EVSC School Portal Development

1
EVSCSchool Portal Development

• Training Session 1 Preparation

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Topics to Address

• Why do schools need Websites?
• What is the current situation across the EVSC?
• What is wrong with the current situation?
• What can be done through the Straight-Line
  system?
• How can new school Websites be developed?

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Why Need A Website?

• Information
• Static/Not Changing
• Location/Contact Information
• Forms
• Rules
• Staff
• Dynamic/Changing
• News/Events
• Announcements
• Menus
• Awards/Recognitions

• Communication
• Parents
• Rules
• Menus
• Announcements
• Forms
• Staff
• Community
• Location/Contact Information
• News/Events
• Awards/Recognitions

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EVSC Current Situation

• All high schools, all middle schools, and 18 of
  20 elementary schools currently have Websites
• Many schools doing many positive things
• Good information online
• Staff/curriculum information
• Teacher Websites
• Promoting school/student achievements

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EVSC Current Situation

• Lack of consistent Website branding
• Internal pages of Websites dont always include
  school name or logo as on home page
• Many Websites dont have EVSC name or logo
• Can be difficult for visitors to know where they
  are

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EVSC Current Situation

• Very little consistency across the corporation
• Graphics, content and function vary greatly
• From one school Website to another
• From one area of an individual Website to another
• Difficult for visitors to navigate/find
  information
• Can be confusing for parents
• As students transition from elementary to middle
  to high school
• If/when students transfer to new schools

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EVSC Current Situation

• Keeping Websites updated appears problematic
• Possible Causes
• Staff member with knowledge to update doesnt
  always have time
• No staff member with knowledge/time to dedicate
  to Website
• Departure of staff member (or volunteer) with
  knowledge/time
• Hard to keep up with programming updates -
  Dreamweaver, etc.
• Common Results
• Out-of-date information still online
• Too little information online
• Visitors perceive Website doesnt have value
  and dont re-visit it

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Why A New System?

• Past causes of frustration are likely to re-occur
• EVSC identified need for schools to be able to
  develop and update Websites without
• Programming knowledge
• Extensive time commitment
• Need for continual updates/retraining

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Why A New System?

• EVSC worked with Gray Loon Marketing Group
• Identified strengths, weaknesses, problems, and
  opportunities with current situation,
  off-the-shelf software programs, etc.
• Determined that developing custom system was best
  option to meet current and future needs
• Result is the Straight-Line system

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What Straight-Line Does

• How School Portals are similar to Teacher
  Websites
• No programming knowledge needed
• Can access from anywhere, at anytime
• Can put own touch on template-based system
• Can upload links, files, etc.
• Can integrate own photos/graphics

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What Straight-Line Does

• How School Portals differ from Teacher Websites
• Can determine/control navigation (three levels)
• Ability to add multiple sections of content to a
  page
• Ability to use photos/graphics on any/all pages
• Enhanced file/link/page/email upload ability
• Features role-based security model
• And others

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How Straight-Line Works

• Portal Administrator will
• Create Menus/pages
• Set-up Users in the system

• Users will
• Create Page Modules
• Content
• Uploads
• Table
• Manage content in Page Modules

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Preparing Content

• Who will be visiting your site most often?
• What is important to them?
• What do they want to know?
• Where will they likely look to find it?
• What is their level of knowledge about your
  school, the EVSC, policies procedures,
  expectations, etc.?

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Identify Your Audience

• Parents of current EVSC students in
• Traditional classes
• Non-traditional classes
• Only one school
• Multiple schools
• Just entering system
• Preparing for next level

• Parents of prospective EVSC students who
• Have children entering kindergarten/first grade
• Are considering
• Moving to Evansville/ Vanderburgh County area
• Moving into your attendance district from within
  EVSC area
• Transferring from a non-public school

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Identify Your Audience

• Business/corporation representatives that
• Provide financial or other types of support to
  the EVSC and/or your specific school
• Are considering providing financial or other
  types of support to the EVSC and/or your specific
  school
• Are weighing the strength of the EVSC in their
  decision to expand/relocate in Vanderburgh County
• Members of the community-at-large

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What You Want To Say

• What do you want/need to tell parents, business
  representatives and/or the community-at-large
• For regulatory or compliance reasons
• Because you feel it is important
• Because you feel it is helpful
• For self-promotion purposes

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What They Want To Know

• Consider the prospective visitors needs and
  wants
• What will - or could - visitors come to your new
  School Portal to learn, find or do?
• Consider how the new School Portal can simplify
  your life
• What questions are asked most often in person or
  when people call the school office?
• What questions are asked most often when people
  call individual teachers?
• What materials, forms, etc. are requested most
  often?

