Group items tagged

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

Rebecca Gardner Jan. 24, 2010 The content of this website is based around math. It has links for students from kindergarten to 12th grade. It is very clear from the start what the website has to offer. The author of the website was not clear identified, but there was a link to e-mail them. The sponsor of the website was also not available. The last time the website was revised was May 21, 2008. So the information may be out dated. However the links were for fun math lessons and they still are very relevant to today's teaching methods.. The links to the other sites were working properly. The purpose of this site was clear and very helpful for finding math lessons and games. The content of the website is well organized and easy to navigate though. Grammar and spelling are correct and the content was free of bias. The links on the website were worthwhile and appropriate to my needs. The design of the webpage was attractive and very easy to read. The website down loaded efficiently and so did the links. There is a clear title and description of the webpage. Even though the website has not been up dated in awhile all the links were still appropriate and I ran into no dead ends. On the home page there was little multimedia, nut the links had a lot and they made a significant contribution to the site. The browser was effective with a variety of browsers. The information provided from this site is worth visiting and is very organized, and a basic format is used though out. I do believe however that the website needs to be updated, because there is a lot more links that can be added. However, the links that are provided are up to date. My over view for this website is that I found it very useful. The links were interesting and appropriate. I will defiantly visit it again for ideas on math lessons. The only thing I didn't like was that the website hasn't been up dated in a while. The information is still of good use and I would recommended it to a friend.

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.

Posted by Kelsey Potter on January 24, 2010 This website was designed for teachers and schools. Content: Entering into School World it was evident who the audience and what the content was intended for. The content of the website accomplishes the purpose clearly. There was no specific author for the website although the group that published the site was reliable and easy contact information was access able. The website was created in 2010 so it is still a fairly new site. All of the links and content are working appropriately and appear to be complete. The links and information on each of the links are easy to understand and sufficient to the content. There is a plenty of information for each of the links and for background on the website. The website is not biased but rather informative about schools using a content management system and a center for communication and education for the teachers. Design: The website loaded promptly and the homepage was an appealing to the eye. It was clear as to what the purpose of the website is and the different index tabs were descriptive to direct the reader in the right direction. The site sponsor was clear and background about the sponsor was also clear. Contact information has easy access and a 1 800 number was clearly identified at the top of each page. Copy right was easy to find at the bottom of each page. Directions for using the website were not provided but rather self explanatory to use. Each label had more specific labels underneath. The animations were for more of a decoration than a purpose. The website as equal access through different browsers. The organized information on the website was apparent and made the website very resourceful. The same goal is visible throughout the website although nothing was repeated. Summary: Overall this website is a very resourceful place to come for a teacher or a school. School World gives valuable information for the needs of diverse schools and teachers. Teachers

CONTINUED: Teachers have access to a website with content and design for the in the classroom and outside the classroom. School World is build by three elements including: "applying Web technology best practices, proactively listening to district and school personnel, and staying abreast of the education industry's trends and happenings." The website has accomplished many different awards in the limit time it has been offered. This is a very reliable, useful and beneficial website.

Emily Scoles 1/24/2010 Content Summary: This is a Russian language learning site. This site has some audio but is more in depth with writing, grammar, and sentence structure. There are links to other Russian language learning sites as well. Overview: The website clearly states it's purpose to teach the Russian language to anyone who wants to learn it. The layout is descriptive and organized. The site is geared toward older age groups. The site is basic in it's look with no pictures or graphics. Design Summary: The sponsor is shown on the website and a link for questions is given. There isn't information about the author on the site. Overview:This site fulfills it's purpose to explain and help teach the Russian language and writing. The site and links are working properly. The information is mostly unbiased, but some of the introduction paragraphs have opinion. The grammar and spelling is correct in the site.

