Surprises: I was surprised that there was already a domain name for summercamp.weebly.com being used. I guess I'm not the first person to have this idea! That's okay though because I used supersummercamp2012.weebly.com .
Bumps in the road: I was hoping to put some pictures from last years summer camp but I didn't think about the fact that I would need permission from each of the child's parents in order to do that. This also means that in order for me to put pictures of my campers throughout this summer, I will have to get permission to do this as well. It is doable but definitely a "bump in the road". Another thing I was hoping to do was monitor who can participate in the blog page. I would have liked for it to be password protected and give parents the password but in order to do that I would have to get the Pro version of Weebly which costs money.
Delights: Luckily, I discovered that Weebly allows you to set your blog up where anytime someone tries to post a blog, it has to be approved by me before it shows up on the blog page. This option is even better than the password option because I can deny any rude comments some parents may try to make! I was also surprised about how user friendly Weebly is. I was able to get more accomplished than planned because it didn't take as long as I had originally anticipated.
Here is the link to a short video of what I have set up so far (there is no audio):
summer camp weebly preview
Here is a podcast of my Wicked Problem Project Part C
It is good to know that Weebly has the option for approval before comments are posted to the blog page. This a good way to weed out negative comments or even comments from someone not involved. It is unfortunate that the website can't be password protected. I too have had to get approval from parents to add pictures and videos. This can certainly add a "bump in the road." I did not receive approval from all parents so I always had to look back at my permission slips before posting photos and videos onto my classroom website. Have a good time at summer camp!
ReplyDeleteGreat ideas! I love the idea of having updates of what happened each day. I know that a lot of times kids go home and say "they did nothing". This will give parents an idea of what occurred that day in order to lead the conversation with their child.I love weebly! It is easy to very easy to use and it creates a great website.
ReplyDeleteI too have to receive parent permission from parents to put photos or videos online. Luckily our computer lab teacher sends home these forms for me at the beginning of the year, but I still don't get all parent's approval. It can get difficult each time I want to upload photos because I have to double-check my list to make sure those particular students have approval. Just a minor bump in the road, though! I would suggest keeping an organized list of this so it is easy when you want to put photos on the website. Great idea!
ReplyDeleteBeing able to approve comments posted by parents prior to them showing up on the site is one of the great features. Sometimes you never know what people are going to say. I also have to receive permission from parents to post pictures or work to my class website. I have only had issues with one parent who did not want their child to be a participant. I completely understand that the parent wanted to protect their child, but had to shake my head when I saw pictures that child was posting of himself. I think more and more parents are becoming open to allowing their children to be photographed and put online because that is how they have grown up, but safety is always the key!
ReplyDeleteI hope that you have been able to get permission to use children pictures in order to use on the website. I think the pictures will be a really great part of the website and that parents will enjoy seeing what their children are doing. I have also found that Weebly is very easy to use. It is a great site to use to get a website up and running.
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