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Sara Scribner 1/23/10 Overview: This website called Beeswax is meant for elementary students to inform them of current events in a fun, interactive way. It is a new website so the creators are still looking for feedback to improve the site, but it is a great tool for students to learn about current happenings in the world. Currently it is only updated twice a week, but for elementary students I believe this to be sufficient. Content: Information presented on this website is high quality. Its purpose, to present news, is clear, complete, easily understood, and is interactive. Contact and sponsor information are current and available. There might be potential bias on this site however because of its sponsor, Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The amount of information offered on this site is sufficient, but the teacher would need some background knowledge about the event. An advantage to this site is that it is free of advertisements. Design: Beeswax communicates the news in a fun, interactive way and is aided by graphics that you click on to see the related story. It has a unique organization that is effective yet appealing. Sounds also accompany your actions as you navigate the site.

Alexis Lunberg: February 1, 2011 The purpose of this site is to help children with their reading by using interactive games and guided reading. The intended audience would be for low level readers like kindergarten through third grade. The site also has a few things for teachers to use so teachers are also an intended audience. The website offers interactive games and guided reading stories for the children. The website also provides literacy worksheets, lesson plans, and reading software for teachers. Overall the design and content of the website is good, but could use improvement. Content The viewer is easily able to see the intended audience for the site and it provide quite a bit of information about the creator. It even gives a link for his blog if the viewer wants to learn more about him. The site is up to date and outdated information is no longer on the site. The information is effective and there are reviews on the site that praise the website. The site would be good for small children because it is easy to understand and has interactive games. Design The design of this website could use some work on the home page. The homepage isn't very appealing and the visitor can't tell what the sites title is right away. Also the site does not clearly identify the sponsor and the copyright date on the website. Another problem with the design of the website is that the view doesn't know when the last time the site was updated. The website also has beneficial things about it. One of the good things about the websites design is that it is easy to navigate. It takes less than three steps to get where you want. The site also uses good graphics and is effective in several different browsers. The overall design of the site could use some work but it is usable and worth visiting.

Roy, the tale of the singing ZebraOverview- This website is very cute! It is such a good idea to get young children involved. The audience is young grades such as k-2. The website is all about reading. I thought it was a really cool way to get kids to read in a different way. The interactive reading games and guided readings would really help those kids just learning to read. Although the site may be a little busy for the little ones to navigate with a little teacher help they would get a lot out of it.  Content-  At first look this website looks like it is easy to use and looks fun for kids. The author of the website is clearly defined, you can access his blog and look at investors and contact him personally. Which would be great if any teachers had questions. The website looks current although it does not have any current dates or update dates. The links work great within the website. The content in the website is great, all of the spelling is right and the information is helpful. The site would be very helpful for young children. Design- When opening this website it loads quickly and looks very appealing. Although the home page is not clearly labeled you can tell that you are there. There is a clear index at the top of the page telling you where you can go. Which makes the navigation in the site great. The use of media is great! They have moving pictures, which is very appealing to young children. The site looks current although there is no current date. But everything in the cite looks wonderful and would be great for kids to navigate. 

Shaya Wolf - 2/26/2013 Overview This website is for teachers who are frantically looking for lesson plans. All of the plans are fairly complete and need minimal changes to make them fit a teacher's specific needs. These sites are not intended for students! It is intended for teachers and it is my personal suggestion that a teacher use these lesson plans as a starting point, not using them in their entirety. It includes many resources, but the ones that are useful to the user (a teacher) are the ones on the main page. The other links are helpful; however do not provide direct help. Overall, this site is very useful and provides quick and easy lesson plans organized by grade level and subject. Based on the content and design quality of this site, it is definitely worth your time to visit this page. Content At first look, you can easily tell what the purpose of this site is and any user could immediately identify that it is intended for teachers. The information providers are clear and easy to contact. They clearly identified the author at the bottom of the page and a link is provided to contact them. The sponsor is also clearly identified. I like how they put the author and sponsor information together so that the information is all easy to find. All of the information is current, as of 2007. It is important to note that if it were a news site, 2007 would not be current. However, lesson plans tend to be good for quite a few years before they become outdated, therefore, I consider 2007 to be current. All of the information is of quality. There is no bias obviously, but the resources given are all of good quality and they are resources that a teacher could actually and tangibly pull off the internet and use. The main content downfall is that there are no links are included to other sites that are related to what a teacher is really looking for when they need a lesson plan. Design This site loads quickly and includes an attractive homepage. The person looki

