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Mike Wilson Site review September 18, 2009 Dr. Saul's Biology in Motion Introduction Biology In Motion is a relatively simple website designed to provide engaging animations for basic biology concepts. The site is designed for both teachers and students. Student level is Junior High School but could be easily used for entry level 10th grade Biology. Teachers can use the site for in class presentation. Teacher tips for in class use are provided. There are 9 animated self guided lessons and/or games. These lessons are information correct and convey the material to be learned very well. This is an excellent site targeted at specific biology topics. Google ranking of 6/10 - Excellent with 61 backward links. Content Evaluation First Look The home page clearly in both text and graphics conveys the purpose of the site. All the key information is above the fold. Information Providers Biology In Motion is a creation of Dr. Saul, a university Biology Professor and Web game / site developer. Links to Dr. Saul's credentials and additional websites are top left on the home page Information Currency While the site has not been updated for 4 years, there is not a need to do so. The science content is fundamental concepts that will not change. The graphics are age appropriate and play quickly. Information Quality Site is fully functional. Each interactive lesson through the use of text and animations teaches the subject concisely. There are Google link ads on each page which I do not like from a pure educational standpoint. On the other side, the ads are not obtrusive and what are a few extra bucks in a teacher's pocket. Design Evaluation Speed All pages and graphics load very quickly. Animations are well designed but are not speed bulky. Home Page Very appealing and all critical information to keep you on the site is above the fold Ease of Navigation All lessons are linked from the home page and need to know information is top lef

On math playground there are a variety of different math ideas and concept that students can practice through online math games. This website includes games for students from kindergarten through seventh grade as well as topics like algebra, geometry, and precalculus. The website is designed very well and looks welcoming when you log on. There are pictures of some of the different games offered by the site that look fun and can draw attention to students using the site. One strength from the website is that it covers a vast majority of mathematical skills that are taught and practiced throughout elementary school. Although a weakness this site has is that they group different mathematical ideas together by grade, when even though we like to think that every fourth grader across the country are learning the same concepts, the likelihood of that being true is very low.

Posted by Erika Jeffs on 1/24/2010 Overview: Brightstorm is a dot com website for high school students to prepare for various college preparation exams, such as, the ACTs and SATs along with advanced placement exams. The site offers practice on certain subjects of the tests. The math section is particularly emphasized and has wide range of high school level material. It includes videos of concepts and practice problems that are very helpful. However, the website does sell practice packages which is the ultimate goal of this website. Content: The audience and purpose of this website is very clear. There is information about the creators of this website along with their credentials. The "managers" are qualified and contact information is available. The site has current information and seems to have been updated this year. The purpose is obvious, they do not try to hide that they ultimately wants to sell something. Brightstorm is effective for practicing high school level math and has accurate information. The site is interactive because it offers videos teaching concepts and practice problems as well as a question/answer feature. Also, it is very easy to navigate because it is organized and has clearly marked tabs. As far as I can tell, grammar and spelling are correct. There are not many outside links. Overall, this website as good content. Design: The page loads quickly. When you arrive at the home page, it is appealing and not too cluttered. There are clearly marked tabs that contain the most important aspects of the site. There is also another set of tabs that are easy to find with information about the creators and contact information. The copyright is clearly stated. Navigation is very simple because everything is broken into subjects, and many video clips are available that load quickly and work well. The math section is particularly helpful and has a lot of useful information for high school students. It is very simple to find the informa

Content: This site is a monster. I was looking for a site to explain landmark cases in the Supreme Court. What I found is a site that not only explains but also gives political reactions and the aftermath of the decision. For instance, I clicked on Marbury v. Madison. This is the case that allowed Judicial Review. The site divides the case in two sections Resources and Activities. In the Resources section you can read about the case etc. The Activities students can read logistical information about the case for further understanding. Design: The design is geared to educate. The visual make you think of the Constitution a crinkly brown. I like how the homepage lists the cases on the left side and concepts that came from some of those cases on the right. When you click on a case there is a wealth of information that can further understanding of a case. Many of these cases are a little complicated and I feel that this site can tie up loose ends. It is even geared toward high schools, the sub title reads "one-stop shopping for activities related to key Supreme Court cases and concepts as mandated by State standards. Overview: This site is put on by the Supreme Court Historical Society, meaning it is rather legitimate. I would love to use this site in an activity for class. The site is rather bland but I believe that students would love to be directed to find info and be able to present that info to the class. I could even make them use technology in their presentation. This site is not a baby sitter in the least it is a way for students to use technology and not listen to a boring lecture.

