Group items tagged

Content- This site would be very helpful in finding different lesson plans, and tools needed for Ag teachers. This site is very easily navigated, and the intended audience is very obvious. This site has many authors, but gives main credit to the Georgia Agriculture Curriculum. There are many links to other sites, and they all seem to be working properly. There are many different links to lesson plans that would be very helpful for a teacher. This site is very well organized, and has many different helpful elements. This seems to be a very worthwhile site with very great information. Design- This is a very "busy" site, but has so much great information that the amount of activity is very helpful. All of the graphics are very helpful, and add to the content of the site. This site has a great amount of information, and is very well worth the visit. All information is easy to find, and would bring many new ideas to a teachers classroom. Attribution- It is easy to contact the administrator of this page, and the copyright name and date is on the bottom of the site.

Overview - The purpose of this site is to sell a DVD on art curriculum to anyone willing to purchase it. I don't much care for it. Content - The content of this website is fairly straight forward - the author(s), who go unnamed and unaccredited, want to sell their "award winning" DVD on art curriculum. Which exact award their DVD won is anybody's guess. While the content is well organized into a table of contents, its actual contents is little more than reasons as to why one should purchase their DVD. My biggest qualm with the site comes at its Testimonials page, which doesn't have a single testimonial from an art educator, but school officials and superintendents instead. Design - The design is clean, simple, and attractive to the eye. It's easy to navigate, appears up-to-date, and boasts of an "award winning" DVD. Its the nice suit worn by a sleezy used car salesmen.

Derek Peil 10/7/2012 Overview Purdue University Press is a substantial source of poetry and literature for educated audiences. The website's purpose is to offer intellectual texts for educators and students to incorporate into their curriculum. Carrying a simple, pleasant tone this website lists suggested poems and literature. Although the website lacks clearly stated dates of revision, it still scores high on the evaluation guides; and I recommend this site to those who are looking for some rich pieces of literary work. Content The University of Purdue's sound reputation of information precision is exemplified throughout the course of the website. This site contains sound organization and easy navigation. With genre listings and a friendly search engine, users can find what they need quickly. This allows for Educators and Students to spend less time searching for the material and more time studying it. In contrast to these strengths, the website is weak in terms of its currency. The site fails to display a revision date. But since the site is always uploaded with new inventories and sales, one can assume the site is fairly current. Design This site's display style is definitely suitable for an educational setting. The modest, yet contrasting colors make the site enjoyable to navigate. Also, the pictures of the book covers are very useful in helping to identify one from the others. Waiting for links to load is nonexistent, and this site is multi-browser friendly. Yet, this website lacks external sources from which users can broaden their findings. All of the links are internal. Do to the fact that this site is both education and profit oriented, this weakness is easily overlooked by the benefits of a deep library of texts that this site easily lays out for the user.

Oct. 7th 2012 Overview: This site is focused on free K-5 curriculum. Based on the content and design it is obviously intended for a teachers use. There are a boatload of resources on this site for teachers to use in their classrooms and incorporate into their curriculum. The site includes lesson plans, activites, games, and planning tools available to teachers. Content: The site is pretty restricted if you do not have an account. For the sake of this review I got a free account. The site is broke up into categories and even includes a teachers chat room. The main focus of this website is to offer tons of planning resources to teachers across the globe in all subjects grade levels K-5. Design: The design of this site is less flashy than the others I have reviewed, but that fits the audience. The site is straightforward, loads fast, and is not cluttered. It is also very easy to navigate. The site is also broken up into Classroom, Homeschool, and After School categories.

Focus on Sustainability

Overview: This website is designed mostly for teachers, but can definitely extend out to parents. There is information ranging from developmental scales all the way to curriculum ideas. Content: The content of this site is good. The site is created by scholastic, which is a reliable company/sponsor of many things academic. The purpose of the site is very clear and all the links work well and take you to pages of strong/helpful information. Design: The design of the website is great. The homepage is attractive and the sidebar links are easy to navigate. Everything is well organized and each tab is full of relevant information.

