Group items tagged

Overview: The National Geographic website is informational and entertaining it is Is full of startling photography and mind-expanding writing on space, the environment, animals, and even world music. Its purpose is to inform people on interesting news and events along with many entertaining stories and topics. Its intended audience is for anyone and everyone even a link for children. Content: There is so much content and information on this site. On the homepage there are top stories, videos, photos, and polls. There are tabs to photography, environment, travel, adventure, National Geographic TV, kids, and shop. There are also links to the magazine, news, animals, science, video, education, maps, games, music, blogs, movies, in the field, and a site index. When you access the site is easy to determine the content and intended audience. There is available information about 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 The information is always constantly being updated and revised so nothing is out of date.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 design of the National geographic website is very organized and easy to navigate through its many links of information. It is full of eye-catching photos and colorful links and tabs. It is easy to read and very understandable and accessible. The website downloads efficiently and the site is appealing and grabs tor attention. There is a site index and search box. 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.

This website is highly recommended in the world of educators. National Geographic is a well-known magazine. The purpose of the site is to make their information more accessible. When looking for an article for a science report this is a good site to go to. The audience for National Geographic is from 5-100; they have articles designed for young children but also sophisticated articles for a more mature audience. Also on this website if you wanted a hard copy of the magazine you could subscribe. My overall impression was very good. The content of the website is easy to maneuver around and find. Because National Geographic is a well-known magazine you know that the information presented is reliable and accurate. The website has access to games and videos to further explore the concepts.  As for design, it scores just as high as content. The homepage is appealing to look at and easy to use. When searching for a topic many articles come up giving many different perspectives one could choose from. The site has many colorful pictures that make your research more appealing to conduct.  Overall this website is very well designed and easy to use. 

Lynnsey Patterson January 23, 2011 Overview: The purpose of this site is to give and promote information about artists in the US as well as to advertise the magazine Art in America. I believe this could be considered a very valuable resource for anyone interested in modern art. The authors consist of very highly qualified individuals such as an art professor of Yale University and a highly respected art curator and critic. Content: This website is packed with content. It contains archives of past issues of the magazine, links to events taking place in the art world, featured artists of the month, books, videos, news, and more. Everything is very well organized in the top margin of the homepage and the contact information is very well labeled under the "contact us" link on the footer. I would however, call this site a little bias in that it only contains information about art in the United States but I wouldn't considered that to necessarily be a bad thing. Design: This site is very aesthetically pleasing in design and is very easy to navigate. Everything appears to be very clear, concise, and appropriate for the audience it is trying to reach.

Bryana Wilson September 20, 2009 Website Review http://www.sonnets.org/early.htm "Sonnet Central" is a site dedicated to all different types of sonnets in many different time periods. The author of this site, Eric Blomquist, has done an excellent job of putting the site together in an interesting and organized way. The site serves as an archive of sonnets and does a good job in defining the histories and form of them as well. It is evident that he is passionate about this style of poetry, and in essence, catches the evolution of it quite nicely. CONTENT The content of this website is evident in the title. "Sonnet Central" is full of many different types of sonnets. It covers all different kinds of sonnets from differences in location, time, and style. It includes sonnets from all over the world and has sonnets set apart in different periods- from the 12th century to the early 20th century- most of which are English- but includes quite a few Petrarchan as well. There are also links to sections that you can use to search, view an alphabetical list of authors, listen to sonnets being read, and even read criticisms. It also includes a forum for modern poets to post their own poetry and discuss the information presented on the page. It is clear that Mr. Blomquist's site is aimed toward poets and those wanting to get acquainted with the sonnet- and the material on his site is easy to interpret and understand. There is an email link for contacting Mr. Blomquist if there are any questions or comments regarding his site and it is located on the site's homepage in the opening paragraph. It was last modified in 2007, but given the subject- the sonnet- I would trust the material is far from outdated. It loads quickly and works on several different browsers. DESIGN "Sonnet Central" is put together in an interesting way. The information is fairly easy to find and is set up in a rather organized manner, including a table of contents on the main page.

