Weebly

Weebly provides users with a template and guidance for creating their own website. After registering with Weebly, users must select their website’s theme (e.g., Business, Creative, or Non-Profit). After a theme is selected, Weebly creates users a customizable website that they can modify to their liking. Once their website has been created, users can tap the “Edit” button on the top right of the screen to add content and pages or change its design. To add content, users must first select the “Build” option located on top of the “Edit” button’s menu and then select and slide the content they wish to add onto their website (e.g., text, images, maps, dividers, buttons, files, social media links, and more!). Once slid into place, Weebly pulls up a menu that allows users to further customize the content. Users can also modify content after it is included on their website by tapping it and adjusting it to their liking. To add pages, users must select the “Pages” button located on top of the “Edit” button’s menu and tap the “+ Add Page” option. Next, they must enter information about the page they wish to add and then tap the “Save” button. Weebly will then add that page to their website. To change the design of their website, users must tap the “Design” button located on the “Edit” button’s menu and choose the new theme, font, or color they wish to use. Once satisfied with their website, users can post it to the internet by tapping the “Publish” button on the top right of the screen, entering in a unique domain name, and tapping the “Available” text under the “Free Subdomain” category. Once published, users can view their website online by tapping the “Menu” button on the top left of the screen and selecting the “View published site” option or by typing in the domain address they chose when publishing the website.

Please Note: A majority of Weebly’s options and features are available for free. However, to access all of Weebly’s options and features, users will need to purchase the “upgrade” feature.

Instructional Ideas

1. Instead of a traditional research paper, teachers can have students present their research in the form of a website. For each section of the research paper, students can create a separate page that contains text, images, charts, and graphs related to the research topic. Students can share their research with classmates by posting their website’s address to a class website. Teachers can then have fellow students read and respond to their classmate’s research. Students who read a classmate’s research can write what they learned about the topic, what they still want to know about the topic, and constructive criticism for ways to improve the website or research.
2. At the end of the semester, teachers can have students use this app to create a digital portfolio of their work. To do so, students can create a website using this app and each page of the website can include an exemplary piece of work they completed during the course. (To upload the documents, users must save the documents to an iCloud drive and use the “File” option from the “Edit” menu to access them.) Once a document has been uploaded to the website, users can include a paragraph rationale that explains why they selected that document to be included in their portfolio. Teachers can require students to upload 3, 5, 10 or more documents. When completed, teachers can have students share their portfolios with their parents to demonstrate the work they completed.
3. As part of an advertising/propaganda or business lesson, teachers can have students use this app to design a website that sells a product or service using a specific advertising/propaganda technique (e.g., bandwagon, snob appeal, loaded words, celebrity endorsement, transfer, and/or unreliable testimonial). Students can integrate the media elements (e.g., text, images, movies) to create the technique on their website. When complete, students can present their website to the class. The students viewing the presentation will then have to name the technique and compose a rationale that justifies their naming of the technique based on evidence found in the website.
4. Students can use this app to create a library of vocabulary words. To do so, teachers can require students to add a 1, 3, 5, or more words per week. To begin, the homepage for the website can include the student’s name, the subject area, and entry paragraph explaining that this website is a word library. Then, when students come across a word that they do not know, teachers can require them to add a page to their website. On that page, students must list the word as the page’s name and also include: (1) the word’s definition, (2) an image that represents the word, (3) a sentence that uses the word contextually, (4) antonyms and synonyms for the word, and (5) the source where the word was found. If teachers require students to keep this library during their entire course, students will have a large list of words by the end of the class.

Screenshots