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Becky Stewart 1/24/11 Average site Overview: The site http://gseis.ucla.edu/ is a site for people interested in the areas listed in this site based on the college. There are no advertisements for anything that isn't related to the site. The purpose of this site is to inform adults about the graduate school, and the subjects that are involved in it. This site is for very old students or adults because this is a program that young kids wouldn't understand or be interested in them. The site provides a lot of links, and a lot of it is basic information which isn't really helpful if someone is looking in depth. Content: The site really isn't complicated to look at, but that is because there really isn't much on the site. The authors aren't clearly stated, however at the bottom of the page there is a copyright date and very good information such as an address. This site was last updated in 2010 so it is a very recent site, which is a good indication that the information is good and up to date. Since this site is more of an information and direction site, there is no indication of bias. There are no grammer mistakes or any indication that anything is wrong with the site. The website doesn't have a lot of extra information. Its is very basic, and that can be a good or bad thing. The sites URL helps to indicate that it is a good credible site where the information can be trusted. Design: The homepage for this site took some time to download because they have a big moving picture on the page and a lot of color and links. This is most likely the reason that the site took a little longer to load. The homepage is very simple and only has a basic information paragraph on it. Overall the site seems to be pretty organized and easy to follow. There is no overload of pictures or animations on the page to confuse people. Its is very easy to move around the site, the links do what

Gary Allen Jan 23, 2011. Overview: As the title suggests, this is a website designed to help kids learn about American history. The site is authored by a man with much experience in presenting history for kids and includes a link to his biography. Content: This site contains many easy to follow links, a glossary, interesting facts, a search box and even some educational games to help present the content. Also included are links to other sites of similar content and a weekly newsletter. There is no date for the last revision of the site, but there is a link to contact the author and ask questions.  Design: The site is fairly simple in design with the main navigation across the top, another menu of links down the left side, and ads on the right side. The lack of flashy elements helps the site load extremely fast however. Navigation is very straightforward and clearly labelled.

Overview: This website's purpose within in a classroom could be for research papers and projects. Each student could choose their own topic and then navigate the links easily to learn more information with concise bullet points, pictures, correlations to current events, and related games. This website included topics in several areas but primarily history, geography, economics, and government. Content: This website has a wide variety of upper elementary social studies information including even broader topics of history, geography, government and economics. The home page had a general toolbar that provided information about the site and the creator. On the left side was a huge bar that linked to many specific history topics such as current events, teaching resources, timelines, and maps. Once you have clicked on a topic from the side bar there are even more links to even narrower research areas. This would be a good site to use for students to create a research project about a topic that they are interested in. There was only one link found that was not up-to-date. Design: The design is not very appealing especially for young children it initially looks a bit bland. Once you have picked a side link and narrowed your topic there are visually appealing pictures and games to go along with the information being taught. The home page took a while to download and had an ad that was generated more towards adults pop-up. The site is easy to navigate following all working links. The website did not work well in Internet explorer but did work well in Google Chrome.

Brianna Gillespie 9/14/11 OVERVIEW: This website is to teach students about the many different subjects related to social studies. Students can use this website to answer almost any questions they could have about social studies. This website is mainly for older children because it has a lot of reading that may be a little difficult for younger children to comprehend. CONTENT: The content includes current events, games, economics, geography, presidents, states, and many more. Within each subject are a variety of links to choose from. Each link is focused on a main point of the subject. There is also a section on the main page titled "This Week in History" with some facts about a certain event that happened in the past. DESIGN: The design has some color, but is a little bland. However, each page has a piece of clipart on it, so it is not completely boring. Children would be able to navigate around this website fairly easily too.

Overview- This site is intended for older elementary students and well as 7th and 8th grade students. This site communicates civics in a very exciting way. There are selections and choices to pick from on the opening page. These choices range from categories such as quizzes, independence, the constitution, legislative, executive, and judicial braches and well as elections, and citizenship. Following your selection of the topic of your choice, one is given additional categories to explore. Content- I like this website because it is very simplistic, but very informative for educational purposes. It is clear and detailed. As an elementary or middle school child this type of website would be an excellent way of establishing ones first book report or learning about government. It is very easy to access all areas of the site. Design- The design is very colorful and eye catching.

