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Keenan Zimmerman 2/1/2011 Review: http://www.pbs.org/teachers/ Overview: PBS teachers is a part of the PBS website but it is not readily available from the pbs.org homepage. Because of this I feel it is worth writing a review for PBS teachers even though there are other PBS sites that have been reviewed. PBS teachers is a place for teachers to find resources or lesson plans for their classrooms. The site is easy to navigate and is very well done. Content: The content in PBS teachers is outstanding. There are many, many pages with resources for all subject areas. This includes projects for preschool teachers all the way up to seniors in high school. The site looks to be updated regularly and gives links to other sites that contain more content for a teacher to use. The site seems to be free from bias and is easy to understand. The authors of the material are identified. Design: The design of the site is great. The homepage is inviting and easy to look at, it is not cluttered with ads and the colors blend well together. The site is very easy to navigate being sectioned into different grade levels which are further sectioned by content area. There is also a search tool which works rather well. All the links seem to work correctly and an A-Z list which is very useful when using the search functions to find a specific link. The site uses drop down tabs which makes it very easy to narrow a search and find exactly what you are looking for.

Ben Lebeda pbs.org/teachers 9/14/11 Overview: pbs.org/teachers is a website that is devoted to teachers and providing them with resources and lesson plans on a wide variety of subjects at all grade levels. In addition to the lesson plans, there is also a discussion board in which educators can discuss topics such as special education, the necessity of the arts in school, and a multitude of other topics. Another feature of pbs.org/teachers is the professional development section that can be viewed by topic. This section provides information for educators who wish to continue their education by taking online classes on specific subjects. Content: This website made a very good first impression, as it was easy to tell that this website was intended for teachers and contained resources for them. All the lesson plans that I saw came from PBS, either from the teacher site, or from an educational TBS television program. I had a hard time finding many publication or revision dates, but none of the information was outdated, and it was all credible. It was clear that the activities and resources were intended for educational use in a classroom. Design: The design of pbs.org/teachers is effective in that it is simple to navigate around and find the desired subject. It is organized according to grade level, and then further broken down by subject matter. The ease of access and amount of information available makes this website a very valuable teacher resource, no matter what subject or grade level. There were several advertisements for other non-related websites, but it was not really distracting or overwhelming.

Natasha Tuft Web Site Review September 20, 2009 www.teachertools.org The purpose of this site seems to be to provide teachers with resources for the classroom. But because the site has not been updated for a long time I only could assume this after looking at the site's name and clicking through links for a while. There are links to areas of interest from decorating bulletin boards to language arts lesson plans to classroom discipline. I liked the creative classroom ideas on this site but it was difficult to navigate and did not seem like the most professional site that I've seen put together. CONTENT Especially at "first look", the purpose of the web site is unclear. I assumed that the audience is teachers because of the very obvious URL "teacher tools.org". The home page simply has a notice that the site is undergoing revision. That post was made in 2002! I could not find the information providers on the homepage or on other pages I navigated. I was able to find, however, many interesting and useful links to other more organized web pages. Even these, though, had confusing and sometimes unorganized labels. I should mention that a few of the first links I clicked on were incomplete links and got me nowhere. The strength in content for this site is simply its links and not its own content. Had I not been doing this assignment for class, however, I would probably have gone back to my search engine to find a more useful site. DESIGN The web site downloads efficiently but when it loaded I was really unsure if I was at the homepage or if I landed on something else. The homepage is not appealing. The only eye-catching thing is the teachertools.org icon and there is no way of contacting sponsor easily. Links on the side of the page were useful for looking in specific categories but a few of the links that I tried were incomplete or "under construction". I don't see it having any difficulties with browser compatibility but the content presentation co

Natasha Tuft Web Site Review September 20, 2009 www.teachertools.org The purpose of this site seems to be to provide teachers with resources for the classroom. But because the site has not been updated for a long time I only could assume this after looking at the site's name and clicking through links for a while. There are links to areas of interest from decorating bulletin boards to language arts lesson plans to classroom discipline. I liked the creative classroom ideas on this site but it was difficult to navigate and did not seem like the most professional site that I've seen put together. CONTENT Especially at "first look", the purpose of the web site is unclear. I assumed that the audience is teachers because of the very obvious URL "teacher tools.org". The home page simply has a notice that the site is undergoing revision. That post was made in 2002! I could not find the information providers on the homepage or on other pages I navigated. I was able to find, however, many interesting and useful links to other more organized web pages. Even these, though, had confusing and sometimes unorganized labels. I should mention that a few of the first links I clicked on were incomplete links and got me nowhere. The strength in content for this site is simply its links and not its own content. Had I not been doing this assignment for class, however, I would probably have gone back to my search engine to find a more useful site. DESIGN The web site downloads efficiently but when it loaded I was really unsure if I was at the homepage or if I landed on something else. The homepage is not appealing. The only eye-catching thing is the teachertools.org icon and there is no way of contacting sponsor easily. Links on the side of the page were useful for looking in specific categories but a few of the links that I tried were incomplete or "under construction". I don't see it having any difficulties with browser compatibility but the content presentation co

