Content Management System
Content Management System
The Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu tells us that the journey of 1000 Li begins with a single step. With this blog entry I embark upon several new beginnings and a journey of my own. It is the first week of Edtech 596 which is an independent study course in Boise State University’s Master’s of Educational Technology program. For this course I will be implementing a vision I have had since I began writing web sites for education. Over the next several months I will be creating a Content Management System (CMS) that features the curriculum and educational materials I have been developing over the past eleven years of teaching.
My goal is to provide my target audience of students, parents, and administrators with an accessible secondary music curriculum while incorporating features that provide for the dissemination and submission of lesson materials, online discussions, and scheduling while being driven by sound educational philosophy and design aesthetics.
My CMS will run on WordPress employing a custom theme, a variety of plugins, and incorporate all that I have learned about web development over the past 5 years. My cooperating teacher for this Dr. Andy Hung from the Boise State’s Edtech department. Prior to the start of the course we have agreed upon several criteria that the finished product will adhere to. Lets take a moment to explore these Criteria as I will be referring to them while blogging throughout the course.
My Criteria for this project are split into four overarching categories with each category containing subcategories that address specific aspect of the CMS. They are as follows:
Functionality
- Browser Support & Reactivity: This category concerns support for major browsers including Chrome, Firefox, and Safari including iOS and android versions. This area of the rubric will also ensure the completed site is ‘reactive’ to various devices and screen sizes.
- Coding: This category addresses the quality of the coding (HTML/CSS/PHP/Javascript) of the site beyond what is already coded by WordPress or the plugins associated with the site’s construction. I will not be trying to fix warnings or errors caused by third party plugin authors as long as the errors do not impede the browser support, reactivity, or any other major site functionality.
Usability
- Content: This category addresses the usability of the site’s content for the target audience of students, parents, and administrators. While much of the content of this site has already been created over the course of my career or during BSU classes it will be presented here in a easily understood format that will be made as transparent and accessible as possible to my target audience.
- Accessibility: This CMS will provide users with a multiplicity of ways in which content can be accessed in an effort to ensure that any question a user has about the curriculum can be easily answered.
Visuals and Aesthetics
- The visuals and aesthetics of the website will allow for intuitive content navigation while providing users with the best possible experience through intelligent organization and stunning design.
Philosophy and Reflection
- This site will adhere to sound educational philosophy. Particularly, I will be envisioning the site’s use in conjunction with a relatively new educational concept called the Asset Model. The Asset Model is fully explained HERE but its general tenants are in line with constructivist philosophy and student driven learning.
- While this site is under construction I will also be keeping a weekly blog about my experiences. This blog will address analytical, procedural, and aesthetic topics I face during construction. It will also help illuminate my progress week to week which might not always be reflected in measurable site development. Particularly during the beginning stages I will need to make careful choices regarding the theme and plugins I will use for my CMS which may require testing.
My hope is that at the end of this course I will not only have a stunning CMS tool that will illuminate the power of the technology driven classroom but also serve as an example for others to follow. One of my career goals is to help other teachers realize how a CMS websites like the one I will build can transform their teaching and amplify their instructional impact. In the future I hope to develop a generic WordPress theme that teachers can use to build their own CMS site with little to no outside assistance. I will then help teachers build tech driven lesson content and integrated curriculums that will populate their sites with best educational content.
Here begins my journey. I intend to make it a good one.
