TES in an online network of teachers, actually the largest online and can be found at Tes.co.uk. There was an interesting article published Friday by Jim Knight.
Knight proposed that students in the U.K. be given their own domain name. Knight said he got the idea from a piece by Audrey Watters on a U.S. school that is doing just that.
So I was delighted to have found this great article by Audrey Watters on A Domain of One’s Own.
Starting at the University of Mary Washington, a number of US schools are giving students their own domain name. As Audrey says:
The importance of giving students responsibility for their own domain cannot be overstated. This can be a way to track growth and demonstrate new learning over the course of a student’s school career — something that they themselves can reflect upon, not simply grades and assignments that are locked away in a proprietary system controlled by the school.
It is also a great way to build digital skills.
Students choose their own domain name, register it, and then work out how to attach it to a site. Along with the name come a bundle of tools and help to design what they want their domain to be. It can be a portfolio of work, an aid to literacy through blogging, a way to use coding skills and so on. And then there is learning how to build an audience, a great introduction to digital marketing.
It is an idea that makes sense to me and should be encouraged by more academics as the earlier students understand the Internet, the better.
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