Group items tagged

Overview: The intended audience for this site is current special education teachers. The purpose of the site is to provide resources such as chat rooms, lesson plans, and join mailing lists. The site offers resources for the classroom as well as offers the chance to talk to other teachers within the special education field. The site also offers a wide range of various links to other sites about special education.

Overview: The intended audience for this site is prospective special education teachers. The purpose of the site is to inform teachers about issues that can arise in special education classrooms as well as possible solutions to these problems. The website includes types of problems, possible solutions, significance, and ways to help identify people with special needs.

Morganne Harper The site http://specialed.about.com/ contains a lot of materials that could be useful when teaching or handling a child with special needs. There are many articles talking about behavior and how to handle certain types. There are also links to sheets that help with fundamental skills such as counting. Towards the bottom on the left, there are more detailed sections that you could navigate to, which would give you more specific information on a certain area. At a quick glance, it is not easy to see that it is about special education. There is small gray font near the top that says special education, but not much else. The authors and resources of their information is relatively easy to find. It is at the top of any article or link that you click on. I had trouble finding the date that anything was published or updated. Some areas that should be put together aren't and some things are put in what seems like random places. Information contained on the site is of good quality. It is meant to be a helpful source to utilize, and does a decent job at giving content to allow this to happen. The homepage opened quickly and lead me to what I was looking for. Near the bottom of the page there are multiple colors in links that draw your eyes to them, but on the top and in the middle there was a lack of appeal. It looked like something about "boring" education. You have to scroll for a little bit to get to the links that you might want, until then there are just articles that seem to be in random order. Some of the graphics that are used as clip art for articles are repeated, losing the effect and interest.

Emily E. KrabbenhoftJanuary 22, 2011Overview: This website, created by Discovery Communications, is an excellent resource for parents, students, and teachers. For parents it provides ways to help motivate their children and ways to help with homework. For students it all gives homework help and other ways for students to further their knowledge or to practice what they already know. For teachers there is interactive projects, lesson plans, and puzzle makers. Content: The content of this website, the information providers, and the quality is well presented to users. While the information is provided by a company to further their products, it offers a lot of free resources for everyone. It also does not push its products on the user, for example no pop-ups or constant nagging to purchase things.Design: This website has a great design. You do not get lost when you are navigating the website because it has great descriptions and titles of the pages. All of the links work properly and direct you to the appropriate websites or links. 

Hannah Clucas. October 10, 2012. Overview: This website is a giant database for schools. It has something for administrators, teachers, students, and even parents. There are a lot of available resources. The website is amazing and helpful for all facets of learning. Content: For administrators, there are curriculum options, helpful assessments of resources schools are currently using, and a host of other useful things. For teachers there are lesson plans, puzzle makers, additional resources, and even information on student travel. For parents there is a section on ways they can motivate their students and give them help in homework. The student section has a homework help section as well as links to contests they can join and clipart. There are also videos that parents, teachers, and administrators can use. The website is probably more helpful to teachers and administrators. Lesson plans are divided into two grade level groups, k-8 and 9-12, making it easy to find lesson plans for intended grade levels. Some of the links on the website are not useful, such as the link to downloading Google Chrome. But none of the links are inappropriate. Design: The design of the website is logical and flows well. There is a section for administrators, teachers, parents, and students at the top and bottom of the home page. It is colorful and fun to get your attention, but not to the point that it is overwhelming. Its use of media is appropriate and helpful.

Lorena Garcia Evaluation date: 10/13/14 The site I chose to evaluate was Discovery Education located at www.dicoveryeducation.com. The purpose of this site is to provide free education resources. The intended audience of this site is teachers, students, and Parents. This site provides some downloadable lessons. It offers lessons plans for the various school grades. I feel this site could be a great resource for new and veteran educators. I found that this page is quickly to determine the content because there are links about who they are, what they offer, also they have links for students, parents, and Teachers who are the intended audience. In fact there is contact information for anybody who has questions or verify information about it. Anybody can contact them by phone, (1 800 ), Twetter, and Face book, and e-mail. It is clear that this page is to provide Educational information with the different options of downloadable lesson plans. It is worth visiting this page, specially Educators. They can find a lot information and great ideas for lessons. The information is clearly labeled and organized school year. These links are very well organized and easy to find. I did have some trouble finding my way back to the original page. However, overall I would most definitely recommend and use this website.

Overview: The intended audience is for individuals with a degree in special education that are interested in using their degree within the Peace Corps. The purpose of the site is to explain possible projects the audience could be placed on as well as requirements and career advancements after the program. This site answers almost all questions necessary for the Peace Corps special education program as well as people to contact for any questions not answered.

Overview: The intended audience for this site is individuals considering a career in special education. The purpose of the site is to outline expectations of jobs as well as bring to attention possible issues. Statistics are also present in the site. The website allows people to see earnings, projections, job outlook as well as other questions regarding figures and statistics. This website also outlines what can be expected of special education teachers and offer suggestions of similar jobs.

