New TA Mini-Web-Workshop
Introduction
As I'm sure you all know, or will soon, education
has embraced the Web. Most departments have initiatives for putting classes
on the Web. DEIL, and thus ESL, is no exception. I'm not going to lecture
on the positives and negatives of developing Web resources and putting these
on University servers. That would take too much time and maybe convince you
that it is better not to use these. 
I'm not sure were all of you are when it comes to computers and the Web. I'm going to assume that you have a basic level of competence with these. If that assumption is wrong, let me know and I'll give you some extra help.
Today's Task
Today we are going to make a basic Web page. I'd like it to be your class Web page. It would be a good idea to put all of the information that you can about you and your class. I know that you might not have a lot of information about the class you are going to teach, but you could at least put in your office location, office phone, and e-mail.
I have included a disk full of various graphics. These are a minute sample of what's available on the Web for free. Depending on your view of what a class Web page should be you may embrace or throwout the idea of using graphics. The less graphics, the faster your Web page will load, which is beneficial for people using modems from home. A page with well-placed graphics retains interest. You can also go to some of the Free gifs pages that I have listed below.
I'm going to show a brief presentation on using Netscape Composer (a free HTML editor packaged with the Netscape Browser). After this we will discuss the benefits and drawbacks of using this software and I'll give you some free alternatives. I'll also tell you about the Web page templates that are available below.
You now have about 45 - an hour to make your own Web page. I'll be walking around to assist you. If any of you are already Webmasters, please help out those who aren't. Thanks
Some Legal Issues
I should mention one thing, copyright. One thing that you have to keep in mind throughout your academic career is copyright. Nowhere is it more important than on the Web. Not many people are going to see your coursebook, but your Web page is open to the public. Not to mention, all the University pages are picked up by the popular search engines, so the chance of your pages to be seen is even greater. So, don't "borrow" pictures, articles, etc... without the permission of the owner. Enough said.
