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Ross Lindstrom - September 21, 2009 Website Evaluation #2 - Teaching Comparative Government and Politics This website is a blog-based collective of information and resources for the purpose of aiding instruction of comparative government and politics. The audience is primarily secondary and postsecondary teachers of government and politics who are seeking resources about and/or specific examples of comparative government they can use for their class. The impression I had was that it was an interesting and at times very applicable for teachers, but the blog-style format and lack of information accessible on command makes the potential application of this website in a teaching environment limited. The website took a little while to load, which I believe can be attributed to the length of the continued thread of blogs/discussion. (Excuse my lack of correct internet jargon). The first thing I noticed was a cramped column of text, outside links, and pictures organized in a sequential, most recent blog entry- at top format. The website lacks a visible title. Even the purpose description is vague: "Teaching Comparative Government and Politics is a complex and demanding task. We can all use all the help we can get. This cyber place is somewhere to facilitate helpful interactions." The blog entries usually include relevant pictures and multimedia links. Despite the lack of outside sources, the blog is archived from 2006, so there is a large amount of articles to sift through. Even though I questioned the main author's legitimacy and authority in the area, all the articles contained something that had practical classroom application. The content is also constantly updated, with multiple meaningful posts coming within the period of one day. It is a bit difficult to determine the exact purpose of the website, as well as the main author. The name Ken Wedding is given as the author, but doesn't offer more information in the way of his legitimacy as an ed

This website is highly credited and useful for the teacher and student who need help with grammar, spelling, and composition. This site also provides worksheets and exercises a teacher can use in the class to teach students good writing skills they will need.

Posted by Mitchell Clark 9/18/09: HippoCampus is an interactive homework site that provides homework help in math, science, psychology, history and religion. Content: HippoCampus is a simple but very effective homework help site sponsored by the Monterey Institute of Technology and Education. This site uses a combination of resources to help students understand the basics of nearly any level of math, science, psychology, history or religion class that they might encounter during high school or college. The lessons on this site use images, audio and user interaction to help with the comprehension of the material at hand. In addition to this there are also Spanish options for subjects such as calculus and algebra. There are also links to actual text books, but they are deceiving. It turns out that instead of being able to view the text, the user is presented with a video interview of the textbook's author about a certain subject. This can display a certain bias if the interview is conducted poorly. Another potential problem with this site is that it was last updated in 2007. Now for some subjects such as math or language arts this is irrelevant but for subjects such as science and psychology this could result in the absence of new and important information. Aside from the "textbook" links, this site is so well organized that the user can easily find the exact chapter or concept that they wish to review with just a few clicks of the mouse. Design: This site is well designed and very easy to navigate. There are four advertisements but they are organized neatly on the right side of the screen and are nothing more than links to scholarship information and additional resource sites. The sponsor of the site is clearly stated at the bottom of the page and there is a link to their contact information. The site is mainly composed of two sections, the first being a list of general subjects that the user might be interested in, i.e. math and the second section is where

Posted by Allie Parrott 09/17/09\nEducation World as it says on the site is "an educator's best friend". On this site there are ideas for lesson plans, education games, and even ways to incorporate technology into the classroom. Content: This site has a ton of information. Although there is information for all ages, it seems more geared toward elementary school teachers. There are links for every subject. Math practice, punctuation of the day, and writing instructions are all in one spot. However there are five main categories to make a teacher's research quicker. These include: Lesson Planning, Professional Development, Technology Integration, Administrator's Desk, and School issues. There is even a convenient search bar located at the top of the page if the previous options do not fit that teacher's needs. The site is updated daily. This is extremely beneficial for a returning user. There are a lot of links and buttons to push before the user reaches their destination, but once there the information is clear. Most lesson plans are completely done for the user. There are also educational game instructions ready to be printed out. It's very easy for teachers to use. Everything is copyrighted by Education World and they can easily be contacted by selecting the link at the bottom. I would consider this site very credible and useful tool. Design: The design is fantastic. The most important links are at the top of the page in bright colors. Almost every link is in alphabetical order, making it easy to come back to a particular one. It is very colorful and flashy. There are a lot of advertisements down the right side of the page, but surprisingly they do not draw attention away from the information. The links work flawlessly and quickly. The feature that lets one searcher on the world wide web, or strictly in Ed World is also a helpful element of the design. Attributions: I would feel save using this site to get ideas for my class. There is contact information.