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.

Design Evaluation: When a viewer first arrives at this site they are welcomed by a colorful home page. The topics are organized in a table of contents. A viewer can easily navigate the site; the topics under each page are grouped to allow easy navigation. All the interactive games on the site work properly and are relevant to the purpose of the site. The copy right date can be easily located at the bottom of each page. There appears to be no dead ends and the pages load with ease. The overall design of this site is appropriate and relevant to the audience. Content Evaluation: When a viewer first arrives at this site the target audience can be determined quickly; the audience of this site includes teacher, parents and special needs children. The purpose of do2learn is educational. The information on this site gives parents and teachers tools to use and provides children with educational games that can help in overcoming aspects of their disabilities. The content is well organized and allows for easy navigation. The information seems up to date however the revision date cannot be located easily. The content of this site is appropriate for the intended audience. Overview: Do2learn is intended to be an educational resource for teachers, parents and children. The content available on this site includes basic facts about different learning disabilities, tools for teachers to use in the classroom, and educational games. To access some of the features on this site you need to sign up for an account; however a majority of the information is available without an account. In my opinion this site could be utilized in a classroom to assist with classroom instruction. I can see myself using this site as a reference source and I could see this site being used to help children with autism and Asperger's to understand nonverbal communication. Over all I feel this site would make a good resource.

Melanie Lenhardt ITEC 2360 2/2/2012 Publications and More The purpose of this site is to teach people about special education and the things that go along with it. It has all of the basic information that you need to know about dealing with it as a parent or someone in their life and useful intervention strategies. This site also has different links to satisfy a variety of needs. I would say the intended audience is parents, but is also informative for anyone. I think that overall, this website is very well designed, easy to use, and very useful for my information needs. Content: I would say that most of this website was very well put together, but there were a few things that they could do to make the site a little better. The site didn't really have a specific author/authours to the site that was clearly identified. We don't really know who they are or any information on them, but we do know how to contact the people about the site. Design: The design of this site is also very well, but could also use a little changes to make it better. I didn't find any directions on how to navigate the site. It seemed self-explanatory though, so I'm not sure that it is necessary to have one or not. I also think that the website could use more videos and images to present information on special education and the things that go along with it. There is not a last revised portion that I saw on the website, the only thing I saw was the copyright date. Last revised is important, and could definitely use that on the site.

resources for Special Needs, many resources are from Apple Computers

Sarah Skinner on January 21, 2010 Overview The purpose of this site is to provide educational equipment to school aged children that will help them be more open to the idea of learning. There are educational games. A child could learn to speak Spanish or English if English is not the student's first language. They can also translate words into English, Spanish, or Portuguese. There are educational coloring worksheets and painting activities that can be printed out. A student can learn how to play and read music as well. Math and Science games are also available as well as books that are recommended for children. There are recommendations for special need students as well. There are arcade games and sports game that can be fun for children. This site also has a link for tips for buying children's footwear and clothing. Content The basic content of the site is clearly laid out. There are accessible links that are clearly marked to what they lead to. The intended audience is a little confusing. The site has games that are for elementary school aged children and they advertise for children. But, there are other links that are more for parents are teachers that are selling their products and advertising for hotels and teaching jobs. There is no author that is visible but the website name is clearly marked. Since there was no author visible, there was not information on the author available. There is a link to learn more about the company which shows that they are qualified to give out this information. There is contact information to ask questions. The latest revision year is provided at the bottom. It was last updated in 2010 so the information is up to date. All links are working appropriately at this time. The purpose of the site is hard to determine. There are many links for a variety of purposes. The content appears to be complete as well. The site is well organized. The information is easy to interpret. There is a lot of information that is useful. The

Katie Hurrell January 21, 2010 Overview: The purpose of learn4good.com is to allow students to access this website in order to play games to help them learn in different areas of school. The intended audience is elementary school children. The available resources are games, worksheets, coloring pages, and any other internet game that students might find entertaining in order to help them learn. My overall impression is that the content is clearly divided into different sections and the design makes the website easy to use. Content: At a first look the website is very user friendly and shows the user the sections of learning that the website offers. Also each sections talks about what type of activity is offered so student s can see what is appealing to them. The content is well organized and the website is free of bias. The information seems to be accurate based on the team that created the website. The links to other sites are related to the students learning needs, as well as the teacher's needs. Design: The homepage is attractive and each section has its own little graphic with it. The colors that are used on the website make it look attractive to little kids. The website is easy enough that students can easily find their way around the website. There is sufficient information that makes the website worth visiting. At the bottom of the website the user is able to find the revision date on the website. There is a working link that is provided to contact the website. I would say that the website is well designed and easy to use.

