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Seth Orndorff February 1, 2011 Good site review Overview The website, ixl.com is a very useful tool when it comes to math education. The site is kid and parent friendly with effective teaching strategies. If a teacher were to use this site as part of their curriculum, their students would each have their own accounts that keep track of their progress in various math subjects. The site has math questions to answer from kindergarten through eighth grade with different topics in each grade. Students may be assigned to answer ten questions from a certain topic. They would be able to easily navigate the site and find the questions to answer. Once completed, the student receives a score and time which is recorded. It would be advantageous for a teacher to give a pretest on this site at the beginning of the week then give them another quiz on this site to see their improvement. I am very impressed with this site and would definitely recommend it to others and bookmark it. Content summary The content of this particular site would be very useful for my needs and is worth bookmarking. I have several reasons for giving the content of this site such a high review. At first look, it is easy to quickly determine the basic content of the site and the intended audience. The authors and creator of the material is clearly shown and easy to access. There is a tab that gives a full summary of the creators with contact information at the bottom of the page. This makes it extremely easy to get in touch with the authors of the site. The content and information has been revised and has a new copyright for 2011. Along with the outstanding first impression, information on the providers, and information currency, the site has incredible quality when it comes to the information and further information. The sites interactive math problems that include rewards for correct answers are highly motivating for any student doing math from kindergarten through eighth grade. I was also very

Shelby Shatto January 22nd 2011 Overview: Purpose- provides art lesson plans for elementary educators. Attended Audience- Elementary Educators. Available Resources- Support section; provides resources for craft ideas. Overall Impression-I use this site a lot; provides great craft ideas and caters to various levels of education Content Overview: Easily identify content of site; content persuades you to use Crayola products; well organized Design Overview: Very eye-appealing; site is easy to use and gives sufficient amount of info; last revision and copyright not given

Overview: Purpose- provides games and activities to help improve elementary students spelling, reading and math skills. Attended Audience- elementary educators and their students. Available Resources- none shown. Overall Impression: Not very eye-appealing; games are educational and content is clearly identified Content Overview: able to easily identify basic content of site; author and date last updated not given; no links to other sites Design Overview: Homepage not very attractive; site sponsor and copyright identified; not very clear directions on how to use site

John Pokallus 31 January 2011 Overview: The purpose of the site "Catch me if you can" seems to be a talent agency for aspiring individuals involved in the performing arts. The available resources of this site were literally non-existent and I had much difficulty navigating and finding any useful information whatsoever. This site was so poorly designed that I am still not entirely sure what content it actually provides. Content: Upon first look I was so inundated with visual stimulus that I was dumb-founded for a moment and had absolutely no idea what the purpose of the site was. After randomly searching the site I discovered that the intended audience was for individuals involved in the performing arts, and it seemed that this site was that of a talent agency. As far as information: providers, currency, and quality were all non-existent. The only actually readable text was the "about us" page that advertised their company named "Catch me if you can." There were links to other pages, but the links did not work so I could not tell if they were relevant to performing artists. The only positive thing about this site is that the grammar and spelling seemed to be correct. Design: The homepage took longer to download than it should have. Upon downloading, there were so many visually distracting animations and colors that I could not tell what the site was about. I did find an index to other pages within the site, but each page was equally confusing and distracting. There use of multimedia served no purpose other than to confuse, distract, and cause seizures to individuals susceptible to epilepsy. There were broken links, both internally and externally to the site. I could not find contact information on the site creators, and there was no indication of a discernible date or copyright notice.

Shelley Limegrover January 22, 2011 OVERALL The fourth site I evaluated was the Physics Front. This site is intended as a resource for high school physics teachers. It contains links to sites containing lesson plans, activities, and labs searchable by topic and grade level. The site was very nicely organized and contained a lot useful information. CONTENT This site is made available by the American Association of Physics Teachers and is funded by the National Science Foundation. A list of contacts is provided. The site claims that the content is frequently reviewed and updated for accuracy. The bulk of the content on this page is links to other websites. However, the Physics Front is much more than a list of useful physics resources. All links are summarized in detail as to their subject matter, application, intended grade level, etc. Rather than having to fish through a never-ending list of links, the advanced search options make finding relevant material very easy. All links that I tested at random were functioning properly. DESIGN This site is very well designed. The layout and formatting is consistent on all pages. Navigation is simple with a menu bar accessible from all pages. There are no irrelevant graphics or advertisements. It is easy to scan the pages for pertinent information. The copyright date is clearly presented at the bottom of the all pages.

