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Katherine Kerpchar ITEC2360 I found this website to be incredibly helpful specifically in the means of art education. This website is actually a public forum online textbook on art history, and is aimed at a collegiate art level. The website was in a constant format that was easy to follow and learn from, it was also very appealing to look at and clear of clutter. The sponsors and providers of the site were easy to find and had significant amounts of contact information. All of the links worked quick and easy, and a description of the link's site was underneath each link so the user knew what they were getting into. The website's last revision date was easy to find and was very current (January 4th of this year) and the information on the site was very good and up to date as well as organized in an easy to follow format. 

Emily Nielsen: April 15, 2015 This website is intended to educate viewers about rainforests. There is information available about where specific rainforests are, what animals and animals live in them, and how to persevere them. I think it would be a great resource to upper elementary school aged children. Overall, I really like this website because there is a lot of information presented in a format that is easy to navigate. The content of this site appears accurate and easily verifiable. The information is provided by MK and PK Productions and it is material that is copyrighted but can be used for educational purposes. There is contact information provided on the site. I cannot find a date about when the site was last updated but it seems current. The content is well organized into several different categories. The purpose of the page is clearly to be an educational resource about rainforests. Grammar and spelling are correct. The design of the website provides a format that is easy for viewers to use. The homepage catches the viewer's eye with lots of colorful pictures. There is information for contacting the maker of the site to find out more information. There is a wide variety of information on a variety of rainforest topics. The multitude of pictures adds to a viewer's understandings of the topics. The different topic pages on the site are easy to transfer from one to another and are all filled with information and pictures.

Shelley Limegrover January 22, 2011 OVERALL The third site I evaluated is the Physics 2000 site. The site explains general physics concepts in a dialog format using an imaginary cast of physics professors and students. One or more interactive simulations accompany all dialogs. The site is intended as a resource for high school and non-science college students that presents otherwise abstract material in a more comprehensible format. I found the presentation of material to be very creative, although the site itself seemed visually "busy" and awkward to navigate. CONTENT The authors of the site are clearly identified and include a physics professor, various science advisors as well as a high school physics advisor. The credentials of all authors and advisors are not provided, but the site claims to be funded by grants from the National Science Foundation, giving it some credibility. The dates of copyright and last revision are not readily apparent. However, the main page states that they are looking for sponsors to support continued operation. Recommendations for supported browsers are a few years out of date. The content itself does not seem adversely affected by lack of updates. All content links are functional as are all interactive applets that I tried at random. DESIGN Some pages of the site are designed better than others. The choice of colors and layout do not make information immediately visible. The navigation is not consistent across pages. The relevant content, however, is presented nicely once I get to it. This makes it worth a visit to the page. Interactive applets are provided wherever they are beneficial.

Overview Spanish.language&culture is a website aimed the teacher of Spanish. It is a well formatted site and may be suitably adjusted for use in all grade levels. It may also be used individually by students in Junior High and up. It allows the student to "see, hear and say" the language. The format provides activities that the student engages, instant feedback and corrections and study modules that support the ideas of the lesson's text. The modules allow the use of the language in 'real time' and cultural context. Overall, it could be a useful and relevant site for use in the classroom as a technology resource. Content The site contains Announcements, Study Modules, Home resources, Activities and Verb conjugation charts. Each of these links open to other exercises, lessons and information. Design The unassuming design of the site draws the eye to its benefits. It begins with a white background. Centered on this is a white page with a gray outline shadow. the page contains three sections. The Announcements portion tells who and what the site is about. Study Modules are located beneath the Announcements. the study modules are separated by photographic pictures and module contents written in red. The right third of the page is divided by a vertical space bar. To the right of the bar are the links to Home and the Activities site. Across the top of the website is a red ribbon which contains the name of the site and its promoter.

Overview: This site is informative. It covers a lot of subjects mostly dealing with the subject of English and including grammar and writing. The author is clearly identified and, after searching online about the author, I've determined that the author is exclusive to this site. The site is sort of in a blog format, but organized well enough to maneuver freely without hesitation. The sponsor is clearly displayed on the site and thought the contact information is not readily available, there is access to a contact by email. Content: The content is highly informational and accurate. The author updates the site every day, with new posts and updates for his existing revisions and writings. The material is appropriate for high school students and college level students as well. There are few to no external links displayed, for the reason of exclusivity. The site is well organized which makes it easy to find something specific you are looking for. The information is consistent with similar information in other sources and the grammar and spelling are correct. Design: the page downloads efficiently. Although the author has not made the site flashy or outright colorful, he makes up for it in content. Directions to the site are easy and clear to understand. The categories are visible on the home page and can be easily maneuvered. There are few graphics displayed on the website, but then this site is not geared towards elementary schools. The design is basic and useful. The same basic format is consistent through the full site which makes the information easier to find.

