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Overview: This site is informative. It covers a lot of subjects mostly dealing with the subject of English and including grammar and writing. The author is clearly identified and, after searching online about the author, I've determined that the author is exclusive to this site. The site is sort of in a blog format, but organized well enough to maneuver freely without hesitation. The sponsor is clearly displayed on the site and thought the contact information is not readily available, there is access to a contact by email. Content: The content is highly informational and accurate. The author updates the site every day, with new posts and updates for his existing revisions and writings. The material is appropriate for high school students and college level students as well. There are few to no external links displayed, for the reason of exclusivity. The site is well organized which makes it easy to find something specific you are looking for. The information is consistent with similar information in other sources and the grammar and spelling are correct. Design: the page downloads efficiently. Although the author has not made the site flashy or outright colorful, he makes up for it in content. Directions to the site are easy and clear to understand. The categories are visible on the home page and can be easily maneuvered. There are few graphics displayed on the website, but then this site is not geared towards elementary schools. The design is basic and useful. The same basic format is consistent through the full site which makes the information easier to find.

ZDNet is a blogging news site that specializes in all things geeky. It covers recent technology and problems and solutions associated with it. It's sister site it CNET. However, whereas CNET focuses on the consumer market--with several reviews of consumer products, ZDNet is geared more towards IT professionals and hobby geeks.

Jacqueline Twiford Web Site Review September 20, 2009 http://www.schoolworld.com/teacherSites.cfm?subpage=502 "School World", is wonderful way to incorporate technology into your classroom. This site allows you as a teacher to post assignments, announcements, and messages and even quizzes online. By incorporating this site into your classroom you are also including parents in their student's education. CONTENT This site's purpose is very obvious once you read through the first few paragraphs. Through this site you can build a webpage for your classroom, for a small cost. By utilizing this website you can bring your classroom into the student's home, including parents in their learning. As a teacher you can post grade book information to quizzes and notes to the parents and students. This is a great way to incorporate technology into your classroom on a daily basis; also it is beneficial to have a site that you can check on student's progress at any point. DESIGN "School World", is a very organized website allowing you to immediately see what the content is and how it can apply to you and your classroom as well as how it can help you. An interesting icon I noticed was the awards of excellence and teacher's choice winner, all very reputable awards that makes me feel this site is a very reputable one for teacher s to use. It also encourages use of this site to include organization ad technology as well as including adults in the child's education. Through this site you can have students help you update content as well as yourself in seconds. This site is an excellent way to incorporate technology as well as keep a well organized classroom for a small amount a year.

Mike Wilson Site review September 18, 2009 NASA Education Grades 9-12 Introduction As this is a NASA site, it is an awesome resource. While my selection is for Grades 9-12, the site covers K-12 + higher education. The purpose is to give all students direct access to NASA space and aeronautics content through educational programs including high school internships. The A-Z Index for Students contains links to hundreds of NASA programs. The main NASA Education home page has a Google rank of 8/10, the Grades 9-12 has a Google rank of 6/10. Content Evaluation First Look First look is a bit busy and boxy. There are 7 + information boxes above the fold along with a top left menu. Information Providers It is NASA! Information Currency Last updated September 15,2009 by Shelly Canright. Extensive and updated future, current and past NASA program information. Information Quality The quality of the information is exceptional and seemingly endless, presented in a wide variety of formats. Images, video, podcasts, NASA TV, Interactive, 3D, RSS, Blogs. Design Evaluation Speed As with most NASA sites, a bit slow on the load. Considering the information presented, on each page, the speed is acceptable. Home Page If you are a space science student, this is the page for you. Geared to the 9-12 viewer with the exciting science you are looking for. Ease of Navigation Due to the depth of the information, there is some digging to be done to get what you want. Use of multimedia Comprehensive use of all multimedia formats. Browser compatibility Viewed only on IE7 Content Presentation From NASA Facebook, Career Profiles, MyNasa for homework help, Missions, if it's Space Science you will find it here presented world class.

This website is for Early Childhood teachers and of them to get free lesson plans, units, and materials. Overall, this is a really cool website. I would use this website for lesson plan ideas and it is current information. It was last copyrighted in 2013-2014. They have a ton of different websites that teachers can go to and get different ideas. Also, there are blogs that you can follow to get more ideas. This website also includes the different degrees that you can get in different states. All the information is current and relevant for early childhood education. This website is very plain. However, I think that it is appropriate for the audience that it is for. It is professional in a way that you know it is reliable. This website is very nice and full of a ton of good information.

