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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.

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.

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.

Kaci Philpot Overview: The intended purpose of this website is to provide elementary level students with fun and engaging games that build different skills and knowledge. Teachers can use some of the games for supplementing lessons such as; "volcano explorer", "chill the spill", and many more. Even games that don't seem like they would be educational are full of facts about various subjects and environmental awareness. Content Summary: For "First Look" I could not highlight the information because it was not in a text format, but the audience and basic content of the site are very clear. There were no specific authors listed for the games or information. The credibility of the authors is evident though because at the bottom near the copyright statement, it states that the company/sponsor is #1 in non-fiction media. It also has a very clear link for any questions about the site that works properly. I found it hard to find the latest revision date, most likely because the website mostly has games, but the content must be updated frequently because it has games that are up-to-date with the environmental issues today. All links to other sites work properly. In the "Information Quality" section of the evaluation, the website received all yeses. There are biases. However, they are clear when glancing through the content of the games. There was not any further information related to my purposes, but I did not really need any because I was only looking for games and activities to supplement lessons. Total yeses: 18 Total no's: 2 Total N/A: 1 Design Summary: The homepage uploaded very quickly and received all yeses. It has very strong eye appeal, it's clear what website you are visiting, and the copyright date is clearly stated at the bottom of the homepage along with the sponsor/provider. The navigation is easy and instructions for games and such are very clear and easy to follow. All internal and external links work properly. And internal links a

Kent McKee 1/31/11 Overview: http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/ is a website for literature and history education. There is a lot of information on this site. Having spent a good amount of time navigating this site I can say with confidence that while there is quite a lot of information on the site, it is fairly poorly organized and it's still somewhat hard to know the basic purpose of the site. Design: The design of the site has some definite positives and negatives. As I said before, the organization of the site is difficult to understand at first and it almost has too much information on it. Not to mention the fact that the black and red design and a spinning medieval helmet (that looks like a bad clip-art) make this site pretty ugly to look at. Content: It seems as though the content of this site is all over the place. It offers tons and tons of links to navigate to, which is good, but there seems to be little discernable connection between much of the information. There is no clear author of the site either. That said, there is a lot of useful information here, it's just that the makers of the site could do a much better job in presenting it.

Caitlin Pilch 8/31/11 Content: At first look, I was unable to identify what the content is on this site. The author of this site is not clearly identified, and there is no obvious sponsor. The revision for the content on this site is not relevant. The information on this site is organized by grade level and also activity subject. There are games and activities for the different grade levels. There is not a large amount of resources/games/activities on this site. The content on this site is adequate but compared to other sites is lacking. The links on this site are unrelated to what the site's content is. Design: The design of the site is lacking. The site downloads quickly but there is no appeal to any of the pages. It is hard to tell what page you are on. There are two separate indexes-one for different grade levels, one for different activities which is confusing and it doesn't clearly indicate where you should navigate to. The content presentation is not sufficient compared to other children's websites. Overview: The purpose of this site is for entertainment and education. The recommended target audience is kindergarten to fifth grade. This site offers different games and activities like number games, word games and interesting facts. I am not impressed with this site. It does not offer very many activities and the ones it does offer do not seem to suffice for the target population. This site is not visually stimulating and I don't think a child would find this site entertaining.

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. 

Adrianne Lauman September 02, 2011 Overview This free website is supported by a non-profit educational organization that promotes the preservation of Native American culture and languages. The purpose of the site is to provide information regarding the culture, history and languages of Native people of the Western Hemisphere. The resources are intended to provide teachers and children with educational information, while promoting the revitalization of the use of Native American languages. The content of this site is difficult to navigate. The site provides numerous links to additional sites that are not reputable educational sources. Content The content of the site is poorly organized. The headings of the content are listed in columns that reflect disarray. The authors of the material presented are not identified within the text and the updates to the site are not current. A visitor to the site may have difficulty in determining the accuracy of the information. Design The website information is not augmented by graphics, animation, video or audio files. The links within the pages are to sites that are selling goods or to other WebPages that lack credibility. The homepage is not attractive and the page layout does not encourage visitors to remain at the site. Information is difficult to find and it requires the visitor to utilize more than three clicks of the mouse. When investigating another link within the page it is difficult to return to the homepage.