Overview: This website is to help students review mathematical curriculum. The purpose is to have students challenge themselves by moving forward in math and work more on the certain math subject they needed more help with. The intended audience is students of all ages. This site has a lot of different math subjects that a student can work on. I believe that this website is beneficial, but nothing that you can let your students be able to explore on their own. Design: I do not think that the overall design of this website is very clear and organized. It is hard to read the links of what subject they can study. Also the pictures can be very confusing to students. The website is very colorful, which can either be appealing or confusing for a student. Content: The content I chose to study on this website is math. You can also go back to the homepage and study/practice other subjects if needed. There are plenty of games available and different videos the students can watch. This website does navigate well to the different contents. The purpose of this website is to study different math curriculum and use it for more practice.

Haylee Bolinger Website evaluation 1 9-2-10 Overview The website stickworks.net is a promotional tool for Patrick Dougherty. As an artist that is in demand worldwide he must keep a portfolio as accessible as possible. Fans and potential clients are welcome to look through Dougherty's work and his biography. On this website clients can make requests for his large scale installations, while fans are directed to admiring his work though books, videos, calendars, and even full length feature film. Content From the introductory page one has the option of continuing into the main site or purchasing a book about Dougherty. Once navigated into the main site you can view every location and date of Dougherty's work and you have the many options to choose from in the main menu. Stick Works contains a thorough biography and video resources that help the viewer better understand how and why Dougherty makes his artwork. This website is being updated on a monthly bases due to the demand for Dougherty's artwork. Present exhibitions are continually photographed and uploaded upon completion or linked to the collector's website while future exhibitions are scheduled and published. A few of the links in this website are incomplete which makes viewing some works difficult. The viewer is also welcome to preview clips from a full-length feature about Dougherty's life and artwork. Design The web site Stick Works is visually appealing with a slate background and white font. This sleek background draws attention to the striking pictures of Dougherty's artwork. Navigating is made easy with a menu bar at the top of every page. On this menu one can find out all there is to know about Dougherty: news, biography, installations (past and present), Curriculum vitally, resources, shop, and contact info.

Ramon J. Sandoval September 1, 2010 Website Evaluation 1 Site Title: Enchanted Learning URL: www.enchantedlearning.com Authors of website: Jeananda Col and Mitchell Spector Subject: Elementary Education Content Summary This website is great for teachers looking for curriculum material for elementary school students. It is broken down into categories making it easy for the teacher to navigate the website and obtain subjects specific to their desired projects. The content appears to be complete and is regularly updated. If any problems with the site are experienced the site has a page dedicated to addressing these problems. Design summary The home page of the website downloads fast. The links within the site come up quickly. The information on the pages is easy to understand and navigate through. There is an appendix on the left hand side of the page to help guide you through the site and take you to your desired subject. This site has sufficient information for the teacher to browse through and select what will work best for them. The material is updated regularly and has a link directing you to the newest projects. If any problems occur with the site then a link is provided at the top of the page to deal with any concerns. Overview This is a site I will be put in my favorites. For an elementary school teacher it is a good resource. It has a variety of subjects and suggested projects for them. It has suggestions for early childhood activities to give children a jump start in their education. I would recommend this site to parents that are interested in enhancing their child's education. It is very user friendly.

Posted by Erika Jeffs on 1/24/2010 Overview: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) is website that provides updates on assessment, curriculum, and instruction for educators. The organization also has an impact on the policymakers of education. The NCTM provides updates for teachers on new research that is being conducted related to teaching mathematics. The site also provides scholarly journals and essays that teachers can purchase. Also, for an annual fee, individuals can become members of the NCTM. Content: It is evident that this site specifically for teachers and math professionals, but to fully understand the content of the website, you must read the mission statement. The authors and creators credentials are available as well as contact information. The content is updated frequently and dates are provided for each individual section that has been changed. The site has a lot of useful available material, but there's a lot of options each page making it difficult to find specific information. For teachers looking for the latest updates, this site is useful, but not appropriate for students. The links are all in working order and the advertisements are all from the NCTM. Design: The NCTM homepage is cluttered and difficult to navigate. There are clearly labeled tabs for navigation, but there is a lot of information on each page. Because of all the information, there seems to be no room for graphics or interactive tools. This site appears to have some importance in the math community, but it was very difficult to use.

