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.

Ben Lebeda primarygames.com 9/14/11 Overview: My impression of this site is that it is more focused more on games and advertising than on education. It did have different sections dedicated to different subjects, but the games were way easier to access than the educational content, which turned out to be only made up of educational games. This website was clearly designed for young users and not ideally suited for use in a classroom. Content: The basic content of this site was indeed easy to determine, as it was predominantly games, which means that the intended audience is students. The site seemed to be a collection of games, some of which could be educational. It was unclear what exactly the purpose of this site was, as it consisted mainly of games. There were much more non-educational games available on this site than educational games, which is obviously not a good thing when looking at potential websites for in class use. Design: This website certainly was an attention-getter, with all the bright colors and advertisements for games. There was a navigation bar on the top of the website, but all the pages appeared to be the same, as every page had games on it. There were also numerous advertisements, which at times were distracting and made the website very colorful and flashy. It was also a little unclear as to how often the site was updated.

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.

Ben Lebeda 9/14/11 Ixl.com is a great mathematics site that can be used by both teachers and students because of the great resources available. It breaks down math skills by grade and has activities that can help practice and refines those skills, from Pre-K all the way up through Algebra. One very helpful feature of this site is the membership portion, in which students can use the site to practice their math skills, and parents and teachers can receive updates and reports about their progress. The site also offers awards and certificates to help celebrate milestones. I think that the intended audience of the site is both educators and students, because it has entertaining skill-building games, and also teachers can keep track of their students' progress. Content: ixl.com had excellent content in my opinion. It was extremely well laid out, and super easy to navigate. Students or teachers should have no trouble finding their specific grade levels or specific math skills that they might need. Unfortunately, there is a limit to what can be done on this website without a membership, so a membership would be necessary to take full advantage of all the resources on this site. This site is a very credible source for math education information, because it has all the state standards, along with skills on the website that would help with each of those skills. I think that ixl.com had great content. Design: I think that ixl.com has a very professional look and layout. Everything fits within the color scheme and there are no advertisements for other sites visible. It is very easy to navigate, and very user-friendly. Overall, this is just a very professional website.