1. How will you make your pages freestanding?

• Each page of my website will be made freestanding by applying the fundamental design principles of who, what, when and where. Please see question number two for more details.

2. What 5 elements (actual text) will be on every page within your web site? Where will you place these elements in the site?

• informative title page - will also be the descriptive text if the page is bookmarked - top of page
• my name, institution (UT College of Social Work), and contact info - bottom of page.
• a link that will take the reader back to the home page - maybe in a navigation bar.
• for sub pages, a link that will take the reader back to the topic menu page (for example, back to "information for field instructors) - maybe in a navigation bar.
• a link that will take the reader to the main UT CSW webpage - maybe in a navigation bar
• revision date - bottom of page.
• home page URL on the main pages so that the reader is always aware of where the page originated - maybe in a navigation bar, not yet sure where this will go.

3. List the needs and demographics of your target audience that you will have to consider during development of your site?

• The majority of my audience will be between the ages of 22 - 65, will be college educated (either presently attending or graduated with a bachelors degree), and have familiarity with computers and the internet. My audience will include both males and females, they will have diverse ethnic backgrounds and speak english as their primary language.
• My target audience will usually visit the website looking for something specific, whether it be the field grading policy, number hours required in the second year practicum, or a specific field placement policy. I will need to provide clear, easy to navigate pages in which the information can be easily found without constantly using the browser back and forward buttons. Information will also need to be formatted in a way that is suitable for printing, as many people like to have hard copies of various policies, etc.

4. Why is it important to build clear navigational aids? What might you include in this
category that will make your pages easier to navigate?

• Navigation is important because it gives the reader a sense of where they are within the website as a whole. Icons or buttons will need to be clear and consistent, and overview pages for each different topic area of the website will be vital in helping the user find what they are looking for.

• For easy navigation, each page will have a link back to the main page, as well as links to other sections of the website. No page will be an end unto itself.

6. What is the maximum number of links that you will have in the index? List what these will be?

• I will probably have a main welcome page, 10 topic pages, and approximately 40 links (* this seems like a lot, I give this more thought and consider combining some of the pages). Each topic page will contain a number of relevant links, most likely in a side navigation bar.

1. Main Page - Welcome, Overview of Field Practice

• Program Mission and Goals
• Programs offered
• Curriculum content
  • Foundation content
  • Concentration content

2. Roles and Responsibilities in the Field Practicum

• Field Coordinator
• Field Consultant
• Field Instructor
• Task Instructor
• Student
• Major Professor

3. Information for Field Instructors

• Educational philosophy & approach
• Criteria for selection of field agencies
• Criteria for selection of field agency by type of practicum
• Criteria for selection of field instructors
• Field instructor certification training and recognition
• Agency agreements

4. Information for Students

• The placement process
• Special considerations in the placement process
  • Field placements with stipends
  • Placement in employment setting, steps to obtain approval
• Orientation to field practice
• Planning for field practice
• Placement reassignment
• Regulations regarding students in field practice
• When a student is not making satisfactory progress
• Professional misconduct
  • Incident report form
  • Student removal from a field placement
• Misc. Student Info
  • Commitment to cultural diversity and social justice
  • Personal safety training
  • Professional liability coverage
  • Students with disabilities

5. Student Evaluation and Grading

• Evaluation of student performance in field practice
• Grading policy
• Confidentiality
• Learning goals and objectives
  • for the foundation practicum
  • for the concentration practicum (MCP and Clinical)

6. Code of Ethics of the National Association of Social Workers

7. Forms

8. Lists of available field practice sites (perhaps with short descriptions)

9. CSW Resources

10. Contacts Page

11. Site Map

7. What do you think the bandwidth of your target audience will be? How will you design your interface design to accommodate this?

• My target audience includes current students, working adults, area social workers, and University faculty & staff. Thus, I will need to design the website to accommodate a wide range of bandwidth speeds (those who access the site from UT will have high speed connections, but someone viewing from home might have dial-up). I will keep graphics to a minimum and not include any video or audio clips. The goal of this website will be to provide easy access to needed information. Therefore, if the pages are slow to load it would defeat the purpose of the website - the readers could just pick up the phone and call us instead. Fast loading pages will enable the reader to quickly find the information they need, and they can then read or browse at their own pace.

8. How will you achieve simplicity and consistency within your design?

• I plan to keep things simple and consistent so that the reader is not left guessing as to where they need to go to find the information that they are looking for. Simplicity and consistency will be achieved by designing each page to have a shared color scheme (perhaps with slight variation from section to section), a consistent layout, and site maps and navigation bars. By using the same basic layout for each page (using style sheets), the website will have a consistent interface that allows for easy navigation.

9. How will you establish design integrity and stability within your site?

• Careful design will help to ensure design integrity and stability. This website will not only be a source of important information for the MSSW program, but it could serve as a recruitment tool as well. The MSSW program is implementing a new curriculum, effective Fall 2007, and this field practice website will be vital in providing information about changes in the field practice component. Many prospective students will view this website, and it will need to represent our school and our program in an accurate, professional way. I will need to carefully proof for typos and grammatical errors, check links often to be sure they work properly, regularly check to see if any information needs to be updated (especially policies and procedures of the field practicum) and then update/add/delete info as needed. It is especially important that links to non-social work areas of the UT website be checked on a regular basis as they tend to change without notice. I will also pay careful attention to reader feedback to be sure the website is serving its purpose in the best way possible.

10. How will you offer feedback and dialog opportunities for your readers?

• An online form will be provided so that readers with specific questions will have the ability to submit questions electronically. Contact information for the site designer will be provided on each page, and contact info for the three field coordinators will be clear and easy to find. This will include telephone and email addresses, as well as mailing addresses and fax numbers (many of the field placement forms are submitted to the department via fax).

11. How will you make your site accessible to all users?

• a text only navigation menu
• clear, easy to read fonts and pleasant colors
• alternate text descriptions for all images and graphics
• use of CSS will allow the reader to modify the site to meet their viewing needs

12. How will you guide the reader through the sequenced web pages within each section?

• If I do use any sequenced pages, arrow buttons will be provided to take the reader to the previous page or to the next page. All sequential pages will be clearly numbered, and the reader will also always have the option to return to the main website page or other content areas of the site.