Alyssa Maurer The website Teaching Channel is designed to connect teachers to one another across the world. The site also provides video demonstrations of in class techniques that can be used for video reflection and coaching. The audience is for teachers across the country that can influence and assist one another. The entire website is based on connectivity between all teachers who visit the website. The website also acts as a social networking site by allowing visitors who register with the site create profiles. My impression of the website is that it could be a very useful tool for teachers to continue to improve their lesson plans and to be able to retrieve constructive criticism. The Teaching Channel as a website seems to be very useful as a teaching resource for teachers. It was created specifically for teachers to connect with one another and share their experiences in expectation that the audience can gain knowledge from others practices. As a visitor of the website you can also select grade level and topics to further a specific search of videos. Along with the videos which is the main portion of the website they also have a blog, newsletter, and questions and answers page. The website is created by a non-profit organization that clearly defines their mission, contact information, terms and conditions of the website, discussion guidelines, video guidelines, media coverage, and frequently asked questions. The site seems to be quite user friendly with a modern look to the setup of the website. A critique of the website would be the visual aspect of the website. It also only allows teachers to interact with one another and forgets to include students and parents. The site does seem to be modern and created in our generation for easy access and navigation. The videos are filtered by subject so that each teacher can easily navigate through the website to reach the desired subject area.

Alyssa Maurer ITEC-2360 Prof. Craig E. Shepherd Web Resources Evaluation The website, Americans for the Arts (www.americansforthearts.org) is an interactive resource website that specifically dedicated to promoting, sustaining, and supporting all art education within the United States. The main intended audience of this website is educators, professors, students, and individuals interested in supporting the arts within their communities. The website includes the local, state, and advocacy for art education to precisely portray their purpose to their audience. The research for supporting the arts is included along with forums to connect to resources and alliances within communities across the nation. The website seems to be full of valuable information and ways to connect with others within your community to share and explore ways to support the arts. The content of the website is specific and to the point. The mission of the organization is easily found and the creators of the organization can be contacted directly through email. They have a newsletter section along with blogs that keeps the viewer up to date and able to comment and discuss topics online. Their research studies and publications are all uploaded to the website showing that they have dedicated research to proving the importance of the arts. There is a lot of content within this website which is almost overwhelming though when first visiting the site. It would take a lot of time to explore the entirety of this website. The design of the website is modern and nicely organized. The drop down menus allow for the design elements of the website to be consistent throughout the entire website. Important links to different parts of the website are shown in bold blocks that are in yellow and red, demanding attention. The images shown are usually of individuals allowing you to visualize the author and or the subject from a lecture that is summarized. Ways to connect to the website is shown through soci

Gil Lowrey- 10/7/12 Overview: Mathwire is a site made by a teacher for teachers. A teacher named Terry put it together to help other teachers, and potentially students, with ideas that can be used in the classroom for several different grades and several different aspects of math. Content: The content is great, but can be overly specific at times. What I mean is, if you are looking for an addition activity, you can find those, but you will also find addition activities in other areas, like how to add variables. Design: The design is good, but it is clearly made by an amateur. That is not to take anything away from this site, it is excellent looking and easy to find information, but there are times it is a little hard to navigate. Also, in the Blog section, the main tool bar is changed which causes confusion on how to get back to the home page.

Overview: The purpose of this site is focused on entertainment, although some educational games (especially early education) are available. Based on the content and design, it is quite clear that this site is for children. There are many different recourses that are also available for children. At the end of some games, additional links to games of the same genre are given for further entertainment. The site also includes videos, pictures, blogs, as well as a news section designed with information that would be appealing to children Content: This site is designed to entertain kids with many different options in each category provided. Each category contains many subcategories to narrow the search of entertainment. I also find that throughout the material provided, preschool category provides a majority of the educational entertainment. The remaining categories may include educational material but focuses on humor or "top news" of young celebraties. Design: This website has an appropriate amount of eye appeal. Although the background of the site is white, the many different categories and links are abundant in color and graphics. The blue "goop" encompassing the title immediately attracts the imagination of children and encourages creative thinking. Also, each category is age appropriate. I found nothing that would be unsuitable or baleful for young minds.