Shelley Limegrover January 22, 2011 OVERALL The third site I evaluated is the Physics 2000 site. The site explains general physics concepts in a dialog format using an imaginary cast of physics professors and students. One or more interactive simulations accompany all dialogs. The site is intended as a resource for high school and non-science college students that presents otherwise abstract material in a more comprehensible format. I found the presentation of material to be very creative, although the site itself seemed visually "busy" and awkward to navigate. CONTENT The authors of the site are clearly identified and include a physics professor, various science advisors as well as a high school physics advisor. The credentials of all authors and advisors are not provided, but the site claims to be funded by grants from the National Science Foundation, giving it some credibility. The dates of copyright and last revision are not readily apparent. However, the main page states that they are looking for sponsors to support continued operation. Recommendations for supported browsers are a few years out of date. The content itself does not seem adversely affected by lack of updates. All content links are functional as are all interactive applets that I tried at random. DESIGN Some pages of the site are designed better than others. The choice of colors and layout do not make information immediately visible. The navigation is not consistent across pages. The relevant content, however, is presented nicely once I get to it. This makes it worth a visit to the page. Interactive applets are provided wherever they are beneficial.

Shelley Limegrover January 22, 2011 OVERVIEW The second site I evaluated was phet.colorado.edu. This site contains interactive simulations of math and natural science concepts relevant to all grade levels including college. This site is intended primarily for Teachers. Besides science simulations, the site contains suggested classroom activities and lesson plans corresponding to the simulations. All content can be downloaded or run directly from the site. CONTENT The content and intended audience of the site is made immediately clear on the first page. More detailed information about the intent of the site as well as about the authors and sponsors is made available via a list of links at the bottom of the homepage. The information on the site is not immediately easy to understand. However, this is remedied by instructions and suggested uses of all the content on the page. The site also offers dates for teacher workshops so that they may learn how to apply the material. As I mentioned in the overview, this site is primarily for teachers. A student would not be able to navigate through the material effectively without guidance. DESIGN The homepage downloads quickly and is clear of distraction. A simple navigation bar is provided at the bottom of the page. No scrolling is necessary to see it. The copyright date is clearly identified though dates of last revision are not. There are no broken links and all material appears to be up-to-date. The format of all pages is consistent and a navigation bar is always present. The site was compatible with all three browsers that I had available to test. The simulations are neatly presented on a single page, searchable by subject matter or grade level. There are no unnecessary graphics or video files on other pages of the site.

Chris Riedl 1/23/11 Overview The purpose of civilwar.com is not only to educate all age groups of the historical significance of the Civil War but also to connect its readers with numerous links and articles giving all aspects of the war. Content The basic content of the site is quickly and easily identifiable, however the author and copyright information is not as clear. Overall a great tool for both educators and students. Design The design of the site is very attractive to the eye and the links all seem to be working properly.

Chris Riedl 1/23/11 Overview The purpose of theamericanrevolution.org is to provide an organized and easily accessible collection of links and information related to the American Revolution. Content The purpose and information on this site are very well organized and the tabs and links are very easy to use. Tabs related to battles, commanders, documents and a timeline are just a few of the numerous tools this sit uses. Design All pages and links open quickly and the site sponsor and copyright date are clearly visible. All information is clearly labeled and organized, and contact information is readily available.

David May 1/23/11 Good site for base knowledge. It has fun videos and animated activities. It needs more eye appeal. Overview: This website gives history a multimedia and fun twist. Within the simple design on the homepage it contains links to old educational videos, activities, and, movies based on historical events. The educational videos are from decades past such as the 1950s. The videos are accurate, but they leave out some facts such as Native Americans and women that are part of history. That is from the age of the videos. The activities are not really that entertaining at least the ones I used. They do capture one's attention because of the progressive story line and multimedia pictures and animations. These however do have some accurate information. I played around with the Boston tea party activity and the information included in the activity was accurate and explained it well. Overall the website is an okay way to spend some time getting base knowledge on history. The site shouldn't be used as a source though. Content: When first arriving at the homepage it is clear what the site contains. History can be seen with the various pictures and clickable items around the home page. Where the information came from is hard to determine there is so citing of material or authors listed. The site is not clearly marked with a sponsor, but there is clear evidence that it is connected to Amazon.com because in the store section it says powered by Amazon. The most recent update was made in November of 2010 which makes it seem active. The copyright at the bottom of the page is for 2009. The links section of the site send the user to not so credible sites and some links do not work. Informational is the main target of this site with a mix of business which is made clear by all the Amazon.com ads and links. Content seems to be good if base knowledge is already with the user making the information good for most uses except college level detail. Navigation is simple