The second article I had found was based out of California and was explaining what high school and administration does to protect themselves and their students without pushing any legal limits or freedom of speech. I think that this article was also meant for the general public and other school administrators as it was posted in a school magazine. I enjoyed this article because it wasn't a study, instead it spoke more about what the schools did to take action about this dilemma. This article game a wide variety of things that the administrators did to stop the bullying. As well as giving examples on things that they couldn't change or stop. Such as some of the students were able to outsmart the firewalls blocking them from specific websites or freedom of speech. This article also did a good job on giving a great example of how a principle of a prestigious high school that focused on arts got involved with a cyberbullying incident. It showed how administration in many other schools can struggle with managing their students in a lawful manner without crossing a line.

The second article I had found was based out of California and was explaining what high school and administration does to protect themselves and their students without pushing any legal limits or freedom of speech. I think that this article was also meant for the general public and other school administrators as it was posted in a school magazine. I enjoyed this article because it wasn't a study, instead it spoke more about what the schools did to take action about this dilemma. This article game a wide variety of things that the administrators did to stop the bullying. As well as giving examples on things that they couldn't change or stop. Such as some of the students were able to outsmart the firewalls blocking them from specific websites or freedom of speech. This article also did a good job on giving a great example of how a principle of a prestigious high school that focused on arts got involved with a cyberbullying incident. It showed how administration in many other schools can struggle with managing their students in a lawful manner without crossing a line.

Cole Baumann January 24, 2010 This website holds many hints and suggestions on how to help children with dyslexia. The site holds many suggestions on how to help students with dyslexia such as little ways to help them remember things and suggestions on ways to help them feel more comfortable in the classroom. This is helpful as children with dyslexia do feel a lot of stress that no other student does due to knowing there is something wrong but not knowing exactly what. They do not know why they struggle with work in the classroom while other students seem to perform just fine. This website will help teachers and parents make the students feel more comfortable in the classroom and may even be able to help the students work with their problem to become more literate and, consequently, be able to help them grow as a student and a child. The design of this website is very entertaining. There is a picture for almost every paragraph which is just pleasing to look at. This prevents boredom as you search through the website and explore. Also, this website allows you to change the background color which is not a real important thing but it is always fun when websites add little things like that to keep it more entertaining and more appealing to use. Additionally, the site looks presentable and very nice. It is not a very 'sketchy' website to go to which is very important if you are trying to help your student and you do not want your computer to fail due to finding a terrible virus. Though the website is for parents who have children with dyslexia, this website could also help teachers improve the learning abilities of any student that seems to be having trouble reading. This website does not consist of large programs or big dramatic ways to help dyslexic students learn, but there are small items and suggestions that in the end if you put them all together the teacher may be able to help the child function as a better student.

Jaymes Talkington January 23, 2010 http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/ Content This is a site full of documents from the World History Archive. However, the site doesn't presume to validate the accuracy or authenticity of the documents. The information is available but it's up to the reader to research if the information is reliable. The dates that the articles were posted are listed, but none that I observed were very recent. Despite the credibility issue, the site is very informational. Since the site is well organized, it is pretty easy to use. I couldn't find any links on the web site. Design This website is pretty clear about its content on the homepage. If you can't find what you're looking for on the homepage, there is a Google search bar in the center of the page. The page clearly identifies that the information is provided by Hartford Web Publishing. However, the copyright date is not easily distinguished. It's a very simple site to use since all the major topics are listed on the homepage. I didn't find any available links on the site. There were no advertisements on the site at all, so nothing pops up in your way. The information on the site is sufficient for the most part; however there is still an issue on its validity. Overview So this is definitely an informational site that could be used from students to teachers. It ranges from documents to magazine articles about certain world history events. I would be cautious using this site because it doesn't presume the validity of its content; however, I did find some valuable information. I would definitely double check any information I use from this site.

