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Katherine Kerpchar ITEC2360 I found this website to be incredibly helpful specifically in the means of art education. This website is actually a public forum online textbook on art history, and is aimed at a collegiate art level. The website was in a constant format that was easy to follow and learn from, it was also very appealing to look at and clear of clutter. The sponsors and providers of the site were easy to find and had significant amounts of contact information. All of the links worked quick and easy, and a description of the link's site was underneath each link so the user knew what they were getting into. The website's last revision date was easy to find and was very current (January 4th of this year) and the information on the site was very good and up to date as well as organized in an easy to follow format. 

Alicia Blanchard ITEC2360 Fall 2010, World Almanac for Kids-Science-DNA Overview I reviewed the Website World Almanac for Kids- Science-DNA. The content was poorly put together. I knew it was about DNA because the title is " What is DNA?". The audience seemed to be kids in the higher division of Elementary Education: so 4th or 5th graders; however, it also looked like they could get bored because it didn't have any way to draw the kids in. The authors of the site were hard to locate. I thing it's by the world almanac book authors who wrote the books but I'm not sure which author wrote which article because there were a lot of articles without clear authors and it was poorly organized. A few authors were either teachers themselves or parents but the website did not have a way to contact the people to find out if the information was not valid, nor did it have many citations. The website was up to date: it was revised on Aug 3, 2010. The website wasn't very useful though, because some links in the site wouldn't open. Content The content of the website was informational, and pretty accurate. It describes in a very general sense what DNA is and what it does. There are a few definitions of what a gene is or a chromosome and other valued information. The content on the page is pretty clear, however the ending of the page and paragraph is quite abrupt and feels like there could be more information or another page. Reading the information given was easy and rather quick, I felt like the website gave a good foundation to continue learning about DNA. I believe I would use this website as a beginning format the kids could read. Design The homepage is a little slow at loading and I don't think kids will like waiting that long to read about something if they aren't that interested in. However the homepage was pleasing to the eye. It used a lot of color and used a lot of graphics to point out the important parts of the site. At the bottom half of the s

Keenan Zimmerman 2/1/2011 Review of: http://www.busyteacherscafe.com/ Overview: Busyteachercafe is a site designed to help K-6 teachers come up with ideas. There are printables, strategies, themes, email sections and a store where I'm not sure what exactly you can buy. Most of the sections have useful ideas a teacher can use. The website is very colorful and looks like it is geared more toward 1-3 graders rather than on up to 4th 5th and 6th grade. It is not a very good website both in content and design. It has potential but at the moment it is not a very good site. Content: The content of the website seems very useful but it is very limited. There are few actual lessons or printables in each section. If the website is brand new than in a couple months I might say the website is very good content wise but at the moment the content is rather poor, another strike because we have no idea how old the site or information within the site are. The author of the material is nowhere to be found and even the e-mail section gives no clues as to who you are writing to. Design: The design is the worst part of the website. Although it has easy directions and it is rather easy to find what you are looking for, the site is littered with adds which are annoying and the search option is horrible finding almost nothing on the site when I used it. The search in the store section doesn't seem to come up with anything and because everything on the site is free I'm not sure why a store even exists.

Overview: Although the site had many different subjects, I focused on the social studies part of it. The purpose of this site is to provide teaching resources for elementary teachers primarily in the upper grades 4th to 5th grade. I thought the website was a good resource for teachers to use find available assignments and projects to have their students complete. The website was navigator friendly in that all links were available to use but the only problem was that there was not an last updated mentioned or listed on the site so it hard to tell how often updates occur. Content: The content provided informational resources for assignments, homework, notes and projects for teachers of upper elementary grades to use for their classrooms. The information is split up into different links available for projects or assignments for students to work on. The sections include the stock market, constitution and Election Day. Although the resources given for these sites would be very helpful for a student, there is limited amount of topics for the teacher to pick from. Design: The design of the website was easy to follow. Bright colors on the page made it pop out and attention grabbing to the viewer although the color wasn't too much to handle. The background of the site appeared to look like cork board which teachers might find relatable probably having hung stuff up on cork board inside or outside of their classroom. The design made it easy to find the author clearly listed on most of the pages and it had a link to contact the author.