* Jessica A. Wilhelmsen Reviewed August 31, 2010 o International Children's Digital Library Overview The purpose of this site is to provide accessibility to children's literature that spans multiple languages and cultures. Its audience is geared toward ages 3 to 13 as well as for librarians, educators, parents and researchers. The site is a collection of currently over 4400 children's books in 54 languages, with the goal of adding and translating even more. This site provides a plethora of resources for children and adults keeping with current technology as well as current research. Users are able to navigate easily through this site finding information as well as activities that makes it engaging and easy for ever user. Younger children will need some assistance when looking for specific books but will be able to turn the pages as well as make the print bigger or smaller. The overall feel from community postings and twitter, gives this site great reviews. Content The content of the Children's Library allows the user to quickly determine the point and use of the site. It provides a site map that is visible, allowing material on the site to be easily identified. Identification tabs with sub menus are located at the top for quick reference. Children accessing the site, interested just in reading would be able to identify the "read a book" button which is centrally located on the page. The content is free of biases and provides users with multiple opportunities to be interactive. This site is educationally based and updates are provided frequently. It is also, well organized providing information on its mission as well as its sponsors. Design The esthetics of the Children's Library is appealing. It uses mostly primary to pastel colors giving an ease to the feel of the website. The links are also helpful as well as appropriate. When navigators access the "read a book" button the format changes to a more interactive coloring b

Website: http://science.discovery.com/ Content The science channel website has some good information in it. The audience of this website is obvious in the title and the material. It is for those people looking for science related material for basically any age. There are games for the kids and articles for the older crowd. There are a few N's on my evaluation, but there are no perfect websites. They keep the website current. Design The homepage is very appealing. There is very good contrast and images. The text is easy to read. The website cleary states what its intent is, is easily accessible and navigatable. The videos load and are connected to the websites material. I was able to open the website in safari, firefox and Internet explorer. There is a lot of material from articles to videos to games and even a tv manual to what is on the science channel. The website is logical and orderly. The website is current and there is no out dated material that I could find. There are links to other websites that are related to the science channel such as animal planet and military channel. Overview I found that the Science channel website was very resourceful. It is a science website so there is some bias because there are theories and not all material has been proven. I found that I was current and easy to use. The audience is very obvious and there are things to do for fun and learn at the same time. I really enjoyed looking at this website for its purpose and not just scanning over it not noticing how effect it really is. Joey Skalsky Itech 2360 Sec 4

Nathan Hissong 1/23/10 Content: An important part of any government class is debating current issues in America. In fact POLS2000 is a class devoted to just debating the issues. Opposing Viewpoints is an excellent resource to research issues. When you search of click on an issue you get a list of articles from repeatable authors who either agree or disagree with an issue. A new addition to the site is that you can debate over message boards (which requires you to sign up). Now like message boards one cannot put a rating on the experience. In high school a student and either be censored or be understanding that some language is inappropriate. Being that the site I a beta site it is put up with the help of advertising. Personally, I find this annoying but it is a necessary evil in this instance. Design: Opposing viewpoints is a very eye-appealing site. I has a variety of issues you can look up. However, in the top tabs they are organized into menus that make it easy to fine a recent topic. This site is made for the ipod generation. It feels like social networking site with purpose. It is one of my favorites Overview: This site is a good research tool. It can also be used to implement the CRAAP test because it does have some questionable content. It is a good teaching tool telling students to fin a current issue to present and then debate it in class. Again a site I use quite a bit.

Casey KarchOctober 6, 2012 Overview:  The purpose of this site is to inform the reader on current news happening in, on, or around the ocean. It is set up so all ages can use it, but the home page is more for a literate patron due to the scholarly articles. Children can use all kinds of programs throughout the site, such as ocean portal, to learn about the ocean and it's inhabitants. Educators are benefited with an entire link to help with lesson plans. Resources are abundant and vary in type. There are articles, media videos/pictures, and social networking connections to name a few. Overall, a user could not go wrong with this site for an educational purpose. The Smithsonian sponsors Ocean Portal and all content can be trusted as a viable source. Content: At first look, the content is exceptional. Content of the site is easily determined. Information on the author is not available because many people compose this site. Authors for individual articles can be found though. The information is current to date, new articles are always added and old ones kept on the site to reference. Information quality cannot be rivaled; all information is acceptable for education. Design: The design of this page is extremely well done. The home page is eye catching and informational as well as all the subpages. When the user wants to navigate, links are clearly labeled and it is easy to maneuver. Multimedia is everywhere; a form of multimedia backs almost all articles. The revision times for Ocean Portal cannot be found, but the site is well kept. 

