A combination of linear and out-and-back webbing structures. Several external links, some to other projects. This web is nicely designed and easily understood. It could be improved by making the navigation scheme more consistent across the four sub-webs. Sometimes the links to the next section are at the bottom of a page, sometimes on the side. Navigation does require a good bit of scrolling. Some creative thought may well allow these pages to be restructured to lessen the scrolling required.

Pages are long. With continued development it would be worthwhile to consider rearranging material into additional pages, especially given the heavy graphics content for most of these pages.

Technical Comments:

Given the skill sets that the authors brought to the CLD collaboration, this projects represents the greatest "leap forward" among any of the 10 CLD projects. Each individual had to learn not only the basics of webbing and web authoring technology, but also the basic manipulation of computer technology down to the level of "mouse clicking," logging on, and the navigation of a windows interface.

Generally, a "novice" team can be sparked by the addition of one more experienced member. In this case, the team relied on the course resource persons, other participants, the lab technician, and anyone else who seemed to be able to offer help. This team, their approach to their project, and the technical results they achieved offer a very, very strong endorsement for the pedagogical principles behind the CLD Summer School. Their success offers a case study demonstrating two things: First, the ways that learning technological skills can be enhanced by collaboration. Second, their technical collaboration shows how powerful a minimal investment in learning technical skills can become as leverage for the production of even greater learning gains in content, teamwork, and basic approaches to the development of curriculum materials.

Overall, the project success validates the constructs designed into the CLD Summer School in demonstrating how technical collaboration in project development can affect individual skill sets and approaches to content.

Return to Collaborative Projects Menu

Content:

The content of this web promises a great deal. Obviously, given the limitations of time and technology during the course of the CLD workshop, it would have been very difficult to carry this project much further than the authors have taken it. 

Very definitely, this web site warrants further development. Simple replacement of the current scanned images with original photos could offer an immediate gain. Developing distinct "photo gallery" sections for each sub web seems an obvious additional development to consider. In doing so, it would be very wise to hold the per page quota of images to something under three (> 40 megs of images per page).

As for the text content, the authors may want to develop a protocol defining a consistent "look" and "feel" for the information on each page (even while maintaining the design uniqueness to each page). Certainly, there is a strong foundation here, and revisiting the content with the intention to publish this web site on a domain server (site) where it would get high visibility should be encouraged. This is a project well worth following up. The gains the authors made in technical skill, webbing conceptualization, and developing a team approach to their work during the class all promise that the site can become something that goes beyond a class project.