Emily E. Krabbenhoft January 22, 2011 Overview: This website has a lot of fun activities and simulations for students to use to further their knowledge about several science concepts. For example, one particular simulation called Weather allows students to learn about weather patterns by reporting the current weather and also predicting future weather in different areas around the nation. Content: Several different simulations allow the students to have fun and learn a great deal in an interactive way. The site is sponsored by The Ohio State University Medical Center and also National Center for Regenerative Medicine. The site only provides simulations to be used for science like simple machines, the weather, and some extensive medical concepts. Design: This website uses bright colors and is very attractive to the eye. Each simulation takes a couple of seconds to load but once loaded are very smooth during the use of the simulation. 

Korinne Thoren 14 September 2011 The Artist's Toolkit Overview: The Artist's Toolkit is a site for students around grades 5-8 that provides an interactive way to study the elements and principals of design. The site is a fun way for students to learn about important art concepts that are at the foundation of all works of art. Overall, this is a fun and educational site. Content: As previously mentioned, The Artist's Toolkit is a site designed to teach students about elements and principals of design such as line, space, balance, and movement. Examples and interactive games are provided for each concept giving the user the ability to see examples but also create their own work. The website contains a link of credits to the creators of the games, etc. but users must link back to the sponsor's page to find any contact information. This site would definitely be beneficial for younger students learning about basic design but would not work well for older students. Design: The design of this site is very appealing and student friendly and the same basic design is used throughout. The website does not, however, contain external links to other educational websites and some of the games did not work on the first loading. Information on the site is well organized and informative and there are lots of good graphics and sounds that enhance the overall site experience.

Megan Switzer September 11, 2011 Overview: The cyber listening lab was a website that was quite intriguing. The main purpose of this website was for one to gain more knowledge about English through listening. Through listening one can grasp important concepts, build vocabulary etc. The targeted audience for this website is ESL speakers, although if one speaks English there is still interesting aspects to this website that may be beneficial for them. Links similarly created by the same author are available to aide in speaking, slang, accents etc. and could be beneficial for those interested in improving their language skills. Overall this web site has one main goal of using audio as a learning device and it does a great job of sticking with that one aspect of learning. Content: The content of this website was simple and easy to understand. It was well categorized/ organized and the author of the website was helpful in creating tutorials for first time users. All the information is clear and consistent seems to be quite accurate based off of the author's knowledge of the subject and although the currency was not easily found the information seems to be well up to date. All links are working and helpful. Overall I was quite impressed with what this website had to offer and the concepts that the author addressed. If auditory learners need a helpful web site, this would be the one for them. Design: Although it did not seem super visually appealing to me, the website was well organized easily navigable. The audio clips worked well which was the most important part of the website, and the purpose of the website is clearly defined. Overall the design is clear and concise not a whole lot of explanation is needed due to its simplicity, I was impressed with the materials involved with this website, the author did an exceptional job in making sure one fully understands what his web site is about and makes his other links available as well.

Ivey Barnes 10/13/2014 OVERVIEW This website provides a series of videos describing different concepts in mathematics to help high school students with difficulties that they are having with different math concepts. These videos can allow students to watch step by step directions on the concepts that they are having difficulties with at home. The site also provides practice worksheets about the concepts and a key for those worksheets.  CONTENT The website has been kept up to date, so far, from 2008 to 2013.  The site was put up by Charles McKeague, who has his B.A. in Mathematics, and six of his students. Each of the lessons can be taught by some of the students or Mr. McKeague, so that the students can pick who they want to watch. A helpful factor is that a Spanish version of most of the videos is available. DESIGN The websites videos are organized in different menus and submenus, and then by the problem that is being explained. This is an okay way to organize the videos, but I feel like it could be improved because if too many of the menus are open then the column becomes crowded. A nice design factor is that you can see an image of the instructor that is in the videos. All of the videos are easily and quickly assessable from the websites different menus without redirection to a different website and are also available in a full screen view. 

word games and puzzles in english.. terminology of word meanings,,, learned a bunch in the ten secnds that i played.

