Building a Web Site
of Your Own

Building a Group or Class Web Site

One popular activity for students is to divide a larger research project into parts with the students combining their work into one final integrated product.  A web site might be the way students combine that work.  This page includes some steps to follow to accomplish such an integrated web constructed from work by several students.

Make New Webs - Have each student create his or her own "new web" at his or her individual computer.  Here are the steps to make such a new web:

1 - Select FrontPage from the Programs menu choice (part of the "Start" menu).  

2 - Select either "One Page Web" or "Empty Web" to start from scratch.  Note that the "location" shown is the place the web will be saved locally (prior to being published).  Have each student create a new folder (probably using their own names).  In this example, the student should erase "class2" with a name so the location of the web might look like "C:\My Documents\My Webs\Smith"

Create the individual webs:  When the web first opens, you'll see a screen something like the one below at left:
3 - A screen (as shown at left) will open.  The web is in "page view" and the first page in the new web is already open and ready for editing.  You may begin entering the contents of this first page using the typical MicroSoft tools at the top of the screen.  We'll assume that if you need more assistance on the mechanics of creating an individual web, you'll check the resources at the Building a Web Site of Your Own class resources pages.

4 - You can switch to "Folders" view by clicking the folder icon under "Views".  From this view, right-click in the empty space under the file names displayed in the area of the window on the right.  Use the pop-up menu to "make a new page"

5 - When adding graphics, remember to save them in the "images" folder of the individual student's web.

6 - Have each student complete the work on his/her web, save any changes so that ALL FILES associated with the web are stored in the folder named with his/her last name.  Make sure to include any graphics used inside this folder and inside the "images" folder.

7 - The students are now ready to combine the pieces!

Make the Master "Teacher Page":  The teacher should make a master "new web" on the teacher workstation in a similar manner to the process used to make individual student webs.  All the other parts of the class project will be imported into this single web managed by the teacher.  The teacher's computer will also be used if the entire web is published.  If it has not been done yet, make a new web for the teacher.  This web will likely contain at least one page (probably called "index.htm") that will contain links to all the other student work.

Import the Students' Work:  For this step, it is necessary for the teacher to have access to the folder named with the student's name from the teacher workstation.  This may be accomplished by copying the folder from the student's C:\ drive to some folder on the network accessible to the teacher OR by copying the student's folder onto a floppy disk and carrying it to the teacher station.

Open the teacher's "master web" for the class.  Under the File menu, click Import.  Next, click the choice "add folder" on the dialog box.  Navigate to locate the student folder either on the floppy or in the location to which it was copied on the network.  "Select" the folder and click "OK".  Click "OK" once again to confirm the importing of the student folder.  A warning message will likely report that some data may be lost - this is normal for it to not keep the complete catalog of links within the web when the folder is imported.

Connecting the dots:  Once the individual student folders have all been added to the common web managed by the teacher, make links from the teacher's "index" page to the individual portions of the student work.  Also, it would be a good idea to make a link from the bottom of each student's page back to the main teacher index page.  One good way to do this might by creating a footer file in the teacher's web and then "including" that as a footer on the student pages when they are imported.

Check your work:  It is a good idea to check through the student pages to make sure they work properly now that they are imported.  If there are problems with graphics not displaying properly, it means they were not stored properly in the folder back on the student machines.  This may be rectified by importing the images directly onto the teacher web OR by fixing the links back at the student machine and then re-importing the student work.

Fixing stuff:  After performing a test, what if things don't work properly.  For instance if the graphics do not all display properly,  the problem may be rectified by importing the images directly onto the teacher web OR by fixing the links back at the student machine and then re-importing the student work. 

If students simply wish to update their work and then bring the changes to the teacher machine, use the same method of importing whole folders at a time (as described above).  When importing a folder with the same name as an existing folder on the teacher web, you'll be asked about replacing files and this is what you wanted to do anyway!

Check over the student content for copyright, appropriate use, etc. and good luck with your class projects!

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