David May 1/23/11 Fun website full of games for all ages. Captures attention right away with the bright colors and clickable items. Overview: This site promises to make learning fun and it sure succeeds. Many games are at the user's disposal of learning and having a bit of fun. The games have a game part to learn and then another option of taking a quiz to prove that information is actually learned. The science games are fun and have animations which help show the user what is being learned. The history game is more of a pop quiz that has some interesting things that not that would know. The website has testimonials of users explaining how much they enjoy the site. The entire website has many things for children all the way up to adults and college students. The website has some questionable content in the history quiz portion asking about facts of playboy the magazine which isn't so good if taken by younger children. Content: The user is easily able to discern what the content is. The audience is younger children with the colorful pictures and animals all over. An email is provided with easy access to the email through the contact link. The author is listed as well as everyone involved with the website is listed in the about link. The author is listed with credentials and with the amount of patents he currently has. The website doesn't display any kind of updating date nor a copyright date. The website claims that the sole purpose is for educational purposes. On closer inspection one can see that the purpose is to sell software games to schools, teachers, and parents. The site gains loyalty and then sells software. The site keeps the attention focused and doesn't lack in entertainment with all the games. Any type of game is easily found by category. Some games have to been dug for with multiple clicks. The games do provoke learning, but none of the information is listed where it came from. Design: The website has good appeal with the bright color

Becky Stewart 1/24/11 Good Site Overview: The site http://www.school.com/ is designed for older students and parents with young students in school. This site is used to buy school supplies for students who are attending school. This is a good site for supplies because it has so many different options so people can get exactly what they need from it, and they don't have to worry about leaving to get the supplies. The main part of the site seems pretty complicated with a lot of information, but the side bar on the site has a lot with easy to follow links. Content: First looking at the site it looks very complicated and hard to follow. Fortunately, on the side of the site there is an easy to follow list of links that can make things more organized. There is no specific author recognized, but they do talk about how everything is provided by office depot. Also, there is a copyright date of 2010 which means that the information in recent, and people won't have to worry about the site saying they have something when they really don't. There is no address listed on the main page so the website would have to be searched to find one. A customer service number is listed so easy contact is still possible. The content is advertised very well, and users will easily be able to find what they need. Unfortunately, there is a lot of different content on the page so people may have to go through some unwanted stuff to get to the information they really need. There are no grammer mistakes on the page, and it seems like there is a good amount of further information for people. Design: The website actually loaded at a good time considering how many animations and pictures were on the page. There was no sitting around and waiting. The home page is very attractive and shows off the material that the website is advertising. It is a very good way to show the information, and appeal to peoples senses. The site is very easy to navigate. The information is clearly stated and

Becky Stewart 1/24/11 Average Site Overview: The site http://www.greatschools.org/ is a site designed for parents would be my hypothesis. This site is comparing different schools, and seeing which ones are the best. That is why this site would be good for parents. The parents would be able to compare schools and see which ones they would be okay with their children attending. Young children wouldn't be able to navigate this for themselves, because the site is pretty complicated so they wouldn't be able to follow it like its supposed to be used. Content: At first glance the site is very complicated. There are a lot of links that have to be followed if the right information is to be found. It is easy to identify that this site is for adults who are able to follow the links and different information. There is no easy to get information about the author, however, there is a copyright date. The date says that the site was last updated in 2011 so this is a good recent website that will carry the most recent information. An address and contact are listed however which means that contact is possible, just with some effort. The content is pretty well organized for someone that is interested in following all of it. The only flaw in the content is that if the user is looking for specific information about something than it could be very hard to find because other results may pop up that are unwanted. Overall the website has good content that would just have to be sorted out a little by the user. Design: The homepage took a little time to download, but nothing really above normal. The homepage is attractive with a lot of colors and pictures. However, it seems like there is just too much going on at once. It makes it look very confusing and can turn people off of the site just because its so much to follow. The site is easy to navigate and follow the links. On the other hand, just because the links are easy to use doesn't mean the the exact results the user

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: This site is centered around everything Greek, from its history and mythology to the olympics and even the geography of the country. It seems to be geared toward a more mature audience such as high school students and above. It is a highly interactive site and is very easy to navigate and use. Content: This site is very complete in its details and the author is very reputable. The copyright is a few years old, but I've noticed no other shortcomings otherwise. The lower navigation menu includes a sitemap, glossary, bookstore, course directory, bio of the author, and contact info. Design: Simple yet effective, the design of this site is almost the perfect balance of plainness and eye catching items. All of the links loaded very quickly for me and it is very easy to navigate through the site. The ad bar on the right side of the website seems a little large and distracting, but that may just be on my browser. There is a forum included along with a photo gallery and even essay assistance, all of which I feel are useful resources for anyone interested in ancient Greece.