Mike Wilson Site review September 18, 2009 NASA Education Grades 9-12 Introduction As this is a NASA site, it is an awesome resource. While my selection is for Grades 9-12, the site covers K-12 + higher education. The purpose is to give all students direct access to NASA space and aeronautics content through educational programs including high school internships. The A-Z Index for Students contains links to hundreds of NASA programs. The main NASA Education home page has a Google rank of 8/10, the Grades 9-12 has a Google rank of 6/10. Content Evaluation First Look First look is a bit busy and boxy. There are 7 + information boxes above the fold along with a top left menu. Information Providers It is NASA! Information Currency Last updated September 15,2009 by Shelly Canright. Extensive and updated future, current and past NASA program information. Information Quality The quality of the information is exceptional and seemingly endless, presented in a wide variety of formats. Images, video, podcasts, NASA TV, Interactive, 3D, RSS, Blogs. Design Evaluation Speed As with most NASA sites, a bit slow on the load. Considering the information presented, on each page, the speed is acceptable. Home Page If you are a space science student, this is the page for you. Geared to the 9-12 viewer with the exciting science you are looking for. Ease of Navigation Due to the depth of the information, there is some digging to be done to get what you want. Use of multimedia Comprehensive use of all multimedia formats. Browser compatibility Viewed only on IE7 Content Presentation From NASA Facebook, Career Profiles, MyNasa for homework help, Missions, if it's Space Science you will find it here presented world class.

Content- At first glance this site is very easy to navigate, and the intended audience is very obvious. This site is intended to be used for someone working on their vinyl floor covering, but has overall good information that could be used in a welding class. The author is not clearly stated, but the company name is written across the top of the page which leads me to believe it is a credible source. This site has links to different types of welding, and all links work appropriately. This would be a good source for someone who is looking for different types of welds to use. The quality of this site is very impressive, and the site is very complete and easy to understand. With prior knowledge of the welding world, this would make a great educational site. Design- The site is very well designed for the intended audience, and has a good design. There are no problematic errors that show up, or any obnoxious ads that make it hard to stay focused on the overall content. There is a support column with very well organized hyperlinks that flow well with the design of the page. Overall the page is very well put together, the only factor that might be a problem is that there is no author that is clearly sited. Attribution- This site does not clearly state the author, though it is a corporate site so I think that with a little digging you could find the right way to site the article. This article would be more helpful for a resource, rather than a research project.

The purpose of this site is to inform visitors of what they can do to promote human rights around the world. The audience is "youth" so children of a wide range of ages and even teachers who want to introduce this resource to them. The website offers a multitude of information such as what this group is and what they do and what human rights are. The website is spread out and information is designated to different tabs. I like that if I want to scroll down I can see "Human Rights News" as well as a definition of human rights. This makes me feel as though if I were bringing a class to this site they would be drawn into the subject just by the front page and then use the tabs to research more. The page appears busy but in a well laid out way. It draws a viewer in with the color scheme and the over all layout.

This website is for Kindergarten and earlier teachers for art class. It provides lesson plans for teachers to teach art. This website does not look professional. It has a lot of popups that come up when I am trying to navigate through the website. It was copyrighted in 1997-2014. This website is kind of useful. I found that the lesson plans were kind of confusing. They weren't actual lesson plans. They were more of suggestions that you could do for a lesson plan but they said that they were lesson plans. This website would be helpful for ideas not actual lesson plans. The overall design of the website was easy to use and navigate. However, it was not professional. At first this website does not look reliable, but when you keep looking they have some really cool idea. I would probably not use this website in the future for lesson plans.