Overview: This is a free site that allows users to create and publish their own stories after creating an account. It is intended for all writers, but has specific features for educators and students. Users do not need an email account and there is no minimum age requirement. The site has templates, artwork, and programming for book creation as well as teacher administrative capabilities. This site has excellent design and content and is perfect for the classroom. Content: Users can quickly tell that the site is for publishing stories and that it is appropriate for all audiences. No authors are identified, but it is clear that storybird is a corporation with many contributors and the content they generate indicates that they are qualified. There is a "contact us" link in the help section and there is an "about" section as well. Last updated information is available on all stories, but not on general site content. All links function. In addition, it is easy to navigate and there is a how to video. Content is complete, organized, easy to understand, and free of bias. The site is almost entirely interactive as it is based on creation. I explored several eBook tools and this one is the best one for teachers. The site does not have any external links, but all content serves its purpose. Design: The homepage is visually attractive and downloads quickly. Navigation is simple and content is clear. There are many resources to help first time users navigate and use the software. The site sponsor information is available at the blog and at the help section. There is a link to email for assistance. The site is easy to navigate, includes an index at the bottom of the page, and all links are active. Excellent multimedia is used to make the site look good. The website is available on a variety of browsers, including Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Safari. The content of the site is excellent for the classroom. The content is organized, easy to use, and design is consi

Visual Examples of Organic and Geometric shapes

This website provides examples to students of visual instruction to organic and geometric shapes. This webpage links other students work from outside the classroom and provides inspiration to my students for pieces of their own art. Grades 2-4 would benefit from this page. Content: This page was rated average in content because of how specific a topic it had. I couldn't find things like last revision date. I didn't like how the content was presented since it was mainly pictures with captions. I did like the difference in art between each student and I feel like it would be beneficial to show when on the topic of Shapes in art. This page also links to other artistic topics of drawing, like the 'Great Wave' in Asian art and Egyptian Symbols. Design: Since this is a single blog entry post, I do not favor the site design. I feel it lacks in off-site information and thus is insufficient. I would use it as a supplement tool but not the bases for a whole lesson. The reference page for the teach is quite informational and would provide a good source for any questions. ~A.Rodriquez

An article about dismissed copyright infringement on the musical sound of Pi.

Allyson Boyer Review date 2/2/12 This website is intended for the general public, teachers, and parents. This site is an online newspaper website and the specific page that I was interested in was a story on a teacher having an outstanding classroom environment. There are a lot of available resources as well as various categories listed on this site that you are able to view. Overall, I think that this site has good information; it is current and has a variety of stories, I would however not necessarily use it for research, but more as an enjoyment site. When I was looking over the content of this website I had mostly positive reviews. I enjoyed the fact that this website had multiple links concerning education. The site is updated daily with multiple stories, including stories from decorating your classroom to managing your classroom. I found that there were few things that I didn't like about this website, but one thing that bothered me was that there was no information about the author. It said who wrote the story, but it fails to reveal any information about the author. I also thought that the site was a little busy and disorganized. There were links everywhere. The site as I said before is updated daily, but it is not updated about the story I am interested in which is making a classroom environment enjoyable. When I first navigated to this page I thought that the story looked interesting. There was a wonderful picture displayed that showed the meaning of the story. As I began to read the page I thought it was interesting and wanted to visit the rest of the site. I ventured to the home page and found myself completely lost. There were ads for other products jumping out at me from the side margins, there were multiple tabs that I could click on everywhere, and there was a list of blogs. I kept exploring and found out that not all of the outdated material had been removed. Overall, the site seemed very busy and a little confusing to navigate, but I liked

