Weebly

ConstructionismWebsite Builder

Weebly is a web-design tool that offers professional-looking, high-quality templates for creating websites. Originally, the website was intended to host e-portfolios and personal webpages but currently, it is widely used by artists, educators, and anyone who wants to create a website by dragging and dropping elements on a template. Weebly was created by David Rusensko, Chris Fanini and Dan Veltri in 2007. The company has worked collaboratively with Paypal, Google Ads, and Apple, making it compatible with these and other technologies.

Weebly homepage: Get started with our powerful free website builder.

Tool Snapshot

Price Free basic account; Personal/Pro plans available ($6-$26/month)
Learning Constructionism
Ease of Use ★★★★✩
Privacy ★★✩✩✩
Accessibility ★★★★✩
Class Size Unlimited
ISTE*S Knowledge Constructor, Creative Communicator, Global Collaborator

Usability

Weebly can be accessed from multiple devices. The company has developed free applications for Android and Apple devices that allow basic editing of Weebly sites (e.g., creating, revising, managing pages). The website is available in 17 languages.

Ease of Use

The drag-and-drop functionality of Weebly makes the web design process simple and easy.

Price

There is a free basic version. Users can upgrade for more features. The company requires the website developer to be older than 17.

Privacy

The company shares information with Google Ad services. For e-commerce, they guarantee some security features. See the Weebly Privacy Policy.

Accessibility

Weebly complies with the following criteria to make the websites accessible for people with visual or hearing impairments: contrast and colors adjustable, resizable text via (CTRL +), responsive design, headline structure, descriptive links, and ALT-text for images.

Power & Bias

The company is not responsible for the content of the websites and the platform is accessible to anyone who wants to create a website - this creates an ethical problem since there is no control of the content and purposes of the websites hosted in Weebly. A very famous case of misuse of Weebly occurred in 2014 when the terrorist group ISIS hosted its websites on this platform. The Indian Government ordered a blockage of such websites based on their dangerous contents.

Weebly Overview Video

Watch on YouTube

***Weebly video transcript here***

Weebly  & the SAMR Model

Dr. Ruben Puentedura’s SAMR model offers a lens for examining how technology is adopted in a classroom. As you strive to incorporate online tools into your classroom, we encourage you to use this model as an analytic tool. Here is an example of how Weebly fits the SAMR model:

Learning Activities

Math

Students can create a website about a historically marginalized individual (e.g., woman, Black American, disabled individual, Asian American, Pacific Islander, Latino/a) who shaped the development of a math theorem or formula. 

Science

Students can design a website to present data about the everyday science they encounter (e.g., cloud formations, changes in leaf colors, temperature). 

English/Language Arts

Students can curate a collection of artifacts (e.g., images, videos, audio files) to inspire their creative writing. 

Other

E-portfolios, or digital portfolios, serve to collect documents, videos, and images that showcase learning outcomes in all subjects. It requires a process of curation, reflexive organization, and design. When learners curate and showcase their own work they are more reflexive about the audience and can see a purpose for their learning process beyond the classroom. This also helps students create a digital identity, and collaborate with peers. In terms of assessment, e-portfolios help teachers track and organize the different learning stages and learning outcomes of their students all in one place.

Resources

Weebly Introduction Video (by JMU Digital Communication Consulting)

Watch on YouTube

Research

Bayraktar, D. M., & Bayram, S. (2018). Teachers' Website Design Experiences and Usability Test: The Case of weebly. com. World Journal on Educational Technology: Current Issues10(4), 203-220.

Çukurbaşı, B., & Kıyıcı, M. (2018). A review on opinions of preservice teachers on the electronic portfolio: The example of Weebly. İnönü University Journal of the Faculty of Education19(1), 1-14. 

Giannopoulos, D. (2015). Italian presence in the Dodecanese 1912–1943: teaching a history topic in weebly environmentProcedia Computer Science65, 176-181.

Author

This page was created by Rosa Medina.

This content is provided to you freely by EdTech Books.

Access it online or download it at https://edtechbooks.org/onlinetools/weebly.