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Kylie Marchant August 31, 2010 Overview This website is designed for students and others who want to test their language proficiency on 25 different languages using vocabulary tests and crossword puzzles. A German company called Goethe Verlag operates this website for language learners. Based on content and design evaluations, I think this site is worthwhile for using with my eventual students and even in my own studies. It is well organized, simple to use, and seems accountable and accurate. My impression is that it is a valuable resource to have in my repertoire. Content From the first look, the user can discern that the website is for students and others wanting to test their language skills offered in a variety of languages. The website is governed by the Goethe Verlag but it is a little difficult to identify their actual credentials. There is an area where the company can be contacted though. I could find nothing identifying the currency of the information presented on the site. From my proficiency in German, I took a look at the German exercises and they seem to be interesting and interactive as well as accurate and interesting for students. Further, there are no linked sites for more exploration. All in all, in response to the content of this site, I believe it is worth keeping mind for further usage and reference. Design The home page is the launching site for all of the information on the website indicating the title, contents, overseeing organization, and clear instructions for navigating the website. It is rather simple in design but still aesthetically pleasing. The speed seemed to be reasonable for the pages I visited including the home page. There is minimal usage of multimedia but when present it serves a purpose. The content is worthwhile, clearly organized on the website, and easy to use. Again, there are no distinct dates clarifying currency of the information, although I do not believe the information could ever be outdated.

Amanda Lamey January 23, 2010 Overview This website is designed for any individual who can drive a car. It's not meant for children. They don't need to know how to change a tire if they can't drive yet. They should focus on something they enjoy or want to learn more about. I choose this site because it was an ".edu". I figured it had been reviewed by more important individuals and was used for educational purposes. I knew I could trust the information located on this site more than a ".com" site where websites have not been reviewed or edited by someone else. It listed multiple sites that were related to this site and had personal information to contact the author of the website. It had the class involved and the copyright date listed. Overall this had all the required information needed to evaluate a website. Evaluation of Design The design of the website was simple. It was one page, but it had other sites listed that were available if this wasn't what you were looking for. All the information regarding the author contacting us, copyright information and location were all located towards the bottom. There were eight simple steps to changing a tire. There were photos involved, but most of all before it even began there was an insert of tools required for the job. That's something different that stuck out to me and I think it would make it easier for everyone if life was like an outline, this is what you need, here's how to do it. Towards the end if you had and questions or comments you could leave them. The only other available resources were the related sites you could visit, but they worked well. You clicked them and you were able to navigate away from you current page to your new one in no time. There wasn't a "error" can't load page or refresh here. The purpose was clear, it was informative. Content The content off the page was designed by children and could be read and understood by anyone. I think that the photos and beg

David May 1/23/11 Good site for base knowledge. It has fun videos and animated activities. It needs more eye appeal. Overview: This website gives history a multimedia and fun twist. Within the simple design on the homepage it contains links to old educational videos, activities, and, movies based on historical events. The educational videos are from decades past such as the 1950s. The videos are accurate, but they leave out some facts such as Native Americans and women that are part of history. That is from the age of the videos. The activities are not really that entertaining at least the ones I used. They do capture one's attention because of the progressive story line and multimedia pictures and animations. These however do have some accurate information. I played around with the Boston tea party activity and the information included in the activity was accurate and explained it well. Overall the website is an okay way to spend some time getting base knowledge on history. The site shouldn't be used as a source though. Content: When first arriving at the homepage it is clear what the site contains. History can be seen with the various pictures and clickable items around the home page. Where the information came from is hard to determine there is so citing of material or authors listed. The site is not clearly marked with a sponsor, but there is clear evidence that it is connected to Amazon.com because in the store section it says powered by Amazon. The most recent update was made in November of 2010 which makes it seem active. The copyright at the bottom of the page is for 2009. The links section of the site send the user to not so credible sites and some links do not work. Informational is the main target of this site with a mix of business which is made clear by all the Amazon.com ads and links. Content seems to be good if base knowledge is already with the user making the information good for most uses except college level detail. Navigation is simple

