The Benefits and Challenges of a Student-Designed School Website

Abstract

This article reports a qualitative study in which a small group of 12- and 13-year-old students designed a school website. The study's main purpose was to investigate the potential benefits of hypermedia authoring for language arts instruction. Although successful integration of multimedia technology into schools is not without significant challenges, collaborative projects involving Internet publishing can provide an authentic and motivating literacy experience for students. Results of this study suggest that the four traditional language arts processes of reading, writing, speaking, and listening could valuably be expanded to include multimedia-based processes of interpreting and composing.

• Hypermedia version at Reading Online.
• Text version at Reading Online.