Session 4
Uncomplicated Course Design with Google Sites
Presented by Julie Sorge Way
Google Sites is a free website building tool that I have used extensively in my Gen Ed classes here at JMU. It allows me to build a site for the course, keep and update an extensive link library, and maintain it during breaks from JMU classes. It is easy to use and has no cost. Their “filing cabinet” feature is especially useful for students as I use it to post files they need quickly and easily. Additionally, I have used my Google Site to encourage student participation in knowledge-building. Students have completed annotated web bibliographies on specific topics in my course that are now posted to the web via my site and useful for other beginning researchers.
Julie Sorge Way is an instructor of literature, writing, and speech. She completed her B. A. summa cum laude in 2003 from Mid-America Nazarene University in Olathe, Kansas, majoring in English with a minor in World History. She went on to earn an M. A. in English with honors in May of 2006. Since graduating, she has enjoyed teaching a variety of English and Communications courses at universities in Pennsylvania and Kansas, and is now employed at James Madison University and Bridgewater College. She has been honored throughout her academic career with several writing and teaching awards, including the capstone 2006 Carlin Award for Outstanding Graduate Teaching, awarded annually to the top two out of over 1,000 GTAs at the University of Kansas.