Class Web Site using Dreamweaver or Google Page Creator.
Tom's students have created web sites on subjects such as the Cold War and the Civil Rights Movement. Students have individual assignments and responsiblities during these projects, but ultimately they are contributing to a collective presentation, one that may be shared with a larger community. Dreawweaver is an expensive but powerful web site creation editor, while Google's Page Creator is free but less versatile. If your students already know Dreaweaver, or a comparably involved program, then stick with that software. But if you want students to create web pags quickly and easily, and at no cost, then consider Google's Page Creator.

Why a web site? Tom's comments:
"I am always looking for ways to vary my assignments and engage students in creative, community-building activities. In my web site projects students have individual responsiblities, but they are contributing to a collective whole. For our first class web-site project, students researched the Cold War and each student created a section on a Cold War topic for inclusion in the web site. They were required to include links to primary and secondary sources on the Web and include public domain images. (See our EdTechTeacher collection of resources for public domain images.) I used Dreamweaver for this first web site project because I already knew the program and I could easily organize and format their web pages. The downside, I soon realized, is that I was in control of the web site production process , not the students. They were researching and writing, yes, but not formatting web pages primarily because I decided not to use valuable class time to teach them an elaborate program like Dreamweaver. So, for the next project we used Google's free Page Creator. It required little-to-no introduction and students were builidng web sites quickly. While I sacrificed some polished features available in Dreamweaver, and loosened administrative control, I put my students squarely in control of the creation process, a goal of a student-centered classroom."

Note: Consider creating multiple Google accounts for your project, since only one person at a time can be working in a Google Page Creator account.

For more ideas visit our Student Presentations section.