Stephanie Mecca 2/5/12 Overview: The purpose of this site is to provide information on different types of art and the artists that work with art. The site includes the Art 21 episodes and short videos that can be seen on the PBS TV channel and includes written blogs about the Art 21 artists that are featured in the episodes. The intended audience is not just for education uses but anybody can enter the site to learn about art. Teachers could use this site to teach students about different artists and about the types of art. There are some links to the PBS site that provides other resources but there are not many other resources. Content: From the main page the viewer can see that the site includes information about artists and includes videos and episodes. The intended audience can be seen as art-seeking individuals by just looking at the overall art theme. The site douse include a whole section about the site and the people who work on the site and on the Art 21 episodes. You can read about the sites policies and terms of use, you can also easily email any of the board of trustees. The content of the whole site serves a general art purpose including current and past art. The site is well organized but doesn't clarify the currency of the information, meaning it doesn't include revision dates or updates information. Design: The overall design of the site is appealing, with the bright pink color and clear pictures. There is an easy-to-read top menu that you can click on and the copyright is at the bottom of each page. The site is easy to navigate though there are no directions on how to use the site. There some links to the PBS web site but not many other external links. The video files load easily and are clearly seen and heard. There is a lot of information to make it a sufficient site devoted to artists and art. The site uses the same basic format throughout and provides contact information for further information.

Overview: The Constitution.org site has many purposes, including business, information, news, and finally persuasion. The site is directed towards a more literate and comprehensive audience or a higher level student, especially one holding conservative political views. The site provides links to other sites, including amend-it.org, nullifynow.net, and grand-jury.net, as well as many others. The site also links to basic informational places regarding the Constitution. Overall, the website was not impressive: it was confusing, disorganized, and biased. Content: The website definitely had an agenda, seen through its external links, advertisements, and some of the news articles provided. Unfortunately, the bias is not easy to discern. Some of the informational links are exactly that-informational, but often times difficult to comprehend due to some of the higher level subjects. There are blogs one can access, but there are not many interactive parts to the site. Design: The overall design of the site was poor. There were no organized labels for the different sections of information-ie Constitution, Economics, and so on. It was hard to maneuver easily. Many parts of the site did not look similar at all and it was hard to figure out what one was supposed to get from it. The links to the outside are easy to find. Finally, there were few graphics to make the site visually appealing. It was not pretty.

A story on NPR about community colleges and failing math scores

A story on NPR about community colleges and failing math scores

Morgan Kuchta September 1, 2010 Sparknotes.com Overview This site is a great resource for students who struggle with reading in school. The website provides book and chapter summaries and plot overviews along with character analysis for all main characters in each book reviewed. The books that Spark Notes provides information on are those that have deep and complex plot lines and character development that are often found in classrooms of all grade levels. Perhaps one of the most useful tools on this website is called "No Fear Shakespeare", which translates the old English of Shakespeare into modern English so that students might have an easier time remembering information and comprehending it. Although the site organization is poor and it throws too much information onto one page, I believe this website could be an extremely valuable resource to teachers who assign reading to their classes. Content At first look it is easy to tell where you are and what is provided, in general, on the site. The audience is pretty clearly defined as students but it is difficult to tell exactly who will benefit most from this sitel There were no listed authors for the site although there were authors listed for each of the book summaries done on each separate page with an email address attached. The revision dates are included on every book review and the links to related sites are all functioning. The information quality was incredible. Although it was not well organized, it is by far the most comprehensive literacy site that I have used in the last few years. The other links posted were pretty good, although most of them were just for the interest of the users rather than usefulness for help with English homework. Design The homepage download was no problem, while it was attractive to the eye, it was a little information heavy and a it was kind of hard to tell exactly where I needed to navigate. There were a LOT of advertisements in the margins and even in other areas of th

Randi McInerney September 15, 2011 Overview: The website "Sparknotes" is an educational and entertainment website with various study resources available. The information is most relevant to high school aged students, but late middle school and college students, as well as teachers, could also benefit from this site. College video tours, book summaries, analysis, and quizzes, and ACT/SAT/AP/GRE test preparation material, and news articles are also available. The content and design are effective and organized, but the advertisements can be distracting and seem overwhelming. This site can be abused by students wishing to plagiarize or to avoid reading a book, but has so many great things to offer if it is used appropriately. Content: There is a lot of educational material available on this site. Video clips, interactive tours, blogs, cartoons, and more can all be found on this site. There are various links in order to contact them, but no direct contact information like an address is provided. Besides educational material, there is lifestyle, entertainment, and dating information. I think that this may be distracting from the educational aspects of the site, but it makes sense because of the audience the website is intended for. Design: The site downloads efficiently and is visually interesting, especially for the intended audience of young adults. The site is easy to navigate, especially if you know what you are looking for from the start. In this case, the search bar will help you easily locate what you are looking for if it is indeed on the site.

