Shorten URLs

Shorting an URL can be beneficial in many ways. A shortened URL is easier to remember, therefore a customer, visitor, or student might be able to type the address straight into the URL box rather than performing a search for the website. Shortened URLs are also better when you are displaying the URL or need to write/copy/paste into other locations.

When considering my URLs and Websites, I recall my Student Teaching experience. Many of the students had great difficulty typing in the web address or URL for the Keyboarding Site I created. I chose to use this site and shorten the URL.

The original URL was:
https://sites.google.com/site/keyboardingskills/
This was a length of 48 characters

The new URL created is:
http://tinyurl.com/Ms-Chenoweth
A length of 31 characters

I was able to reduce the size of the URL by 17 characters! Wow! This will make it easier for the students to type in the correct URL. In addition I was able to create a less complicated URL, one in which is more easily remembered than the previous URL. Some of my first attempts did not work with the words: Key, Keyboarding, and Keyboard.

This could prove to be beneficial, especially as I am a Business Education Teacher and I use google sites regularly.

ISTE - NETS - T Standards
1. Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity
This is important for student to understand the importance of URLs and what they are for, as well as the importance of having an URL that is easy to remember. The exploration in this activity and the creation of a new URL meets this standard.