Recap from July 28 Presentation

Next Steps

• Move current text and graphics to new platform; decide on hosting plan ($50/month to host at Sonic.net server with 24 x 7 x 365 support)
• Prioritize list of applications needed (we will provide estimate based on agreed to apps)
• Design templates/graphics for each of the planned applications/school sites (overall design for the site with different customized themes for each school that fit into the District theme)
• Implement applications in priority order (coding, QA, training and rollout)

Potential Services

• Read/download event calendars (sports, field trips, school meetings)
• Post/download homework assignments
• Post/download permission slips
• Create photo albums (assuming we have the hard drive space and bandwidth)
• Email notifications (of new posts, upcoming events to those that opt in)
• Automatic RSS feeds for public portion of the site

Results of Additional Research and Brainstorming

Recommended Portal Features

• Every teacher, student and administrator can create/edit own web site
• Paul/Conrad will provide variety of templates from which users can select
• Requires managing a database of the information that we will collect for registered members
• Content will be constantly refreshed, encouraging students and parents to visit the web site often to promote understanding of how their child is doing
• Determine and post school privacy/confidentiality policies with respect to web site content
• Decide on who determines which contributed content is appropriate for the semi-private and public portions of the web site (and how they determine it).
• Need to determine school policies and guidelines to decide what types of information fall into the following categories:
  1. Strictly private (teacher, student, parents only with password access)
  2. Semi-private (all students, parents and school personnel with password access)
  3. Public (no password needed to view the content)
• Possible Homeroom web site design competitions with different themes (black history month, community service, what kind of work do people do, how local government works)
• Application server has built-in email server to automate email notifications and school newsletter emailings (for those who opt in)
• Interfaces could be straight HTML or could include targeted Flash applications or portlets
• Can we cut a deal with the school photographer to provide small digital versions of each student's school picture for their membership profiles on the web site. Do we have the same source of photos for teachers?
• Let's include a way for the public top donate money for school programs through PayPal - similar to political contributions

Recommended Information Architecture for the SMSD Site

• Considering this web of web sites from the ground up . . .
• School Homeroom will be the key organizing unit
  1. Each homeroom teacher is responsible for managing their homeroom's site
  2. By default, all homeroom sites will be semi-private while all student sites will be strictly private (see definitions above).
  3. Students can submit particular stories, photos, ideas to the homeroom teacher who will decide which will be published to the semi-private homeroom site. Homeroom teachers will follow school district guidelines in making these decisions.
  4. Teachers can place homework assignments, links relevant to classroom learning and all class event schedules on line.
  5. Student sites are only for students, their parents and their teachers; parts of these sites may be promoted to a semi-private homeroom site or the public school site.
• School sites are the next step up in the hierarchy
  1. Each Principal is responsible for managing their school's site.
  2. Teachers can submit particular stories, photos, ideas (selected from their own and their students' contributions) to the Principal who will decide which will be published to the public school site. Principles will follow school district guidelines when making these decisions.
  3. Each school in the district will have their own identity/mascot/color scheme to develop a sense of shared mission and school loyalty. The themes will have common elements selected from the School District's themes.
  4. Private portions of the School sites would be for Administration to Teacher communication only accessible to teachers and Administrators.
  5. These sites are will be the focus for the public-facing presence in the community; they deserve the most attention for interface design.
• Finally at the top of the hierarchy is the District site
  1. The Superintendent is responsible for managing their District's site.
  2. Principals can submit stories, photos, ideas (selected from their own and their teachers' and their students' contributions) to the Superintendent who will decide which will be published to the public district site. Superintendents will follow school district guidelines when making these decisions.
  3. The Superintendent will add additional public content to support its business and school board meetings.
  4. Private portions of the District site would be for Administration to School Board communication only accessible to School Board Members and Administrators.
  5. The private portion of the District site could be helpful in distributing information to the Board Members and the Public in preparation for School Board meetings.

Other Issues to Discuss

• Is it worth doing a Flash introduction and on-line survey about the site and its features to pre-sell the idea to the teachers and get their feedback on the most desired features (after they have seen a demonstration of them)
• There are more ideas on this page then we have the budget to complete, so we will have to always approach this project with features in priority order
• Which one person on the SMSD team will be the best point-person for Paul/Conrad to School District communications?
• Would we benefit from introducing the Plone desktop clients - to make it even easier for users to update their web sites.
• Should we encourage student web-logs to get them writing on a regular basis? Could we have contests about the best web-logs as voted by teachers and/or students?
• Should we have a digital yearbook team or school newspaper that publishes regularly to the web?
• Can we use the site to assist fund-raising projects? An easy place for contributors to securely donate with their credit cards.