[MACEP] Free Web Hosting

[John & Peggy Bromley]

What a good set of answer you provided Tim!

We should not be so paralyzed by the risks that we don't try to have  
kids use new technology.

Could I suggest that it is the duty of the school or district to run  
a web site for use by its students? Yes, it has to be monitored by  
staff, but the software needed to serve up a web site is free and you  
have complete control of the content. It is easy to have students  
post to a folder and then have the teacher upload the data to the  
correct server folder after review.

We can not expect students to know our standards for Internet  
behavior, if we don't teach the standards and don't let the students  
practice what we have taught. It is the borderline cases that you  
have to discuss with a class what a student wants to post that  
provide the most learning opportunities. Let's don't let fear control  
the curriculum.

John
-- 
John Bromley
(503) 668-3332

"Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just  
sit there." -----  Will Rogers



On Jan 27, 2007, at 4:54 AM, Tim Chase wrote:

>
>>>
>>> What's the latest on free web hosting for students that won't be  
>>> blocked
>>> by most of the blocking software schools use? Any suggestions?
>>> Thanks!
>>> Virginia Petitt
>
> I'm interested in hearing an answer to Virginia's question when the  
> smoke from the "district-restriction" cannons has cleared.  It's  
> against no district's policy to be able to see a student's website  
> that he's hosted somewhere--what would be against policy would be  
> circumventing filtering that had filtered a whole free-web-hosting  
> domain because of the creeps who misuse the medium.  We ought to  
> filter the whole domain, and I'm glad we do, but I'd love to hear  
> of school-friendly hosting places where Virginia's kids and my kids  
> could post their web pages and be able to see them from the school  
> network.
>
> The filtering software is in place for really valid reasons, but  
> it's also very valid to ask "What are some places online that are  
> not restricted--where I can safely have my kids go to post and read  
> and interact?"
>
> I don't have answers for Virginia's question, which I perceive to  
> be simple Web1.0 in its essence: student creates html pages, posts  
> them to the web, other students are able to view the pages.   
> Simple.  I'm interested because I've all along been having my kids  
> build websites and just "post" them on the server in folders.  It  
> gives them the general idea of html coding and folder structures,  
> but we've never found a suitable place to be able to create an  
> online site.
>
> That said, I've had a bit more success with Web2.0 types of web- 
> creating.  Students don't do any html for this stuff, but their  
> work is out there on the web and the respond well to the challenge  
> of increased readership--writing and creating for a broader audience.
>
> Here are some resources I've found as I've worked to connect my  
> kids to the new world of interactive webbing:
>
> nicenet.org
> I've used this to set up classrooms where my kids can post website  
> links, have discussions, respond to my conference topics, etc.   
> It's all text-based, and it has allowed my kids to work on  
> documents at school and at home.
>
> google documents  (formerly Writely)
> This may be filtered in some environments, and it requires an email  
> address for the initial account validation (a stumbling point for  
> the occasional student without an email address).  Once the account  
> is set up, though, teams of kids can simultaneously collaborate on  
> a web-based document (that can then be published as an owner- 
> editable webpage of sorts).
>
> google groups (more than just a listserv)
> Students can create a Google Group Beta to post files to, create  
> wiki pages in, set up discussion forums, etc.  In the files section  
> they can save a file at school and open it from home, which is  
> increasingly important but unavailable to my students.
> I have not used this with my middle schoolers yet, both because we  
> don't all have email addresses and because I'm not certain about my  
> liability in encouraging something that I can't completely  
> monitor.  But it's very powerful, and if it could be monitored (ie.  
> if I became a member of each of their groups and periodically  
> checked in to make sure everything was hunky-dory) then I'd use it  
> in a flash.
>
> moodle or other course/content management system
> This is the less user-friendly but more online-predator-safe way to  
> collaborate.  Kids can save their documents here and access from  
> home and school.  Discussion forums are available.  You get out of  
> a moodle what you put into it, but it can be a really effective way  
> to let kids interact with the web in a controlled environment.
>
> edublogs
> I have a couple of blogger blogs and a couple of edublogs blogs.   
> I'm going to promote edublogs here for two reasons: a) edubloggers  
> can post files, including html pages, docs, spreadsheets, and jpgs,  
> that have a permalink so that anyone can quickly see their work by  
> following the URL, and b) they automatically have access to a  
> wikispace where the group can work privately (open only to  
> recognized members) on documents and then open and lock them so  
> they become pretty much like a static webpage.
>
> communitywalk.com
> This is the latest toy I've had my kids playing with, and they love  
> it.  They click on an interactive world map to add oodles of text  
> and either upload pics or link to online pics by URL.  We're taking  
> a tour around the world and they are the tourguides.  Nice!!   
> Requires email verification to establish an account.
>
> epals
> I've got one class set with epals addresses.  They can only  
> communicate with other epals addresses, and I've set it so I see  
> all of their outgoing and incoming messages.  Very safe.  This  
> affords them no document storage, but if they want to email their  
> work-group partners with the latest edition of their newspaper  
> articles, they can collaborate with it.  Also a way to edit text at  
> home and at school.
>
> ~Tim
>
> "You don't have a Soul. You are a Soul. You have a body." ~~CS Lewis
> __________________
> Tim Chase
> Technology / Reading
> LaPine Middle School
> Bend LaPine School District
>
>
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