Caroline Wittman (Virginia) January 31, 2011 Overview Worksheets4teachers.com aims to provide educational resources for children in kindergarten through high school and their teachers. I focused on the sections of the site dedicated to elementary school science. It quickly became apparent that worksheets4teachers.com has a large number of links to other websites and ads. Unfortunately, the other websites rarely contained any useful information, and they were more often than not entirely unrelated to science. The website did appear to contain significantly better resources for other subject areas, such as math and reading. In addition, the science activities for the upper grades were of higher quality than the ones for elementary school. Content The activities available on the website itself seemed like they would be unchallenging and uninspiring for elementary school children. The word searches, coloring pages, and craft ideas are ill-suited to reinforcing important scientific knowledge or skills. In fact, they were so trite that it's hard to imagine them having a place in any decent science curriculum. Contact information was not readily available, but it was clear the website is updated frequently with new worksheets and lesson plans. Design The layout of this website is confusing, and the design is monotonous, bland, and unprofessional. Many of the links that ostensibly contain information about different science topics or lesson planning resources are really links to for-profit companies offering online degrees, tutoring, or shopping. A significant proportion of these links did not work, and the pop ups are very distracting. Information is difficult to locate, and the format of the site is somewhat inconsistent. The one positive characteristic of the site is that it loaded quickly!

Overview: The Literary Center Education Network is a website created to help children with basic literacy needs in elementary school. There is tons of helpful information for parents and teachers as well as activities for students. This website has several categories of learning that focus on all aspects of elementary level literacy. Content: On this website, you will find a tab titled 'Play and Learn'. In this tab there are several categories that the student is able to choose from including uppercase and lowercase letters, shapes, writing, words, numbers, colors, and keyboard. Once the student enters each category, there is an activity that includes a woman's voice that narrates what the student is to be doing. There is also a 'Parents and Teachers' tab which includes things several additional activities that can be implemented to correspond with the activities the children have already done in the Play and Learn tab. Design: I believe that the design of this website is very user-friendly once the child has entered the Play and Learn tab. There may be some difficulty in getting to this tab, as it is not especially distinctive from the other sections of the website but once they are in the Play and Learn tab, there are several links accompanied by pictures that are easy to navigate even for a child.

John Paul Evans May 18, 2011 Historyteacher.net is a content heavy page providing many teaching resources for history teachers. The website is usable but needs many improvements. Purpose: Historyteacher.net provides a large amount of content for history teachers. This includes, quizes, timelines, study guides and much more. It also devotes some of it's resources towards updating readers on current events in the field. Content: This website does not lack for content. Unfortunately not all the content is managed appropriately. A person can look at the page and reasonably grasp it's purpose, however they may have difficulty finding the content they are searching for. The site provides a great deal of information and is clearly unbiased when approaching history. However, much of the information reads as if it is pulled directly from a text book and often fails to provide citations or even authors. It does provide many links to credible and useful content providers when more information is required. Also all of the content it provides is free of charge. Design: The design of this site is atrocious. It loads up quickly but has so many links and information on a single page that a user does not know where to begin. It doesn't help that flash animations, gifs and unneeded icons and pictures litter the page almost randomly. The color scheme also seems random and makes your eyes begin to verbally cry out in pain. I would recommend an entire overhall on this website's design. It would also be helpful if news and articles would list an author or at the very least a date posted. As it is I have no idea how regularly the site is updated or if it is even currently active.

I found this to be a high quality educational website for elementary school students. It has online educational games as well as informations for hands on activities.  It provides many activities for students to do on their own or for teachers to do in the classroom. It also provides areas so you can submit the results of your experiments to you can compare to other groups of students.  Content: "The Lawrence Hall of Science: 24/7 Science" website  is up to date, and activities are current and appealing to today's students. Although the "Educator Information" link is not yet available, it provides many activities that would be appropriate to use in a classroom. It also explores a wide variety of scientific subjects that are explored in the classroom today.  Design: This website is very easy to navigate to find certain pages. It is very colorful and appealing to children in elementary school. The displays help to easily determine which games are online and which are activity guides provide for hands on science experiments. 