Megan Switzer September 11, 2011 Overview: The website Activities for ESL students is one that focuses mainly on the speaking aspect of English. In this sense students are able to quiz themselves on their knowledge of English vocabulary, grammar as well as complete activities such as cross word puzzles that works on these concepts as well. The targeted audience for this website is clearly ESL students although there is a little bit on there that is meant for teachers as well. External links are provided in which students may find other beneficial information, as well as videos/ podcasts that aide in their English learning as well. Overall this website focuses on the mastering of the English language and provides students with the tools to work on their grammar and vocabulary in a multitude of ways. Content: The content of this website is simple and easy to understand. It is well organized and the main ideas remain constant throughout. The links that it provides for resources are relevant and easily accessible. Overall there is one main focus and the website does a great job of remaining constant in it while still providing a variety of ways in which to learn the material. The information providers were not clear for this website, but the information was consistent and similar throughout as well as up to date. I was quite impressed with the material it provides for the students as well as videos in which they feel the children may be able to most relate. Design: The overall design of this website is straight to the point and easy to use. All links and graphics worked and seemed to be up to date. The information was relevant and worthwhile visiting. The audience it was intended for can effectively as well as efficiently use it based on the way in which it is organized. Information such as the currency and author were more confusing to navigate, but the links for helpful resources are truly beneficial. Overall the design of this website is one that is sim

Overview: This website's purpose is to provide practical life vocabulary skill lessons for English as Second Language learners. Teachers create and submit quizzes using every day English Language and students complete the quizzes using their English knowledge skills. When an answer is wrong the site tells you and shows the student what is right and why. There were also instructional videos and other games. Content: This website had an abundance of tests that English as Second Language learners could take to better their classroom English skills. There were also 49 different language options to take a quiz in both the learner's first language and English. The main quizzes were divided into grammar, vocab, and crossword categories and grade level and difficulty level could easily be chosen at the top. There was also a for teachers section that explains how best to use the site. The downfalls to the site were that revision dates and author information were not easily found. Design: This website was easy to use, organized, and had a clean appealing look. I feel that the amount of English on the front page of the site may actually be overwhelming for ESL learners and the teacher would probably have to get the student set up where they need to be in order for the use of the site to work to its potential. The site sponsor and contact information were not easily found and neither were the revision dates. Overall the site's content made it worth coming back to for ESL learners help.

Content: This website is no frills and does not have external advertising. There are not games or a lot of graphics. But, it does serve a purpose to help students practice grammar. Many of the activities come in many different languages and can be switched between English and the other language. The content is free of bias, and the activities are created by teacher volunteers. There are also links to other resources like videos and blogs to help ESL students. Design: It is a very basic design, which makes it easy to navigate and has no distracting advertisements. The graphics that are used in certain activities are useful and serve their purpose, but no additional graphics are used. As far as I can tell all the links are current and work properly. There is a good amount of content and it is split into different areas of expertise, something for beginners all the way through more difficult concepts. Purpose:The quizzes and puzzles are useful for practicing English concepts and also can be used to quiz yourself in foreign languages. For example, someone in a Spanish class could quiz themselves on verbs or some other Spanish vocabulary. Audience: I believe that student from grades 2 on up could make use of this website. Users could be learning English or learning a foreign language. Resources: There are links to podcasts and more interesting things for ESL students. Impression: Overall I like the fact that there is no advertising anywhere on the website, and it is nice that they give you the option to contribute to the activities. Since the quizzes can be made by various people, teachers should choose the appropriate activities for their students.

10-11-12 Step up to Writing is a website designed to show students how to write a well-structured paragraph using the step up method.  The Step up method is simple and compares writing to an everyday concept. The intended audience is for all students but would be best used for students between 3rd and 5th grade. Other than the links to the different paragraph sections no other resources are presented. If you want a good website to teach writing methods this is one to use.  The content on this site is very well organized that you can maneuver is very easily. At first look it provides basic information, the method is simply put until further clicking on each link to further diverge in to the each section. The information is written in a way that children can understand the information.  The website design was good but not perfect. Everything downloads effectively. When looking for the developer you need to go to the link at the bottom; it isn't very easy to find but is still accessible. No other links are on this section of the webpage but on the main homepage many helpful links are presented.  Overall this website need to improve the design a little but presents good information worth investigating. 