Erin Kirby January 23, 2011 Overview: The sight http://epa.gov/climatechange/kids/gw.html is a good sight for young children and older children. The purpose of the sight is to teach kids about global warming, allow them to play games, and tell them what they can do to help. On the website it allows you to pick a topic and learn a lot of things about it. The sight is simple to work because there are simple links and there is not a lot of distracting stuff going on. The sight could also be good for teachers, it could allow teachers to learn about this topic and find ways to teach it to their students. The sight seems simple to use and there are not a lot of things in the way. Content: This website is pretty simple and seems easy for most age groups. It is easy to see what the sight is about, it allows children to learn interesting facts. The site may be hard for very young children who cannot read because the sight does have a lot of words. There are not a lot of pictures so kids may become bored. The games are fun for children to play and they test the knowledge of what they have been reading. The author of the site, and words from the author were not available but it does say who the sponsor of the sight is. The content of the sight should all be educational and correct because the sight is a government website. The last time this sight was updated however was in 2006, so some stuff on the site may be old. The links on the site are helpful because they are picture and all of them work and don't take very long. The grammar and spelling is fine and there does not seem to be anything that is bias. Overall the sight seems simple and fun for children to learn. Design: The website comes up very quickly and the site run very quickly. The homepage is simple and the links are easy to follow and use. The graphics of the sight are clear and keep it more interesting for kids. Every game on the site seems like it has accurate information and all the information overall

This website contains a fun game to help children understand how to make a simple sentence. When you go to the home page, it provides many other educational games designated for different grades.

Erin Kirby January 23, 2011 Overview: The sight http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/index.asp is a good sight for grades 4-12. The site provides information to help you learn about schools, find a public library, play different games, take quizzes, learn different subjects in math and more. The site does have many different links and it is a simple easy to use site. It has many different educational facts that some kids might find interesting. I think overall the information could be helpful and many students in a classroom or at home would enjoy learning about the facts, getting involved and playing the games. Content: This website is simple to use and the links are easy to follow. It is a government website so there are not a lot of pop ups or things that get in your way when trying to learn or play games. The games are interesting and educational. There are certain games that allow you to pick what grade you are in so the information applies to that certain age group. At the bottom like on most websites there are links that will show information about the site, but there is no place to find one main author. When going through the site I found that it was all very educational and kids that are into math would really enjoy it, but kids that arent may have a problem enjoying the sight. The links on the site are very simple to follow and allow students to do many things on there own. This is a sight that involves a lot of involvement that can be very fun. Overall the sight seems good for grades 4-12, it would be a good tool for students to use for many different reasons. The sight has a lot of math, quizzes, and educational facts that change daily. Design: The websites speed is fast and the links all work very smooth. The graphics are good and very smooth. The homepage has very clear links and it is not busy. It is simple to use! There are not a lot of distracting things and the site is simple and to the point about educational information. The sight is great for s

Deneé Chintala October 7, 2012 Overview The purpose of cellsalive.com is for the instructor of a biology class to provide their students with interactive activities online regarding the parts of the cell, phases of mitosis and meiosis as well as more background information of microbiolgoy. The audience includes biology teacher as well as their students. The site is free with many different activities to do including quizzes and puzzles with content about cells.  Content All of the information on the site is incredibly accurate due to the author, Jim Sullivan. The site provides information in at least two ways for each link (interactive video and a summarization of the video below). Interactivity is huge on this website because the student not only gets to interact during the lesson but a review can be given to gage the student's progress at the end of the lesson. The fact that there are simple cartoon graphics which can allow students to depict different organelles help, but there are also real pictures of microorganisms throughout the site.  Design This site has flare to it with the black background and neon text. It's appealing to a middle school age group but I could see high school students finding it alluring as well. It is also easily maneuverable due to the hyperlinks on the left side as the title of the lesson. If I were to give a class of the links to click on to get to the lesson it would be a very simple task with little to no questions.

Overview:  This website is for teachers of any subject from kindergarten to 12th grade. This website has links to many different subjects and in each subject it has different lessons to teach. It gives an overview of each lesson and it explains main points in the readings. This would be a great website to brush up on a certain subject. This could be very useful for elementary teachers because they have to teach so many different subjects and this can help them better understand each subject and lessons within the subject.  Content:  The content in this website varies. It is very broad when it comes to what grade and subject. There are many different tabs and links to the different subject choices. Within each subject, it has many lessons and standards that each grade should be learning. This is very helpful when it comes to teaching because it shows what standards teachers should be teaching in the different subjects that there are.  Design: The design of this website is quite simple. When you first click on the website, it opens most of the website is white with a little green. As you scroll down, there are many tabs for the different subjects that have a picture to describe that certain subject. I like how simple it is to navigate to the different pages and subjects. There are no obnoxious links everywhere or ads on the page at all. There is a copyright at the bottom along with the date it was created and the business that owns the website. Overall, this website is very easy and user friendly. 