Danielle Walter 9/5/11 Storyplace: The Chldren's Digital Library Overview: The Storyplace.org website is a great educational website for both English speaking students and Spanish speaking students. Or it also can be used for helping a child learn English or Spanish. The website has activities for pre-school age children and also for elementary age children. It offers an online reading, an activity, a take home activity and also a reading list so children can explore other books. The website is a great resource for teachers and parents to help children be excited about reading. Content: The Storyplace.org website is easy to navigate for children and adults. It is also set up nicely. It has the grade levels on the left side and when you click on one it comes up with a menu of the reading and activities. This is a great website for helping children learn how to read and to become excited about reading, but it is also great for teaching children how to navigate the web and to show them how useful it can be in learning. Design: The Storyplace.org website has very bold colors that are eye catching. It's also easy to navigate. It is a .org website so I would trust it to be a good website for my children or students to be on. It also contains the copyright on the page so it is even more trusted.

OVERVIEW: The purpose to explore readingrockets.org is to learn how to teach small children how to read and to see research that has been done on children reading. The audience for this website includes parents, teachers, principals, librarians, school psychologists, school counselors, and speech pathologists. If you fit into one of these specific categories all you need to do is click on the link at the top of the home page. There are numerous resources available on Reading rockets ranging from videos on how to teach reading to resources for school psychologists helping struggling readers. The Reading rockets website gave me a fantastic first impression. One of the first things I did on this site was watch a movie and I learned many new and interesting things! CONTENT: Like all of the other websites I reviewed, the content of readingrockets.org was fabulous. The information given seemed to be accurate and the content is complete. The information was easy to understand and extremely interesting. If anybody was struggling teaching a child to read, this is the first site I would direct them to. It does a wonderful job satisfying the need of teaching literature and reading. DESIGN: There is a lot going on at the home page of readingrockets.org, but it is well organized and easy to navigate. There is a table of contents bar with links not only on the top but also on the left side. All of the links work great. I did not experience any problems with getting to a specific web page on the site. Finally, the website is current with a 2012 copyright date at the bottom of the home page. Overall the design of Reading rockets is fantastic.

Jaymie Sheehan ITEC 2360-04 9/2/2010 OVERVIEW For this review, I visited the National Council of Teachers of English site, http://www.ncte.org. The intended audience for this site is clearly for English, literacy and language art teachers, from the elementary to college levels. The intended purpose of the site is to provide these educators with information and resources that will help them improve in the classroom. The site has various resources including professional development, press relating to English and education, shopping, and the ability to interact with different educators. I felt that this site was great for a multitude of reasons. The layout is simple and extremely easy to navigate, there were seemingly unlimited resources and links for teachers of each grade level, educators are able to use this site to interact with one another and become more proficient in their classrooms. located at NCTE. By scrolling down the page, one can find the sponsor's address and phone numbers if quandaries arise. There is also a specific tab that allows the user to contact NCTE for any variety or reasons. The information on the site is kept current. All links seem to work and are relevant, however I found no date telling the user when the last revisions were made. The information quality of this site is superb. The purpose of the site is clear and everything seems to be complete. There is myriad information located within the site for teachers. Of course, since this is a site aimed toward English teachers all grammar and spelling seem to be correct!