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Developing Content

• Determine what existing materials you have
• Content on a current Website
• Print materials you hand out
• Forms that are requested
• Student handbooks
• Inspiration content on another Website

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Developing Content

• Evaluate all existing materials with a fresh eye
  and from the perspective of someone who
• Is not an educator
• Had a sixth grade reading level
• Has never been to your School Portal before and
  doesnt know where to look for anything

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Developing Content

• Ask questions about existing materials
• Is the content succinct and effective?
• Does it use industry lingo or other terms that
  are too technical for Average Joe to
  understand?
• Could it unintentionally intimidate site
  visitors?
• Is it too long for one page?
• Where will site visitors most likely look for
  this information on the School Portal?

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Developing Content

• After evaluating existing materials, determine
• What existing information or materials
  could/should be used in their current format
• What will need to be revised or updated
• What will need to be developed from scratch

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Developing Content

• Bibich Elementary School
• Navigation/graphic presentation not optimal,
  but content good from parent perspective
• http//www.lakecentral.k12.in.us/bibich/
• Washington Irving School
• Nice, concise General Information page
• http//www.14.ips.k12.in.us/GeneralInformation/de
  fault.aspx
• James A. Garfield
• Used existing print materials, but didnt
  update/revise for Web
• http//www.31.ips.k12.in.us/MessageFromthePrinc
  ipal/default.aspx

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Developing Content

• William A. Bell
• Should break up content onto multiple sub-pages
• http//www.60.ips.k12.in.us/ParentHandbook/defaul
  t.aspx
• Cherry Tree Elementary
• A number of good features in general
• http//www.ccs.k12.in.us/cte/main_page.htm
• Jefferson-Craig Elementary School
• Lots of information, but dont know where to
  look
• http//www.switzerland.k12.in.us/schools/jeff-crai
  g_elementary_school.htm

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Developing Content

• Crestview Elementary School
• Moderately confusing, but has several nice
  features
• https//crestview.ltschools.org/
• Desoto Elementary
• Duplicate navigation unnecessary, but nice site
  overall
• http//www.delcomschools.org/des/
• Northeast Elementary School
• Too much of a good thing
• http//oak.gws.k12.in.us/ne/nestart.htm
• Complete Listing of Indiana K-12 Websites
• http//www.doe.state.in.us/htmls/k12.html

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Before You Leave Today

• Confirm accuracy of School Data Sheet information
• School name
• Street address, city, state, zip code
• Main office phone number
• Principal name and email address
• Primary and secondary school colors
• School mascot
• Recommended URL when new School Portal goes live

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Before You Leave Today

• Determine who will primarily assume the duties of
  being the Portal Administrator for your School
• Create the navigation framework (create pages) so
  that other users can develop content
• Add users to the system
• Set the School Portal up so that specific users
  have access to modify specific pages/sections
• You may name more than one Portal Administrator

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Before You Leave Today

• Give the following information about each Portal
  Administrator to the training facilitator
• First Name
• Last Name
• Username (Can be, but doesnt have to be, same as
  for other EVSC systems)
• Password (Can be, but doesnt have to be, same as
  for other EVSC systems)

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Before Training Session 2

• Map out your new School Portals navigational
  structure
• Primary MenuThe main sectionsof your School
  Portalthat you want visitorsto be able to get
  intofrom everywhere inyour Portal

Your Primary Menuwill be here on every page
of your School Portal
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Before Training Session 2

• Map out your new School Portals navigational
  structure
• Secondary MenuThe additional pages/sections of
  informationthat will be available under/off of
  each Primary Menu

Your Secondary Menuwill appear here after
clicking on a button in the Primary Menu This
Example Additional sections available after
clicking on Academics
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Before Training Session 2

• Map out your new School Portals navigational
  structure
• Tertiary MenuThe additional pages/sections of
  informationthat will be available under/off of
  each Secondary Menu

Your Tertiary Menu will appear here after
clicking on a button in the Secondary Menu This
Example Additional sections available after
clicking on Academics, then clicking on Art
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Before Training Session 2

• Gather/develop/update content (copy /or images)
  for each page included in navigational structure
• If content already exists online, you can
  copy/paste it into new School Portal during next
  training session
• If content already exists in other files (Word,
  WordPerfect, etc.), bring files on disk
• If content does not exist, develop at least some
  to begin working with

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Before Training Session 2

• Determine which specific person (user) will be in
  charge of creating and updating content for each
  specific page (menu) of your new School Portal
• Based on the navigational structure you develop
• More than one user can be assigned to each menu
• One user can be assigned to more than one menu
• For each menu item, chart out the first name,
  last name, username and password for each user
• (see sample spreadsheet)

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Contacts For Questions

• Karen McBride
• kmcbride_at_evsc.k12.in.us
• iCATS
• Cell 812-480-7362
• Office 812-435-5290

• Katy Nimnicht
• knimnicht_at_grayloon.com
• Gray Loon Marketing Group, Inc.
• Office 812-422-9999