When choosing projects for our Google Tools course, I knew that I would want to select website creation as one of them. When I was home with my children for 9 years, I did some freelance website development for friends and family. I had decided, after trying several WYSIWIG ("what you see is what you get") website creation applications, that I would learnhypertext markup language (HTML) and work in a simple text document. With a HeadFirst book in my hand, and an open TextEdit document, I started making websites using strict XHTML and a carefully crafted CSS stylesheet. I met with some success, and was quite excited about what I created -- but it still was not as good as I had hoped it would be.
When I opened Google Sites for the first time, I unpacked my skepticism at the same time. How could a online WYSIWIG app give me the amount of control I wanted over the content and format of the website? How hard would it be to understand? Would the website feel like a uniform set of pages, or a disjointed mess?
The good news is that Google Sites does create a clean, uniform, functioning website, with many template options for quick setup. Most of the instructions (plenty of video and written support) are pretty straightforward. However, the number of tutorial sites that apologize for having the wrong screenshots (as Google Sites has been revamped since its initial launch, apparently) was a bit annoying. It seemed best, in most instances, to just go to Google services and look up information directly from there.
Having worked with the software for some days now, I feel that I can make a pretty strong endorsement for using Google Sites to create websites, especially when time is a critical element in the site's production (i.e. students collaborating on a project RIGHT NOW, a teacher who has one week to create her "Welcome to My Class" website before school starts). As Google gadgets embed easily into your finished product, the Web 2.0 possibilities for what you create are quite amazing. This makes the site not only attractive and content-filled, but a real tool for the classroom teacher and others hoping to harness the new technologies currently available.
Google Sites Critique
PROS:
- easy to get started, with blank pages or templates options
- easy to get a customized "look"
- easy to get a "reasonable URL name" (creates it for you, based on your website's title)
- lots of storage space for pages, documents, images, videos, apps
- many online tutorials when you need support
- WYSIWIG application that allows easily and predictable results when dragging and dropping images, videos, gadgets and content elements
- can alter HTML when specific customization is required
CONS:
- "Themes" and "Fonts and Colors" modules were a bit confusing; found early decisions in website creation affected later changes dramatically
- deleted website names are permanently removed from use by Google Sites in the future (got burned on that one!)
In summary, I feel that the "pros" far outweigh the "cons" when using this Google app, especially for the novice website creator. The website that I am in the process of creating is coming together very quickly -- and I haven't cracked open my Head First book once.
Uses for Google Sites in the Classroom
- post homework online (can attach needed worksheets, forms and permission slips)
- keep parents and students connected to the latest classroom information with "Announcements" section
- add Google gadget for calendar to communicate important tests and school events
- include links to content-rich, interactive websites
- keep important files (i.e. graphic organizers, spelling lists) available to students in a "Files" webpage
- integrate blogging with curricular goals easily
- integrate GoogleDocs to encourage collaborative work between students, faculty members and parents
- way to collaborate with other teachers on a department or team website
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