Sara Hindman January 24, 2010 Overview The site I evaluated was NobelPrize.org and its main purpose is to educate anyone about the history of the Nobel Peace Prize award and possibly convince people to pursue that award. Along with educating and persuading, the website has educational games in subjects; such as, chemistry, physics, medicine, literature, peace, and economics. The intended audience for the Nobel Peace Prize website is for anyone over the age or 18, while the educational games section of the website is for high school, middle school, and late elementary school students. Some games include blood typing, Pavlov's dog, Lord of the Flies, electrocardiograms, and a split brain experiment. Unfortunately there are no links to available resources outside of the website. The content was very clear and concise, but the only thing I had trouble with was who designed the website and who could I contact if I had questions. Design is awesome, everything is easy to find and there is clear instructions for the games. I would use this website in my classroom, but it definitely for older children. Content NobelPrize.org had many strengths and little weaknesses. Their strengths included understanding the purpose of the website, easy access to the latest revision dates, and information quality. Their one weakness was I could not find the name of the person who provided all the information. I assume that the Nobel Peace Prize Organization provided all the information and games and that it is credible, but I do not want to jump to conclusions. There were also no links to outside resources that related to some of the same areas of interest; such as, medicine or economics. Overall, the content was great except for the lack of authority. Design This website is one of the best I have seen. The speed was fast, the home page attractive and informative, and the website was extremely easy to navigate. All the graphics, audio files, and video files worked perfectly

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.

Overview: The Constitution.org site has many purposes, including business, information, news, and finally persuasion. The site is directed towards a more literate and comprehensive audience or a higher level student, especially one holding conservative political views. The site provides links to other sites, including amend-it.org, nullifynow.net, and grand-jury.net, as well as many others. The site also links to basic informational places regarding the Constitution. Overall, the website was not impressive: it was confusing, disorganized, and biased. Content: The website definitely had an agenda, seen through its external links, advertisements, and some of the news articles provided. Unfortunately, the bias is not easy to discern. Some of the informational links are exactly that-informational, but often times difficult to comprehend due to some of the higher level subjects. There are blogs one can access, but there are not many interactive parts to the site. Design: The overall design of the site was poor. There were no organized labels for the different sections of information-ie Constitution, Economics, and so on. It was hard to maneuver easily. Many parts of the site did not look similar at all and it was hard to figure out what one was supposed to get from it. The links to the outside are easy to find. Finally, there were few graphics to make the site visually appealing. It was not pretty.

Ryan Mikesell ITEC Web Review 1/23/10 Overview: Weldinghistory.org is an informational website about the history of welding technologies. The website's main objective is to provide information about the evolution of welding technology from 6000 B.C. to present time, from brazing to current welding processes. The author's name is Mark Sapp professional welder and author of many welding technology books. The website is designed for anyone seeking educational information about the origins of welding and can be useful for teachers of Agriculture Education, teaching welding tech. The content is very informational and easily accessed. Content: Although the page is managed and created by a single author he provides all his references and links to the sites he used information from. The content is organized in a way that it can be easily understood and navigated allowing the user to use the site for educational purposes. Upon arrival at the site you have the option of researching two of the main metal bonding processes, brazing and welding, making it twice as informational. The site provides video references and images as well as quizzes created by the author that can be used in a classroom. In addition to all the information the author provides he also includes and e-mail and a message board that increase the value and credibility of the website. All revision dates and information about the author is included. Overall the website content is highly professional and valuable to an educator or student looking for welding technology history and information. Design: The design of the website is very simple and easy to navigate. There are bold subject headings directing the viewer to the necessary pages with ease. No major ads distract from the information and images and videos are available to increase educational value. The author clearly represents the references for the information and provides the revision dates for each page.

Mark Hyde www.howtostudy.org Overview: In this site you can find useful study tools for college and high school students. It is simple looking and easy to use. It has plenty of information on how to set up a paper and how to write a good paper. Content: When you open the page, you will find different in site links to go to anywhere you want to go. From study tips to English terms you will be able to find much to learn from. It will teach you how to cope with test anxiety and also how to study without getting bored so quickly. It has many tools to prepare for that big paper or test. Design: Simple design that does not add eye appeal. Easy to use and is set up the same throughout the whole site. The lists that are in it are nice to use and easy. Not much eye appeal and is more for teachers than students even though it is called studentsfriend.com.

Ben Lebeda parentednet.org 9/14/11 Overview: This website is a resource for parents in Pennsylvania, and provides them with numerous resources on topics ranging from special education to literacy to bullying awareness. It has links for these and many other topics so that parents can find the information that they need to help their child receive the education experience that they need. The apparent slogan of the organization is "Respecting the Rights of Parents to Make Educational Decisions for their Children," which is visible at the top of the page. Content: At first glance, it is easily visible that this website is dedicated to parents who want to play an active role in their child's education. A vast majority of the links on this page are related to disabilities and how they interact with education. These provide guidance for parents on almost any issue regarding students with disabilities, from legal advice to employment options. All of these links were current, with up to date information that is most likely very useful to many parents. Design: Parentednet.org is a very professional and well-designed site. It is easy to navigate, has a very simple design, and is not cluttered with advertisements. It contained contact information as well as information about the organization. For the organization being only located and operating in parts of Pennsylvania, the website was very organized and nice-looking.