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

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.

The site is intended to give students an example of the APA format, which is given clearly and effectively. The students will be of the 9th or higher grade level and should be able to follow the instructions and rules set by the site. The site itself also allows students to look into other writing style for future assignments when similar or different styles are required. The site has some visual appeal, an amount set enough to where a student would be able to more likely remember the website when the need for APA style rules are needed. Overall the site is simple enough for the basics allowing students to still try to remain original in their texts without just copying and relying on the site. The general setup of the site is enough to keep interest without interfering with the information it provides.

Tyson Bagley October 13, 2014 The purpose of this resource is to help beginning Spanish learners to better understand how to conjugate regular -AR verbs in the present tense in all forms. There is no introduction and he immediately starts with conjugating example verbs. This is a good resource for beginning learners to learn to conjugate these verbs accurately. The content of this video is great and is very useful. The instructor in the video speaks slow and very clearly and explains the "how" behind each form of conjugation. The instructor was very accurate and presented multiple different examples to help with the repetition of the conjugating. This video is great for a class room to introduce conjugating -AR verbs because it is short and not extremely boring. In the video the instructor not only talks, but also has the words and examples appear on the screen in a format easy to read. He also says every sentence in English and Spanish to help the viewers to understand what he is saying.

Tyson Bagley October 13, 2014 The purpose of this resource is to help beginning Spanish learners to better understand how to conjugate regular -AR verbs in the present tense in all forms. There is no introduction and he immediately starts with conjugating example verbs. This is a good resource for beginning learners to learn to conjugate these verbs accurately. The content of this video is great and is very useful. The instructor in the video speaks slow and very clearly and explains the "how" behind each form of conjugation. The instructor was very accurate and presented multiple different examples to help with the repetition of the conjugating. This video is great for a class room to introduce conjugating -AR verbs because it is short and not extremely boring. In the video the instructor not only talks, but also has the words and examples appear on the screen in a format easy to read. He also says every sentence in English and Spanish to help the viewers to understand what he is saying.

Jennifer Durn January 24, 2010 Purdue Online Writing Lab - http://owl.english.purdue.edu/ OVERVIEW The Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) is a site designed to provide online writing resources for writers of all ages; from middle school through college and into adulthood. This site provides a variety of writing resources ranging from assistance with APA and MLA formatting, to tips for avoiding plagiarism and resume assistance. Overall, I found the site to be particularly user friendly and have utilized it when completing assignments in past courses. CONTENT The purpose and function of the Purdue OWL site is readily identifiable when the home page is accessed. Sources and authors are listed clearly and the content of the website is current and up-to-date. Resources are also available which highlight recent updates to the site and provide navigational tips for accessing information quickly and easily. Information presented in each section is relevant and easy to select what is important for the particular writing project. DESIGN Using Mozilla Firefox, I did not have any issues with navigating the Purdue OWL site. Recent updates and upgrades to the website have improved the visual appeal. Multimedia resources are not available on the site but given the subject matter, this is not surprising. One area where this site could use additional work is the lack of links to other websites outside of Purdue University's English Department.

Stetson Fancher Reviewed Aug. 31, 2010 Purpose The purpose of the Purdue Online Writing Lab is to help give information and references towards writing documents for school related projects. It is there to educate Purdue students and others about all kinds of references and sources to help make the writing process easier. They have everything from avoiding plagiarism and APA formatting style guide to exercises that might help you with your writing. This site is a great site to use for students as young as junior high, up on through graduate school. It does a great job of making difficult information accessible. Content This site has a full arsenal of information that it has to offer writers with many different kinds of goals. It also does a great job of organizing the information so that it is easily accessible to those who need it. It also keeps the references us up to date as possible. It keeps the most current style guides and even frequently produces podcasts to those who subscribe. It does not always show all of its references on the home page, but as you dig into information, then it becomes more available. The content that this site provides is one that can be applicable for many different writers.

