Middle School Web Site as a Virtual Bulletin Board
Harold Olejarz, Artist and Educator
About
BF Web is a Virtual Bulletin Board Web Site is a Virtual Bulletin Board The Benjamin Franklin Middle School's Web Site is a Virtual Bulletin Board November, 1998 A school's web site is its virtual bulletin board. The virtual bulletin board is far more flexible than the classroom bulletin board. It is not limited by the size of a classroom's walls and can accommodate all the information, compositions or art that a teacher or student chooses to display. Classroom bulletin board displays, no matter how effective, must be removed to accommodate new displays. Virtual bulletin board displays, on the other hand, may remain on view without fear of the paper ever yellowing or making room for the next display. This allows students to review material as needed, providing information on demand. In addition, virtual bulletin boards offer visitors the option to save or print a copy of any document on display. The virtual bulletin board gives teachers the opportunity to make copies of their handouts available to students all the time. Imagine having an entire semesters worth of handouts available to students from the first day of class. A student may download all the handouts to their computer, print them or review them as needed. If the dog eats one copy, just download and print another! Teachers may also post multi-media and hypertext web pages on their virtual bulletin boards. These kinds of documents enable students to revisit classroom experiments or click on a link to a relevant web site anywhere in the world. The virtual bulletin board has far more potential than the classroom bulletin board because the virtual bulletin board does not close when the bell rings at three o'clock. Students may check their assignments or present their latest projects by logging on to their class home page at anytime from anywhere. The virtual bulletin board is also parent friendly. Most parents have limited access to their child's classroom bulletin board. The virtual bulletin board, on the other hand, may be viewed by parents at work, at home or at Aunt Millies. Unlike classroom bulletin boards, virtual bulletin boards are accessible twenty-four hours a day, without an appointment. The virtual bulletin board, or web site, can be a valuable tool for schools that develop effective web sites. Effective school web sites assist and empower educators, students and parents. They take advantage of the opportunities this new medium presents by providing students and parents with relevant information and links to resources. They give students opportunities to do research, publish their work and collaborate with others. They give teachers, administrators, students, parents and the community new opportunities to communicate with one another. An effective school web site is a school's bulletin board to the world. In developing the BF web site, I have tried to lay the foundation for an effective school web site. The recently