Posted by Erika Jeffs on 1/24/2010 Overview: Math Apprentice is designed to show kids that math is used in the real world, and not just the obvious careers like an accountant, but other developing areas such as graphic design. The students get to pick from 8 different careers, and explore the features of the line of work they choose and do some hands on math related activities. These activities make the website very interactive. The site is designed to use in the classroom for middle school students, but could also be useful for high school students as well. Content: The website clearly states the purpose of the website and the audience, in fact, it has a tab specifically for this information. The "About" tab gives and overview of the entire website. Sponsor and contact information is easy to find, however the authors of the website are unclear. The site was copyrighted in 2009 and is fairly new, so it should be up to date. The links are relevant to math and are in working order. This site is very interactive and gives many examples of math in the real world that would come as surprise to many students. There is also a tab that gives teachers a detailed description on how to use the site in the classroom. Math Apprentice's sole purpose seems to be to educate and not to sell anything. The website is easy to navigate and well organized because there is only four tabs. Everything seems to be accurate, up to date, and correct as far as my knowledge. Design: Math Apprentice loads very quickly, especially considering all of the interactive features the site provides. The home page is attractive, easy to navigate, and the format is held constant throughout the entire site. Copyright and contact information are easy to find. Directions for using the site are easy to find and very helpful. All links are working properly and quick to load. The site specifically states that the site works best with Safari or Firefox, and that there may be some bugs th

Scholastic.com Learning Activities (Grades K-5) Sara Scribner 1/23/10 Overview: I found this website to be very helpful. It has numerous resources for student activities and links to other sites with information and resources for teachers. Ads are present throughout this site, but they do not overwhelm you. Also, on the primary page with learning activities for students there aren't any ads at all. Not only would I use this source in my classroom, but I would recommend it to others. Content: Scholastic, a website for teachers is very credible. Information found on this site is current (updated and links work) and information to contact or learn about the sponsor/author is available. There does not seem to be any hidden agendas on this site. This site is organized according to grade level, K-2 or 3-5, and has activities for both age groups. Its information is consistent/accurate, easy to understand, and organized making it easy to navigate. Another positive aspect of this site is that it has activities for subjects like math, science, language arts, social studies, and Spanish. Design: This site is definitely worth visiting. It's content and links to other useful websites makes it a valuable resource. Content layout is organized and everything is clearly labeled. Graphics provide a glimpse of what each game entails and add appeal to the page/game description. Animations and sounds make one's experience as he plays the games enjoyable and exciting.

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. 

Amanda Larsen 1/23/11 Overview: This is a website that provides free streaming for current television shows as well as a selection of older series and movies. There are few children shows but content is more directed to young adult and adult audiences.  Content:  This site has appropriate information about sponsors and authors which are provided on every show page. The content is current and constantly being updated. A good variety of shows are available for entertainment. Design: The homepage is well organized with little clutter and a clear description of how to navigate throughout the site. Videos are fairly quick to stream. New and popular shows are creatively displayed on the home page for and attractive and user friendly purpose.

Overview: This website is a good website for teachers who need fun and creative ideas for many different activities and lesson for Preschoolers and Kindergarteners. The last time this webpage was updated was in 2010, this is fairly recent, since that is within the last year. There are a variety of activities, games, quizzes, and many printouts. The intended audience is teachers who are looking for ideas. I love this website. It was easy to navigate and gave me a ton of great ideas and printouts I can use. Content: This website is full of links, all of which work, that lead to many different types of content from letters and numbers to animals to coloring pages. Within each of these sub-headings there are many activities and ideas to use for the children in your class. Each section and sub-sections are clearly defined and have pictures that correspond. The last update was last year, this seems to be a while ago, but since material for pre-k does not change drastically in a year, it is still up to date. There is not any information on the author, so that is lacking, but overall the content on this website is up to date and easy to access. Design: The design of this website has all links well defined and organized. There are pictures that also correspond to all of the links and headings. There is easy navigation throughout the whole website and everything is easy to access. Everything is up to date. There are a few varieties of media, mostly in the form of words and images. There is a copyright, also with a description as to how the website can be used for educational purposes.

