Own domain name

Sooo after creating a funky website that I was really happy with I realised it was pretty expensive to host it with them using my own domain name. 

I decided to purchase my own domain name and use another web 2.0 application (www.weebly.com) to make a new website - not as pretty but still functional... and they let you host the site with your own domain name (the name/address that you type in when going to a website).  I purchased my name for a year (only $22.50, not too bad!) and am hosting it for free.  I would definitely consider purchasing a domain name in the future to use with my class - easier to remember and pretty cool for the kids.

I don't for a moment think that teachers need to have a massive amount of technical knowledge relating to e-learning, but I do really believe that it doesn't hurt!  If a teacher has more knowledge and confidence, maybe the are more willing to embrace e-learning within the classroom.

Experimentingwith websites, transferring domain names, linking them through to existing sites etc. has really developed my skill set.  See http://www.fabfaces.co.nz

I didn't know that emails can be forwarded to another email address and then be made to appear sent from there too - eg. my hotmail email is fabfaces@hotmail.co.nz but I've forward all emails through my domain name, so that emails sent to sarah@fabfaces.co.nz appear in my hotmail inbox, and are sent out looking like they're from sarah@fabfaces.co.nz - the fabfaces.co.nz email address doesn't really exist but looks like it does - neat!  All free of charge too and the result?  A much more professional looking email address.

The email address finding isn't quite so useful for the kids but all building my knowledge.  I love that this course has encouraged me to experiment with technology and e-learning.

The downside...

I suppose the main downside of this course is the requirement to publish comments relating to readings... being a busy bunch as we all are, I've found it hard to make the time to continuously feedback on the readings - my folder is full of notes and highlighted points, but to actually get that all onto screen has been a challenge and unfortunately not at the forefront for me.

On the bright side, I've volunteered myself to share my new knowledge (well the beginnings of knowledge!) on web 2.0 at our next e-learning cluster day... I will be introducing teachers from 2 schools to different web 2.0 tools that add excitement and interest to the classroom - motivating learners.  Exciting and a little daunting but will be a good challenge for me and really get me thinking about e-learning again.

Building a website

Hi everyone,

Things are progressing very slowly but one thing I have managed to chip away at is a website of my own.

I've been reading a forum and finally decided upon using www.wix.com - a free and easy way to build a decent looking website.  At times it was a little frustrating but all in all, not difficult to use and something the kids could definitely do!

The link to my site:  http://wix.com/sarahholland/fab-faces



I've got a few things to finish up, then I must get onto loading up my thoughts on the readings!  I've gone through and highlighted and commented on things as I've been going but don't have a heck of a lot of feedback on my blog - whoops!