The school of the future is online. Increasingly, institutes are using digital tools to offer children a complete preparation. Speed, efficiency, functionality, this is what the internet promises today's students.
Before the Covid emergency, schools still did not fully enjoy the benefits of digital, but with the pandemic, after an initial moment of confusion, they saw how useful they can be for children.
The Online teaching material is interactive and allows students to put knowledge and skills into practice.
The school website
Many schools have failed to provide a functional service during the pandemic. The reason? They didn't have a effective website.
If you want your school to be well organized, the first thing you need to do is create a website cared for. In this way families will be well informed and children will be able to enjoy the benefits of digital.
The school website is like an identity card because it shows who the institution and the people who work there are.
The personality of the site
If you want the work of the school's teachers and students to appear at their best, take care of the platform in detail.
Highlighting the school's projects is essential to show the path it wants the children to take and the activities it offers to guarantee a complete education.
A effective website shows that school is not just made up of lessons but also of other things, thanks to a staff that works for the children and a structure that welcomes them.
The initiatives outside school hours and the courses that the school offers give personality to the institute.
Who isn't attracted by a beautiful photo? On the site there must be images of the school, of the activities, of the initiatives that make it alive and reflect its personality. On the platform you have to breathe the air you breathe in the corridors, so the importance of graphics cannot be underestimated.
How to create a website for school
If you don't know where to start create a website for your school, first consult article 4 of Directive 8/2009 of the Minister for Public Administration and Innovation, where you will find access to the guidelines for Public Administration websites with a useful Vademecum.
The minister has thus provided useful and clear guidance for create a site up to the task that the school carries out in society.
The creation process is divided into several parts. First of all you need a base from which to start which, as emerges from the guidelines, must contain the project documents and a first draft of what the site will look like.
Even when the site is actually created, the PA does not leave you alone. In fact, in the guidelines you can find a clear description of the method to follow.
The key points in creating the site
The Directive is clear: the minimum contents, general principles, management and updates must be respected on the website. Find out how to make these indications the reality of the site.
The school platform must have a subject line, but this is not limited to just the information provided. The secret that makes the difference between a mediocre website and an effective one is the differentiation of content.
You already know that the aesthetic side, therefore the photos and graphics, is a good business card for your site. But there's more.
A school is also made up of an internal organization which must be very clear to parents and teachers. On the site it is necessary to report the PTOF, the institute regulations and all the useful information that allows you to better understand the philosophy behind the education.
The first thing you look for on a site is the description. It is necessary because parents, students and even future teachers need to know the environment in which they will spend most of their day and which will somehow influence their lives.
Before enrolling a child in a school, parents usually ask around for information or search for it online to ensure that their child goes to the best possible institution. You could help them by inserting a section on the site whose content is made up of the opinions of the students themselves.
There must be notices and communications on the site to keep parents informed about what is happening in the school.
Once you have clarified the essential content, there is a small detail you need to keep in mind. Each site has a domain and on that of the institutional sites there has been some misunderstanding between gov.it and edu.it. L'Agency for digital Italy has established that the edu.it domain must be used on school websites.
The philosophy of the school
Did you know that taking care of the website is also a form of respect for the environment? The more efficient the site, the more you avoid wasting sheets of paper in the institution. A green school provides a good example to the children who attend it because it shows them alternative methods to pollute less.
The website must be in good hands
The school website certainly doesn't take care of itself. With its importance, you cannot leave it at the mercy of a sporadic and unreliable organization.
Generally behind the creation of an efficient and functional site there are various figures, including the person in charge of information systems, IT accessibility, relations with the public and someone who takes care of publishing the contents.
If you have qualified and constantly updated staff in compliance with the requirements of the Internet Charter of Rights, you can entrust all these functions to a single manager among the teachers or staff of the school.
The person in charge of management of the school website he really has many tasks and for the good of the children he must not neglect any of them.
The information and communications provided on the site depend on him, so he must have clear, simple and concise language. The important thing is to avoid unnecessary turns of phrase and provide concrete indications.
The manager ensures that information regarding the school is accessible to teachers and families and promptly provides all useful and urgent communications.
Put the site in the hands of an expert who knows the internet and is up to date on the mechanisms of the network. If he is a teacher, he must extend his task beyond the children because he must explain to parents how the site works and how to use it.
In recent times we have seen how important the internet is and how many people, however, do not know how to use it. Safe guidance within the school is an anchor for those who want to learn in the best possible way how to access the school of the future.
The characteristics of the school website
First and foremost, your school website must be useful. Usefulness means giving anyone who seeks it the necessary information in a clear and unambiguous way. Renunciation of refined and academic language in favor of simple and easy to understand communication.
According to Law 4/2004, the site must be easily accessible, so do not use overly complex layouts that risk making the really important information disappear.
Remember that the school website is mostly used by parents who have decided to entrust their children's education to your school. In exchange they must have maximum transparency to be constantly updated on the path they have taken their children and the environment in which they are growing up.
School is the place where children form their character and where they have some of the most important experiences of their lives. It is good for parents to be informed about the school's philosophy and the activities that guarantee their children a bright future.
How the site is maintained
Once created the website the work is not finished. The Public Administration highlights the need for constant updating of contents. When something new or a change in the school's normal activities occurs, it must be communicated promptly in order to notify parents, students and teachers.