The content of this site is has Spanish, grammar, math and science. You are able to choose which section that you would like to work on and learn by playing games. The games are based for elementary students but the Spanish versions could help high school students learn as well as have fun playing games.The design is very user friendly. They have toolbars on the top and left had side of the page so that you can easily navigate to where you want to go. There are also pictures that go with the game and a description of what the game entails underneath. There are also bright colors to make the website very aesthetically pleasing. I think that this is a good site because it could easily be utilized by a variety of teacher of different age groups not just elementary as it is intended. If I wanted high school students to use this site they could work on cleaning up their Spanish grammar by picking that certain picture. If one game wasn't working out for one student they could always pick from the others that are available. 

Megan Switzer September 11, 2011 Overview: ESL Lesson Plans and Resources is a website that does just that provides hyper-links to ESL lesson plans as well as other ESL resources which include activities for ESL learners. The targeted audience for this web site is mainly for teachers, although it could possibly be used by secondary education students in the completion of activities. The whole purpose of this web site is to provide links to web sites with available resources for web sites and pretty much anything else that teacher's may need for ESL. If one needs help with ideas for lesson plans or activities or even games for an ESL classroom, this web site is highly beneficial. Content: The overall content of this web site was helpful in the sense that it provided helpful links to ESL lesson plans, activities, ideas etc. However, the information provider was quite difficult to determine due to the fact that there was no one specific site, it was simply a web site full of other sites. The information currency was also a little difficult to determine as there was no date of when it was last revised. This may be an exception for the website, itself, did not have updates or an author but the links to the other websites may have contained the separate information. Overall the content of the site was well organized and easy to follow, all of the hyperlinks seemed to be in working order and beneficial to the search I had done. Design: The overall design of this website was not the greatest, yet it was still usable. The home page did not have an appeal to my eye upon first glance, however with each hyper link contained a description of what it was. The whole web site had the purpose of giving links to other useful websites which could possibly be why there was no currency information and or information in which to contact the web site developer. Although it is easy to navigate and headers clearly define what each link is used for, there is always room to improv

Overview: This website is targeted for students and is proken up into categorys these category's are ages 4-11, 11-16, and 16+. This website offers educational tools for subjects such as: geography, literature, science, math, music, numeracy etc. Content: Since I am focusing on math once you click the math tab a list of activity comes up (depending on which grade level you chose) under some of the activities there are sections where parents or teachers can have lesson plans, worksheets in order to help your student or child. Design: The design is fairly easy, if you were going to allow your students to use it in class you might need a fast tutorial so they are comfortable but all in all it is very easy. The site uses fun and bright colors so its appealing to students. Each activity has a description so once the student has read through each description they can decide what activity is most appealing to them.

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 Kate Guerrieri 9/18/2009 Title of web page: The English Teacher- Lesson Plans for a Creative Writing Course Content: This website offers an entire 13 week lesson plan for teaching a creative course. The lesson plan is broken up into different sections that a teacher would cover for the 13 weeks. Each section covers a different topic and offers links to other websites that offer additional information or examples. There are writing prompt ideas and ideas for different assignments a teacher might consider using. If it meets all the state requirements of a teacher's location, it would be a good source to use for developing a lesson plan. If not, it is a general guide for what a creative writing lesson plan should look like. Design: This web site is split into thirteen sections, in correlation for the weeks that the lesson plan is made for. Each section has a description of what is being taught and ideas on how to teach it. There are examples and links in each section. It is easy to navigate and user friendly. Attribution: The site seems credible. Anyone can use this information as long as they cite the page. I couldn't find the copy write information on the actual page but it is part of a larger website that would have it.