Jaymes Talkington January 23, 2010 http://www.gilderlehrman.org/ Content This is a great American history site. It is full of historical documents, maps, and podcasts of historians by era. This site also contains curriculum models and quizzes for history teachers to use in class. It also has a lot to offer for students as well. Most of the information is either talked about by a historian, or comes from digital copy of a historical document so it is cited and creditable. The content of the site seems to be updated daily. Design The website is pretty user friendly and simple to use. The headings are noticeable and specific. There is a search box instead of an index. The site loaded regularly with no delays as did the podcasts. There is no unnecessary advertising on the site. All the links I tried seemed to be sufficient. The browser capability works for Internet Explorer. There doesn't seem to be any 'out of date' material on the site. Overview The web site seems to be mostly for the use of teachers; however I think it has a lot of information that can be used by students. The historical documents, maps, and podcasts are primarily for students, but can also be used by teachers. Its main purpose is to educate, and aid teachers with American history. I think this site would be very useful for teaching an American history class or even writing a paper on a certain event in American history. I was impressed with the amount of information the site contained.

Seth Orndorff February 1, 2011 Good site review Overview The website, ixl.com is a very useful tool when it comes to math education. The site is kid and parent friendly with effective teaching strategies. If a teacher were to use this site as part of their curriculum, their students would each have their own accounts that keep track of their progress in various math subjects. The site has math questions to answer from kindergarten through eighth grade with different topics in each grade. Students may be assigned to answer ten questions from a certain topic. They would be able to easily navigate the site and find the questions to answer. Once completed, the student receives a score and time which is recorded. It would be advantageous for a teacher to give a pretest on this site at the beginning of the week then give them another quiz on this site to see their improvement. I am very impressed with this site and would definitely recommend it to others and bookmark it. Content summary The content of this particular site would be very useful for my needs and is worth bookmarking. I have several reasons for giving the content of this site such a high review. At first look, it is easy to quickly determine the basic content of the site and the intended audience. The authors and creator of the material is clearly shown and easy to access. There is a tab that gives a full summary of the creators with contact information at the bottom of the page. This makes it extremely easy to get in touch with the authors of the site. The content and information has been revised and has a new copyright for 2011. Along with the outstanding first impression, information on the providers, and information currency, the site has incredible quality when it comes to the information and further information. The sites interactive math problems that include rewards for correct answers are highly motivating for any student doing math from kindergarten through eighth grade. I was also very

Shelby Shatto January 20th 2011 Overview: Purpose- Provides information to help keep kid's bodies and minds healthy. Attended Audience- Three separate pages for adults, kids and teens. Available Resources- Question/answer section. Overall Impression- Useful for health related curriculum and easy to navigate w/ lots of information. Content Overview: Purpose of the site is clear; sponsor and updates of the site clearly identified; author of information not found Design Overview: Downloads efficiently; great use of multimedia and easy navigation

Caroline Wittman (Virginia) January 31, 2011 Overview Ology is a fun website that allows children to collect virtual trading cards and use them to make online projects as they learn about different science topics. The list of topics is varied, including anthropology, archeology, astronomy, biodiversity, the brain, climate change, earth science, genetics, marine biology, paleontology, water, and zoology. Each area presents a plethora of interactive applications for children to explore: games, animations, quizzes, and suggestions and guidance for completing simple offline science investigations and experiments. There are also book lists and other helpful internet sources that can be consulted for further information. Content Ology is sponsored by the American Museum of Natural History. Accordingly, information was accurate and up-to-date. It was also well organized and communicated on a level that elementary school age children can understand and relate to. Information is also in line with what is covered in the typical elementary school science curriculum. Although specific authors of articles are not usually listed, it is easy to find contact information for the sponsoring organization. Links to other internet resources were relevant and informative. Overall, the content of the site serves to ignite children's curiosity about the natural world. Design The Ology homepage, as well as its interactive applications, downloaded quickly. The overall design is appealing to elementary school children, incorporating lots bright colors and bold shapes. Navigation is simple, even for young children. The major areas of the site are located in an obvious place on the homepage. Information is easy to locate within each of these areas. Directions for games and other interactive content are very straightforward and explained clearly. Close inspection reveals that each detail of the site's design works toward enhancing children's learning.