David May 1/23/11 Fun website full of games for all ages. Captures attention right away with the bright colors and clickable items. Overview: This site promises to make learning fun and it sure succeeds. Many games are at the user's disposal of learning and having a bit of fun. The games have a game part to learn and then another option of taking a quiz to prove that information is actually learned. The science games are fun and have animations which help show the user what is being learned. The history game is more of a pop quiz that has some interesting things that not that would know. The website has testimonials of users explaining how much they enjoy the site. The entire website has many things for children all the way up to adults and college students. The website has some questionable content in the history quiz portion asking about facts of playboy the magazine which isn't so good if taken by younger children. Content: The user is easily able to discern what the content is. The audience is younger children with the colorful pictures and animals all over. An email is provided with easy access to the email through the contact link. The author is listed as well as everyone involved with the website is listed in the about link. The author is listed with credentials and with the amount of patents he currently has. The website doesn't display any kind of updating date nor a copyright date. The website claims that the sole purpose is for educational purposes. On closer inspection one can see that the purpose is to sell software games to schools, teachers, and parents. The site gains loyalty and then sells software. The site keeps the attention focused and doesn't lack in entertainment with all the games. Any type of game is easily found by category. Some games have to been dug for with multiple clicks. The games do provoke learning, but none of the information is listed where it came from. Design: The website has good appeal with the bright color

Murphy Muirhead 9-8-2011 OVERVIEW: National Geographic for Teachers is a website that is very beneficial to educators.  The purpose of this website is to provide teachers with resources, activities, games etc. to be used when teaching the different types of sciences.  Because the intended audience is teachers, the site provides many references to help expand a teacher's knowledge on different categories such as mapping to bring more valuable information to the students. Some other available resources that are available on this site include multimedia, which brings pictures and videos into the classroom. It also provides weekly activities that are great for the classroom. I was very impressed by this site and I see this as being a site I use quite often in the future. CONTENT: The content of this site is incredible. National Geographic is a very credible magazine and they bring this great knowledge to the website which is useful to teachers. The content on this site is very applicable to teaching about the earth sciences and has many helpful links to learn more about subjects and deepen teacher's knowledge.  DESIGN: This website has a great design to it. It is very easy to navigate through to all the links and resources associated with it. It has a professional look to it, very eye catching and movement flows from one thing to another.

Korinne Thoren 14 September 2011 NGA Kids Overview: NGA Kids is a site created by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. This website provides an interactive page where kids can make their own art and zoom in on the works of famous artists, providing an overall collaborative exposure to art. NGA is geared toward younger students, as denoted by the 'Kids" but I think there are tools and games on the site that could be utilized with students up to middle school age. NGA also has resources dealing with the National Gallery of Art available on its page. Overall, I think this is a very fun website and although it is geared toward younger students I really did enjoy playing the games, arguably making it a good way to pass time for older audiences as well. Content: The overall content of this website is good, although the immediate site is not super informative, it provides many educational and interactive games for kids. NGA does contain links to other portions of the National Gallery of Art, which are helpful and more informative, making them a good resource for older students looking for information. Contact information for the website creators is readily accessible and there are explanatory directions for the games and activities on the site. Design: NGA's design is well put together and almost reminds me of looking at a National Geographic magazine with its black and yellow layout. Information and games are easily accessible and labeled and the same basic format is used throughout the site. The links provided by NGA work well and are informative and the use of graphics and animations really bring the website to life for it's users. Overall, it is a well-designed site and easy to use.

