We would like to start this blog by stating our gratitude and appreciation for all the work that IMG (Indie Marketing Genius) has and continues to put into the development of The Learningden’s new website. We had been tossing around the idea of a redesign as far back as a couple years ago with the idea to make The Learningden’s website both more informative and functional to all users. What was holding us back from developing a new website was a two handed problem. On one hand we wanted to make the website a real functioning tool with a pleasing design. However on the other hand we did not have the means to contract a professional website designer. This left us with several attempts at coding our own website which usually led to either a decent looking site with no usable content, or a site with the seeds of some decent content but with unpleasing aesthetic design. Thanks to IMG, whose founders are parents and members of The Learningden Preschool, we have finally been able to put together a website that meets all the criteria we were looking for. What allowed the website to become reality is that IMG has donated a substantial amount of time, knowledge and resources to The Learningden with no other motivation other than see the school thrive. The idea was, and is, to make a website that will accomplish several goals. The main goals are: to inform prospective parents about The Learningden’s program, to compare the differences and similarities between the Reggio Emilia, Montessori, and Waldorf approaches, and to create an online community where families can share their experiences and create a pool of resources.
The last goal is the most important to The Learningden, and as is the case with most causes worth pursuing, it is the most difficult. The ultimate goal of The Learningden is to create an overall sense of family between all who have a stake in the program. This includes children, parents, staff, and any other person which belongs to The Learningden community. With that in mind the most important function of a family is that the group helps and supports the individual to attain whatever goal it is that the individual is seeking at that time, with the understanding that the same individual will eventually return the support to the group. Obviously this is an over simplification (or complication), but the idea of supporting and helping one and other is at the least an essential part of a community worth being part of. For this mutual support to extend to all the stakeholders at The Learningden there needs to be a fundamental level of communication between all. However, it is sometimes difficult for all members of our community to communicate effectively given the time constraints we face during the day. This is where we hope the new website will perform its most important function, as a tool of communication between all members of The Learningden family. The only challenge facing the implementation of this tool is that the community must be active within the website for it to succeed.
The new website has four different forms of interactive communication and one static that is a testimonial page. The four interactive forms are:
Blog – This is where The Learningden will post information about happenings, events, articles, or other content that is large enough to constitute an article. Here you can post a comment about the article. The comment can be anything from feedback to opinion, but your comment will usually not be in the form of a discussion but rather a statement. (Live)
Forum – This is where the users of the Forum choose topics and exchanges are in a discussion format. Most if not all the content originates from the forum members. To become a member, just sign up and follow the instructions on the Forum. There will be a public section where anyone can see and join in the discussion and a private section protected by password that only current parents and staff of The Learningden can access. Here you can make posts asking for information from other members of the community, respond to questions, make announcements, trade or sell goods, or just enter a discussion about what interests you. (Almost Live)
Facebook – Facebook is a place where parents can meet and comment or discuss any topic they wish. This is visible to the general public so be aware that any announcements can be read by none parents. This is however a good place to find and make new friends. (Live)
Twitter – We will not be posting anything on twitter for a while, but we do have a twitter account you can visit. (Live)