The purpose of this article was to encourage teachers in their work and the impact that they have on students, as well as provide a few resources that have held true for the author, sixth grade teacher, Elena Aguilar. Mrs. Aguilar said that she received an email from a student who had taken her middle school English class and was now going into the same profession. On a personal side, I would like to note that my story is very much the same, so this caught my attention. The teacher recounts what she told her student, that middle school was and still is her favorite level to teach. She then shares a book, websites, and blogs that she has referred to many times throughout her many years of teaching. Visually, the website is appealing. The content is simple and organized. There were no graphics, but there really was no need for any here. The content is formatted in such a way that there are no distractions along the sidebar or even at the bottom of the page. I personally really enjoyed the simplicity of this article. The piece is only a few paragraphs long, but the message being relayed really only needs that much content. There are no spelling or grammar errors here and Mrs. Aguilar maintains a professional speaking voice while she relays a very personal story. The resources that she provides at the bottom of her article are also worth a look. Overall, the article is short and sweet, yet helpful.

Basic content of this site is easily accessible. The intended audience of this site is for students reading the material. The author for this site is clearly listed on the bottom of the page, he is a professor at the university of San Jose state. The website has contact information in order to reach the author. The last update on this website was late September of 2014. This site seems really consistent with all other sites as well as the book. This site is aesthetically pleasing and easy to work around. There isn't any other links on this page, but everything else seems frequent. The content achieves intended purpose of giving an overview of the main characters of the book. The content on this page is accurate consistent and free of bias remarks. Previous knowledge of the subject is apparent. There is no spelling or grammar mistakes and everything on site is working. This site offers sufficient information related to my topic. This page is easily accessible, when the url is clicked on the website pops up. The pages are aesthetically pleasing to the eye. Images, title, and description make it easy to tell exactly where you are. There is a table of contents in order to know exactly what you are going to look at. This site is easy to navigate around, and fun to use. There is limited external links on this page and there is no where you can get lost in the site. One basic format is used throughout the site, the information is labeled and organized. This site is up to date and any other information that is not to date has been removed. There is much useful information on this site, which makes it worth while for me to visit in class.

Morgan Jenkins October 13, 2014 The author of this website wanted to help teachers find resources and lesson plans more easily. This website provides many different resources for preschool and kindergarten planning. It has lesson plans, activities, worksheets, math, and crafts. I personally feel that this site is helpful in many ways because it has a large variety of ideas and lessons. You can find specific lessons for holidays or seasons, but it still has generic lesson plans that can be modified for a specific class. The author of this website, Elaine Engerdahl, is a credible author because she taught Kindergarten for 31 years, therefore an expert by experience. The last copyright was in 2013. I would consider the materials up to date because the lessons all follow common core standards and include up to date technology and methods. There was a contact section that included the email and mailing address of the author along with a phone number. The content is clear and effective because the purpose was to help provide teachers with resources and the site effectively does that. My overall impression of this website was professional and helpful. This website was easy to navigate and had a clean design. There were buttons for lesson plans, activities, crafts and more. When you would click on the links to other websites they seemed to all work. The design of the simple but fun. There were graphics but not too many. The text was easy to read, and the font was not too big or small. Clearly the website was set up well and is easy to use.

Cody The purpose of this website is to teach Spanish from a beginning level up to an advanced level. Different stuff that you need to learn and know about Spanish is available on this site such as: pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, verbs, and daily words. It's intended audience for every student that takes a Spanish class from either beginning to advanced students. My overall impression is that it is a very informative internet site for kids to learn and advance their learning of Spanish. From what I have seen, it is a very friendly internet site to help kids learn more Spanish. Most of it is in English for you to understand what is going on. The advertisements on the right side of the internet site aren't very big or distracting. The content is very good, and for me, it outlines and encourages students to learn more about the language of Spanish. The purpose of this site is clear because it is entertaining and informative. It makes you laugh and smile and just enjoy everything that has to do with a Spanish speaking country. It teaches you what you need to be taught about Spanish. It doesn't cover everything, obviously, but it does outline the basic things you need to know about Spanish. The content of this internet site is also well-organized. It's a very easy way of learning another language. The design of this internet site is very appealing because of the colors and designs it has in the site. It's also easy to navigate in this site because you can move around and just explore everything that this internet site entails. Also I like the graphics of everything on this site. To me, it's a very easy and appealing way of introducing a student to the language of Spanish.

