BTEC Science is a good course for many pupils, being portfolio based it reduces the pressure on pupils to perform in exams. Pupils can also work independently through many of the tasks. The nature of the course means that the admin can be a nightmare for teachers who run this course.
I have used Google Sites and Google Apps (together with Delicious) to gather all the resources and information in one place so students can check their progress and look up web links etc.
Task 1
Open a Delicious account and make a note of your username. You will need to add all the bookmarks for BTEC Science to Delicious. I’d recommend tagging them with a sensible name too, I use BTECsci.
Many people have already written good guides for Delicious – here is one specially for educators
Task 2
Create a spreadsheet to track your BTEC Assignments on using Google Spreadsheets. You will need to enter pupil names or identifiers in a way that complies with data protection legislation. I colour the unfilled sheets in red. When pupils start an assignment I colour the cell in orange, and in green when they have achieved a pass grade (thanks to Dukeries school for the traffic light system).
When your sheet is finished you need to publish it using the share options (view only, auto-republish). This will allow anyone to view your sheet – needed later.
Task 3
Create a blank site using Google sites. This site will need to be viewable by anybody – so click the option to share with the world. Give the site a suitable name (preferably something simple so you can give it to your pupils). Pick a theme that suits you and create.
The home page is where your introduction/welcome goes so click on edit page and enter some text.
Creating a page for your spreadsheet:
Click new page and enter a suitable name (e.g. assignments) and then create at the top level. When you get your new page click insert on the menu bar and then look for the spreadsheet option.
Select your spreadsheet and click [OK].
Create a page for your bookmarks
Click create new page, give it a name and create it at the top level as before. When you get your new page this time you click insert go for the more.. option at the bottom of the menu. This should bring up the Google gadgets menu. Type in delicious and click the search button. The gadget you need is called “Del.icio.us bookmarks” – click on it once.
This should bring up another screen that asks you for some settings. You need to know your delicious username and tags to input here – here is mine…
Click ok and your links page is done.
Additional pages
You can create additional pages in the same way – these could have information/text on them (e.g. deadlines). You can embed YouTube videos (for pupils to view at home) or even create a page of files (file cabinet option) for assignment briefs, documentation and so on.
Navigation bar
Now all you need to do is edit your navigation bar at the side.
Click edit sidebar on the left – this should allow you to change the layout of your site. I removed the [Recent site activity] panel and then clicked edit on the [Navigation] panel.
This brings up a menu which allows you to add pages to the sidebar navigation. Click [Add page to sidebar navigation] and select one of the pages you created (e.g. links)
Whilst a page is highlighted you can change the order of pages in the menu using the arrow keys at the side. Click [OK] when your menu is complete.
Your site is now available at http://sites.google.com/sites/yoursitename
If you are technically minded you can register a domain name (e.g. a .co.uk address for your site but I’m not sure of the benefits if you have picked a sensible name for your site).
If you are new to Google Apps or Google sites feel free to contact me using the options at the top right of my blog (or click here) and I’ll do my best to help.