Overview: The overall purpose for this website is to have lessons and activity examples that teachers can use for different grades in science. As a teacher this is a great website to seek activities to use in your classroom for different science terms and lessons. This website has activities for science grades varying from kindergarten to 12th grade. This website also has workbooks that teachers can order to give their students to work out of. Overall, this website is very helpful.  Content:  The content of this website is for teachers and there are many activities to do with students that explain science terms and lessons such as science biology of animals, weather, and volcanoes. There are many more lessons available to teachers on this website as well. There is also a way to find certain standards for science that teachers need to meet, which is nice to have so that they can teach the appropriate material. The content on this website is a helpful and fun way for teachers to teach.  Design:The design of this website is pretty simple to navigate through. There are tabs on the top to click on to lead to the other pages. There are quite a few advertisements on this page for different businesses. The color scheme is pretty simple just white and some greens and blues. There are no obnoxious links all over the page or spelling errors either. The design of this website is professional and accurate. 

Tyler Rogers February 4, 2012 Overview: The purpose of this website is to provide educators with activities and lessons for space science. This website is geared towards educators. Viewers will find classroom activities, a list of standards that the site address, and links to other educational space science sites. The site is very easy to navigate, and the lessons and activities provided are of high quality. I would recommend this site to educators because of the excellent lessons, and because of the simple, yet effective layout of the entire site.  Content:  From the first click, the content is clear. Information about the author, including contact information, can be difficult to find. Revision dates are found at the bottom of the home page. By picking one of the listed topics, users will find activities and experiments created by the author. These activities can be effective for many grade levels. They are free of bias, and all the links function properly. Most of the activities contain printer-friendly pages for both the educator and the students. Design: This site has a simple design. The home page is clean, and the table of contents is clear. Copyright information and recent revision dates are available near the bottom of the screen. The site is remarkably easy to navigate: any link in the table of contents will take users to a list of every activity or classroom experiment available for that topic. Selecting an activity will then take users straight to the printable lesson. The actual lessons are all in black and white so that they can be printed easily.  This website uses very little media, as pictures only contribute to the home page, and title the banner of any other page. This site is compatible with multiple web browsers. 

The purpose of this site is to inform people about science. The audience of this site is students and teachers of grades 1 to 6. Overall this was a very fun website. Although for being a more child geared website it should have been a little more interactive. There was a little quiz at the top of the home page but that was all. The content of this site was over scientific facts. There are multiple scientific categories that a person can choose from. The content was pretty simple. It was more science facts for younger kids. Though it was simple facts the facts were accurate. There was also no date of last revision. There was an email and an address so that you could contact the author in case you had a question about anything. The design for this website was highly eye catching. It is a website that was engineered for younger kids so it is very fun. It wasn't too overpowering in the design though. It was also a very easily understood design. A young kid would easily be able to navigate his or her way around the site. Although there were no directions given as to how to use the website.

Overview: It is very obvious upon entering this webpage who it is designed for, as it states in bold at the top of the page within tabs: "For Clinicians, For Patients, For Institutions, For Educators". I'm not sure it could get clearer than that. Also very obvious is the purpose. The biggest words on the page are: "Tap into the world's largest clinical community". I think this is a very credible website because all of the articles and websites within the main website are edited and written by doctors (MD). The biggest downside to this website is that you must subscribe to the website to see all of the content and a subscription is very expensive. Design Summary: From my first look, this site appears simple, yet very easy to navigate. There aren't a lot of bright colors or images to distract from the information of the page, which is beneficial, because you can find what you are looking for immediately. At the bottom of the page, the site provides a list of sponsors or partners including; Society of General Medicine, The Endocrine Society, American Academy of Family Physicians, Wolters Kluwer, etc. I had no problem using the website in Mozilla Firefox or Internet Explorer. The information is very up to date (as the name suggests!). Finding contact information is also simple (1-click) and they provide a phone number, fax number, many special purpose email addresses, and an address for an office in the United States, as well information for their international offices.

Overview: This website is fun and informational providing many items on common questions and articles. There is an updated homepage with photos articles polls, quizzes, and videos. This site aims to explain everything from DNA coding to car transmission problems in simple articles and videos. This site's intended audience is for adults due to the article and links provided. Content: This website provides up to date headings and topics on anything and everything you may want to know. It has tabs for adventure, animals, auto, communication, computer, electronics, entertainment, food, geography, health, history, home and garden, money, people, and science. When you access the site is easy to determine the content and intended audience. There is available information and 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. All the articles also are valid and have an intended purpose to entertain or inform. Design: The design of howstuffworks.com is easy to use, organized and attractive. The homepage provides many interesting headings, photos, and videos. It is easy to read and very understandable and accessible. The website downloads efficiently and the site is appealing and grabs tor attention. 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.

