The process of creating an entire website was a new experience for me as I had never created a website prior to this semester. A course that I am currently taking for my Educational Technology Certificate, Teaching with Digital Tools, required me to create my own website and to integrate Web 2.0 tools into said website. I chose to create a digital portfolio to showcase my work from throughout my M.Ed. program at Rutgers University Graduate School of Education. My website can be viewed here: https://megancorlis.wordpress.com/.
The purpose of my website was to share a digital version of my portfolio with other educators and with future employers. My goal was to share my beliefs about the importance of education and to share artifacts from my student teaching as well as from other courses throughout my time at the GSE. I wanted to create a website that would showcase my skills in the classroom and that would serve as an example of my knowledge of different forms of educational technology.
When deciding which website platform I wanted to use to create my website, I looked into a few different options. I finally decided to use WordPress as I had seen some websites that my peers had created using WordPress and they had a very professional appearance. Since I had never used any website-building software prior to this class I wanted to explore using a new digital tool.
I liked having different templates to choose from as well as being able to select from pre-made layouts. However, there are not very many options for layouts (using the free version) and I later felt somewhat restricted by this. I had originally wanted to turn my Artifacts page into a grid page but the only way to do that was to have only text within the grid as opposed to attaching a graphic for each page to make it look more inviting and visually appealing. Since the only grid option did not have a clear layout I opted for a brief description instead of using that layout. I was also disappointed by the lack of font choices. There were options for different types of fonts only as choices for different types of headings or as a regular paragraph. On the plus side, there were options for different colors however I did not experiment with using different font colors as I wanted my website to have a very clean and neat appearance. A positive aspect of using WordPress is that I was able to create a menu with a drop down menu with subcategories so that I could better organize the materials I had uploaded.
My recommendations for future website-creators would be to select a website platform that is very user-friendly and does not require much of a learning curve. I would also recommend that you would first consider the purpose of your website and think about the message you are trying to convey prior to selecting a theme and layout so that you can make judicious selections that both align with and emphasize your intended message. Asking a friend for constructive advice on both your layout and presentation of materials is also incredibly helpful as friends may recommend adding an additional page or reformatting the layout of a page to enhance your site. It is also helpful to take a step back from your work and return to it with a fresh pair of eyes after a few days to evaluate your website from a new perspective. However, a website is never set in stone and has the ability to constantly grow and adapt to meet your needs so it is never truly complete. For this reason, I would recommend finishing the project prior to the due date so that you would have time to review and revise it as needed.
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