CHCCS unveils new web presence
Today, the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools released a new district website. We wanted to familarize our staff and listserv subscribers to the new features as this site is unveiled to the public.The revisions were made in response to feedback we collected from staff and listserv subscribers last spring in a communications survey. The new format seeks to place dynamic content on the homepage, while seeking to preserve much of the familiar navigation of the old format.
The old webpage had categories of information listed in the middle of the page. These categories may now be found in a column on the left. The old webpage had a list of quicklinks down the lefthand column. These can now be found in a column on the righthand side of the new page, with the addition of navigation categories for reports and community links. The relocation of these items frees up the center of the page for news stories and photos.
A number of web 2.0 tools have been incorporated into the website to allow users flexibility in how they would like to access news about the district. Here are a few of those methods, along with details about how users may access the content:
Subscribe via RSS (Really Simple Syndication)
You need to have an RSS aggregator account in order to receive RSS feeds. These accounts are free to open. Google Reader and iGoogle are among the most popular aggregators. Once you have established an account, visit the new district webpage and click on the orange RSS logo in the upper righthand corner of the page. You will be directed to a page that provides links that allow you to send our content to your RSS aggregator. The new webpage also contains a link to additional information about how to subscribe to and use web feeds. You also may subscribe to the Superintendent's Blog (The weekly column from Dr. Pedersen that previously appeared in The Educator) via an RSS feed.Subscribe via e-mail
You may subscribe to the content on the homepage (and other pages) via e-mail. You may do this by clicking on the blue envelope icon in the upper righthand corner of the homepage. You will be directed to a screen that asks you to enter your email address and to select the page you wish to follow. Once you complete this process, you will begin receiving e-mail notifications when this page is updated.
Follow us on Facebook
You must have a Facebook account in order to view our district Facebook page. This is free and may be obtained by visiting www.facebook.com and setting up a profile. Once your profile is complete, you will begin to search for friends. Click on the "Friends" tab and select "Find Friends" from the drop down menu. Type Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools in the search box and return. Click on the "Pages" tab under the "Lists" heading. Our district page listing will appear in the center of the screen. Select "Become a Fan" to follow us. We have more than 100 fans already as this site becomes active.Follow us on Twitter
If you are unfamiliar with Twitter, it is a web tool that asks users to "tweet," or to send messages of just 140 charcters in response to the question, "What are you doing?" We will use this tool mostly with reminders of upcoming events and website headlines. You may view our Twitter page by clicking on the Twitter logo at the bottom righthand corner of the new homepage. Once there, you can open your own account and become a follower of our Twitter messages.Follow us on Flickr
Flickr is a photo storage and sharing site. From time to time, we will upload sets of photos and captions from school district events. We started using this tool last year to serve as a photo album for our Centennial Celebration.We welcome your questions or concerns as we make these changes in our communications plan. Please feel free to direct those to Stephanie Knott, Assistant to the Superintendent for Community Relations, at sknott@chccs.k12.nc.us or to 967-8211, ext. 28227. We also encourage school staff members to send us their news stories and photos so that we may feature their school groups on our new homepage. There is a web form for news submissions under community links.
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