Purplemath.com Reviewed by Betina Turner 8/31/10 ITEC 2360-02 This website is a very helpful site for students to get extra help with 7-12 Math. It has lessons the students can go over and there are also forums and helpful links to other sources that can provide extra help with Secondary Math. This web site is simple to use and it is up to date and it clearly states who made the website and give contact information. I have personally used this website to refresh algebra concepts and my mother uses it with her students when they are struggling with math concepts and they really like it and they are able to understand the material better. This site is a great resource for alternate learning.

OVERVIEW Purplemath.com is helpful to sudents who need suplimental help in mathematics.  It goes over basic content, and explains why there is a certain rule in the "math world."  It also has links to helpful sites that could make subject matter easier to understand.  There are also links on this site for test prep.  Overall, this is a good site if you know what you are looking for. CONTENT Links to other sites are helpful, current and working properly.  It's not  very well organized, but you can find your way around.  There doesn't seem to be any bias associated with it.  The content is current, accurate, and consistent with other sites. DESIGN The design isn't done very well.  It's not attractive and there are a lot of links in places where you might not actually look for what you are looking for.  It's easy to navigate within the site once you find what you are looking for, and the links are all working.

Ivey Barnes 10/13/2014 OVERVIEW This website is an interactive math help website. It provides sample problems for many different topics from Pre-K skills all the way up to High School level materials. If a student enters in an incorrect answer, then the site provides a brief explanation on why the answer is wrong and how to fix it. Overall, I think that the website is a good resource to help students master math concepts either in the classroom or at home.   CONTENT The copy right is up to date by the current year and it is even stated that new topics are constantly being added. The source of all the information on the site is from a technology company whose goal is to create products to solve problems in education. This site is actually one of the products to help teachers and students. The only disadvantage to this website it that to get unlimited practice you have to pay and register to the site. The good part about registering is that they have different payment options for both parents and teachers.  DESIGN The IXL site is easy to navigate; it is broken up by tabs for each grade level and then the links are organized by subject from there. Each of the tabs are color coded and a preview of the content in each of the links is given before you click on the link. 

Emily Pariseau The overall point of the website is clear from the opening page that details specifically that this site provides various creative resources for English teachers teaching to second language learners - specifically this site deals with teaching in Japan and the author of the site, Jeffrey, encourages people to share the site among Japanese teachers as well. The site is extremely simplified with just black Arial text on a white background with just one photo of the author at the top. He explains in the about page that he keeps the site simple so that it can be more internationally friendly across every web browser and on mobile websites of varying operating systems. The site is aimed at teaching English for grades 1-6 in Japan and each link to a grade level provides age appropriate in class activities and lesson plans for basic concepts like counting, animal naming, and holiday vocabulary. Every lesson is provided in word doc format and concise but detailed enough that one could use it in their own class, which the author encourages.

When looking for different techniques to use in a classroom setting, I came across a website called www.southernworlds2010.com. While viewing this web site, I first notice that there is not very much offered on the site and it has limited information. The target audience could be applied to as anyone that is involved in the Education system such as a student, parent, teacher etc. The basic concept behind this web page is to explain how virtual worlds can be used to reach children in their educational studies. Although this may sound like an interesting topic to read about, there is no Author given and therefore no information describing who wrote this. All that was provided was what the idea came form the Tasmanian Department of Education. There is also no sponsor given on this web page. This website was also only added a couple days prior to my finding.

Content Summary: This video explains two point perspective with realistic drawing in pencil. The site is on you tube. Overview: The audience this video is geared toward is upper class high school, though not specific. The video is working properly and loads well. Design Summary: The name of the author is not given, though a log in name is shown. The video covers a difficult concept of drawing landscape perspective. The date of updating is given. Overview: This video fulfilled its purpose and was useful in explaining 2 point perspective. The information was effective and people who view the video all the way through will learn about two point perspective and its applications.

