Katie Hertel 1-24-2010 Overview: SFS Kids Fun with Music is a website designed to educate children and adolescents about the fundamentals of music. It also provides a great way for people of all ages to hear, learn and have fun with music. Overall it has the accurate information needed and has valuable resources but it doesn't show where it is directly coming from making the accuracy and authority questionable. These resources help if the website is not working correctly along with system requirements in order for it to work effectively and efficiently. Content: The content of this website is supported as one of the best educational music sites out there but it has faults due to the system requirements that it has. In order for it to work the way it's supposed to the required content includes Flash and audio players and Quicktime VR. Although downloading these takes time away from the learning it's quick and easy to do. It includes the kinds of instruments in an orchestra and a music lab full of fun facts and definitions of things related with music. Most of it was easily accessible and contained a lot of information but it didn't give credible information on where it was coming from. It also includes various symphonies that you can take children to enjoy great music and educate at the same time. All in all, the downsides of this included the required programs and not having credibility present. I also had trouble finding dates of publication which is definitely a disadvantage as well. Design: This site is somewhat visually attracting but it only takes up half of a webpage leaving the other side a solid yellow. It kind of takes away from the sites information that it can provide because of the little space used. While it has these faults, it also has good points to it visually due to no advertisements popping up randomly or on the side and is easy to navigate through. The headlines of the tabs easily show what that section is about and tidbits o

Katie Hertel 1-24-2010 Overview: Funschool is a teaching tool that provides educational games ranging of content for pre-school through sixth grade students. It also has a resource section for teachers and parents to use that gives tips on how to educate children in an entertaining way. I found that it had many games relevant to learning but there are quite a few games that have no educational value at all which isn't necessarily a bad thing but not great either. I also probably wouldn't integrate this in with the teaching of future students but it wouldn't be harmful to a kids learning environment at home. Content: As I reviewed this website I found that it had a variety of games and activities that help teach but the content is so broad that it is easy to get sidetracked. It contains links that each have an educational topics such as Timewarp relating to historical events, Globerider as learning about different areas in the world, and Formula Fusion which helps enhance science and mathematical knowledge. All of these have relevant content related to learning for each grade Pre-K through sixth. The information that is being taught through the games is straightforward but not as entertaining as they appear to be. It would be easy to lose interest of the audience that it aims for as it is not very challenging. Design: Although many of the games were easy to navigate through, it may be hard for younger children to understand because of all the cluttered content. The ads were also overwhelming and distracting that have no relation to the site making it hard to concentrate on the content it is supposed to.

Katie Hertel 1-23-2010 Overview: PBS educational games, videos and activities is an educational website for younger early childhood children. It teaches through many of the popular kids education television shows such as Barney, Author, Sesame Street, Dragon Tales, etc. There are available resources to parents and teachers to make sure this website is teaching their children in an effective way. Overall, my impression of this website was that it is an easy effective way to entertain your children through educational ways that are fun and entertaining. Content: As I explored on the website I found that it was easy to navigate. There are links formed as circles that have a picture of the educational animated television shows that kids today are familiar with. When clicking on these links it pulls up that shows official website which has clippings of the show, fun activities, and games related to that specific show that help younger children grow familiar with what they are learning outside of just the game. The information that is taught can be a reliable way to help teach children. Along with reliable material it has supported detail of the sites publication information. Design: This site is well designed and easy to understand how to access what kind of educational experience you want. It is very appealing, especially to a child's eye. Not very many irrelevant advertisement interruptions appear to be a problem. Although a lot of sources on this website prove to be a safe and reliable way of helping children learn, it is also obvious that it is for money purposes as well.

Katie Hertel 1-22-09 Overview: This website provides various educational materials to its primary users of students, teachers and parents. The purpose of this website is to educate about numerous subjects and provide preparatory material for standardized testing. It is set up so you can click on links such as Weekly News, Info Central, Global Warming, Elections in the US and Games and more. It also has Student and Teacher Resources containing lesson plans and study guides and practice tests for the standardized testing. Overall I found it to be okay but definitely has room for improvement. Content: When navigating through the links I found that there was quite a range of information that you can click on to learn about your desired topic that was accurate, according to my viewpoint at least. Although it had that, I also found that the Weekly News and the Elections in the US did not work. It supports decent educational value and has stated authors for certain articles and even a link to read about the author giving it credit that is reliable. This website has a twice monthly publication so the web page has authority and accurate information is being placed on the site. Design: Its design was easy to understand and eye catching along with very few to no advertisements that distract from many other sites. It had various links to other pages that relate to the site and shows how to use the site. Because of its structure, it may be hard to access the information you want unless you know what you are doing.