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This page reviewed by Joseph Scherden on 1/21/2011 Content Review- The articles in this issue of the online journal are all based on research and they are performed by educated professionals. (The first article is written by two Professors in in Education fields specific to the articles subject area) The page shows that it was published sometime in 2010 but full information is not shown. Design Review- The design for this website layout is most effective in its use of tabs to seperate broad subjects. The page this will link you too has a less effective layout. The page this links too could have a smaller layout with links to information, but instead it is a long list of atricles and abstracts. Not bad, but not as clear and clean as it could be. Overall Review- This is a credible and useful page for educators. The articles are relevant to Education and the Authors are credible. The information is recent and supported with further research that is listed in each article. This page could be a little bit cleaner but maintains a professional appeal with no ads to cluter the page.

Kent McKee 1/31/11 Overview: http://www.ala.org/yalsa is a website by the Young Adult Services Association that intends to provide information to teachers and students alike in the field of Young Adult Literature. There are copious amounts of information on the site about novels, authors, online classes, news and events etc. The site is well organized. The purpose of this site is clear from the second you navigate to it, it's a resource for anyone interested in English Educations-specifically reading. Design: This website is put together in a clear and effective manner. It has multiple navigation options and is designed in a way that it is easy to get around; it's simple but still looks professional. The site achieves what it is intended for clearly and effectively. It's well organized and clear enough to understand that students and teachers alike could use this site. And because it isn't an overly complex website, it loads almost immediately. Content: The content on this site is clear from the second it is loaded onto the computer screen. It has all of the sites information on the center of the page with links taking you all throughout the site, and to the left hand side of the screen there are also many links to different, applicable websites. The authors of this website are clearly identified and all the information is very current.

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.

Jamie Henry 19 May 2011 Overview: The website Learn.Genetics is a very useful site for teachers and students alike in the science field, especially when it comes to genetics. The intended audience is teachers, but it is also designed for easy student use if teachers wanted to use it as a resource. Based on both the content and design reviews, I found this website highly helpful and effective. It would be an amazing practice tool to use when teaching students about gene transcription and translation. Content: Using the Content Evaluation sheet from Cyberguide, Learn.Genetics proved to be a useful site. In nearly all the criteria I marked "Yes" for Learn.Genetics. The information was easy to use and served clear purposes. There were many interactive games and pages that would make it useful and easy to use for students and teachers. The only thing this website could do would be to give links to other useful sites and one to a person who could be contacted for more information. Design: The design of the Learn.Genetics website was also very good. Not only was the site appealing and easy to navigate, it was recent and each part had a clear purpose. There were no directions for using this website, which may have been helpful to some, but since it is such an easy site to use, directions are not really necessary.

Lacey Glenn September 6, 2011 Overview: I found this website through my special education class. It gives resources that are available for anyone looking to find positive behavioral support and ideas. I found this website to be very informative and helpful. Content: The information in this website is reliable and helpful. I was able to easily find information on behavioral management that I will be able to use as a reference when teaching in the public school setting. Design: The home page of this website is inviting and easy to look at. There aren't any ads that pop up and prohibit you from looking at the content of the site. The tabs are easy to identify and take you directly to the related fields. I really like this site and how easy it is to navigate.

Lauren McDaniel, 9/4/11 Overview:  This website would be useful for people with a sturdy knowledge base wanting to know anything having to do with the field of philosophy.  Teachers and future teachers would find the website especially useful because it provides biographies of philosophers that have contributed to educational philosophies, and explores detailed concepts, arguments and analysis of the many different educational philosophies. Content:  Information on the editor, supporters of the site, and copyright date are clearly present and can easily be found when navigating the site.  The content is updated regularly, which can be seen by clicking on the different tables of contents listed by the year they were published.  The formality of the page shows its purpose is very informational.  By clicking on the table of contents and finding the subject interested in, which is listed in alphabetical order, one can easily find whatever they're looking for.  Information is presented in a factual way, lacking bias or prejudice, and certainly seems to be accurate because of the supporters backing it.  Information is easily accessible by locating the table of contents, which presents a page looking similar to a dictionary.  Words, people, places, and other things can be clicked on, and a plethora of information is presented in an organized and clear way. Design:  The design of this website is very formal, and the pictures fit the formality.  When first arriving on the website, it is incredibly appealing because of it's organization and neatness.  The table of contents is only one click away, and is incredibly easy to navigate.  The links associated with the information presented are useful and all working properly.  This site is very well designed and definitely worth visiting.

