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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

Brienna Gregor 10/11/12 Overview: This website is very useful for students, teachers, and other educators that want to learn more about volcanoes. This website is meant to stimulate the mind through comic book graphics that simplifies the learning objectives as indicated in earth sciences. Available resources include: plate tectonics, volcanoes, volcanic database, games, comics, teach, top sites, and more. This website is great for students and teachers in that it is exciting and easy to go through while serving as a helpful tool concerning lesson plans. This site would work best for students from late elementary to high school levels (5-12). In my opinion, the content and design of this website is well done. Content: At first look, this website looks to be professionally done. The content of this website appears to be current and correct however, the designers are apart of a ThinkQuest team called, "Team 17457". These teenagers did a very good job however; it may not be the most reliable source due to their age, inexperience, and living situations (all three are from different continents). Despite this, this website's information quality is very well done. Design: The design of this website is very well done in that it is very fast, it is easy to navigate, has many different sources of media, and the presentation of the content contributes to the website's purpose. Its design draws you in and makes you want to explore and learn the information provided.

Dane Xavier Servantez 10/11/12 Overview: This website is very useful for students, teachers and parents who want to learn about the basics of health and safety. Some of the topics include chemical safety around the house, to drug abuse and nutritional value. This website is great because it comes with worksheets and advice for teachers and parents. Teaching health and safety isn't the funnest thing to learn in the first place, this website makes that fun for the students happen. The overall site is easy to navigate and deals with kids from K-5 and teens from grade 6-8. Content: The content of the page is exceptional, it is powered by USA.gov and has services from the Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies which is part of the U.S. General Services Administration. There is a contact information link followed by the policies and privacy of the website. I assure you the information given is professional and current.  Design: The design of the page is not the most appealing page, but it gets the job done. The organization is not the best, its kind of random and everywhere. The links are all labeled in correct subjects, as are the pictures that are presented and the overall color is somewhat appealing. This website wont catch your attention right away, but it also wont drive you away either.

Kerensa Aris 10/10/12 Shotgun's Home of the American Civil War: The purpose of this site is to gain information on the Civil War, most information pertains to the Confederacy. The intended audience is both students and teachers, both can collect useful information from the site and it is appropriate for all audiences. The site contains links to many other sites for available resources. My overall impression is that this is a quality site containing pertinent information. There is some bias since the site is run by a southern college, but upon first looking at the site this fact is very clear.  I assessed the content of this site as worth marking for future reference. The site is run by qualified individuals from LSU, and information is useful and trustworthy. The site is revised frequently but new information is not routinely added because it is a Civil War site. The site is well organized and all external links are in working order.  The design of the website is well done and easy to use. All pages download quickly and site indexes are available. The home page could have more detail to make it more eye catching. There are several different kinds of media such as audio and visual files, and likes to further information and useful sites are available. The site is compatible with other browsers, and the content is presented neatly and is organized. 

Ericka Chorniak October 9, 2012 Overview: This site is a guide for writing a lab report for students in a science setting. It provides the students with definitions and expectations of each section of the lab report. It could also be a very good resource for other science teachers looking for a guide for their students to follow while writing a report for their class. The provider of the site appears to be qualified, but it would be wise to check other sources' materials and other guides before settling with this one specifically. This site doesn't have a lot of interactivity for the students to remain engaged in the content, but for the purposes of a guideline for lab report writing, it is worth bookmarking for future references. Content: At first glance, the content of the site is easily determined, as well as the intended audience. The author of the site is clearly identified; in fact his name is in the link itself. The author did not provide any additional information, or give any contact information, but he does appear qualified because it appears to be a teacher. The latest revision date is present, which was October 29, 2010. This date is appropriate for the content of the site because it does not need to be updated frequently, and the links provided are current and work properly. The purpose of this site is very clear, it is a lab report guide (informational), and the content achieves this purpose effectively. The content of this site is complete, easy to understand, is appropriate to my needs/purposes, is free of bias, appears to be accurate, was proofread so that all grammar and spelling is correct, and is consistent with other sources materials. The site does not provide interactivity to increase its value. The links provided are also worthwhile, appropriate, and relevant to my needs and purposes as a student and pre-service teacher. Design: This website has a semi-attractive homepage that downloads efficiently. It is easy to tell where the user is