Taylor Pilch 09/09/2011

Taylor Pilch 09/09/2011 Overview: The purpose of this site is to give teacher resources such as lesson plans for special education from early childhood all the way to grade 12. The intended audience is for special education teachers. There are many resources such as discussion forums, teaching themes, and things to print out for students. Overall, my impression of the site was good and I think it could be useful to teachers. Content: This website had a lot of strengths for the content of it. It was simple to navigate and to see what was available. It also had the information providers listed at the bottom of the website. The information quality was also very good. As for weaknesses, I found a link that did not work, and I could not find the date of the last revision of the website. Design: The design of this website was pretty good overall. It was not very attractive, but it was pretty easy to navigate. You could choose which grade level you wanted to read about and go right to it. As for the weaknesses, I am not sure how up-to-date this website is because I could not find the date of last revision, and I also found a link that did not work.

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.

Design Evaluation: When a viewer first arrives at this web site they are greeted by an appealing and when organized page. The topics of this site are clearly presented in a table of contents. A viewer can easily navigate through the pages to find information and each page loads quickly. The copyright date and sponsor are clearly displayed; the copyright date is located at the bottom of each page and the sponsor is located in the upper right hand corner of the home page. The information on this site is worthwhile and relevant to special needs education. Overall the design of this site helps its purpose. Content Evaluation: When a viewer first arrives at this site the audience can be easily determined; the target audience is made up of teachers, parents and care givers of children with learning disabilities. The purpose of LD Online is informational and to provide news related to learning disabilities. The content is well organized in a table of content that can be easily navigated. The content seems to be updated frequently; however a revision date cannot be easily located. There are no dead ends on this site and the links load efficiently. The information on this site appears to be accurate and error free. Over all the content of the site meets the purpose well. Overview: LD Online is intended to be a resource for teachers, parents and care givers of children with learning disabilities. Information on this website includes basic facts about learning disabilities, finding the help you may need as a parent or care giver, and links to other resources. In my opinion this site would be very useful to teachers and parents in order to better understand their children's disabilities. The content and design of this site meets the needs of the viewer. I feel I would use this site as a resource to gain further knowledge and keep up to date with new information on learning disabilities.

Whitney Mills; Website Reviewed: January 24th 2010 Overview: Songsforteaching.com is a website that uses songs to help teach students. It seems as if it'd be very helpful in the classroom because younger age children love to learn through songs!! Content: There are many different aspects on this website that include singing songs in different languages, singing for different holidays, different ages, different subjects, and even for special education students!!! The purpose of the website is clearly defined, and that purpose is to teach through music. The site offers thousands of songs, clips, etc. The links to the other sites work properly and effectively. The grammar and spelling are correct throughout the whole site and the overall content is very well done. I would definitely use this site in my future classroom. The author is stated clearly and it is updated often. Design: The design is very organized. The theme is the same throughout the whole site and it is very easy to follow. The graphics are very well suited to the site. The homepage has strong eye appeal and makes a person want to find out more about the site. I think this is one of the more professional sites I have looked at throughout all the sites I have looked at to review.

Gary Allen Jan. 23, 2011 Overview: This site is great for educators, students, and really just the general public as well. It contains a database of thousands of works by hundreds of different authors that are easily searchable and also easy to find in the index. Content: Countless pieces of literature are contained on this website as well as forums for discussion and even the option for teacher accounts for use in the classroom. Numerous sources contribute to the huge amounts of information on this site which is run through third party company. Design: Another site with a simple yet effective design, The Literature Network is very easy to navigate through and the links are very clearly marked. With an author index as well as a search box and separate links for special categories such as Shakespeare, the Bible, quotes and forums, the site takes no time to get around and the pages all load very quickly so you can spend your time reading instead of waiting. 

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.

Sarah Skinner on January 22, 2010 Overview The purpose of this website is to start getting toddlers interested in books. There are many storybooks available to read to toddler aged children. There are also themed sections for special holidays where coloring page and educational games can be found. My overall impression of this site is that it would be great for toddlers to be able to start getting ready for school activities. Content It is easy to determine the basic content of this site. The site tells exactly who the webpage is for. The author is not clearly identified and I am not able to find a link to find information about the author. The sponsor is clearly identified in the top right hand corner. There is a contact link available to receive more information if needed. The latest revision date is not available and it is unclear if the content is updated frequently. However, this site really does not need information updated since it is reading material for toddlers. All links are working properly. The purpose of the site is clear that it is informational and entertainment. The website looks complete and professional and everything is organized very well. All material is easily understood and has a lot of useful information. The content is free of bias opinions. There are interactivities available for toddlers that make this site more valuable. All information appears to be accurate and correct grammar and spelling are used. There are sites available for teachers and parents as well on the page which would be helpful. Design The homepage downloaded efficiently and is very well put together. There are clear titles and descriptions to let you know where you are. There is an index with a variety of different links to click on. The sponsor is identified clearly and there is a contact link to get a hold of the sponsor. There is no copyright date that I can find. The site is easy to get around in and the directions for using the site are provided and are wri