School Websites: An Evaluation

For this blog I will compare and contrast various school websites:

McLane High School:

• Overall feel: basic, but could use some tweaking
  
• Layout: liked the columns on the left and right and current information in the center
  
• Professionalism: many of the links on the homepage led to incomplete sites that needed to be updated (such as a staff directory or websites for every teacher)
  
• Parents: I thought the layout was easy to follow, but adults less familiar with technology might be overwhelmed. There is a link to "Teleparent" which is a service that supposedly links teachers and parents via technology such as e-mail. There is also sight for parents to log in to the website.
  
• Students: Students can access pictures of events, information on upcoming events such as prom, but not much else. I did not know if the tab "Web Mail" was for students. Regardless, if I were a student, I would not use the site much.
  
• Community Members: I like that community members can check out what is happening at the school via pictures and updates on the homepage. However, it would be difficult to get specific information. The website does provide contact information though- phone numbers, address of school, etc.

Fort Myers High School

• Overall feel: basic, but could use some tweaking
  
• Layout: At first I thought this website did not have any menus or links, but then I finally saw the small white menu links atop the screen. Those words need to be bigger, especially for adults. Moreover, when you click on a link it does not bring you to a new page; rather, the click brings you to a new smaller series of menus under the large menu. If I find this confusing, then parents and community members probably do too.
  
• Professionalism: the site seems to have a lot of information and utilizes flash a lot.
  
• Parents: Parent Link is available which helps parents know about student grades, cafeteria balance, etc.
  
• Students: There is a survey on the right side of the homepage. This is the first survey I have seen on a school website. It was neat except that question was about the summer (way outdated). There didn't seem to be much information geared toward students.
  
• Community Members: There is probably the most information to community members or people from the outside about the school's programs.

Mclane v. Fort Myers

• The design of the McLane site was more basic and traditonal whereas the Fort Myers site was more futuristic and technologically advanced
• As a student or parent, I would probably prefer McLane's site because it is easy to find information, and I would not need to get too much information from the site if I paid attention to school news. If I were a community member, I would prefer Fort Myers' site because it has more information on it.
• The Fort Myers site could have more pictures and graphics like the McLane site.

The Woodlands High School (my alma mater)

• Overall feel: professional, simple, yet provides all basic information and more
  
• Layout: I really like the layout. On the top is a neatly divided series of tabs of drop down menus of the traditional categories-school info, academic departments, etc. On the left is a simple table of contact information so that parents can load the website and easily get phone numbers for who they need to call. On the right top is a statement of school objectives. Underneath that is a large image and a link to school news. The layout is informative without being too complex. I would like to add that it did not look this way when I went there! It resembled more of the other sites.
  
• Professionalism: most professional looking of the 3 sites.
  
• Parents: To access the "Highlander Happenings" or school news, one just has to click on the main image, and then parents can read a text document that just opens in a new window. It is the most user friendly way to access new and relevant news that I have seen and still looks technologically savvy. In addition to school news, there is easily accessible contact information on the homepage, a tab for any school info one needed to know, and finally a parent tab that includes a link to the school PTA website and some sort of "View It" software to keep track of student progress in class.
  
• Students: This is the first time I have seen a student tab with separate links for different resources for students: links to the yearbook website, the College and Careers site, the student handbook etc. If that information was there when I went to TWHS, I probably would have used it.
  
• Community Members: There are copious amounts of information available to community members as I have stated above!

McLane and Fort Myers v. The Woodlands

• The site for the Woodlands High School was the best designed and laid out. It had new tech savy features without being overwhelming. All necessary information was present and more. Great site!