Derek Peil 10/7/2012 Overview The Purpose of the website Six Minutes Speaking and Presentation Skills is to provide definitions and historical background to Aristotle's three main argument types: Logos, Pathos, and Ethos. Targeting students and public speaking enthusiasts, this website gives first-hand knowledge from award winning public speaker Andrew Dlugan, as well as a wide range of informational book resources. Overall, my content and design guides convince me that this source is authentic, appealing, and applicable for an educational setting. Content This site contains accurate and well organized information. All of the links work properly and load just as efficiently as the home page itself. Upon arriving at the site, the purpose of the site is clearly noted by the titles, headings, and sub-headings. The author visibly identifies himself immediately at the top of the page. The author's credentials and contact information are also given. External sources granted by this site appear sound. One of the only weaknesses to this site is that is last update was January 24th, 2010. Given the didactic mission of this website however, such a disparity in revision is acceptable as the knowledge of Aristotle's argument types is common and highly referenced. Design Appealing to the eye, this website strongly reflects the positive aspects of the design evaluation form. The site loads quickly with no glitches in displaying graphics or text. All of the sites webpages are outlined along the top of the homepage, allowing for easy navigation throughout. Appropriate pictures are used to convey meaning and bring the site to life. For example, on the Delivery Techniques page, the website shows a picture of a speaker covering his face with a mask to convey that section's topic of conquering the emotional fear of public speaking. Throughout the site, links are helpfully placed within the text to further benefit the user in navigating to other useful sites and

This website is a great FREE resource for teachers, administrators, parents and students looking for ways to incorporate technology into their classrooms. The site not only provides lesson plans for teachers but ways to help students succeed and excel for administrators and parents as well as homework help, step by step math help and games for students! There are a lot of outside links to sites that are all easy to access and navigate which is great! The content of the site is great and has been very well organized. Discovery Education does offer upgrades to gain more access to resources, but the free resources available are enough to last any educator for weeks! All of the lessons are organized by grade and then content area as well which makes it really easy to find exactly what you are looking for. There are also tabs for contact information, privacy details and terms and use which are great resources for teachers to familiarize themselves with. I think older students, probably middle school aged or older could utilize this website a lot easier than younger students because of navigation design, but the site is still great for students. The step-by-step math helper is an awesome tool for students that are having difficulty with math homework and so is the homework helper because it allows students to meet virtually and help each other with their homework with the help of educators and tutors. The design of the site is geared more towards teachers or educators, but it is still highly interactive and is easy to navigate. There are a lot of links to outside sources and they are all current and easy to operate. It is also easy to read and understand all of the lesson plans presented as well as understand the overall goals of the Discovery Communications company. The entire purpose of the site is to acheive excellence in learning and that is obvious by the design of the site. I wouldn't let students just get on the site and try to find their own way aro

Casey KarchOctober 7, 2012 Overview: The purpose of this site is identified right at the header, "E-learning tool designed to facilitate teachers' work and enhance the learning process." Kubbu is intended for teachers and educators, helping them with design and evaluation of lesson plans. Resources are a little slim, but users can create games, quizzes, and crosswords with ease.  Overall, this site is not eye catching, not overly informative, but gets the job done for helping educators. Content: First look on this site is mild; there is not much to look at. There are no true information providers but the content of the designs for teaching tools is very well done. The quality of quizzes, games, and much more is fascinating; they will be an important tool for instructors. Since there is no information, there is no way to get more information. Design: Speed of loading the home page is very efficient. The home page itself is not overly flashy, but it lacks a lot of information. Navigating is easy, links are clearly labeled and few in number. Multimedia is evident in the teaching tools, making the tools requires different forms of media. As before, the presentation could use some work, maybe some different colors. Information is available to contact the designer further.

