The W3C Validator
Bethany is the parent of a student who was in my class 2 years ago and has a child entering kindergarten in the fall. I asked for her input because she represents my main target audience - a kindergarten parent. She is very involved in her children's classrooms and likes staying up to date on everything that is happening at school. When her child was in my class previously, she loved all of the communication I sent to her so I wanted to see how she felt about a classroom website. She evaluated my website on her Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Carbon running Windows 10, Intel Core i5-73000 CPU @ 2.600 GHz, 2712 Mhz, 2 Cores, 4 Logical Processors. She used Google Chrome Version 75.0.3770.100 64-bit and WPA (wifi).
Hannah is a kindergarten teacher at my school. Since Hannah recently graduated from college and used the interent and websites for many of her classes, I wanted her input as a student. I also wanted her input as a teacher, to check and see that I put everything on the site that would be beneficial for a teacher to share with families. Hannah evaluated my website on her Lenova Think Pad Yoga 260. She used Chrome 75 on Windows 10 with wifi.
Mary is a parent and a kindergarten teacher. She has two elementary students, one that just completed kindergarten this past school year. I value her opinions as a teacher and parent. Her child's teacher did not communicate with her much throughout the school year, so I wanted her ideas on what she would think about this website. As a teacher, she communicates often, and has a deep understanding of communicating with parents and what they need/want to have access to. Mary evaluated my site using her ThinkPad on Google Chrome with a Cable Modem.
Michele is a family friend and has two young children. Her oldest currently attends preschool and will be in kindergarten in the 2020-2021 school year. The preschool he currently attends sends her pictures throughout the week so I thought she'd be interested in seeing what a classroom website could offer her in the future and hear her thoughts. Michele evaluated my site using her Lenovo ThinkPad T480 running Windows 10. She used Internet Explorer 11 and wifi in the hotel she was staying in.
Strengths: All of my evaluators liked the color scheme. They thought it was simple, easy to read, and liked that it matched my school colors. They liked that the quick links and navigation bar was visible on each page. It did not take much time to locate or find what was needed or to load anything. They all liked that they didn't have to do much scrolling or clicking to get to where they were going. Each of them liked that I was able to provide a great deal of helpful information without bogging the reader down or having it be "too much."
Suggestions: These were some great suggestions for ways to improve my website:
Link Color: The links throughout my page are not all the same color. It was suggested that I may want to make them all the same for overall consistency.
Page Titles: Each of my pages say the name of the page at the top ("Schedule, Photos," etc.). Adding "Mrs. Baker's Classroom Website" above each of those titles will ensure users know that they are still within my site AND which page they are on.
QR Code: Every person commented on the fact that my QR code wasn't visible on my "Meet Mrs. Baker" page. I actually didn't put one there. This is a document I use every August with my families and I normally update that after summer is over so I have pictures of my summer adventures. So it really isn't inoperable - it's simply not there.
Email link on Baker's Buzz: When you first arrive on my website you see the most recent Weekly Newsletter that I have sent to families. At the top it has my contact information. I tried to set the email apart from the other information by making it white, however it was suggested that having the white link with the white background made it hard to read.
ABC's of Mrs. Baker's Class: One evaluator poitned out that in my ABC's of Mrs. Baker's class, the "snacks" section was cut off. Again, this is a working document that I use each year and I have changed a few things, but have not completely finished it for this school year, so I uploaded it before making all of the changes.
Links on Baker's Buzz: Most of my evaluators said the links on the homepage newsletter didn't work for them. I uploaded this document as a photo because I found it easier to make it fit into that area. I can see where parents reading that document may want the option to quickly click there instead of having to find another place to click.
Add Scholastic and Supply List: In my ABC's I mention newsletters as well as the school supply list. A suggestion was made to add these two links to my "Quick Links" section so parents could easily access this information and not have to try to remember which page to look for it when needed.
Typos: I have a typo on the Photos tab. It should say "Please do not SHARE instead of SHARING." On the homepage, I should direct them to the Weekly News Archive instead of Weekly NEWSLETTER Archive.
Logo click to return to home: One evaluator gave a suggestion that perhaps I could have a logo click take users back to the homepage.
Copyright: On my Meet the Teacher page, I have a NWMSU and Royals logo on the letter. One evaluator wondered if I asked permission or should be using it since I didn't have citing information. A couple of comments were given about other images on my page - that it looked like I used all of my own stuff but it wasn't stated so they weren't sure.
| Questions | Average Score |
|---|---|
| Design | |
| 1. Document is subdivided into logical supporting pages. It offers a table of contents with section links to avoid scrolling through entire document. | 5 |
| 2. The site displays sound design principles, including uncluttered space, subdued backgrounds, and coordinated colors. | 4.75 |
| 3. Navigation is intuitive, easy to understand, and provides flexibility in movement. | 4.75 |
| 4. Homepage is linked from all subsequent pages. | 4.5 |
| 5. Multimedia elements (videos, links) have a clear purpose. | 5 |
| 6. Multimedia elements (videos, links) load quickly or file size is indicated with user option to download. | 5 |
| 7. Images load properly and can be seen. If not, a thumbnail is presented in its place. | 5 |
| 8. Text is easy to read and contrasts with background. | 5 |
| 9. Site content is widely accessible or appropriate adaptations or explanations have been made. | 5 |
| Content | |
| 1. Pages have clear and appropriate title in title bar. | 5 |
| 2. Links are appropriate, clearly labeled, and have a definite purpose. | 5 |
| 3. Links are up-to-date and functional. | 4.75 |
| 4. Useful content is embedded no further than two layers deep (meaning you don’t have to keep clicking to find what you need). | 5 |
| 5. Site contains in-depth content that encourages users to return. | 4.75 |
| 6. Information is accurate and current. | 5 |
| 7. Site stimulates thinking and reflection or serves a useful purpose for an identified audience. | 4.33 |
| Credibility | |
| 1. Credibility is established by including information regarding author, affiliations, and credentials. | 5 |
| 2. Contact person with e-mail address is included. | 5 |
| 3. Site is bias-free or explicitly states point of view. | 5 |
| 4. Material is original or includes appropriate citations with no copyright infringement. | 5 |
| 5. Correct punctuation, spelling, and grammar indicate care and attention to detail. | 5 |
| 6. Site indicates date(s) that material was created or updated. | 5 |
Three out of four evaluators are parents of young children. They all commented on how easy my site was to navigate and that they liked having everything in one spot, easy to access. When evaluating the content, they also recommended some links I could add on the homepage to make things even easier for parents to find. Noone had issues with anything, besides minor things that are easy to fix, as well as things I just need to adjust that are missing and really weren't ready for publication.