Caroline Wittman (Virginia) January 31, 2011 Overview Worksheets4teachers.com aims to provide educational resources for children in kindergarten through high school and their teachers. I focused on the sections of the site dedicated to elementary school science. It quickly became apparent that worksheets4teachers.com has a large number of links to other websites and ads. Unfortunately, the other websites rarely contained any useful information, and they were more often than not entirely unrelated to science. The website did appear to contain significantly better resources for other subject areas, such as math and reading. In addition, the science activities for the upper grades were of higher quality than the ones for elementary school. Content The activities available on the website itself seemed like they would be unchallenging and uninspiring for elementary school children. The word searches, coloring pages, and craft ideas are ill-suited to reinforcing important scientific knowledge or skills. In fact, they were so trite that it's hard to imagine them having a place in any decent science curriculum. Contact information was not readily available, but it was clear the website is updated frequently with new worksheets and lesson plans. Design The layout of this website is confusing, and the design is monotonous, bland, and unprofessional. Many of the links that ostensibly contain information about different science topics or lesson planning resources are really links to for-profit companies offering online degrees, tutoring, or shopping. A significant proportion of these links did not work, and the pop ups are very distracting. Information is difficult to locate, and the format of the site is somewhat inconsistent. The one positive characteristic of the site is that it loaded quickly!

Overview This site is designed for teachers, students, and parents. It really helps them really get to know the school's expectations and resources and really be able to know what's going on with the student at school. It has great lesson plans for grade levels first through fifth grade. This site also has great resources for kids to find information in the library. It also shows different projects for each grade level in different subjects. Their goal for this site is "to encourage students and teachers to use their creativity and support their ideas and curriculum." This site really wants students, teachers, and parents to work together. Content The content on this site is well put together. It is easy for elementary kids to access this as well as their parents. The site includes helpful links to other websites for kids to learn more about literacy. There is no revision date on the site, but this site does include a detailed description of the site and the school as well as a address and phone for contacting. One of the best parts on the website would be the library section. It has great information for kids to search through different topics on sites and obtain information from those sites as well. Design This site is great for what it does for the school. The library section of the site is well organized in all the information it provides. Everything is labeled and has brief sentences describing what the student will learn while they are reading. It includes great pictures, animations, videos, and games for the student. It provides all of the things that a website can possible provide to help the kids learn to love literacy at their school. This site is overall a great website as it gets the parents involved with their students and their school. It gets the student involved to read more, and teachers to improve on their students' literacy skills.

Posted by Tanisha Daugaard on September 21, 2009 This site is specifically designed for English teachers at any age level. It has many useful resources ranging from children's literature to ESL. It covers a wide range of topics and issues in English education. Content: This site is highly organized and really easy to navigate. The links are divided into the different areas of English and grammar. The site includes a date for which it was last updated, and it appears that it is updated often. The purpose of this site is easy to determine and it has sufficient information on the topic. The content appears to be complete and put together in a useful way to all skill levels. The information I found had good grammar and spelling. The site appears to be created by someone who is highly educated in English education. In general, the links work and route the user to other useful sites, and everything flows together nicely. This was the most useful site I have found yet! Design: This site is designed brilliantly. Everything was really easy to navigate. It does include a couple ads, but they do not take away for the purpose of the site. It does include some ads that do pertain to the subject and purpose of the site. All of the links are useful and divided in a manner that is easy to locate the information you need. The site is eye-catching and uses graphics and fonts to get the users attention. The site is modified frequently and includes contact information. Overall, it is designed in a way that keeps the attention of the user and is easy to use. Attribution: This site also isn't specifically designed for information that is quoted. However, it does give permission to link to any educational site. The site is copyrighted and has contact information for the site creators. All of the information and links are very useful and is meant to be used by teachers; it can also be used by students or anyone else needing help with English.

