PortablePD.ca

Huh?

Just like pressing the buttons on your car radio for your favourite radio stations, you can set the internet to go to your website/blog/wiki/podcast by typing an easy to remember name like portablepd.ca.

Before Domain Forwarding

A few years ago Jane and I maintained class websites.  The URL would look something like this:

http://alornecassidyes.ocdsb.ca/toft/index/index.htm

This was a bit much to ask students and parents to memorize it.  We would send students to our school site first and have them navigate to the links to our sites that were listed there at the time.

Thanks Brent Coley!

I had never seriously thought about getting my own domain name.  I assumed it would be way too expensive and complicated.  Thanks to Brent Coley, a Grade 5 teacher in California, I came across the term domain forwarding.  Here’s how he explained how he got mrcoley.com.

Domain Forwarding is simply a pointer to your website, blog, wiki or whatever.  For example, the “real” URL for this blog is www.portablepd.edublogs.org.  With domain forwarding it can also be found at www.portablepd.ca.

How to get a domain name

1.  Find a registrar. I recommend you go with one that is certified by the Canadian Internet Registry Authority (CIRA.CA). Here’s their list of certified registrars.

This is where we found 10dollar.ca. They charge about $13 a year for each of the various domain names  we use (5nt.ca, 56js.ca, alornecassidy.ca, portableradio.ca, portablepd.ca).

2.  Type in the “real” URL in the admin portion of the site.  10dollar.ca has a “Easy Domain Forwarding” link where you can do this.

3.  Wait a day or two for everything to work properly.

4.  Spread the word about your new domain name.

What if you don’t need the domain name anymore?

Because class assignments change from year to year it makes sense to start up the domain name sometime during summer holidays.  For example, Jane had 5js.ca for a year.  Then, when her assignment changed, she chose not to renew 5js.ca but bought her new 56js.ca name.

Of course you might decide to buy reallycoolteachers.ca (it’s available, I checked.  Act fast though, Jane and I might decide to buy it) and not worry about changing the domain year every year.

Is it worth it?

As far as Jane and I are concerned; absolutely.  The kids get in the habit of going to our class sites (5nt.ca and 56js.ca) for everything.  Very easy.  Very convenient.

OK, but is it necessary?

No. And it costs a bit of money. Honestly, it isn’t that hard to memorize a URL like grade5nt.edublogs.org. And, you could email students and parents the URL and ask them to bookmark it.

Nevertheless, don’t underestimate the coolness factor. Having the 5nt.ca domain name makes our class look like a multimillion dollar company.  Well not quite, but it’s still cool.  At least I think it is…

I’ve heard of some teachers who have their students type in a keyword in a Google search and get to their destination almost as quickly.  I, being the somewhat controlling type, would rather students not be distracted by other sites that come up in a Google search – especially when the words are misspelt.

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