Overview: GOOD originated as a magazine company and with advances in internet, GOOD has designed one of the most unique interfaces to gain information, current issues, and learn more about community ideas. Concept: The concept of GOOD is that of news organizations, but in a sense that breeds community. Some ideas shared can seem a little more one sided than others, but it brings good ideas, people, and news to the front page. This positive interface brings education aspects to social constructs and the newest in each subject. I especially like the Challenges they give the readers each month for August "The effects of going Vegan" or for September "Send someone a Post Card." We value getting mail, but never seem to be able to write to our dearest friends. I love the facts that back up this simple good idea to become more outgoing. This can be a resource for teachers to challenge students. Seek through news and actually find "good" stories to share to the class. The content in comprehendible and an awesome resource to get students away from main-stream media to understand community polls on political standings or engaged in dive into design, food, or education. Design: GOOD is a website that values its high design, easy access, and reader friendly qualities. I am also thoroughly impressed with Good's Infograph posted to tell stories of simple if "If Facebook users are more Trusting?" The design is so user friendly you can quickly glance over headlines while browsing each most viewed story. Students of post-primary education can access with without being drowned in adds or bias news articles.

Evonne Raymond September 16th 2009 Content: This website is made to show new things happening in the science world. The audience is definitely for Elementary school students. The authors are dependent upon the article that you access and choose to read, and the site is Society for Science and the PUblic, its a great interactive community that believes in utilizing educational tools to teach more efficiently. It is revised daily as new events are happening in society everyday.Grammar and spelling is appropriate and suprisingly there is a lack of bias in the articles, as many of the new discoveries are not controversial subjects. The site is appropriate for kids. There are several links to other sites, as many articles are located on other sites, the site is current and has great content for teaching science in todays exciting society. Design:The webpage downloads quickly. It is easy to immediatley understand what the website is for as well as to see what link will direct you to what new scientific findeing. There are tons of grpahics and multimedia that do not deter from the web pages but make the links a little more user freindly and interactive.It is compatable with several different servers, so i would definitely utilize this website in my classroom. It is updated daily for new content, and there are some articles that are from years ago, but most are relevant to a recent scientific finding. This website is excellent for kids and adults to use inorder to teach science. Attribution: The purpose of this site is to educate kids about scientific events going on in the world today, real live science in action. This website is interesting in design as wella s in content and I think it is a great way to create some enthusiasm in kids who would be otherwise uninterested in science.

c. Overview: This site was interesting but I felt that for an elementary setting it wasn't the best. It would probably be usable in a fourth grade classroom and up just because there is a lot of reading and if I wanted to read all the article to my second or third grade classroom, it could be fun for them to see the different types of sciences that are out there. There are some really interesting experiments and videos recorded on this site so it could be really useful for students working on projects.

Content: The content for this site consists of science related articles found in magazines as well as made specifically for this site. I chose to look at this site because it could be very useful for students to see that science is not just something that we see in a lab but something that happens all around us. The content is all recent and updated frequently. The authors are those found in the field of science and give detailed accounts of experiments and what scientists are doing in a way that a child could understand. There are a lot of links to sites such as that of NASA and other recognizable science corporations. Some of these links take a longer time to download but there were few that I found that didn't work. The content of this site is also designed for an older audience so about 3rd grade and up. Large words are used and there is a lot of reading for each page. Design: This site was much different in design than that of the other two that I looked at. This sited has a lot more actual photos compared to drawings and all of them were very intriguing. Each picture brought forth curiosity about what the article might be about and a majority of the articles also had videos to go along with them. The site was also fairly easy to move around on. It did require some prior knowledge about what each main topic category was about, but even if I didn't understand them, I could figure it out from the pictures that went along with it. Everything in each category was related to the other as well and so were the links to other pages. This site is set up more for an older classroom setting though due to the large words as well as some of the photos being of complex experiments. When entering the site it looks a lot like that of a website for a newspaper or magazine, which it more or less is.