Sarah Skinner on January 22, 2010 Overview The purpose of this website is to give educators some new material for their classroom. There are suggestions on ways to use new tools to get your students more involved and more excited for learning. There are math activity instructions, blogs for people to read about different age groups as well. There are instructions to help a student learn to read music. My overall impression on this site was that it's very informative. Content This site is very easy to determine the basic content of the site. The intended audience is stated in the introduction paragraph that gives a little information on what the website is about. The author is clearly stated at the top of the page. There isn't a lot of information on the author. The sponsor is identified and contact information is available. The latest revision date is stated clearly on this page. The date is a little old but it has been updated in the past year. All links are working properly. The purpose of this site is mostly informational. There are no under construction signs on this page. The content of the site is well organized and is easy to understand. There is a sufficient amount of information related to my purposes. The content may be bias. Articles are written by different people saying what their opinions are. There is some interactivity and the information appears to be accurate based on my own knowledge. The information is consistent with similar informational sites and grammar and spelling are correct. Design The homepage downloaded efficiently but it kind of has a bland look to it. You can tell where you are immediately when you come to this page. There is an index to lead you to different links. The site sponsor is provided and there is a contact link available. A copyright date is at the bottom of the website. I am able t move around within the site with ease. There are no distinct directions for using the site, but it is pretty straight forward. The

Scott Chanthongthip on January 23, 2010 Overview: National Library of Virtual Manipulatives is a free website offered online to help teachers us visual aids to teach mathematics. The content is from the Utah State University and is edited by the university. Content is easy to navigate and understand because it focuses on students from K-12. Content: The National Teachers Council of Mathematics five content standards are listed vertically in a grid, while the grades for each of the standards are listed across the top of the grid. Navigation based on the content standard and grade level appropriateness is accessible because of this organization. Teachers just need to find the content standard and line it up with the appropriate grade level. Although the site has a version that it offers to schools many of the virtual manipulatives are easy to use as long as one's computer has JAVA capabilities. There are four different language options for the different virtual manipulatives, so it makes it easy to use in bilingual settings (English, Spanish, French, and Chinese). The main reason for this website is to offer teachers with computer technology to teach manipulation of different math areas when the physical manipulatives are not available. Teachers can also use the site to help explain concept clarity of hard to understand math functions. Design: The initial web page offers a grid of math standards and grade levels from K-12. Teachers can click on the appropriate link and it will lead them to more options on different subjects in the content areas. None of the links are broken for the virtual manipulatives. Design of the website is updated often by the USU. NLVM also allows users to select from four different languages.

Kaci Philpot Overview: The purpose of this site is to provide teachers and students with fun, interactive Math manipulatives online, because manipulatives help students to see visual relationships in Math and help to actively engage students. The website has the following standards for math education; numbers and operations, algebra, geometry, measurement, and data analysis & probability. Each standard has four different age groups to choose from: pre-k through 2, 3 through 5, 6 through 8, and 9 through 12. This website is one of the very few educational websites I have found that is free and clear or useless information and clutter. Content Summary: This website content quality is very high; it has an index chart on the homepage with grade levels and math standards. Each box on the chart is linked to a page of full of various virtual Math manipulatives. If you navigate to the credits page you can see who is in charge of creating what, however it does not provide information about or credibility of those individuals. It also does not have revision dates. But the site is well organized and has very rich content. The manipulatives are an excellent way to get students excited about learning math. Total yeses: 19 Total no's: 2 Total N/A: 3 Design Summary: The homepage of this site is very easy to navigate and understand, but it does not have very strong eye appeal at all. But the manipulatives are very useful and all have clear directions if necessary and all internal and external links work properly. It does not appear to have any outdated content, if Mathematics can even be outdated. My favorite link on this website is the link to the Spanish page. This would be very useful for teachers with ESL students; it helps to ease the language barrier. Total yeses: 22 Total no's: 2 Total N/A: 0

Chelsey Lynch 1/31/11 * Overview: This website is for the National Library of Virtual Manipulatives. The intended audience of this site is teachers, and students of all ages. The available resources are a wide array of virtual math manipulatives. This website is extremely useful to teachers because it provides children with a firm grasp on concepts by letting them learn directly through physical objects that enable students to visualize relationships and applications. * Design: This website is attractive and very easy to navigate. The main page of the website contains a large grid system which serves as a menu for the math content area and grade level. All information to contact the sites provider is given, and all the information is current. The instructions for the manipulatives are very easy to follow and the site even provides examples when necessary. This site has adequate graphics, though the music and sounds in games is a little dated and sometimes annoying. * Content: The authors of this site appear to be highly education and experts in this field. The purpose of this site is very clear and the content achieves the intended purpose effectively. This site is extremely interactive, well organized, and easy to navigate. I have personally used this site numerous times and love it. The only things I wish this site contained more of are links to websites that are similar to this or had further information.