Casey KarchOctober 5, 2012Overview: The purpose of the Math Drills website is to provide a mathematics tool to instructors and parents through worksheets. They provide worksheets for elementary students to complete in grades one through six, ranging from just about anything they will need to learn to move through the district channels. Answer keys are provided as well. The intended audience is parents and teachers, helping to develop the children. The resources available to this site are links to worksheets, a tour of the website, and a link to contact the teachers and technicians that worked on the site. My impression is that it can be extremely useful for instructors and parents needing to get their students extra practice in mathematics. It is not an overwhelmingly designed site, so it is nice to navigate. Everything is in order and easy to understand. Content: The content in this site is exceptional. The main downfalls of it are the lack of hard information and varying information. It only contains worksheets, not explanations of the material. Other then that, it does not contain a date of last revision. On the plus side, the first look and information quality are excellent. The content will be very useful for teachers and parents, saving a lot of time. Design: Design is not very eye catching, but all the information is clearly labeled and easy to access. Home page is a nice touch, not too extravagant but not too boring. The use of multimedia, browser compatibility, and content presentation all appeal to multiple ages, making it an excellent source. Also, it contains an excellent link to find out further information by contacting the makers.

Kevin McDougall 9/30/2012 Overview: The purpose of this website is to offer students an interactive and informative method of learning about Unites States Civics. The audience of this website is students enrolled in middle/high school civics courses in the United States. The resources of the site include links to multiple topics covering US civics (e.g. Separation of Powers, Legislative Branch, Executive Branch, etc…) and links to media and influence on civics as well. I was very impressed by this website. Within those topics mentioned above, there are links to games and Web Quests that students can use to enhance their learning. Also, the site is very easy to maneuver and its design is eye-catching. Content: The content of this website is informative and of high quality. All of the topics that are presented are listed right on the home page and links to other topics are clearly listed under the "About" tab. The quality of information was high. Within those topics, the Web Quests and games are effective in engaging student learning because they are interactive and appealing. Design: The design of this website was great. The graphics, font, and illustrations are effective in welcoming visitors to the website. The layout is well done; the main tabs are listed at the top of the page and the topics are easily found on the home page.

Michelle Hill February 24, 2012 Overview: The purpose of this website is to serve as a resource for furthering education and academics at the elementary school age. Therefore, the intended audience is teachers, students, and even parents. Available resources include games, pintables, apps, and videos for the subjects such as math, English, history and more. These resources are for ages Pre-K to 6th grade, and vary depending on the subject being learned. Overall, my impression of the website was that it was a great website that can aid me throughout my teaching career and will definitely be used in the future. Content: The content of the website was rated as very useful for my information needs based on the fact that the total number of "yes" answers outnumbered the "no" answers. Some strengths of the website included first look, the information providers, information quality, and further information. More strengths include that the site clearly stated the audience and basic contents of the site, information on the authors, the content was complete, information was consistent, and there were other links to other sites included. Some weaknesses of the site included that the information currency was either not provided or not applicable. The latest revision date was not provided, therefore I could not determine if the date was appropriate, so both of these were considered not applicable. Also, I had no way of telling if the content is updated frequently. Overall, the website provided a lot of content that will be useful. Design: The design of the website was rated as very well designed and easy to use based on the fact that the total number of "yes" answers outnumbered the "no" answers. Some strengths of the website design included the speed, home page, ease of navigation, use of multimedia, browser compatibility, content presentation, and availability of further information. It was all very well organized, the contents were clear, every

Michelle Hill February 24, 2012 Overview: The purpose of this website is to serve as a resource for instruction for teachers. Therefore, the intended audience is teachers of elementary aged students. Avaliable on this website are kindergarten through 1st grade lesson plans involving all subjects, such as math, science, language arts, and more. Also included on this website are lesson plan fillers, integrated projects, graphic organizers, and classroom management tools. My overall impression of the website was that the content was very useful and the site itself was well organized. Content: The content of the website was rated as very useful for my information needs based on the fact that the total number of "yes" answers outnumbered the "no" answers. The first look at the website was good; I was able to determine the intended audience as well as the basic content on the site right away. The strengths of the website include the information providers, information quality, and further resources. Everything in these sections were included and to my belief of great quality. However, the weaknesses of this website were that the latest revision date was not provided and that the latest revision date is appropriate to the material. Another weakness was that the site did not probice interactivity that would increase its value. Overall, the content was good. Design: The design of the website was rated as very well designed and easy to use based on the fact that the total number of "yes" answers outnumbered the "no" answers. First, the homepage of the website downloaded in a speedy manner and efficiently. Strengths of the home page included the clearness of the page, the contents in the site, and more. However a weakness was that the site did not have a very strong eye appeal. The navigation was also a strength of the website, it was easy and clear as to how to move around the site and directions were not needed. Other strengths of the design were