Mandi Pollard 09-05-2011 http://www.arteducators.org/news-news OVERVIEW: It is clear that this website is available to provide information for teachers who are looking for it. It appears that this website is complete and is not under any construction whatsoever. All of this site's content is well organized and it is easy to navigate your way around this site. This website also provides many useful articles and ideas that can be very beneficial for teachers as well as individuals aspiring to become teachers. I cannot find any bias in this website just like I cannot find any grammatical or spelling errors. Finally, the links available on this website take me to other sites that are beneficial and additional sources of information on the topics available on this site. Overall I feel that this site is worth bookmarking and coming back to for information as it is needed. CONTENT: This website has many articles available to the teacher viewing the site, all containing information about the authors. This site also very clearly shows the authors of the site, as well as the sponsors. This site also clearly shows an address and phone number that can be taken advantage of to reach the authors of the site as well as people who could help with any questions the viewer may have. This website also clearly shows the latest revision date of its material, which just so happens to be September 2011, this shows me that this site is very current and is revised frequently. All links available on this website in order to gain additional information work properly and take the viewer to very helpful websites. DESIGN: At first look, this website has a very professional feel to it. The colors used for this site are all complementary to one another, and aren't too flashy and bright so the reader concentrates on the content of the site as opposed to the appearance. The words are all legible and it seems that it would be easy to navigate around this site. It al

Overview: This website is intended for Preschool teachers who would like lesson, ideas, and printouts. Within each subheading there is background information of the subject for the teachers, as well as activities and printouts for the students. There are up to date materials that relate well to students, and are easily accessible by teachers. This is a wonderful, one that I will be using once I graduate and start a Preschool. Content: When the website is first opened it is easy to determine the purpose and audience that was intended. There are no authors available but the sponsor is at the bottom of the website, with a link to give feedback. This was last updated in 2010, which is very current considering the type of material; material for little kids do not change all that much within a year. There is a ton of information available on this site. There are themes as well as activities. Within each of these there is a little info about the subject for the teacher and resources, activities and printouts for the students. There is also a links that leads to what they call their sister sites, which provide more ideas. Design: This site is pleasing to the eye. There are colors that go well together, but are not over-powering. The information is well organized and clearly defined. Each link works and leads to where is desired. There is a link to many others links that are helpful and along the same subjects.

Lacey Glenn September 6, 2011 Overview: I found this site through my diigo.com community library. I did not like this site. The home page is overwhelming and ads pop up and inhibit you from looking for what you want to. I wouldn't recommend this site to anyone. Content: This site gives a specific book, song, or story that they think would be helpful in teaching children. Some of the information might be reliable, but it's not a source that I would count on. Design: The site home page is very overwhelming. There are many different colors all combined together and some of the words and letters are flashing. The layout is horizontal and spread out, but it's too much to look at. I wasn't fond of this site.

Katrina Knapic9/4/11 Overview Autism Speaks is a website that is meant to educate and help raise awareness about autism. Its intended audience is parents whose children have autism, as well as teachers who have autistic students. There are multiple links to other areas of the website with pertinent information.  It's overall design is not too complicated, but is does take some navigation to get to more information. Content The content that is presented on this website ranges from basic to more in depth. There are recent articles regarding autism and science, family services, and autism in the news. There are links to how to donate to Autism Speaks and where the next Walk for Autism will be located. The articles are up to date, and there are ways to contact the Board of Directors.  Design The overall design of the website is meant to be inviting and is laid out in an easy tab system.  The home page indicates that this is a website meant to be informative and to give out support. The color scheme is very easy on the eye and compliments the tab system that is used for the table of contents and links. The photos on the website relate back to content and add an air of hope and inspiration. 