Mary Magnuson, Geology The website http://www.eduref.org/cgi-bin/lessons.cgi/Science/Geology is kind of boring. It has nothing really to keep you interested. It is good because it very clearly tells you who wrote the content, who is sponsoring it, and when it was created. Most of the content was created from between 1994 to 2003, so it is not the most updated. You might have to see if the content is still valid, or if they have come up with a new theory to explain processes. However, there are a lot of lesson plans to choose from, and it would be useful because it tells you everything you need, and the appropriate grade levels. So, while it is not the best website I have found today, it is still useful to a new teacher.

Jay Anderson Another website I used was the National Council of Teachers of English. The URL for this website is http://www.ncte.org/. The purpose of this website is a collaborative website for English teachers across the nation. This website can be used to find resources to help students with their English studies. There is not one specific author because it is a collaborative website, but there are several obvious areas where you can get in contact with the members. The website has deals with current issues and since it is nationally recognized, undoubtedly reliable. The website fulfills the purpose it is intended for because of how many resources it use that are very reliable. The design of this website is well planned. The website is very clearly laid out so that it is navigationally easy to use. The website is also very aesthetically pleasing as well. The website is overall a great source for an English teacher.

Another website I used was the National Council of Teachers of English. The URL for this website is http://www.ncte.org/. The purpose of this website is a collaborative website for English teachers across the nation. This website can be used to find resources to help students with their English studies. There is not one specific author because it is a collaborative website, but there are several obvious areas where you can get in contact with the members. The website has deals with current issues and since it is nationally recognized, undoubtedly reliable. The website fulfills the purpose it is intended for because of how many resources it use that are very reliable. The design of this website is well planned. The website is very clearly laid out so that it is navigationally easy to use. The website is also very aesthetically pleasing as well. The website is overall a great source for an English teacher.

The aim of the website www.poets.org is to provide resources for teachers, from elementary to university level, that wish to teach poetry in their classes. The website's mainpage contains man clickable lesson plans and resources that link to various poetry books that can all be used in a classroom or modified for whatever level the teacher wants to teach. Each lesson plan is clearly labeled with an author as well, which could help a teacher locate lesson plans by the same person if they really liked another one they wrote. The point of the webpage is evident in their opening paragraph at the top. The design of the page is lacking in a few respects; for example, the address, credits, and contact links are at the bottom of a white page in white colored font - I only found it because I highlighted them.  The website's goal is obvious from the first look at their introduction paragraph, which contains a little history about the website and what their main goals are where poetry in the classroom is concerned. There is no place on the main page that indicates when the site was last updated, but the page is currently advocating for teachers to participate in National Poetry Month, which is April, so either this site is very up to date or is years behind in some other poetry month. 

Emily Lewis 4/15/15 This website is the teacher's website on PBS.org. It is called PBS Learning Media and provides lessons and resources for grades pre K-12. The website is intended to be a resource for teachers to use when looking for lessons, videos, games, or activities. Overall the website looks helpful and well put together. The content of the website ranges from a variety of lessons and videos from different providers. The name of the provider is clearly posted under the link to the resource. There is a list of media types you can select from such as images, documents, webpages, videos, lesson plans, and more. There are various subjects and grades available to use. The website is current and presents quality information that achieves its intended purpose effectively. The content is consistent with the standards and free of bias because it is merely a way for teachers to find resources. The design of the website is very pleasing to the eye and easy to navigate. The homepage is attractive and there is a column on the side to easily narrow down your search. This column includes grade level, subject area, language, accessibility features, permitted use, and media type. The websites that appear on the page include a picture, a title, the media type and the name of the provider, which makes it very easy to navigate. The option to find resources in Spanish or English can help teachers cater to the students with English as a second language.  Overall the website is very well designed. 

Tyler Skinner, Aug 31 2010 The purpose of this website to to help give tips and ideas for history educators. From elementary to high school, this can be used for all different grade levels. Overview This website has all sorts of nifty tools. There are separate links for different education levels, helping instructors on what works best with each grade. Along with that, there are also videos on introductory subjects to help with lectures. Content Ranging from the Revolution to the Iraq War, Ancient times to the Present, there are all sorts of awesome tools to use in lectures. They help give more input and teaching techniques to make the lessons go more smoothly. Design The organization of this website is very clear. With links to the side for separate grade levels, its easy to locate what your looking for. Video clips and materials are right on the home page, and with a little click of the mouse information just bursts out everywhere. All in all, this website is a great resource to help out history teachers.