Overview The first website that I evaluated was howstuffworks.com. This is an educational website aimed at all age groups that can answer questions about how many different things work. The website offers a variety of different resources. An example of the resources would be how the site teaches skills that everyone should have on topics such as money. Overall, I thought this website was great. It's easy to navigate, and offers many different types of educational materials. Content Not only is this website educational, but it is fun as well. You can come to the website to find out something serious, but you can also come to find out something that's entertaining and fun. The content of the website is easy to understand for any age. Things are explained simply so that you can actually learn at your own pace. It's also easy to find out about the website by clicking on the "about us" link at the bottom of the page. There you can find who sponsors the site and where the content comes from. Design The website is very easy to navigate through. As soon as you get to the homepage you are faced with many different tabs and also a search bar so you can find exactly what you are looking for. In addition to the tabs, there are resources such as videos and blogs that you can get access to through the site.

Overview: This websites main focus is to breakdown simple mechanics of almost anything from how a toaster works to economic policies of the year 2011. This is a source to explore the world around us and understand the things that we encounter and use daily, as well as providing a guide for users ion new endeavors into of learning. Concept: The classification of materials found within this writing is more vast than an encyclopedia. It includes multi-media and interaction presentations to gain the attention of the reader and create a better understanding. The material can become more complex and technical, but can be a resource for any researcher. I would recommend for teachers seeking to better explain concepts or to satisfy the curiosity of a learner. Design: Clean, simple, and precise. This website has a rather challenging searching process, but a pursuing researcher can use the search tool to peruses topics that coincides. The clean layout of the material and explanations make the learning process something to be a part of. As well as a social network application installed to share the knowledge of "how stuff works".

Robb Lancaster January 25, 2010 This site provides a historical account of stories and situations during and surrounding Native American involvement in World War II. Content: This site is a .edu educational web site. It pertains to Native American WWII draftees and military volunteers. This site is a scololairly informative-story telling paper, which leans more towards telling these true stories. This website would be very helpful to teachers because it deals with two major aspects of our history; Native Americans, and WWII. Design: This website is among the most simple I've ever seen. There are absolutely no links and all you need to do to access the information is scroll down. The only problem I can see is the site is too simple and it is not very long.

Amanda Lamey January 24, 2010 Overview This website is directed towards people who enjoy cooking or need something to bring to a party. Or just for chili lovers. The purpose of this web page is to teach you how to cook any kind of chili listed. This site gives you options from vegetarian chili to chili dogs and Asian style chili. You have multiple options to choose from. They were posted on January 26, 2009 meaning it has been updated recently, to where chili hasn't changed drastically. Evaluation of Design The layout of this site was simple and straight forward. There weren't any photos of the recipes. There was only a date when the websites were posted under each recipe. There was no copyright date or author. This website is missing a lot of key factors. It has a title and recipes listed below it. I think it's too plain and too simple. It needs photos, an author, and a date of revision. On the left hand side it allowed you to click the type of chili you wanted. At the very top it had a few websites to pick from, but it wasn't just one click away. The first website wanted your phone number to allow you to continue on, the second one didn't load at all, even with pushing the refresh button. The third one only led you to another site where you could purchase a Crockpot or click another website to find a website with chili recipes. Content The content of this website seemed accurate and precise. It told you exactly what to do and informed you of the content. For example in the Texas Style Chili it said it uses chunks of beef and not ground beef. This site was very informative. The grammar and spelling were accurate, I didn't see any errors. The contact button was located at the top left highlighted in blue. The titles of each recipe were in a bigger font and were in bold. There wasn't a copyright date or author, just the date it was posted. This site had a button that would allow you to visit older entries, but it didn't work. This website had more