Posted by Allie Parrott 09/17/09\nThe Shakespearean Resource Center is a site dedicated to Shakespearean language, theatre, and history. Everything on the site is fully functional and thorough. Teachers and students alike could learn a lot from it. Content: The Shakespearean Resource Center is a perfect place for Secondary English teacher's to go for not only basic Shakespeare facts, but in-depth explanations of his language. This site is perfect for high school students and teachers that are struggling with Shakespeare's particular style. In one section "Dictionary of Shakespeare" there shows all of the words he contributed to our everyday vocabulary. I believe that this site is valid because at the bottom of the page it shows when it was last updated. June 2009 was the last time, and that is pretty recent in comparison to a lot of sources one will get concerning William. At the bottom the author and sponsor are also easily spotted, making it all the more credible. All links and information are related to Shakespeare or the Elizabethan time in England. It will help the student that everything on this site is well organized, and they can gather tons of information with out straying far from its links. Design: The site is designed exceptionally well. There are no bothersome pop-ups and there are a limited amount of ads. All the links are functional, and under each link there is a short description, telling the visitor exactly what they are about to learn. It does lack a certain visual effect. There aren't many pictures or graphics, but consider the fact that it is a site for Shakespeare information. Shakespeare had a way with words not pictures. Students who are researching him should be highly literate because there is a lot of reading. The design is perfect for what needs to be accomplished. Attributions: It would be extremely easy to cite this source. Information is not only found at the bottom of each individual page, but also in a link that says cite SRC

This website provides more insite into the world of art through the study of art history. Content: This website has an art history timeline on its homepage that can show students the main movements and periods in art history and when they occured. The website also has a side bar complete with all major movements and artists that the veiwer can click on and learn more about. Upon clicking on an artist featured in the sidebar, one can see some of the artists work, a biography of the artists life and what style, medium and country their work was done in. The same goes for clicking on a style of art, the veiwer is given a detailed description of the art style, shown examples of work done in that style and artists that practiced it. This is a great website for older students to find out more about art, so they can better their own work and write papers

Content: This website's purpose is easily determined within moments of looking at the page. Although I do not specifically want to teach science the information it provides makes the idea a lot less threatening. The content that is displayed provides a variety of topics that have to do with biology (whether it is human, animal, ECT…). Even though, the website is pretty short the attention it demands when you open the screen is remarkable. There are links to several other websites that all open and are available to further education in other areas of biology like I said previously. Design: From exploring this site, I believe that it is a reliable educational website for the use of teaching science topics and providing stimulating visuals to assist in the students learning. This is a website teachers can use for a variety of grades as it is grade appropriate website as it suggests. The homepage not only opens quickly and efficiently but exhibits other science based activities and strategies in other tabs; it is very clear and directive for the users Attribution: Overall this website is one that I would most likely use if I was going to be a science teacher. From the moment you open the site you see that the intended audience is for students but also provides valuable information for the teachers. As far as what links connect the user to where seems to be very clear. The media that is presented in this site is both interactive with the visual effects and descriptive which amplifies learning. From what I experienced, everything runs smoothly and is up to date with the current knowledge of what is to be expected in the classroom when covering these topics as well as making learning fun, which is equally as important. There happens to also be various links in which the user can use to seek out help.

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

Posted by Tanisha Daugaard on September 21, 2009 This site is mainly intended for middle school teachers, but it can also be used as a resource for students. It focuses on English, writing, and reading. It is a great site to find lesson plans, electronic books and manuscripts, and other useful information for the classroom. Content: This site is very well organized. It is divided into three sections: English, reading, and writing. It has numerous links to other sites dealing with each subject area. It appears to be updated frequently and the website developers also take input on what other sites would be good to add. I feel the content achieves the purpose quite effectively. Everything just flows together. It is easy to understand, and each link has a description of what can be found on the site. The authors appear to be qualified in middle school education. In general, the links work properly and route the users to other useful, creditable sites. Individual contributors are not listed, but an email for the designers is provided. This site also clearly labels the new links that have been posted. Design: The site is designed very well. It is clear of ads and other pictures that are not related to the subject. This site is easy to navigate. Each site that is linked falls under one of three categories. Each graphic serves a purpose and the site doesn't include anything that distracts the users. There is enough information provided that makes the site usable for teachers and students. It covers many areas under English, reading, and writing. The site is modified and the updates are clearly marked. Everything is well organized and easy for anyone of any age to use. Attribution: Using and quoting information from this site can be tricky. Some links clearly state who the authors are, but others don't at all. Overall, I think this site is used more for getting ideas than actually quoting someone. The information provided is very useful, but one has to be careful