Adam Matson 9-14-2011 Website Evaluations: 1) http://owl.english.purdue.edu/ - Purdue Online Writing Lab Overview- This site is intended for the use by students (grades 7-12+) and teachers alike in regards to English writing styles, citations, etc. The site is developed by Purdue University and even allows students to turn written works in to be reviewed by university students and teachers to help correct and guide the writing process. It has a very complete overview of how to write well-rounded essays, letters, etc. and is easy to read and navigate. It covers areas such as MLA and APA formats along with how to cite sources both in-text and bibliographical forms. I would recommend it for anyone who has a question about a writing assignment. Content- The content of this site is extraordinarily helpful and easy to navigate. From the homepage you can easily discern that the main focus is education in English writing. All areas are labeled clearly and cover many sides of whatever subject you are on. It explains clearly every aspect, such as citing sources, and shows many examples, reviewing almost all instances the writer might run in to. Design- The design is fairly basic, as many educational sites are. It is not very interactive (meaning videos, sounds, games, etc.), but it very easy to navigate. Tabs and links are obvious and lead to such places as Contact Information. Links to other parts of the site are always colored differently and easy to discern. All links are easy to read and very specific, letting the user narrow down their intended search quickly and efficiently.

Overview: Purdue OWL (online writing lab) serves as a gold mine of information for formal writing. This website is intended for students or anyone attempting to write a formal paper. It provides the newest and latest information on MLA and APA formatting information, along with a "how-to" guide for formatting your papers and citing your sources correctly. On top of that it also provides links for English as a Second Language learners, parents, and "how-to's" for cover letters and résumés. This website is extremely useful ad helpful for anyone looking for help writing a paper or teachers looking for a good resource to teach their students. I highly recommend Purdue OWL. Content: When you enter Purdue OWL you are immediately able to tell what the site is about. All the content is easily accessible and bookmarked on the home page. Although author information is not immediately available, you are able to see that it is created by a credible source, and you are able to contact the creators. Purdue keeps their information up to date and uses the latest MLA and APA handbooks to create their site. The purpose of the site is obviously informational and educational. It is well organized and the information is complete, easy to understand, and consistent with other similar sources. Design: Purdue OWL is visually appealing along with efficient. The home page is clearly labeled with an index and site sponsor obvious and visible. It is easy to move around, and if you feel lost there is a link for a "site map" in the upper right hand corner that can be used. The links on the page are highly relevant and help the users navigate to more specific cites. It is easily accessed on different browsers. There is a plethora of information readily available for the users so they do not need to visit other sites.  

Tonya Searles The purpose of citationmachine.net is to aid anybody who is writing a referenced work to properly cite the material they are using. The website is dedicated to preventing plagiarism. The intended audience is high schools, universities, teachers and independent researchers. The website provides easy to see choices for referencing in the major formats used in writing such as APA, MLA, and Chicago. The user would select the format choice they wish to use and fill in the boxes with the appropriate information, and the machine generates a complete reference in the proper format. The site appears easy to use and read. For a student (or author of a paper) who wishes to cite their material this website is definitely relevant, accurate, and purposeful. However, although I can clearly see the website has been updated since my last visit there is no indication of its currency. The citations generated are in line with current standards when putting in an APA reference. There is also a link to an older version of the site which also indicates currency, albeit without a date. The creator of the website is David Warlick, and while there was little information about him on the site, a google search revealed him to be an author and educator, indicating he may be an authority in referencing materials. Strengths of the website include clear step by step instructions on how to use the citation machine. There are also links that will take you to places to evaluate the originality of an essay to further avoid plagiarism. A weakness of the website is the amount of ads on the site, but it is free, and a network, so ads are expected. The design of the website is not overly ostentatious. There are simply colored blocks with text to click on, and the orange and reds are not overly bright and distracting. I prefer websites that do not have a lot going on, and that have only links that serve a related purpose. With the exception of the unavoidable ads, this website fits th