Cara Storey 9/2/10 Overview: Web English Teacher is a website designed as a teaching aid for English teachers through grades Kindergarten to 12th grade. The site offers a variety of resources including lesson plans, classroom activities, reading lists, and resources for students to excel in the classroom. This site is a useful site for any English teacher looking for resources. I found it to be a helpful site based on content, and the design easy to navigate. As a teacher I would use this site in my classroom. Content: At first look it's very easy to determine the directive of this site as it clearly identifies its audience and contents. The information on the author of the site is easily accessible and gives the reader an opportunity to contact them. All of the pages had been updated in the last couple of months and all the links were working well. The purpose of the site was clearly informational, and the purpose of the site was achieved through its contents. The site's content is very applicable to its audience, and offers accurate information and other links that could help with planning a curriculum. Design: This site downloaded easily and on several different browsers. The homepage was attractive without being distracting from the contents, and it clearly indicated the audience and contents of the site. Navigating is made extremely easy by the table of contents and the "sitemap" a list of links categorized by subject. The content of the site was organized and labeled, and there was enough content to make visiting the site worth while. The information on the site was easy to find and decipher. The site was current and up to date. It also clearly listed the author and contact info for any questions.

Natasha Tuft Web Site Review September 20, 2009 http://ilovethatteachingidea.com/ The purpose of this site is to allow teachers to share and find creative classroom management and teaching ideas. "Get inspired with creative ready-to-use teaching ideas!" I was very impressed by all of the very useful links, organized information, and abundance of different kinds of ideas for different age groups. CONTENT This is a site with a very clear purpose. At the very top it says "We inspire teachers with practical, teacher-created ideas and resources that you can use in your classroom immediately." In an easy-to -find place you can contact the information providers. Not only is there a "About Us" link, the site encourages you to join their free e-mail newsletter in a few different ways as you navigate the site. If there is a regular newsletter that tells me that the site is regularly updated, current, and active. The quality of the information is very good, of course remembering that any teacher (or anyone for that matter) can post teaching ideas. The usefulness of each idea is in the eye of the beholder. There is much access to further information on any given subject as there are topics and many links. DESIGN The page loads quickly and the homepage is appealing. The sponsor can be contacted easily and the organization of the links makes it easy to navigate the page. In trying to find "use of multimedia" I actually found a couple of downloads that didn't work, which doesn't mean there aren't other useful downloads or clips. The site was compatible with my browser, had excellent content presentation which was organized and eye-appealing. Things seemed current as mentioned above and there was a lot of availability to further information. The site made me excited to start planning my teaching curriculum and methods!

Kayla Bowie 13 October 2014 Overview: Starfall.com is a site for teachers, parents, and students for preschool. It goes over back concepts like ABC's, reading, math, calendars and holidays. It has instructional links for parents as well as games for students. There are also links to the starfall store where you can purchase curriculum activities for kindergarten phonics. Content: The links are working and it is easy to navigate around the site. The content is current and accurate and will still be useful for years to come. Design: The design is very well done. At first sight it is kind of in your face with colors, but other than that is very easy to navigate. With a little help, younger children could easily use it.

Paige Hanewald 10/21/13 Overall: This site would be a great activity to high school students as an introduction of Shakespeare as it takes them in a "time machine" back to Elizabethan time period. It is very current and includes interesting language that is intended for the current high school audience. It gives links to Elizabethan-knowledgeable resources, assisting them through each step. If the activity could align with standards of your English curriculum, it would be a new, fun introduction of William Shakespeare. Content: Although the author of the site isn't clearly identified, it is assumed that he is a teacher. Assuming that, the teacher appears to be qualified to present this information and it seems to be accurate; all of the links work and provide thorough insight into the activity. The activity definitely goes in depth to the Elizabethan time period and lifestyle. Design: The design is similar to that of a Webquest activity. It is aesthetically impressive and flawless! It gains interest with its creative layout and features that Wix.com provides, including directions on little things that could be confusing. It is very easy to navigate from step-to-step of the activity and could be easily interpretable by the intended audience. However, there is neither a works cited page, nor a teacher's page like that of well-done Webquest pages.