Sparknotes is a resource aimed at high school and college students. It offers summaries of literary works as well as test prep. The main purpose of the site is to simplify in-depth texts down to a modern English level. Unfortunately, these summaries are not all that is available. The site largely consist of entertainment news. This aspect dominates the site, making it hard to find the reviews and study resources. Because of this my overall impression is that the site includes a good about of information for those looking for it, but is also a place where one can very easily get side tracked, rendering its information useless. It is worth a bookmark, but is not the most useful thing. The content of this site is very diverse. As for the literary summaries, there are over 100 on some of the best known works in many different subject areas. The site is up to date and loads easily. Most of the summaries are based off of the most recent publications of texts. The site is confused about its purpose. The summaries and text prep sections are hard to find while entertainment news is profusely advertised and easy to find. The educational sections are labeled in small black index style links, while the entertainment section has large magazine like spreads. Although the site has relevant information that is consistent and helpful, it is congested with much needless gossip that has potential for abuse. The websites speed is quite good. It loads very fast comparatively. The homepage is attractive, but is attractive for the wrong reasons. It is hard to find relevant information on the site (although there is a lot of it). This makes navigation of the site difficult and can easily suck the user into a "twilight zone." The site is strong on most platforms, even having apps available. Content presentation is mores streamlined on the app, but is congested on a web version. An administrator is available to answer any questions and provide further information.

Brianna O'Shea October 13, 2014 Overview: The purpose of this article is to tell the two sides of bilingual classes and what both side, whether to keep in schools or get rid of, think about bilingual classes in relation to their children. Some believe that teaching a second language simply hinders teaching and lowers test scores while the other side believes that students should have the right to learn two languages, including their home language. The audience is meant for those debating whether to keep bilingual classes in their children's' schools or not, especially Latino parents. Overall, this article is a good read and presents good reasons on both sides of the argument. Content: The title states both the purpose of the article and the intended audience, yet while the author is provided, information about the author is not available. The sponsor is identified, yet there is not obvious way to contact them. The article is up to date and the content is complete while also achieving its purpose. It is organized and doesn't seem to be biased as it presents both sides. Design: The title is clear and it is visually attractive with small, easy to read paragraphs. The sponsor is clearly identified and the copyright date is easy to find. It is easy to search the site and provides good information to make the site worth visiting. The format is consistent throughout the site and is easy to follow. The date is clearly visible yet no link is provided to contact the author.

Brianna O'Shea October 13, 2014 Overview: The purpose of this article is to talk about what the purpose of the No Child Left Behind Act was and how it has changed. Even though NCLB hasn't reached the goal it was designed to in the allotted time, the change of focusing on growth rather than test scores, has shown an improvement in schools and has seen to help students. The audience of this article is those doubting what good NCLB can offer and why it is still in effect. Overall, this article shows a side perhaps unknown about NCLB and would be good for potential teachers to read. Content: The purpose of the article and its audience is clearly identified, as well as the author yet no links are given to contact or look into the author. The article is recent and links to other sites work and provide good additional information. The purpose, informal, is clear and its purpose is achieved. There seems to be a little bias towards NCLB, yet the article does point out on critique of the Act and accepts it.  Design: The title is clear and the article is well organized with headers and good lengths of paragraphs. The sponsor and copyright are clearly identified while the site is easily maneuverable. The links to other sites are helpful to look at if confused or wish for additional information. Information is easy to find under each header. There are no additional links for the author or similar articles from this page. 

Chaun Ary Teaching with Technology Professor Yeshi 1 September 2010 Website Review for "The Learning Network" Content 1. The website was great at first look because it is sponsored by the New York Times which is a reliable source. The site was clearly meant to give teachers more interacting teaching tools. The authors were provided but their contact information wasn't. The site didn't mention their credibility but it did give all their past publications which in a way is credibility. The information was all current and updated to the current date. The content of the site was complete and well organized with links to specific areas such as civics, global history, and American history. The information is good however the reader must understand that they do have links to NY Times editorial links which are always biased. The site also has interactive maps and teaching tools which is invaluable in teaching. Overall the site was definitely worth while.