Overview: I really like this website because it has different units that the students could work on at different times during the year. The audience would be late 4th grade or 5th grade working on US History and how we are affected by the decisions made back then. The different units really makes it hands on learning and very focused on the certain topics. The sources the site offers seem to be very straight forward. Again the page is more of a tool testing the students in a fun, interactive way. Content: The website is very straight forward with its purpose of giving the information on United States History and the different units that they website offers. There really aren't any visual aspects other than the first picture. They do have to use their mouse to move the items later on but the instructions are very focused. Design: The website does have a lot of reading that needs to be done but should be perfect for 5th graders. The author of the website is the Pearson Company who also does many other different educational websites and tools. The US History page that the students would be using is a branch off the main site and who created this certain page could be found on the "home" page. For the most part the webpage gets the point across.

Overview This site is for children to learn. It is for a younger age probably around the 3rd or 4th grade level. All the links work, but some of the videos and games take a while to upload. They could be uploading slow because of my internet access, however. It is a very fun and energetic site for kids to look through and learn and play games all at the same time. I think kids would really enjoy exploring and learning through internet, therefore this site would be a good one for them. Teachers could use this form of technology to teach. Content There is a lot of different types of content on this site. There is everything from biology to history to spelling. With so much different information and topics kids could take a lot from this website. It is a multipurpose website that is fun for the student, but also a learning purpose as well. The links all work and go to the correct page. My favorite part of this website is all the different games to be played in the different subjects. Kids can have fun while learning because of the great areas of information and learning there is to be done on this site. Design The design of this site is okay. It is pretty well organized which is helpful for children, although these days kids know more about technology than their elders. I believe students could navigate through the site pretty easily and would love to explore the various activities and pages. Having the pictures is very good for students as well because of how much visuals have become a part of learning in society. The design is not the best but it is eye catching and pretty well organized, and works.

Overview: Kid's Know It is a site with educational games. It does not seems like it would ve appealing to kids. The site seems to be intended for younger kids, but it is unclear. I think teachers would be more appreciative to the site than the actual students. Content: There seems to be a lot of different subject areas as well as games. The site however, does not specify what grade levels it is intended for. On the plus side, there is an 'About Us' section, information about the copyright, as well as a way to contact the operators of the site. It seems to be done in a professional manner. Design: The site is colorful and catches the eye. There are lots of games and many different categories. Each subject has a picture and a description of what the link contains. The initional picture you see when you first come to the site could be more appealing. The design overall is pretty good.

Taylor Pilch 09/09/2011

Overview: This website is very colorful, and has many eye catching links. It has different links for each one of the planets and gives a visual along with a description on the planets. It gives fun facts and has games to better understand the solar system. This is aimed toward younger students, most likely 3-4th graders. There are some tough words that younger students might not comprehend but all in all I really like this website. Design: The design of the website is very easy to access and has many links to get wherever you need to go. It's very colorful and fun and has animations of the planets that makes the website eye catching and grabs the user. Content: The website was very helpful with content. It shows many things about the planets as in how many days it takes to orbit the sun, the mass, volumes and temperatures each planet expierences. There is also a brief paragraph over what each planet means.

This Web site is great because it allows you to create custom worksheets for several different subjects including math, science, social studies, foreign languages, and handwriting. You can also choose the grade level you wish to customize for--everything from pre-K through middle school.

Softschools.com provides free math worksheets and games and phonics worksheets and phonics games which includes counting, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division algebra, science, social studies, phonics, grammar for 1st grade, second grade, 3rd grade, 4th grade, 5th grade and 6th grade.

The Dynamic Earth Overview: This website is set up in a very operative way. The purpose is to inform its viewers about the earth and its components, the solar system, and how the earth came to be here today. The intended audience seems to be teachers for grades 4th through 12th; the teacher could design a lesson plan and incorporate this site into a class activity. Outside of the classroom this site could be targeting anyone interested in earth sciences. My impression of this site was positive; it has tons of information about the earth, solar system, gems/minerals and plate tectonics. Overall this is a well put together site for teachers to incorporate it into a lesson. Content: The overall layout of this website is adequate for any teacher to obtain information or use the site as a teaching tool. Right off the bat it gives you an option of multimedia or printable version, which could please a variety of people. When going through multimedia it provides four opportunities to discover what you want to know about the earth. The quality and abundance of information is set up in an organized fashion. From my knowledge the information is all up to date, but it can't really be outdated when it's about how the earth developed, the solar system etc. The only flaw about this site would be that nowhere to be found directly on the site is an author; it only refers to a National Museum that put the site together. There is also no revision dates. Design: Right from the start, the site loads up and provides the viewer with two options, one being multimedia. At every new screen there is a ton of information regarding earth sciences. The content is designed with a lot of pictures that look very real, allowing it to be interesting and engaging. The way the site is laid out makes it easy to navigate and find what you want, everything is just a click away. At the bottom it has the sponsor and creator, the creator being a National Museum, the link goes to the museum website