John Ripley 9/12/11 Web Rangers Overview: This site is produced by the National Park Service (Department of the Interior) and I found it through the Yellowstone National Park website. It is listed under the heading "for kids" on the YNP homepage. The intended audience is kids, and not necessarily kids who have been to YNP or any other park. Content is varied and covers several different fields pertaining to history and natural science mostly. Content: The basic content of the site is not immediately clear, but once you navigate into the site a table of contents appears. While I could not find a date for the most recent revision, all the links of the site worked properly and I have no reason to think that anything on the site is out of date. The information is accurate as far as I can tell and fairly diverse. There are several different games under each subject heading. Design: This website looks like it was designed by the National Park Service with the logo in the top right corner of each page and the colors of the NPS on all the pages. The home page is not especially catchy and if I were not doing this assignment I would not go wandering around this site. However, once you get into the site to the contents and the games it gets a little more interesting. It's still not what I'd call exciting though.

Elise Verley September 9, 2011 http://artofsciencelearning.org/ Overview: The site is a resource for using art to help students understand science. Its intended audience is teachers and is developed by The Learning Worlds Institute. It is a great idea but they don't have any ideas available for how to combine science and art. There are several conferences listed to attend, this is their primary focus currently. This may be a young site and there will be more information available on the site soon. Content: They have articles of research available that proves that using hands-on artistic approaches to teach science attract and retain students in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. They have related websites and articles listed so there are more sources to find out more information on the topic. Design: It is a basic website, that is easy to navigate the information available on the site. There is not a search function but the information on the site is easy enough to find that it may not yet be necessary. There is an RSS feed that has their most recent postings as well as profiles on social networking sites. There is a forum for teachers to interact and share ideas.

Overview: This site is really geared toward students and not so much for teachers but I liked it because it has a couple games that create real-life scenarios. In these games students had to do calculations that applied high school math. I think the website would appeal to secondary education students in more advanced math classes. It also has link that show students about jobs in the financial field and they can hear from people who currently work in this area, which I think can help students find the area more interesting and they may be able to connect better with the subject that way. Content: Most of the content is definitely for older more advanced students. The games are slightly challenging must are intriguing at the same time. The website has many links to various areas of finance that can help students find jobs in the future if they are thinking about this field. It also shows them that there are people their age running billion dollar companies. Design: The design of the website is geared toward high school students, showing money, nice cars and vacation spots. The links are also very organized and easy to see where stuff is at. The games are set up in an easy to follow manner with guided steps of how to start.

Eileen Andrews 9/11/11 Overview: This site is very useful if someone is looking for information specifically about World War 2. This website provides tools for both students and teachers including lesson plans, overviews and in-depth information a topics about WW2. Many tools provided for teachers, such as field trips and in-class visits from the museum are only useful for those in the New Orleans area. Content: This website provides a lot of information about the museum and what it has to offer both at the museum and online information. Design: The site seems to be well taken care of and it is fairly easy to navigate as well. The tool bar at the top provides drop down menus so you know exactly what you are going to be finding in that section. The graphics on the site also make it very appealing.

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.

Posted by Allie Parrott 09/17/09: Homework spot is a site that simplifies the search for popular homework topics assigned to students K-12. It can also be used by parents and teachers. Content: This site covers a variety of topics. There are even virtual field trips. Other benefits this site provides are SAT tips, current events, and how to write a great book report. Students can find almost anything they need here. The site was last updated today. The incoming information is always fresh and relevant to what students are learning today. There are not only articles from their own authors, but also links to articles that may provide better information for the student. Information is presented in a clear manner. The sight is sponsored by a bigger company StartSpot Media Works Incorporated. HomeworkSpot would help any child navigate their way around the internet. It is also beneficial because the sites that are recommended are credible well researched sites. Design: The most helpful part of the design is that is separates the topics in to age groups. There are a number of links under the heading "Elementary" and the same goes for the headings "Middle" and "High School". This way there is no time wasted, looking but information that is above a child's head, or below their level. The only flaw in the design is that the user has to click at least links to find what they are looking for. However, once they find it the information is most likely exactly what they are looking for. There are Google ads, however advertising is only on the homepage and is kept to a minimum. Attributions: The most helpful link for this is the "About this Site" link. It gives the user all the necessary information about what the site is about and who is running it. It makes the purpose very clear. This would be another site I would recommend due to its fairly obvious credibility. \n

Jstor is a collection of journal articles from several fields, that covers mostly Political Science and History. The site does, carry several articles on various subjects beyond the two mentioned.