Billie Slyman, 9/11/11 Purpose The purpose of this site is to give students a resource to learn about weather and how it affects people. There is enough information to be useful, but it's not overwhelming. There aren't any links to outside sites, which is a drawback. However, I still think this is a valuable site because it has good information, interactive content, and is well designed for students to navigate. Content This site does a good job of achieving its purpose of providing information for students. While there is a good amount of information, it is put in simple language and organized in a way to make it easy for students to understand. Many of the sections have interactive multiple choice questions, where students can click on a button and a text box will pop up and tell them if they are correct. The content seems accurate to me, and the developers (the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, for example) seem qualified to present this information. Design This website has a very nice design. Everything looks interesting for students but is still well organized and not cluttered. It is easy to find the information you want and navigate around the site. Also, the information on each page is split up into sections and has lots of pictures interspersed, so it isn't a huge block of text that could be intimidating to students. The pictures and charts are all relevant and aid in understanding the information given.

Korinne Thoren 14 September 2011 Art History.net Overview: Art History.net is a website providing information about art history, including: famous artists, art styles and periods, and art mediums. This is a website intended for older students, middle school aged and up. The site does not provide a lot of available resources but I think it is useful for gaining background and basic information. Content: This website contains information about art history but there is no information provided about authors of the text or any dates of publication or revision. Basic information dealing with art history is presented, but outside of that the user is not given much else. Also, a disclaimer at the bottom of the page reads, "Information and materials on this web site may be incorrect, unsuitable, incomplete and/or outdated. Users of this web site are responsible for verifying the accuracy, completeness and suitability of all information and materials" making the user wary of trusting the site. The content of arthistory.net is well organized and easy to read, however I personally cannot get over the disclaimer, making this a site I would only use to gain basic, informal information. Design: Art History.net's website design is not as exciting or clever as the other websites I have explored, however the overall design is simple and somewhat appealing. The site's information is displayed well and easy to navigate because the same site layout is used throughout. There are also a few graphics on the site, but they do not really add much to the overall appeal or serve that much of a purpose. Overall, the design needs some work but the site is usable.

Overview: The intended audience for this site is individuals considering a career in special education. The purpose of the site is to outline expectations of jobs as well as bring to attention possible issues. Statistics are also present in the site. The website allows people to see earnings, projections, job outlook as well as other questions regarding figures and statistics. This website also outlines what can be expected of special education teachers and offer suggestions of similar jobs.

Jonathan Krajnak 9/14/11 Overview: Scholastic's site covers a seemingly incredible amount of useful information for educators. It's pretty clear and straightforward, none of the information buried or misrepresented. There are a few sections that require a subscription, but most of the information is readily available. Content: The site includes several things that can be valuable to teachers. Among them you can find lesson plans, tools, tips. There's even a section for new teachers. There's an area dedicated to parents which helps educators because it gives parents a general knowledge of what kids need socially, cognitively, and physically. It also promotes and helps parents understand how to get involved in this aspect of their child's life. For the kids, there's a large interactive section. However, it's mainly geared towards ages 8-12. Design: The site easy very easy to navigate and professionally presented and designed. The presentation itself is appropriately tailored to whatever section you're viewing. (Namely between adults and children.) Couldn't find anything wrong with it.

