NGPF Fellow Jenna Derkoski (Newton South High School, MA) provides this awesome overview of how to use Google Sites in your classroom.

Name of the Tool: Google Sites

Cost: To access the integrations with other Google Apps that make Google Sites useful as an intranet site creator, you'll need a G Suite subscription, which comes in two forms: $5 per user per month and $10 per user per month, we have google as part of our district, so it is free for our students to access.

Use Case: Allows students to create engaging, high-quality sites for any in-class project. The best part of this is you can create a professional looking website without learning design or programming.

Implementation Guidance:

Through an in-class demo, students are able to access the sites through their Google accounts. They can rename their site and share it with partners if it is a team project. There are 3 main sections students navigate; including the insert, pages, and themes tabs. When creating a page, the insert tab allows users to upload documents easily and directly from their google drive, they are able to be creative with different layouts made for them, as well as link youtube videos, maps, and other materials with ease.

Here are some tips:

Users can easily manage sharing permissions and ownership in Sites with only a few clicks like they would a Doc. Embedded content retains its original permissions for reliable, fine-grained control, however, if you want the site to go live, Google can help you purchase a domain through one of their domain host partners. During sign up, just select the option to 'Buy a new domain.' then they’ll guide you through the process to help you set up G Suite for your new domain. In class, we have not actually made live domains, so not sure how much this would cost in the end.

Example:

I used this in my marketing class for a sports marketing project (here's an example) but have plans to use it as a banking project for next year.

In the compare banks savings accounts activity, I noticed a lot of the bank websites can be confusing to navigate and hard to find the information. My plan is to have students create a banks website for high school aged students that gives the information they need to know in an easier to find format. I know this will combine creativity, technology, all while learning about savings vehicles offered at banks.

About the Author

Laura Matchett

After graduating with an education degree and spending 7 years in an elementary classroom, Laura made the switch to the non-profit world and loves interacting with students, educators and business professionals across the country. She is passionate about all students having access to high quality education and views personal finance education as one way to ‘level the playing field’. When Laura is not locating or creating high quality educational resources, you can find her mountain biking or searching for the best ramen in town!