Ross Lindstrom - September 21, 2009 Website Evaluation #2 - Teaching Comparative Government and Politics This website is a blog-based collective of information and resources for the purpose of aiding instruction of comparative government and politics. The audience is primarily secondary and postsecondary teachers of government and politics who are seeking resources about and/or specific examples of comparative government they can use for their class. The impression I had was that it was an interesting and at times very applicable for teachers, but the blog-style format and lack of information accessible on command makes the potential application of this website in a teaching environment limited. The website took a little while to load, which I believe can be attributed to the length of the continued thread of blogs/discussion. (Excuse my lack of correct internet jargon). The first thing I noticed was a cramped column of text, outside links, and pictures organized in a sequential, most recent blog entry- at top format. The website lacks a visible title. Even the purpose description is vague: "Teaching Comparative Government and Politics is a complex and demanding task. We can all use all the help we can get. This cyber place is somewhere to facilitate helpful interactions." The blog entries usually include relevant pictures and multimedia links. Despite the lack of outside sources, the blog is archived from 2006, so there is a large amount of articles to sift through. Even though I questioned the main author's legitimacy and authority in the area, all the articles contained something that had practical classroom application. The content is also constantly updated, with multiple meaningful posts coming within the period of one day. It is a bit difficult to determine the exact purpose of the website, as well as the main author. The name Ken Wedding is given as the author, but doesn't offer more information in the way of his legitimacy as an ed

Posted by Mitchell Clark 9/18/09: Lesson Planet is a search engine designed to save the effort of designing various lesson plans by providing over 150,000 teacher approved lesson plans and over 75,000 worksheets. This site provides material for all subjects in grades K-12 and also includes state standards. Content: This Education World sponsored site has an incredible amount of information that has been provided by many teachers in various fields. It has lesson plans for all grade levels and all subjects including math, science and technology, language arts, education, social studies, health, art and music, and it also includes research resources. Each lesson plan includes the author and date that the lesson plan was posted. Also every lesson plan is rated on a scale of 1-5 by other teachers so you don't waste your time searching through inadequate lessons. Another great feature about this site is that because teachers can post their own lesson plans, there are always new and relevant lesson plans. These plans are easy to access due to multiple links which are designated to different fields of education i.e. science or math. There is also a search bar at the top of the web page that allows the user to search specific lesson plans as well as narrow their search results to grade level and rating (1-5). Overall this is a well organized site that provides a wealth of knowledge. The only thing to keep in mind is that these plans are posted by individual teachers which could contribute to a partial bias in the lesson plan. Another thing to consider is that there is $40 dollar membership fee for this site which is an inconvenience, but this fee also discourages the submission of junk lesson plans and worksheets by other internet users. Design: This site is well designed and very easy to navigate. There are no advertisements or links to unrelated material. The sponsor of the site and contact information is clearly displayed at the bottom of the page as well as t

-Overview: Lesson Planet is an excellent resource for teachers to find ideas and lesson plans for specific topics and grade levels. They are able to type in exactly what they are looking for and it is just like a Google search engine just for lesson plans. There are other links to related articles and blogs for teachers, and there are places where teachers can access the standards. It is a very good place to create lessons from and gain ideas for teaching successfully in the classroom. -Content: The content is easily accessible from exactly what the teacher types in to find. There are specific tabs and easy instructions to help the teacher find what they are looking for. It is a very helpful resource tool that teachers can use to plan activities for specific subjects, for a specific standard and find worksheets and articles that relate to the topic they are teaching. There is a huge amount of content within the website that is easily accessible for anyone who would like to use it. On each page there are tabs to things that relate to the topic as well as a list of subtopics that are easily accessible as well. -Design: The creators are in the process of creating a new design that may be more visually appealing, but currently the design is very simple and professional. It has enough color and visual recognition tools to help you locate specific things quickly and find what you are looking for without creating distractions and taking away from the content. The search portion is big and centered on the top of the homepage so it is easy to type in and find exactly what you need right off the home page.