Samantha Cook 10/11/12 The Crusade website is a very plain website. It contains essential information that is very useful to people doing research on the crusades. This information ranges from older texts from that era or new information from historians. The Crusades were many holy wars to obtain lands in the east that were religious areas. This information is represented well by many different scholars through this website in one easy place. The Crusade website is very useful to people in college mainly, some high level high school students could use the sight. The audience is high school students in college level courses, looking for information deeper than the basics provided by their teachers; also it is aimed at for college academics to be used for papers and background information that is found in one easy place. The available resources are from current historians interpreting things from archaeologists and from the writings of that time, and then also the writing from that time to be interpreted yourself. This is very useful information provided because it includes current sources and older sources that has less opinion in it. My overall impression of this sight is very high I used to for my webquest, and I did that to give the kids who would have done it a basic look at crusades which they could have easily done without much looking. This sight is also pleasing to the eye, it is not fancy in any way but it is organized well and looks very academic which helps its purpose. Overall I would use and trust the sight because it is not necessarily their opinion but actual writings for that subject through links of this website and I believe these are the best websites for historians.

Overview: The purpose of this site is to show simulations/animations of biological processes. It's more related to higher-level biology classes but there's basic animations for mitosis, meiosis, and cellular respiration that would be useful for high school students. This is a really great site, especially for college students because there's more complex processes that will be more easily learned with these animations. Even though there's not as many for high school students, it's still a good resource and has the main processes that high school biology students will need to know and understand.  Content: the content of this site is quickly determined: all of the animations available are clearly visible and laid out. Authors and copyright information is available for each module when clicked on. The date posted is within a few years of todays date so it's pretty recent. The quality of this website is phenomenal - the animations are easily accessed and understood. There are also links to other science current event topics upon clicking on the science in focus tab. Design: The homepage downloads quickly. Each topic is clearly noted with tabs for different services. The page is very user friendly, each module is where it would seem to be. The multimedia use is phenomenal - the animations are very useful for learning different biology processes. It is browser compatible with its use of IOS or flash. There is a lot of valuable content for biology students as well as links to other science current events. 

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.

* Jessica A. Wilhelmsen Reviewed September 1, 2010 * Apples4theteacher.com - A Primary Website Overview The overall purpose of this site seems to be an interactive learning environment for both teachers and kids. However, neither teachers nor students would enjoy this site as it seems currently incomplete. While the site is labeled it is cluttered with categories and listings. It is also cluttered with advertisements and gives off a feeling of chaos. While the site does give tons of resources an individual would need time to weed through them all to see if it was something they could use. Content The content of the website has the latest revision date and author. The site is currently under construction, which may be supplying some of the confusion and lack of graphics. The organization of this site does provide categories and various links associated with it each subject. However, the design and over abundance of activities makes looking at it overwhelming. I think individual and students will utilize other sites over this one due to its lack of structure and ease. Design The esthetics of the Apples4teacher.com is very unattractive. The site uses small icons and titles that make it hard to look at. The index for each subject is located just below an advertisement and text boxes border the entire web page. Once you click onto a subject area there is a lack of design, a list of resources to click and more advertisements. There is no flow to the website and the graphics don't add anything to its appeal. I wouldn't bookmark this page unless its updated or I find something in that would work well.

Chaun Ary Teaching with Technology Professor Yeshi 1 September 2010 Website Review for "The Learning Network" Content 1. The website was great at first look because it is sponsored by the New York Times which is a reliable source. The site was clearly meant to give teachers more interacting teaching tools. The authors were provided but their contact information wasn't. The site didn't mention their credibility but it did give all their past publications which in a way is credibility. The information was all current and updated to the current date. The content of the site was complete and well organized with links to specific areas such as civics, global history, and American history. The information is good however the reader must understand that they do have links to NY Times editorial links which are always biased. The site also has interactive maps and teaching tools which is invaluable in teaching. Overall the site was definitely worth while.

