The Website Assignment as a Valuable Exercise--Beyond Establishing Presence to Creating Significance

As the Internet is becoming more and more of a commonplace technology in the Western world, many communication programs have begun to offer technology-related communication courses. Usually, these classes require students to create a Web site. A good Web site, however, requires more than colored text, a few graphics, and a few links. This paper explores the Web site assignment as a valuable exercise. First, theoretical background is reviewed, as both students and instructors should be familiar with some of these concepts before creating a Web site. Second, a seven-step model is explained that forces students to think about their Web site before actually creating it. The paper's author/educator states that personal experience has proven that combining the background information and the seven steps leads to higher quality Web sites that students are not afraid to show potential employers. Contains 36 references. (NKA)