My evaluators noted that they thought this section would be helpful for parents. They liked the descriptions I provided as well as the codes so everything was right there for parents to access. One of my evaluators, a teacher, suggested some "talking points" I could add to either my weekly newsletter or extending learning at home section. This was why I asked for her viewpoint so I could have a teacher's perspective for what I may have missed and/or not thought about when designing my website.
This was something everyone commented on. They liked that they could easily access my contact information no matter what page they were viewing. They could find it on the left and at the bottom. I wanted it to be easy to find and use, and I was able to accomplish that for my users.
Based on feedback from my evaluators, as well as my own review of my website, I plan to make the following changes:
Link Color: I liked the suggestion for making all of the links the same color. I will make sure they all match so it's consistent and when you see that color you know it's a clickable link.
Page Titles: I had actually thought about doing this from the beginning, but couldn't figure out how to get the words to stay in place and have the logo stay on the left side, centered between both lines of text. I will do some research and find out how to make this happen on my site.
QR Code: I knew this QR code wasn't there becuase this document is what I'm using for the upcoming school year and I haven't created it yet. Since I won't have everything I need to make this happen, I will adjust the document so that text box is not there for the time being. The QR code feature is something new I was planning for this school year.
Email link on Baker's Buzz: I plan to change this link to gold so it stands out more and is easier to read.
ABC's of Mrs. Baker's Class: I knew I had some holes and errors on this document. I am currently working on it for the upcoming school year and don't have it completed yet. I will go in and change things so it doesn't look incomplete on the website.
Links on Baker's Buzz: I posted my current newsletter as an image instead of a PDF because I couldn't quite figure out how to get it to work as I wanted it to. I was able to figure out the image much easier. I will do some research and reach out to classmates to see how to make this work. Even though most of those links are also in the "Quick Links" section of my site, I can see where it would be helpful for parents to be able to click right on the newsletter. I can also see where they may think that my site isn't working if they can't click on the links - they wouldn't understand it's just an image of the newsletter. I am going to really try to get this to work - however I know my OCD tendencies and if it doesn't look good I may just leave it as-is and put a note in there to parents that the links on the image won't work but they can find them all on the left side under "Quick Links."
Add Scholastic and Supply List Quick Links: I love this idea and will be adding these two links to my Quick Links.
Typos: I will change the two typos that were pointed out. I reworded these two sections a couple of times so I'm sure I just read right over it when proofing.
Logo click to return to home: This was a good suggestion but honestly not one I am sure I will add to my website. I don't know that anyone would know to do it unless I put a caption under the logo, and I don't really want to add that. It's pretty easy to click on "Home" in my navigation bar and get to the homepage from anywhere on the site. I also have the current tab highlighted so they know where they are on the site.
Copyright: I am going to take these logos off of my Meet the Teacher letter. I think this will be easier than getting permission to use the logos. I am also going to put a statement in the footer across the website stating that everything is my property unless noted otherwise just so it is clear. Also, you mentioned in your review about our school logo - if it was copyrighted and about permissions. I will contact my principal and ensure it is okay for me to use on my website and put that citing information in the footer.
Daily Schedule Table: I have my daily class schedule hanging outside of my classroom and I created it using a table. I like the way it looks and am going to change this tab so that either my specials schedule OR the entire schedule is in a table.
I really liked having so many eyes viewing and critiquing my website. I think it was very beneficial to choose people that represented my target audience because they were able to look at my website and give feedback from the viewpoint of a parent from my classroom. I would definitely not want to put this out to parents without having others test it out first. As much as I read over, tested, and looked at it after completion, I still did not catch everything or think through everythig parents may see or think. I also sought the opinion of a fellow teacher who could help me look at it from a teacher's perspective because we communicate with parents so often and we can usually predict the questions, comments, and concerns that parents will have before they even have them. Even though this will be my 20th year of teaching, I always love the thoughts, opinions, and ideas from my colleagues.
I also loved looking at the websites of my classmates, and valued their thoughts and opinions a great deal. I actually got some of the ideas for formatting from some of their assignments. I liked opening what they shared, looking through it, and when I'd see something I liked, I'd research and figure out how I could get that to work for me as well. Teachers are all about sharing and learning from one another, so I appreciated the ability to do the same with this class. It was nice to hear comments from others in the class who are doing the same thing and can offer more tecnical advice than a parent who is just seeing the end product. An example of this is that one of my evaluators mentioned she didn't think my website link should be called Amy Baker's Pilot Site. I didn't put this in my summary or plan for change because I knew she just didn't realize this was the way it was titled for the assignment, not the way it would be titled if it were my actual classroom site. Another said that she didn't think the validation information should be on there. I know that as a parent looking at my site she didn't know what that was and that it was a required part of my assignment, so again I did not put it in my plan for changing. Having the different viewpoints - coming from people with different roles - was extremely beneficial.