Jared Mohr-Leiva October 13, 2014 Sometimes, planning for class gets difficult, even for "easy" classes like English. Thankfully, there are resources for that. "Tes.co.uk" has a page chock full of them. However, since it is a U.K. site, they are not by grade, but by age (11-14, 14-16, and 16+). Regardless, that allows a pretty close estimate (within a year) of which grades correspond to which age group. The category list includes a large array of sub-subjects in English. These include Drama, non-fiction, Prose, and Writing. These are front and center on the page and vary depending on which age group the reader is teaching. Clicking on any of these subjects will open a new page filled with worksheets, activities, and PowerPoints. For example, clicking on "Drama" will bring up "8 Minute Madness - Creative starter activities" and "Romeo & Juliet: Powerpoint Synopsis," just to name a couple. Tes.co.uk is very blue-oriented, as well. The age-group category box is a deep, bold blue, front and center on the first page. Categories are bold and easy to find. The "sub-subject" pages are displayed as a list, again using large, bold letters. There is also a sidebar allowing the reader to narrow their search by sub-topic, type, format, or event. There are also categories at the very bottom to specify whether it is a special needs course or is applicable to the entire school. "Newest" and "Recently recommended" appear at the top of the screen alongside the number of results.

Jared Mohr-Leiva October 13, 2014 Sometimes, planning for class gets difficult, even for "easy" classes like English. Thankfully, there are resources for that. "Tes.co.uk" has a page chock full of them. However, since it is a U.K. site, they are not by grade, but by age (11-14, 14-16, and 16+). Regardless, that allows a pretty close estimate (within a year) of which grades correspond to which age group. The category list includes a large array of sub-subjects in English. These include Drama, non-fiction, Prose, and Writing. These are front and center on the page and vary depending on which age group the reader is teaching. Clicking on any of these subjects will open a new page filled with worksheets, activities, and PowerPoints. For example, clicking on "Drama" will bring up "8 Minute Madness - Creative starter activities" and "Romeo & Juliet: Powerpoint Synopsis," just to name a couple. Tes.co.uk is very blue-oriented, as well. The age-group category box is a deep, bold blue, front and center on the first page. Categories are bold and easy to find. The "sub-subject" pages are displayed as a list, again using large, bold letters. There is also a sidebar allowing the reader to narrow their search by sub-topic, type, format, or event. There are also categories at the very bottom to specify whether it is a special needs course or is applicable to the entire school. "Newest" and "Recently recommended" appear at the top of the screen alongside the number of results. 

Elizabeth Schnell Overveiw: This website provides information about the American Revolution. You can navigate and click on the articles that are relevant to your class that day. This is user friendly to the teacher and the student. Context: The context of this website is reliable. They are sources out and provide information a good textbook would but in a different format that is more interesting to a student. Design: I don't like the way the navigation is setup on this website is. it makes it a little more complicated to find the information you need.

Deneé Chintala October 7, 2012 Overview The purpose of quibble.com is for someone to create a poll, survey, free response question and many other different questionnaires. This site would be helpful in a classroom by creating a different way of asking questions for students in fun interactive way. The audience could be for virtually anyone who wants answers to any question, it's a very open site. With it being free it is easily accessible and has links to make multiple forms and surveys. Content There is little to no information given on this site but that makes it so the instructor could form the information to the classroom. This website is for teachers to create something with their own content. The use of this site would be for the format of quizzes and surveys rather than looking for a place for students to completely interact with the site. The authors are not clearly stated and it doesn't seem to have a last updated date, but it is an interactive widget site so the information isn't crucial to be updated rather than the technology to be current. Design This site is easy to look through. It would be easiest for an instructor to post the url to the quiz or post it on their class website. It's a very user friendly tool when it comes to implementing it into classrooms.  All of the links are working efficiently but it is a heavily advertised based site which causes some distractions on the page. This makes it hard to focus on the main point of why we would be using this site.

Overview: The purpose of this website is to provide historical information about the legacy of the U.S. Navy. The audience for this website is anybody interested in learning about the history of the U.S. Navy. The available resources of this website include a list of different research topics, education programs, and various highlights of significant naval events/topics. This website is an effective informational website. It is not the most attractive site, but the vast information/resources within it make it worth visiting. Content: At first look, it is clear where one is. There is a graphic for the website and a quick scroll down shows various topics regarding the U.S. Navy. The information in this website is clear and useful. Many topics are available for research and for those with an interest in the U.S. Navy. The only downside to the site is that no revision dates are provided. The quality of information is great. With or without prior knowledge of some topics, the information is accurate and easy to understand. There are other additional resources provided as well. Design: While the design is not the most attractive, it does serve a clear purpose. Sponsors are identified under the "Support Us" tab and links to their sites are provided. This site is very efficient in that it is easy to navigate. In just a couple clicks, one can find the information they need. Internal and external links to graphics and multimedia are provided in the site. The site also uses the same format throughout the site, also making it easy to navigate.