Morgan Kuchta September 1, 2010 Sparknotes.com Overview This site is a great resource for students who struggle with reading in school. The website provides book and chapter summaries and plot overviews along with character analysis for all main characters in each book reviewed. The books that Spark Notes provides information on are those that have deep and complex plot lines and character development that are often found in classrooms of all grade levels. Perhaps one of the most useful tools on this website is called "No Fear Shakespeare", which translates the old English of Shakespeare into modern English so that students might have an easier time remembering information and comprehending it. Although the site organization is poor and it throws too much information onto one page, I believe this website could be an extremely valuable resource to teachers who assign reading to their classes. Content At first look it is easy to tell where you are and what is provided, in general, on the site. The audience is pretty clearly defined as students but it is difficult to tell exactly who will benefit most from this sitel There were no listed authors for the site although there were authors listed for each of the book summaries done on each separate page with an email address attached. The revision dates are included on every book review and the links to related sites are all functioning. The information quality was incredible. Although it was not well organized, it is by far the most comprehensive literacy site that I have used in the last few years. The other links posted were pretty good, although most of them were just for the interest of the users rather than usefulness for help with English homework. Design The homepage download was no problem, while it was attractive to the eye, it was a little information heavy and a it was kind of hard to tell exactly where I needed to navigate. There were a LOT of advertisements in the margins and even in other areas of th

Randi McInerney September 15, 2011 Overview: The website "Sparknotes" is an educational and entertainment website with various study resources available. The information is most relevant to high school aged students, but late middle school and college students, as well as teachers, could also benefit from this site. College video tours, book summaries, analysis, and quizzes, and ACT/SAT/AP/GRE test preparation material, and news articles are also available. The content and design are effective and organized, but the advertisements can be distracting and seem overwhelming. This site can be abused by students wishing to plagiarize or to avoid reading a book, but has so many great things to offer if it is used appropriately. Content: There is a lot of educational material available on this site. Video clips, interactive tours, blogs, cartoons, and more can all be found on this site. There are various links in order to contact them, but no direct contact information like an address is provided. Besides educational material, there is lifestyle, entertainment, and dating information. I think that this may be distracting from the educational aspects of the site, but it makes sense because of the audience the website is intended for. Design: The site downloads efficiently and is visually interesting, especially for the intended audience of young adults. The site is easy to navigate, especially if you know what you are looking for from the start. In this case, the search bar will help you easily locate what you are looking for if it is indeed on the site.

Sparknotes is a resource aimed at high school and college students. It offers summaries of literary works as well as test prep. The main purpose of the site is to simplify in-depth texts down to a modern English level. Unfortunately, these summaries are not all that is available. The site largely consist of entertainment news. This aspect dominates the site, making it hard to find the reviews and study resources. Because of this my overall impression is that the site includes a good about of information for those looking for it, but is also a place where one can very easily get side tracked, rendering its information useless. It is worth a bookmark, but is not the most useful thing. The content of this site is very diverse. As for the literary summaries, there are over 100 on some of the best known works in many different subject areas. The site is up to date and loads easily. Most of the summaries are based off of the most recent publications of texts. The site is confused about its purpose. The summaries and text prep sections are hard to find while entertainment news is profusely advertised and easy to find. The educational sections are labeled in small black index style links, while the entertainment section has large magazine like spreads. Although the site has relevant information that is consistent and helpful, it is congested with much needless gossip that has potential for abuse. The websites speed is quite good. It loads very fast comparatively. The homepage is attractive, but is attractive for the wrong reasons. It is hard to find relevant information on the site (although there is a lot of it). This makes navigation of the site difficult and can easily suck the user into a "twilight zone." The site is strong on most platforms, even having apps available. Content presentation is mores streamlined on the app, but is congested on a web version. An administrator is available to answer any questions and provide further information.

Charles VanPatten 10/13/14 The purpose of the resource is to make note that this is not the first virus that has spread throughout the world. Previously the Spanish Influenza created a pandemic. Now they are comparing the situation with Ebola and how it could create a pandemic. The audience is not limited to anyone group but rather the world.

