Random Thoughts

COETAIL Site Redesign

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CIRCLE-RGB-100pxI am pretty excited to talk about the new redesigned site that we launched a few weeks ago now on the COETAIL (Certificate of Educational Technology and Information Literacy) site. Head on over and take a look and see what you think.

This has been a fun project to work on with our developer Foliovision. Websites have always been a hobby of mine and looking back on it, it was designing websites that got me into technology in the first place. Check out my first ever website…I actually got paid to make this. They bought the software I made the site. Man…that is the original era of the animated .gif! 🙂

Anyway…it’s crazy to look back to where web design was in 2001 and where it is now. Man how times have changed!

A couple of things to check out:

  • Infinite scroll: Scroll to the bottom of the blog posts coming from the community and 8 more load automatically. With Google Reader going away many of our participants have turned to this new front page as a replacement which is leading to more cross-commenting between our cohorts.
  • Site Wide Tags: This has been around for awhile but we brought it to the front to help participants understand how tags work and how you can use them when you’re looking for information across the site for a specific topic.
  • Responsive Design: This is where the web is heading and what I love is that you can look at the site on any size device and the theme auto adjusts and looks great on any size screen.

COETAIL

Most of all we keep the community first and foremost on the site. It’s about creating connections and moving teachers along a path to understanding true technology integration. The program continues to grow and we continue to, I think, make it better. Kim and I are excited where all this is going and excited about the changes we are seeing in the participants, in their classrooms, and the impact this program has had on whole schools around the world.

We do have a new cohort starting in February and like the rest it’s filling up fast if you are interested.

I started blogging in 2005 and found it such a powerful way to reflect and share my thinking about technology, this generation, and how we prepare students for their future not our past.

3 Comments

  1. Hi Jeff,
    I am with Kim for the September online cohort. Just wanted to say that I enjoyed your book “Reach”. Happy to see your post here too about the amazing upgrades – web 2.0 is becoming more and more accessible. I think that with your point about prosumers and your hierarchy of literacies, you have struck upon a key to the political landscape shaping the internet (from its foundation), and that is the democratic and interactive elements. I enjoyed your analogy about Web 1.0 and Web 2.0. As we move towards becoming prosumers (not consumers as in Web 1.0) and moving our students along that path, we honour democracy. I think the COETAIL, as you and Kim have designed it, really brings us (the teachers) along the path you discovered yourself; then as we bring our students along that path as prosumers with networked literacy, we push democracy and true dialogue or the democratic dialectic along too. Thanks for your good work!

    • Jeff Utecht Reply

      Thanks Kevin!

      Enjoy the COETAIL journey. You’re in good hands with Kim. 🙂

  2. Colin Richard (@ColinRichard19) Reply

    Hello Jeff. I want to start off by stating how well your blog flows. I am not computer literate by any means, but you write in a way that would put any caveman at ease. I actually wanted to explore your entire blog and links. Nice!
    As for this new redesigned site; congratulations! It looks to be be a wonderful project with exceptional potential in bringing teachers from all over together.
    Keep up the great work and I look forward to following your progress and seeing what you have in store for us next.
    Sincerely,
    Colin

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