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The purpose of this link/resource is to inform teachers (specifically) of things that they can do in order to become more appealing to those who are hiring in the education field. The piece first looks at how teachers should dress. They highlight how teachers should dress as if they plan on getting a lot done that day, or to dress for the occasion. The piece goes on to discuss how attitude and body language impact how others view our professionalism. Finally, the article talks about how we, as teachers, need to constantly be thinking on ways to improve our teaching, learning from other teachers and testing out strategies. At first glance, I think that the page is a little too cluttered with extra links and ads. The article contained minimal graphics, just a small picture next to the title. This was beneficial because there are very few images that would actually serve to enhance this specific page. The page does provide links to other pages on the site, but it may have been better if the links were at the bottom of the page, as opposed to the sides, as they were distracting while reading. Overall, the page was reasonably easy to navigate and effectively read. The author was obviously well-read and presented ideas that are not too cliché, allowing almost any reader to take something away from the content and use it as a tool for learning. There were no spelling or grammar errors in the article, demonstrating a professional approach. This was especially beneficial since the author, Emma McDonald, was speaking about professionalism herself. She aligned what she was writing about with how she wrote about the subject.

John Ripley 9/12/11 Khan Academy Overview: This website is intended to provide a free, high quality educational experience for anyone interested in the material presented on the website. Based on my content and design evaluations I would say that this site achieves it's objective and is a useful educational tool. Because of the seriousness, for lack of a better word, of the layout it is probably more suitable for people in middle school and up. Content: The content covers math and science topics extremely well while the social studies fields are a little sparse. I focused on the math content and it was excellent, covering about every imaginable topic. The videos were easy to follow and informative and the practice problems were pertinent to the lessons shown in the videos. Design: The design of the website is straightforward and direct. It is easy to navigate and find exactly what you want. As I mentioned above, the design is fairly serious and I would think that elementary age students might prefer something a little more catchy and flashy. However, for a little older audience I think that the design is very good.

Content:The look of the website is bright and colorful with great animations and graphics. The information for the website and for the activities is in part provided by partnerships with Ohio State University, and from professionals in different fields. The website is completely free, and is funded through corporate and private donations. There is provided information for contacting the website creators and sponsors. The information seems pretty current, but, I did not see a revision date on the site. All the links I clicked seemed to be working properly. The information and entertainment provided by the activities looks to be accurate and the grammar and spelling are correct. There are teacher resources, that are posted by user and shared, but, there are no specific links to more information. Design: Edheads was created in 2000. The website downloads efficiently and is attractive. The activities are clearly labeled, and there is a separate section for teacher resources. The navigation is pretty easy and the links within the site are useful and appropriate. The use of multi-media in the activities is great. I only tried this site with googlechrome but, in order to do the activities you need flash player and sound card. The content is great. Within each activity you will find vocabulary and graphics to describe what you are doing. Each activity is clearly labeled and organized. As I mentioned before, I do not see a revision date, but, it seems reasonably up to date and accurate. Purpose: To provide insightful and accurate activities that help explore and teach different aspects of careers related to math, science, engineering, and technology. Audience: Students up to 12th grade. Resources: There are no additional resources available, that I am aware of. Overall: I like the activities, they are engaging and fun to use. I wish the teacher resources was set up better to use for finding information posted by other users

Overview: This website had a large choice of topics to choose from where a student could get quick facts or information on a subject. On the homepage all the different subjects ranging in alphabetical order from Art to Social studies could be researched by students. The site led to other sites that contained the information and all the secondary sites appeared to work fine. This would be a good starter website for teachers to send students to check out because they know for sure information will be correct because the site is operated by the US Government specifically for kids to use. The site was very navigator friendly which works for the benefit for both the student and teacher. No update was listed on the page was the only problem again. The website says on the bottom that it is a service from the Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies, part of the U.S. General Services Administration Content: The content provided informational resources for students to use to do their research on a variety of topics. The website made it easy to find the different topics and the next link would take the student to another page that listed more specific content regarding the larger field of study. I focused on the kids part of the site but there was also more information for adults and teenagers. For the kids, they had three choices to pick from starting with learning stuff like information, playing games or watching information videos. Design: The design of the website was easy to follow. A bright background with slightly darker tabs made the page aesthetically pleasing to the eye. Three different tabs were listed for the kids section with learning stuff, playing games and watching information videos. The design of the site was easy to navigate and easy enough with navigation that kids in elementary school would not have a problem with it.