Hailey Dungan April 15, 2015 The audience of this articles, similar to the last, is one who is skeptical of Shakespeare and his writing. Skeptics of his literature and even his life itself, the article actively researches the man's life. The articles was written in 2006 by a Mr. Doug Stewart, a writer for the Smithsonian magazine. The author is presented with no credentials, and the site does not offer links to his bio. The articles presents some interesting information, yet once again, I am unsure if I would use this in a school setting. I may use this article as a spring board for discussion. The content of this article is presented early. From the opening paragraph the reader is informed of the purpose of the piece. The article touches on the missing records that are seemingly nonexistent from his life. The amount of fame he holds in comparison to the lack of information about his life makes readers uncomfortable and often turns them into skeptics. The information about the author of this article is absent, however given the length and in depth research presented to us we can infer he is credible. You cannot contact him, though he should be congratulated on his correct use of grammar and spelling. Links to other sources are present, and the links do work. The site design is clean and professional. The sites homepage could use some livening. The black and white backdrop is organized, however not eye catching. A search option is available, though directions for the site are clearly presented. The information for this article is vast. There is a strong amount of information which may be used by students in a class room. They introduce a tree branch method of topics that in individual may use to deeply understand Shakespeare. The links to the other sites are useful. This article is good for both English and History.

Rachel Keyes ITEC 2360 01/24/11 http://www.alternativeculture.com/index.htm Poor website Overview This site can be found by searching "alternative forms of literature" (commonly thought of as ways other than classical literature, such as graphic novels, movies, etc.) on Google. However, the purpose of this site is more to discuss alternative cultures and the negative influence that media has on society. My impression of this site is that it was made by a small magazine for a very specific audience. The audience is wary of the media and is searching for an alternative method to receive news. Content The content of this site is extremely random and scattered. At the top of the page there are quotes about being enlightened, followed by a listing of other alternative news sites, YouTube videos, and poems from different cultures about peace. All of the links work, but this site is just a random collection of information the editor believes is important. The editor is a man who, in his biography page, has no credentials other than he really enjoys writing. Design At first look, there is so much going on and so many links and videos posted that seem to be very random. There is a clear title, but some of the links on the page have nothing to do with the others; there is nothing connecting this information. The pictures and YouTube videos are irrelevant to the other links listed. There is no copyright date, so readers have no idea how up to date this site is. The only way to "contact" the editor is by subscribing to his newsletter. There is too much going on to accurately find any information, and because you can find this site while looking for alternative forms of literature, this site would be completely irrelevant to your search.

Ryan Magrum Sept 15th, 2011 Overview: The purpose of this site is to provide information and updates in science in the form of news articles to the general educated public. There are links to scientific news magazines as well as links to other scientific web sites. My overall impression of this site is that it is easy to read and navigate and there is a plethora of knowledge available within the contents. It's great for students studying specific topics in science to read. Content: PhysOrg, at first glance, is not flashy and aimed at consumers. The main goal of the site is general knowledge and entertainment in the form of scientific reading. The articles, with topics ranging from nano-science to medicine, are written with very few technical terms making the content easy to comprehend by the average educated individual including high school students with background instruction in the topic of interest. The articles are news updates on the emergence of new things in science sometimes with a brief explanation of the mechanism behind the new discovery complete with figures. Such articles would be a great starting point for a research paper. The articles also include hyperlinked citations to the primary sources. There are many links to other scientific news sites. Design: This site is not aimed at attracting a passerby web surfer. The target audience is attracted to the content within and already has a general idea of what they want to get out of PhysOrg. Therefore, the site is made easy to navigate and less flashy with few advertisements and the ads on the site are related to the scientific topics and links on the site. For example: an ad for paper that is really white for printing off the articles to read as a hard copy while making the articles easier to read. The links to the articles are strait forward not to bias clicking on any specific article if in the "spotlight stories" area. All the articles are arranged for the navigator to find specific arti