Tyler Knowles August 31, 2010 Review of World Facts and Figures Overview The purpose of this site is to inform the user of fun facts about different countries around the world such as population of a country or city, maps and country flags. It is very easy to navigate and very interesting. This website would target students, or anyone for that matter, looking to find out interesting facts about a certain part of the world. It also has links to current news going on around the world which stand out drawing the attention of the viewer. Content It is easy to determine the content of the site, however there is no information about the creators of this site. The content is to inform people of different statistics as well as interesting facts around the world which is kept up to date. The site offers links to such as measurement and currency converters which would be handy to any traveler, but is aimed for those seeking general knowledge of other countries. Design The design of this site is very user friendly, again appealing to students. The layout is easy to navigate and has many graphics to help you find out maps as well as flags for countries. By giving top ten country and city population ranks it enables the user to want to inquire more about population rankings and by simply clicking a link this is possible. The date of last revision is not exactly shown however links to current news events from around the world show that this site is updated frequently.

Colter Huhn 1-24-10 This site has a very clear purpose which is to be a resource for middle school teachers and students, which is the intended audience of the site of course. The resources available on this site lessons and activities for a classroom, project ideas for clubs and classrooms, information on science, games for students and a message board for teachers to share ideas. My overall impression of this site is it is a spectacular resource. The content is perfect for the intended purpose and the design is easy and also nearly flawless. For the content this site is very strong. The basic content is easily found as well as the audience. The author is found at the bottom of the page with some information as well as how to contact them. The information is current, revised within the last ten days, and all links seem to be working fine. The information meets the sites purpose, is complete, very well organized, easy to understand, interactive, accurate as far as I can tell. The web site design was also very strong. The site was fast and compatible with both Firefox and Internet Explorer. The homepage was attractive, clear; it has the site organized into sections, with the site sponsor, information of the provider, and a copyright date. The site was very easy to navigate with the site split up into sections of interest, and all links were appropriate and working fantastically. All videos and pictures helped to enhance the information and the site was very current. The presentation of content was sufficient in information to make the site worthy, it was clear and organized, basic theme, info was easy to find and the links were well organized.

For middle school teachers and students. Resources given are lessons and activities for a classroom, project ideas for clubs and classrooms, information on science, games for students and a message board for teachers to share ideas

Overview: This Chronicle of higher education is a very useful website. Its purpose is to provide news and information on many topics and current events. It is accessible to anyone, but probably intended for educated adults. Content: This website contains a lot of information. Its content consists of that of a newspaper plus much more. It provides tabs for the homepage, which has many headings links articles, and video clips on current news and events. The Chronicle also contains several other tabs including news, opinion and ideas, facts and figures, topics, jobs, advice, forums, and events. When you access the site is easy to determine the content and intended audience. The is avaliable information and the authors and researches for the different articles. The information is always constantly being updated and revised so nothing is out of date. The links also are easy to use and work properly. The information and content presented is not biased and achieves the intended purpose of informing and entertaining. Design: The chronicle of higher education is set up much like an online virtual newspaper. It has columns and headings like any ordinary newspaper but is also colorful and neatly organized to include many tabs and links. It is easy to read and very understandable and accessible. The website downloads efficiently and the site is appealing and grabs tor attention. The sites also provide copyright informational the provider is clearly identified. The links are clear and helpful and all the information including the photos videos and articles serve a clear purpose to the site.

Olivia Mabie -January 24, 2010 Content: This website contains lots of information for teachers and future teachers. The website has links at the top of the page that will help with putting together lesson plans, finding out what is current, etc. The classroom link at the top has other links attached inside that will help with putting together lesson plans in certain subjects and it also has a link for the different age groups, elementary, middle, and high school. Other teachers have put this together for other teachers to use; it is a great website with information that is very useful for future teachers and current teachers. Design: This site is not hard to find the things a teacher would be looking for on this website. It is very easy to navigate and find interesting things that could be used in a classroom. The website does not have a lot of distractions on it and there is information any teacher would want to know. Once the links were clicked on there were certain ones that had graphics but not all of them. Not having graphics on each page was good because it does not draw away from the content of the website. Overview: The purpose of this website is to make it easier for teachers to find lesson plans, units, and web resources in a fast and easy way with no ads or pop-ups. Teachers, parents, and even students can use this website to find information they need using the subject/grade level search, keyword search, or the extensive menus the site offers. This is an excellent site for any teachers and future teachers. The website has a ton of good information that will help any teacher out if he/she is stuck on finding something to do in the classroom.