Shaya Wolf - 2/26/2013 Overview This site is intended for teachers who are looking for new ideas for lesson plans. It is meant to be used as a resource for teachers who simply need a good idea to get them going. The lesson plans can be used as is or tweaked to fit the teacher's specific needs or goals. This site, if I were to venture a guess, is probably for new teachers as it gives very specific ideas and makes everything accessible by grade and subject, tools that are nice for everyone, but are specifically for newbies in the field. My overall impression of this site is that it is definitely very useful, designed well, and worth your time to look at and use. Content This site is extremely user friendly. IT it obvious what the basic content is and that the intended audience is teachers. The author and sponsor information is provided in an organized manner, including contact information made accessible through a link at the bottom of the page. This site was last updated in 2008 and considering that these lesson plans won't be outdated for a while, especially considering a teacher's ability to tweak existing plans to fit their needs, I would say that this revision date is appropriate to the materials provided. The purpose of the site as a database of lesson plans is clear from the very beginning. The provided links achieve this purpose in the most effective manner possible. The content is complete, however may be added to, and easy to understand. All of the information is organized utilizing a navigation bar and allows teachers to find information related to a specific need. The information is obviously accurate and there are no spelling or grammar errors. The only downfall on this site is that there are no additional links for further needs or purposes. Design The homepage loads efficiently and quickly. The homepage serves as a main source of organization and contains all of the necessary contacts, as in the author and sponsor of the page. The website

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. 

Zachary Donnan 2/5/12 Overview: This website is a free information website for teachers specifically geography teachers. This website has several different types of media and an extensive amount of tips to assist geography teachers with their lesson plans. This website is essentially a blog and resource site for geography teachers. Content: This website contains a huge amount of resources for geography teachers from games to slide shows to general tips for presenting information to students. This website also guides teachers on using technology and technological resources such as google effectively to assist them with teaching. There is also a wide range of free materials to access such as free ebooks, all in all a pretty neat website. Design: The design of this site is pretty simple to navigate, and it has a professional feel to it. This website seems to be extremely helpful to teachers and also has suggestions to guide you to other helpful materials. There is definitely a focus on the use of technology within the classroom on this site, and although there isn't really any contact info I still found it to be a good useful site.

Zachary Donnan 2/5/12 Overview: This site is essentially a blog site for teachers to bounce teaching strategies off of each other. This site also includes lessons along with what ages that the lessons apply to. There are also opportunities on this site to rate and comment on lessons which could be very valuable for those who are trying to adapt their lessons to their own classes. Content: This site contains a great amount of useful information for teachers focusing upon geography. There are many lesson plans and even examples of assignments for teachers to use in their own classrooms. This site could be very useful for most any teacher at any grade level for a range of different subjects. Design: The design of this site looks like it may be a little outdated, but it still uses many modern facets within it. This site has a good set up that seems to be user friendly, and it includes all kinds of different media to help present visitors with the information included within it. This site seems to be very useful for most any teacher and also seems to be very helpful for working teachers.

Tyler Rogers February 4, 2012 Overview:  The purpose of this site is to provide users with concise and easy-to-read space science materials, and to help educators guide their lessons involving space science. This site is geared towards educators looking to solidify understanding, or develop new ideas for lessons. Though the site does not specifically provide lesson plans, it does provide the knowledge from which teachers could derive their own. There are links to other educational space science sites, as well a handful of interactive activities. I feel that this site is a valuable resource, contains high quality content, and could be well utilized by educators seeking to teach space science. Content: This site's overall content is clear from the homepage, though no specific authors are listed. All of the site's content is well organized in categories. Once a reader finds their desired section of the site, the content is coherent. The material is strictly factual and contains no bias, and none of the links are broken.  It is important to note that this site fails to provide any revision dates, rendering the currency of the site unknown.  Design: Amazing Space is easy to navigate and is compatible with many web browsers. There are two viewing options a user can pick from. Not both options present the same information, but it is all organized the same. A sidebar to the left of the screen organizes all of the site's content. Users can easily find lists of clearly labeled fact sheets and activities.  The site makes use of multimedia, especially photos and pictures. The pictures contribute to the visual appeal of the site, but do not serve a greater purpose. The site's organizational downfall is that users often have to click through many links to find the desired material.