Amy Andreen 9-14-11 Overview: This site has great resources for those teaching history to elementary students all the way through high school students. There are activities, documents to review, lesson plans available to view, and picture to look at. It is a great resource to history and Social Studies Teachers to help with content and classroom ideas. Content: teachinghistory.org has an inexhaustible amount of resources available to the viewers. There is a section devoted to English Language Learners that I found to be extremely interesting and useful. There is also a section that allows you to ask questions to other teachers, historians, and digital historians. I also really like that it has areas of history that often go untouched and unexplored. Design: For the most part, this site was really easy to navigate. Everything was pretty well laid out. However, one issue I faced was that I wasn't always aware of where I was at within the site. This became slightly confusing at times. The information included was very important but not easily accessed. I did like that there were different areas for different topics like "Reviews", "Beyond the Textbook", a "Weekly History Quiz", and "National Resources".

Gary Schmitt September 1, 2010 en.wikipedia.org Content: While Wikipedia provides tons of information, most of it is out of order and irrelevant. When I searched the word fine art I found that a lot of the information seems confusing and even a little bias. This web page draws information from lots of different sources so it's hard to tell what is true and what is just hear say. However it could be used to help somebody get a quick overview of a topic. Design: So just as the content of Wikipedia is unsatisfactory, so is the main design of the page. It's plain white background makes it seem as though little effort was put into it. Also when searching general topics you will be shown random pictures that aren't always explained very well. Overview: Wikipedia is a loosely constructed web page that is changed many times every day. Knowing this I would have to say that it is not going to be the most reliable place to find good information. If you're looking to get a quick overview of a person, place or event it might provide a starting point but if you need credible information it's not a good place to find it.

Ryan Mikesell ITEC Web Review 1/23/10 Overview: Ageducate.org is a website funded by the American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture and is dedicated to educating agricultural educators. It provides information and resources for Ag Ed teachers everywhere to help them in the classroom. From lesson plans to activities the site helps teachers to better educate their students in agriculture. The site is mainly intended for Ag teachers but also has a link to careers available in agriculture. Content: The website is very basic and easily maneuverable. The information presented is clear and understandable as well as very useful to an educator in need of classroom activities and information. All the links are effective and useable, and all copyright information and site revision dates are provided. The website has many useful educational tools including useful book references, downloadable lesson plans and nation wide statistics about agriculture education. It also has a link that provides websites and games intended for the education of younger children and to help get them involved in agriculture. Design: The website is designed mainly as an educational tool. Its links are easily followed and it provides necessary links to other websites. Pictures are used to illustrate and promote agriculture. All provided information is referenced and revision dates provided.

Overview The purpose of this website is to inform people about the history of Native Americans. It is easily accessed by the public and it's a great resource for learning about Native American History. Content When you first log on to this website the title is clearly stated, and its very easy to understand the purpose of the website. The copyright date is current and it ends with a .org, it appears to be a credible site. The information on this website is clearly laid out it terms of dates in chronological order. This makes the information much easier to understand. The content on the website is clearly informative. It is not trying to sway you one way or another. Not only does this website contain great information it also has popular links on the side. These links take you to other sites which may be quite helpful. I think this website would be great for students and teachers. Design The creators of this website could have a done a little better with the design plan. The title isn't very catchy or colorful. In past experiences I have learned more people are apt to read things if they look appealing. The website itself is very efficient and easy to navigate. However multimedia is also lacking. More color and pictures could have been used to draw the reader in. The website is supposed to inform you and it does a great job of that.

Overview This website was created to inform the reader about Betsy Ross and all the aspects of her life. The site has great information and can be easily accessed by anyone who has a computer. Its very attention getting and has a lot of great information. Content When accessing this site it is very clear its purpose is to inform the reader about Betsy Ross. Anyone can find the information on this site useful but it is probably geared more toward younger students. The copyright, latest revision date, and publisher are clearly listed at the bottom of the website. The site also ends in a .org making the information much more reliable. The purpose of this site is to inform, there is no bias present. All the information is well organized in bulleted list form, making the information easy to find. If you click on any of the bulleted points it will take you to another link with more information. The website is very easy to access and navigate and I would recommend it to both students and teachers. Design This website has a great eye appeal. The color scheme was red, white, and blue which I thought was very appropriate, and gave the website a little something extra. The site is easy to navigate because of the bulleted information. There are pictures of Betsy Ross which also help draw the reader in. This website can be accessed by anyone and is very user friendly. Overall this is a great website.