Nicole Sutton 9/5/11 Overview: The Mathematics Lessons that are fun website is a simple website that provides math lessons and activities. The age range the website is extremely unclear. The website is only for math and no other subject and I find the home page rather confusing. The author of the website is very clear however the website looks very jumbled and not professional. The website is unclear in many areas. Content: The Mathematics Lessons that are fun website contains a jumbled set of boxes that are links to games and lessons for math. The quality of the website is not very helpful. I find it hard to find the information reliable because there is an author but no title or reason she is an expert. There is not a list of people involved and there is no clear purpose of the website given. There does not seem to be a sponsor nor any way to contact the owner of the website. There are no other resources given on the website. My overall impression with the content of the site was that is it very poor and unreliable. Design: The Mathematics Lessons that are fun website has an attractive but simple lay out, however is over powered by the confusion of the confusing links. You are not sure where to go upon the arrival of the home page. The copy write is given at the bottom of the page however it is not current which gives the impression that the site has not been edited in a long time. The use of multimedia is confusing there are random graphics and almost annoying colors everywhere. The information including grade level is not clear and the website does not contain easy to navigate links. The website is not a very reliable one and not one I would use for my classroom.

Danielle Walter 9/5/11 Storyplace: The Chldren's Digital Library Overview: The Storyplace.org website is a great educational website for both English speaking students and Spanish speaking students. Or it also can be used for helping a child learn English or Spanish. The website has activities for pre-school age children and also for elementary age children. It offers an online reading, an activity, a take home activity and also a reading list so children can explore other books. The website is a great resource for teachers and parents to help children be excited about reading. Content: The Storyplace.org website is easy to navigate for children and adults. It is also set up nicely. It has the grade levels on the left side and when you click on one it comes up with a menu of the reading and activities. This is a great website for helping children learn how to read and to become excited about reading, but it is also great for teaching children how to navigate the web and to show them how useful it can be in learning. Design: The Storyplace.org website has very bold colors that are eye catching. It's also easy to navigate. It is a .org website so I would trust it to be a good website for my children or students to be on. It also contains the copyright on the page so it is even more trusted.

Nicole Sutton 9/5/11 Overview: The e learning for kids website is a nonprofit foundation that provides free and fun learning activities on the Internet. The website is for ages 5-12 but can also be used by people in the education department, parents who want to connect and learn what their kids are learning, as well as game developers who want to contribute. e-learning for kid's hopes to be a better source for children 's learning through being available through the Internet so it can be accessed from anywhere. It's free and offers course content in math, science reading and keyboarding. The website helps children master these important basics so they can be successful in their future lives. e-learning has many partners and supporters; there are also helpful resources such as a media link that connects you to new, case studies and other important information. Content: The e learning for kids website is very easy to navigate, and is very high quality. There is a very nicely laid out home page where you can click on the grade level you need. Below the grade level there is a list of subjects you can choose from. There is also a choice of languages to choose from at the very top of the page. Once you click on a grade or subject it gives you a list of fun and helpful activities as well as what grade it would be best for. The content of the site is very helpful and well laid out. The website seems reliable as well because it gives you a list of board members, executive team and advisory board so you know exactly who is involved in the website and what they do for the site. Overall I got a very good impression from the content of this well laid out website. Design: The e-learning website is very easy to navigate and very pleasing to the eye. It is colorful and lays out all the links that you need on the home page. There is a clear area to contact the creators of the site and sponsors or partners were very easy to determine. The copy writes date is clear and the

Overview: This website is a good website for teachers who need fun and creative ideas for many different activities and lesson for Preschoolers and Kindergarteners. The last time this webpage was updated was in 2010, this is fairly recent, since that is within the last year. There are a variety of activities, games, quizzes, and many printouts. The intended audience is teachers who are looking for ideas. I love this website. It was easy to navigate and gave me a ton of great ideas and printouts I can use. Content: This website is full of links, all of which work, that lead to many different types of content from letters and numbers to animals to coloring pages. Within each of these sub-headings there are many activities and ideas to use for the children in your class. Each section and sub-sections are clearly defined and have pictures that correspond. The last update was last year, this seems to be a while ago, but since material for pre-k does not change drastically in a year, it is still up to date. There is not any information on the author, so that is lacking, but overall the content on this website is up to date and easy to access. Design: The design of this website has all links well defined and organized. There are pictures that also correspond to all of the links and headings. There is easy navigation throughout the whole website and everything is easy to access. Everything is up to date. There are a few varieties of media, mostly in the form of words and images. There is a copyright, also with a description as to how the website can be used for educational purposes.