Overall of Website This website is used to help kids study by using online flashcards, hangman, and a bug chase. The audience this website is intended for are children who need help studying. There are many different subjects that can be studied and tests that you can study for using the games. The site has a good purpose but everything seems really cluttered together and it would be annoying trying to find the subject you want to study for because the website is not organized very well. Content Summary At the first look of this site it was clear what you could do and what the site was used for. It clearly states who the authors are and where you can find more information about them. There is contact information so you can ask more questions that can be answered by the site authors. The information is all up to date as of 2011. But the information is not updated frequently only every year. The quality of the information is good for studying and can help you but it seems hard to get to and many different links can be confusing. The information on the site is up to date and accurate. Design Summary The website loads fast and the links are all pretty fast to load. The main page of the website is cluttered and not well organized and the table of contents is not organized well. The copyright date is there and noticeable at the bottom of the page. It is hard to move through out the website because it is poorly organized but once you find your subject of study it's easier to navigate through. The website has a good graphic material and has a clear purpose. As far as content presentation, the content is labeled clearly but not organized very well; overall the website is not well organized.

Jennifer Olmstead 1/31/2011 Overview: This site is very useful for not only students but teachers as well. There is a great deal of information and other links available on this site. the purpose of this site is to connect you to all the best spanish websites. This one site connects you to over twenty other sites. The only problems that i have is that there is so much information and sites given it is kinda hard to  decide on which site you want to use. My over all impression of this site is that the content is good but it could be designed more effectively. Content: This website clearly states that it will connect you to all the best spanish websites.It is clearly states which websites are for student resources and which ones are for teachers. Likewise, there is other information provided for both. The author and sponsor are clearly identified at the top of the page and there is contact information given ad well. This site states that it was recently updated but it does not say when it was updated.  the site seems very unbiased and serves more as an educational device. The information is a little unorganized and could be more concise. All the other links are working correctly and are all relevant to the site. Design: The website downloads fast and effectively, it also has  a lot of eye appeal. The table of context is a little far down the page and might be hard to find. The sponsor information is available. The only thing is that i could not locate a copyright date. It is pretty easy to navigate the site.  There are however graphics and pictures that don't really serve a clear purpose.

Gary Allen May 18, 2011 Overview: I found this site in the community library here on Diigo and thought I would check it out. As the title suggests, it contains accounts of many different events in American History. This site also appears to be geared more towards an older audience. Content: This site contains plenty of information, including some illustrations, and is navigated using either a search box or a list of links on the left sidebar. The information SEEMS to be legit, the author and copyright date are listed at the bottom of the page, with a link to the author's own website, however there are no sources listed on any of the articles. Design: Again, this site has a very simple design. There are a few ads, but that is to be expected and they're not too distracting. It almost appears as if the site is unfinished because there are many items in the sidebar that do not have links attached to them. Overall, I would probably recommend find another website to use as a resource.

Overview: The purpose of this website is to attract children, grades K-8, with educational activities online. The intended audience is children but the site carries extended links to teacher and parent resources. Thus, this website is for all ages. The available resources go beyond games to include online books, comic books, math activities, arcade games, and many more. There are also links to pages for parents and teachers. My overall impression was positive about this site. It was very appealing and allows for children to experience the internet while learning. I also felt that the teacher and parent resources led to some potentially important websites filled with a lot of information. Although this site was very educational, it seemed to be a lot less personalized than previous websites. Content: The content of this website was sufficient for the needs of any teacher. It is organized in a way that allows children to search for games that interest them but also has a teacher's guide. In this guide, the teacher can locate specific features that are appropriate for their lesson plans. There is an identified sponsor along with contact information. It is an updated site with a copyright from 2011 but no recorded last revision date. This site has the purpose to entertain, be informative, and also has some advertisements for upcoming literature events. This site was well organized and complete. It was easy to understand and very user friendly. The interactivity of this site does make it a lot of fun and easy to visit. The information provided, to my knowledge, was pretty similar to outside sources. The website was edited well and provided links to relative outside sources. However, this site did not provide much information on the actual authors of the content. Overall, I would rate this as a highly relevant website. Design: The overall design of this website was very affective. The home page loaded efficiently and was very appealing to the eye. The home page

Overview: Preschool Activity Box has many good, different ideas, tips, and activities. The intended audience is teachers or parents who are teaching pre-k children. The website is well organized and easy to navigate. As soon as you click on the link to the website, you know where you are at and can see the index of activities and worksheets. The website is up to date although many of the links are dead ends. I like this webpage, it has good ideas but since most of the links are dead I probably would not use it. Content: At first look I was able to distinguish the purpose and audience for this site. There were no authors listed for this site but the sponsors are listed at the bottom, the only thing they don't have is contact info for the sponsors. The information was updated in 2011, so it is very current. There are very good ideas, activities and tips. Design: The website is concise and has good organization. The homepage loads well and at a first glance you know exactly what webpage you are on. The copyright and date are clearly seen and there is a link to their sister site. The first links are live and lead you to some tips and activity ideas, but when you go any further, for printouts, the links go dead. This is very detrimental to the site. There is a huge mix of live and dead links, so it makes it a guessing game as to which link will work.