Esther's reflection on her webpage in light of her classmates comments

Esther’s reflection on Australian Celebration’s webpage, in light of the comments her classmates made.

In reflecting on my web creation, I think that it is a valuable tool that can be used in conjunction with a unit on Australian culture. After reflecting on the comments that my classmates made about their impressions on my webpage, I think that the design was colourful, organised and interesting. The tasks were challenging, but engaging as well. In light of my classmates comment I would make changes to the number of Hot Potato questions and add links to the index page on every webpage in the unit ‘Australian Celebrations’. The two classmates who kindly commented on my webpage were Yuki and Jin.

I am proud of the colours, pictures and videos that I used in Australian Celebrations. I intentionally used a lot of the colour blue, as a continually connection to the Australian flag. Both classmates, found the topic ‘attractive’ (Yuki) and the pictures ‘beautiful and relevant’ to the information that was presented on that page (Jin). The information was seen as interesting and well-organised.

The information that I used, via links to other websites, provided opportunities to improve reading comprehension skill and critical literacy skills. My classmates both noted the comprehensive information to engage with and challenge that the reading tasks would be for students. I didn’t add into my webpage that the level of the students who I designed the webpage for were upper-intermediate students. I admit that the amount of reading is quite challenging, but I think that upper intermediates need to be challenged. So I wouldn’t change the reading aspect of this webpage. The content of the reading was often preceded or followed by speaking activities. Yuki commented, “Students need to read some articles you prepared for them and then interact and negotiate with each other can also practice their speaking English”. I think the authentic readings, would be wonderful for generating discussion in class.

The use of video in the ANZAC lesson provided an opportunity to learn see what ANZAC Day looks like and to using critical literacy to engage with important symbols in Australian culture. Jin commented that “videos were utilised to increase students' motivation. Visual learners will find it quite motivating”, I was very excited to be able to use video in my webpage.

There are some aspects of my webpage that I would change in light of my classmate’s comments. I would definitely add more Hot Potato questions. Jin said that it was a pity that I had only three questions, well I think it was pitiful that I had only three questions! At the time I think that I didn’t register with Hot Potato properly and so I could only create three questions unregistered. Because my webpage involved mostly other students accessing information, the Hot Potato quiz wasn’t my biggest concern, while creating the webpage.

Another suggestion that was made was to add some links on each page to the index page and then the next page. As the creator of the webpage, I felt quite comfortable; using the index on the side of the webpage, but it is interesting the users of the page felt differently. So this feedback was so valuable! In future when creating such WebPages, I will remember to ask my students at the end of the unit, if the have any comments on the design and use-ability of the webpage.

Designing this webpage was fun and challenging. I think the biggest challenge for me was to make pedagogically sound design decisions. There are so many things that you can create using Dreamweaver and technology. I found that being selective and critically using materials and activities the most challenging aspect of this project. I have definitely seen the advantages of using technology and creating spaces for students to engage with what the technology has to offer them as ESL learners.