Adrianne Lauman September 02, 2011 Overview The purpose of this free website is to provide knowledge and awareness of North American bird species and their habitat. The site encourages people to make connections to science and nature through bird watching. The information is directed toward people of all ages who have an interest or curiosity to learn more regarding ornithology. Video clips, audio clips, colorful photos, range maps and life histories are available for investigating bird species. The site provides expert knowledge on the subject of birds in a clear and visually pleasing manner. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology developed this website and the National Science Foundation supports it. Content The site appears well organized with a visible heading to initiate a search for information on bird species. The search feature has an automatic fill in based on the first letters typed to allow the user to locate the bird of interest. Interactive selections allow a person to listen to bird sounds, as well as watch video footage of the bird. The site provides opportunities to "ask an expert" about topics concerning ornithology and information on how to participate in bird projects. One project named Feeder Watch allows people to send in their own data based on their bird watching experiences. Design The website has clear headings to locate topics and information. The copyright information and developer of the site are displayed at the bottom of each page. The photos of the birds are eye-catching and appealing. The information provided by the site is abundant and well worth viewing.

Lyle Wiley September 10, 2011 Overview: Shakespeare Online is an informative site focusing on Shakespeare's work, life, plays, and scholarship. The site seems most geared towards students of Shakespeare of all ages and Shakespearian scholars but contains a good many resources for the educator as well. This frequently updated site has a girth of articles to fill the Shakespeare friendly palate, including play summaries, current Shakespeare headlines, study questions, quizzes, and tips for studying Shakespeare. Shakespeare Online is a useful informative website that could benefit from more interactive media influence and external links, but the site exists as a useful educational resource nonetheless. Content: The content of Shakespeare Online is outstanding. It is easy to determine the purpose and organization of the site and the authorship of the site and contact information are readily available. The author seems qualified to present the information and, by all accounts, produces an ambitious amount of Shakespearian material which is updated frequently. While there are few external links, the information on the website is well organized and grand in scope. Design: While the general design of the website appears rather plain and primarily text based, the fast downloading homepage is well organized and indexed with numerous links (if a little crowded with text). It is very easy to find the website content and the authorship information as well. The frequently updated information on the website is excellent, yet the design could certainly be improved. There are few external links or media resources, both of which would help the interactivity of the site and its general appearance as well.

Tessa Kaufman Shakespeare Online Overview Shakespeare Online is a super useful website. Any teacher teaching Shakespeare should take the time to look at this site. It has useful everyday information such as the word of the week and quote of the week, which pertains to something from the Shakespearian age. There is also a proverb of the day which shows that the author updates the site daily. It has useful information for both students and teachers. I feel teachers can get ideas on how to teach the plays in a better way and also to teach students useful vocabulary. Students could utilize this site to get a better feel for Shakespeare. They can look over study guides and reading the plays online has explanatory notes at the bottom for better understanding. Content The amount of information within this site is amazing. The home page has many things that can be accessed that are useful. Every play and sonnet is in on this site with study guides available for some. There is a place for famous quotes. It explains the sources of the plays and where they originated. There is a biography, glossary, and even quizzes. Teachers could utilize the quizzes in class and maybe use them for a supplementary tool along with the in class paper quizzes. Design When the page first popped up I thought it was a little too cluttered with text. The text on the home page is organized and very easy to understand with the purple lines separating the text. The side clearly gives links to other pages that are useful. There is also a search bar for easy access of information. You can easily find the author and contact information. Besides the overload of text at first it is clearly easy to understand and navigate.

The content of this site is has Spanish, grammar, math and science. You are able to choose which section that you would like to work on and learn by playing games. The games are based for elementary students but the Spanish versions could help high school students learn as well as have fun playing games.The design is very user friendly. They have toolbars on the top and left had side of the page so that you can easily navigate to where you want to go. There are also pictures that go with the game and a description of what the game entails underneath. There are also bright colors to make the website very aesthetically pleasing. I think that this is a good site because it could easily be utilized by a variety of teacher of different age groups not just elementary as it is intended. If I wanted high school students to use this site they could work on cleaning up their Spanish grammar by picking that certain picture. If one game wasn't working out for one student they could always pick from the others that are available.