Rebecca Gardner Jan. 24, 2010 The content of this website is based on lesson plans for grades kindergarten to 12th grade. This was easy to determine. It was also easy to determine that this website was intended for teachers. The authors and sponsors were easy to identify and they seemed qualified to present information on the topics. I could not find when the website was last revised, but the ads were current. The links to other websites were current and working properly. The purpose of this website was clear and informative. The content was well organized and offers sufficient information for my needs. I didn't see any bias, but I believe that there could be, because the website is presented by Discovery. The website provides interactivity that increases its value. The links provided are worthwhile and appropriate. The design of this website is effective and it down loaded efficiently. The homepage is attractive, but did have a lot of ads. You can tell where you are immediately and the title, description and image captions are clear. The sites sponsors and copyright date were established and easy to determine. The user is able to navigate around the website with ease. The directions are clear and easy to follow. The internal and external links were working properly and there were no dead ends. Each of the graphics, video files, audio files ect.. serve a clear purpose and make a significant contribution to the site. There is sufficient information that makes this website worth visiting. The information is clearly labeled and easy to find. The contact information is provided and easy to find and the links to other websites are provide and some are useful while others are ads. My over view of this website is that it can be useful for grade levels. They provide free lesson plans that could come in handy. This website is associated with the Discovery channel so you may run into a lot of ads and maybe even some biases. I would recommend this

Overview This website is my favorite, even though it does not look very professional. It has links to other sites that are easy to navigate through and it has different classroom activities that are described and are to be used in kindergarten classrooms which is the age group that I intend to teach. I am able to find an author and author information as well as a recent "last updated" date and current links on the homepage to lead me to further information. The site lacks color and graphics, but the content and information makes up for it. Content I am able to clearly see that the purpose of this website is to inform teachers of many different classroom activities that can be used as well as a description of each. The author of the site seems qualified to be giving out this information and there is further information given so that you can find out more about the author and her credibility. The site was last revised in December 2009 so the information is very recent. The content of the site achieves the purpose which is to inform. The site appears to be unbiased, organized, accurate, and consistent. Design The homepage downloaded quickly and efficiently as well as its links and contact information. The home page is not attractive however because it lacks graphics or even color. I can clearly tell where I am once I get to this page and can easily find the table of contents and its links. The author, sponsor, and copyright information are easy to find at the bottom of the homepage. It was easy to move through the site and navigate each of its links and the site is reliable and current.

Whitney Mills; Website Reviewed: January 24th 2010 Overview: Kidgen.net is a helpful website for teachers who are looking to help their students learn to read, write, count, etc. It is suitable for all ages and can also be used in different languages. The only downfall is that there are different levels of membership, when it would be much more helpful if it were free. Content: It is very easy to understand what the purpose of this website is as soon as a person clicks on the link. The intended audience is anyone at any different ages, which is stated right away. The author is listed at the bottom of the page. The links to the other sites do work properly and the site is current. The purpose of the site is clear; it is intended to teach students words, spelling, counting, etc. Overall the site is well made, organized, and looks professional. Design: I feel that this website is ok in the design. It could be a bit more worked on to be a little more exciting or appealing to children. However, the site design is common throughout all the links, and isn't confusing to look at. The site has very current information and looks as if it is visited often and revised often. I would recommend this to anyone who'd be willing to pay for the memberships but not to anyone who is looking for a free website to help teach their students.

Amanda Larsen 1/23/11 Overview: This is a website designed to provide people with a vast library of images current and historic art pieces. It is especially useful to collegiate students and professors because a professor can set up a library with images that they are focusing on in class.  Content: At first glance it is obvious that the content includes images of art pieces. The featured images are constantly being updated with a clear description of foundations and sponsors for each group of images. There are announcements of new collections posted often. Images are categorized in a variety of ways including author, time period, collection, etc. Design: Navigation from the home page and throughout the website is user friendly. Images have fantastic quality with a quick loading time. The libraries of images are constantly being updated for the most current collection. Directions and help for optimal use of this website are provided with tabs at the top of the screen.