themselves. Unlike many services, which treat you like an isolated unit, Build Your Own Website™ includes a number of tools that encourage the growth of the entire community by leveraging the experiences and discoveries of each member. The Strategic Partner Library and the user-contributed links library are just two examples of this. Another great resource is the Discussion Board. Post messages, reply to others, and seach through previous postings using specific keywords. Inquiry-based team learning is a powerful tool, and the Build Your Own Website™ Discussion Board makes this easy!
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