Students’ Guide

Aims

• to promote practical use of the web in schools and colleges
  
• to encourage critical approaches to resources available on the web
  
  This web site has been designed for UK students of GCSE, AS and A2 qualifications. The outcome of the activities here can be used to provide evidence for Assessment Objectives in the following subjects:

• Media Studies
• Film Studies
• Citizenship
• IT Key Skills
  
  The tasks presented in isolation will not qualify in a Key Skills portfolio, they must be embedded in work set by your teacher.
  
  Links along the top list the main areas of the site. We advise you to work your way through Project Units in the given order, starting with History of the Web. This will enable you to understand each stage and progress more easily. Unit 1 introduces issues developed in Unit 2, and closes with a short task. Unit 2 requires more detailed thinking and interaction with each other. A reading list is included in order to support your learning about the web.
  The Discussion Boards are for you to give your views about the sites, positive and negative, and your reasons for your views. The Final Reports area is for you to log your research and conclusions.
  

Print Outs

To help you work through the site here are two Adobe Acrobat PDF files that can be downloaded and printed for reference.

Web Explorations Content

Glossary

Downloading & Installing Free Adobe Acrobat Reader
If you do not have Adobe Acrobat Reader it can be downloaded for free by clicking on the link above. It is straight-forward to install on most computers by double clicking the installer icon.

Students' Reading List
Flanders, Vincent & Willis, Michael.
Web Pages that Suck: Learn Good Design by Looking at Bad Design. Sybex. 1996.
A funny, irreverent – and sometimes brutally honest – critique of web design from a down-to-earth, user’s point of view. Kicks sand in the face of the technoromantic theorist.

They also have a Web Site
http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com

The Marshall McLuhan Web Site
A must for any serious student of Media of any sort, and for Communications.
http://www.cios.org/encyclopedia/mcluhan/index.html

Monaco, James.
The Dictionary of New Media.
Harbor Electronic Publishing. New York. 1999.
Excellent reference book for the library or the home. Useful for teacher and student alike.