Alyssa Maurer The website Teaching Channel is designed to connect teachers to one another across the world. The site also provides video demonstrations of in class techniques that can be used for video reflection and coaching. The audience is for teachers across the country that can influence and assist one another. The entire website is based on connectivity between all teachers who visit the website. The website also acts as a social networking site by allowing visitors who register with the site create profiles. My impression of the website is that it could be a very useful tool for teachers to continue to improve their lesson plans and to be able to retrieve constructive criticism. The Teaching Channel as a website seems to be very useful as a teaching resource for teachers. It was created specifically for teachers to connect with one another and share their experiences in expectation that the audience can gain knowledge from others practices. As a visitor of the website you can also select grade level and topics to further a specific search of videos. Along with the videos which is the main portion of the website they also have a blog, newsletter, and questions and answers page. The website is created by a non-profit organization that clearly defines their mission, contact information, terms and conditions of the website, discussion guidelines, video guidelines, media coverage, and frequently asked questions. The site seems to be quite user friendly with a modern look to the setup of the website. A critique of the website would be the visual aspect of the website. It also only allows teachers to interact with one another and forgets to include students and parents. The site does seem to be modern and created in our generation for easy access and navigation. The videos are filtered by subject so that each teacher can easily navigate through the website to reach the desired subject area.

This video is a quick overview of the conjugations and some examples of how to use the verbs Ser and Ir. This is a helpful video for students going over this chapter in a Spanish class or for a teacher going over this material. The video is plain, simple, and easy to watch. The content was clearly discussed and the design wasn't distracting. It is easy to tell the content of the video by the description provided below in the information section. The author of the video and their information is listed and contact information is available. Links to other sites are functioning and a date of publishing is noted. It is clearly an informational video and it is easy to understand. The information covered in the video is correct and consistent. This video is a good learning tool for the conjugation of ser and ir. All of the content downloaded properly and the video loaded fully. The links provided to get more information on the topic are functioning and relevant. The animation used and the audio files all served their purpose of informing the viewer about the verbs. The information is consistent and organized, date of publication is listed, and a link to their website is provided so the user can contact if necessary.

Ericka Chorniak October 9, 2012 Overview: This site is a guide for writing a lab report for students in a science setting. It provides the students with definitions and expectations of each section of the lab report. It could also be a very good resource for other science teachers looking for a guide for their students to follow while writing a report for their class. The provider of the site appears to be qualified, but it would be wise to check other sources' materials and other guides before settling with this one specifically. This site doesn't have a lot of interactivity for the students to remain engaged in the content, but for the purposes of a guideline for lab report writing, it is worth bookmarking for future references. Content: At first glance, the content of the site is easily determined, as well as the intended audience. The author of the site is clearly identified; in fact his name is in the link itself. The author did not provide any additional information, or give any contact information, but he does appear qualified because it appears to be a teacher. The latest revision date is present, which was October 29, 2010. This date is appropriate for the content of the site because it does not need to be updated frequently, and the links provided are current and work properly. The purpose of this site is very clear, it is a lab report guide (informational), and the content achieves this purpose effectively. The content of this site is complete, easy to understand, is appropriate to my needs/purposes, is free of bias, appears to be accurate, was proofread so that all grammar and spelling is correct, and is consistent with other sources materials. The site does not provide interactivity to increase its value. The links provided are also worthwhile, appropriate, and relevant to my needs and purposes as a student and pre-service teacher. Design: This website has a semi-attractive homepage that downloads efficiently. It is easy to tell where the user is

This website gives facts, maps, and other details about all of the battles during the US Civil War.

Interactive game to help kids learn how to count coins.