Posted by Erika Jeffs on 1/24/2010 Overview: Brightstorm is a dot com website for high school students to prepare for various college preparation exams, such as, the ACTs and SATs along with advanced placement exams. The site offers practice on certain subjects of the tests. The math section is particularly emphasized and has wide range of high school level material. It includes videos of concepts and practice problems that are very helpful. However, the website does sell practice packages which is the ultimate goal of this website. Content: The audience and purpose of this website is very clear. There is information about the creators of this website along with their credentials. The "managers" are qualified and contact information is available. The site has current information and seems to have been updated this year. The purpose is obvious, they do not try to hide that they ultimately wants to sell something. Brightstorm is effective for practicing high school level math and has accurate information. The site is interactive because it offers videos teaching concepts and practice problems as well as a question/answer feature. Also, it is very easy to navigate because it is organized and has clearly marked tabs. As far as I can tell, grammar and spelling are correct. There are not many outside links. Overall, this website as good content. Design: The page loads quickly. When you arrive at the home page, it is appealing and not too cluttered. There are clearly marked tabs that contain the most important aspects of the site. There is also another set of tabs that are easy to find with information about the creators and contact information. The copyright is clearly stated. Navigation is very simple because everything is broken into subjects, and many video clips are available that load quickly and work well. The math section is particularly helpful and has a lot of useful information for high school students. It is very simple to find the informa

Overview: The purpose of this website is to be a resource for Teachers and Students alike in English as a Second Language (ESL). There are links to lesson plans, quizzes, and more. It's a very simple website but the links are helpful and up to date. Content: The content of this site is relatively up to date. Towards the bottom it tells the viewer when the last revision was made. There is a lot of information in this site that can take a while to go through, but all of it is helpful. The information is well organized with headings and titles. You can register for free and gain access to even more information. Design: The layout is simple and there aren't a lot of advertisements. The information is divided into sections and has main links listed, but when one selects the main heading another page comes up with a ton more information. This design is easy for anyone to use.

Overview: The purpose of this website is to help both teachers and students learn a bit more about the Spanish language. You immediately know about the authors and their passion for teaching Spanish. The resources are useful and engaging. Its simple layout makes navigating the site a breeze. Content: There are no advertisements on this site which makes it feel authentic. It's nice to see the author's information right away because it creates the sense that they truly care about the information they have provided. All of the links work, although there is some downloading required for the power point presentations. The way the information is presented also makes their information look fun. All of the information provided is the authors' own. Design: The layout is simple and there aren't a lot of advertisements. The Table of Contents is divided up into sections, so teachers can easily find the information they are looking for as well as students. This design is easy for anyone to use.

Ashli Hunter 2-1-11 Overview: This website is great for elementary students who are struggling with fractions. The purpose of this website is to see where the students struggle and succeed at in fractions. In this website the students are able to identify, compare, add, subtract, mulitiply, and divide fractions and then play games to further their understanding. The overall content and design of this website is basic and very easy to follow along without any broken links. Content: The content for this website is straightforward and brings you to each link that you need without going through a maze. Everything is up-to-date in information and if you should have problems it gives you the author and how to contact him. The content itself is simple and not over the top for elementary students. After each example they explain how to get the correct answer with the correct word terminology. This websit even offers worksheets that teachers can use in the classroom. Design: The design is very simple and you don't feel like you have to search for what you want. Each link brings you to each section with one click and then the student only has to count and type in the number then submit and it gives them a clear answer to the question. This website also has an explain button if the student does not understand what is being asked of him/her. This website can either be used in the classroom or at home.

Caroline Wittman (Virginia) January 31, 2011 Overview Ology is a fun website that allows children to collect virtual trading cards and use them to make online projects as they learn about different science topics. The list of topics is varied, including anthropology, archeology, astronomy, biodiversity, the brain, climate change, earth science, genetics, marine biology, paleontology, water, and zoology. Each area presents a plethora of interactive applications for children to explore: games, animations, quizzes, and suggestions and guidance for completing simple offline science investigations and experiments. There are also book lists and other helpful internet sources that can be consulted for further information. Content Ology is sponsored by the American Museum of Natural History. Accordingly, information was accurate and up-to-date. It was also well organized and communicated on a level that elementary school age children can understand and relate to. Information is also in line with what is covered in the typical elementary school science curriculum. Although specific authors of articles are not usually listed, it is easy to find contact information for the sponsoring organization. Links to other internet resources were relevant and informative. Overall, the content of the site serves to ignite children's curiosity about the natural world. Design The Ology homepage, as well as its interactive applications, downloaded quickly. The overall design is appealing to elementary school children, incorporating lots bright colors and bold shapes. Navigation is simple, even for young children. The major areas of the site are located in an obvious place on the homepage. Information is easy to locate within each of these areas. Directions for games and other interactive content are very straightforward and explained clearly. Close inspection reveals that each detail of the site's design works toward enhancing children's learning.