Katya Larson February 2013 Overview: This website is well set up to provide educators pictures and information about artwork of ancient peoples. It is visually appealing and easy to use. There are sources throughout the website to further information. I think it is a very well set-up website and would be very useful for art and history teachers.  Content: The content is easily accessible. From what I know, the information is correct. The author appears to be a good authority on the information. She presents the information in a well-organized format. There are no immediate flaws to the content that I noticed.  Design: The website is visually appealing with moving pictures and a sophisticated color scheme. It is easy to move around the site because most links have small descriptions and it is not overcrowded. There are no immediate flaws to the design that I noticed. 

This website is essentially an overview of the important events of the Trojan War. The website is clear and organized in chronological order. If you simply read the page top to bottom you get a clear and basic overview of the most important events of the Trojan War. This was written for basically anyone who wants to learn about the basics of the Trojan War. I read through and I feel that it could be useful for anyone in middle school or older due to the level of vocabulary. I feel that all the necessary content is there, however the design could use some work. Pertaining to content, this website is great. Everything someone would want to learn about the basics of the war is there. This website also brings a unique perspective about the war because of the link "The Women". It's not very often (especially in Greek or Macedonian) society that women's opinions or chronicles were valued at all, let alone saved like these were. Information on this site is very easy to find because the links and headings are clear, making it easy to find what you are looking for. The author's and bibliography section are done well, a background of the authors is present, and all websites are presented in order and correctly formatted. The pages about the important women may be the best of all. They included the original Latin text, and an English translation. They also include descriptions of how that particular woman impacted the war or society. Pertaining to the design, this website could use some design help. While it's nice and simple, there aren't many colors, for instance every page has black font with a white background. The images are useful and pertain to the website, but there aren't many of them on the main pages. The sidebar looks very nice, the top bar does as well, if this theme would have been utilized more throughout the whole website it would certainly add to the attention grabbing aspect of the website.

Overview: This website is intended for teachers or parents to find activities and worksheets for Pre K to 8th grade students. The webpage offers free materials on the core subjects in school along with seasonal activities and themes. I believe that teachers would find this website very useful in finding activities for their classroom or papers that children can take home for extra practice. My overall impression of this site is that it includes useful, updated material that is easy to find and use. Content: Looking at the content of information in this website, I have found that users would be able to quickly determine what information can be found on this site. At the very top of the page it specifically states that the website is an "educator's online resource". I also found that the website was created in 2001 but was recently updated in 2012, so it contains up to date information. The quality of this website is very well organized and is simple to understand. Almost all of the worksheets were easy to download as a PDF document, which would be great for printing. The only setback I found with this site is that information on the authors and sponsors were not readily available. Other than that small detail, I would strongly recommend this website to any elementary school teacher or home school parent; I know I will definitely use this site in the future. Design: I have found that the design of this website is very organized and appealing to the eye. Users should not have any problems moving around the site as the information is easy to find from the home page. From the home page you are able to click on the tab of any subject or grade of information you would like to find. One of the draw backs of this site is that there are no instructions on how to maneuver around the site if someone is lost. The best thing about this website is that there is a sufficient amount of information that is available to the public and organized in an easy to underst

Design Evaluation: When a viewer arrives at this site they are greeted by a well-organized and appealing homepage. You can clearly tell what site you are on. The topics on this site are organized in a table of contents. A viewer can easily navigate through the site and the pages load easily. The sponsor and copyright are easy to locate. The same basic format is followed throughout the pages. The information appears to be updated regularly. The information and links on this site are relevant and worthwhile. Content Evaluation: When a viewer arrives at the site they can quickly determine the audience and purpose of this site; the audience includes teachers and parents of children with learning disabilities and the purpose of the site is informational. The information on this site includes basic facts about learning disabilities, links to financial assistance resources, and news about learning disabilities. All the information seems up date and accurate. This site gives information about the authors featured and lists of valuable links that viewers may find interesting. The content of this site is extremely relevant and meets the needs of visitors. Overview: LD.org is intended for teachers and parents of the children with disabilities. This site provides viewers with a wide range of resources including grants for education and the basic facts about learning disabilities. In my opinion this site is a wonderful resource. I can see referring this site to parents who need financial assistance for the children as well as using this site as a resource and guide to making lesson plans or filling out an IEP. This site has relevant information and links. I would strongly recommend this site to others.