OVERVIEW: The purpose of the Scholastic website is to help children to learn to read and also to provide teachers with lesson and book ideas. Librarians and administrators can also take advantage of this website to learn to teach certain students and learning of the newest authors. Some of the resources this website provides are tips on how parents can teach their children to read, as well as games that kids can play. The Scholastic website gave me a wonderful first impression. I would definitely use it in my classroom or library and recommend it for others to explore. CONTENT: The content of scholastic.com was amazing. The general audiences are easily seen in the table of contents on the top of the home page. Grammar and spelling all seem to be correct and the information on the site is simple to understand. Like the last website I reviewed, it was difficult to find a sponsor. This was the only flaw that I was able to see. DESIGN: Scholastic has provided the public with a beautifully designed website. The home page is neatly organized with easy to read font and not too much going on. It is nice and simple. It is easy to navigate between pages and there are no incorrect links. There is plenty of information that makes the site worth visiting. The same format is used consistently throughout the website which makes it even more professional and organized.

Trevor Santy Sept 14 2011 Overview: This site covers a multitude of subjects for varying grade levels. It is extremely user friendly and very easy to navigate. The main page has links going to each individual subject. An interesting feature about this site is that it can save a student's progress in their math activity with an interesting activity called the fun arcade. This site is also very presentable with almost no ads on it and nothing to really distract students while on the site. My overall opinion is that it would be great for teaching as it also gives you different age groups to organize it easier. Content: This site contains different activities for different age levels ranging from 6 to 17 and up. On top of that each activity is separated into specific subjects, such as math and science. Further still the sites age group areas make it easy to organize for your current class. With its easy to navigate frame this site is great for teachers. Design: This websites design is extremely user friendly. With tabs to each age group and then tabs to each subject within that this site makes it easy to get students to focus on a specific subject or activity. It also has links to the different subjects at the bottom of the page and the top making it easier to navigate.

Katharine Johnson September 19, 2009 Georgia Agriculture Education Introduction: This website is from the Georgia Department of Education and is there to help teachers in effectively teaching their classes. It has different power points and lesson plans. Content Evaluation: First Look: When I first looked at this site it was inviting. It is well organized and easy to navigate. Information Providers: The authors of the site are listed at the bottom of the homepage. It just talks about who they are and gives their job titles. There is contact information if you have any questions. Information Currency: It just says that it was last updated in 2009. From looking at the information it looks as though the site is maintained regularly. The other site links are updated and in working order. Information Quality: I think the information that this site provides could be extremely helpful to a new teacher. It gives power points with information that could be used and also has lesson plans that could help. Not only this but there is information for other organizations and other aspects of agriculture in the class room. However I did run into some problems opening a couple of the folders, but other than that everything is functional. Design Evaluation: Speed: Most of the pages opened quickly and effectively. Home Page: The homepage is attractive and eye appealing. All the information is clear and organized and easy to find what you are looking for. Ease of Navigation: The site is easy to navigate. All the information is clear and organized and helps you find what you are looking for easily. Use of multimedia: All the graphics and other medias used are effective. Browser compatibility: Only tested Internet Explorer. Content Presentation: All this information could be really helpful in the classroom.

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

Ron Morgan September 19, 2009 This website is intended for anyone interested in movies or graphic design. The website showcases a number of movie posters that have been designed by an artist in the field of designing movie posters. The website has a number of links viewers can check out. The site has some contact information and advice for anyone interested in the field of designing movie posters. Overall the website is successful at its purpose. However, the artist's name was not able to be found. Content Summary: This website is pretty straight forward and the viewer can easily see what the content of the website is. The information provided about the artist and artwork is sufficient. Credit is given to the appropriate entities. For example, the website was designed by altlab.com. The work however, doesn't seem to be all completely up to date. But the content is appropriate and useful to the viewer. Design Summary: The website is unique in its design and it works well. The information given in useful, informative, and relevant. The links are numerous and appropriate. The presentation of the artwork is done very well. There is also a short summary discussing the specifics of each poster.

Katharine Johnson September 19, 2009 Ag in the Classroom Introduction: This website focuses on agriculture in the classroom. It has a variety of information and links for both educators and students. Content Evaluation: First Look: When I first looked at the site honestly I didn't think it would be much but it is easy to navigate and easy to understand. Information Providers: The website has been endorsed by the Americans Association for the Advancement of Sciences. Also it has been sponsored by the USDA Agriculture in the Classroom program and is manages through an agreement with Utah State University. Information Currency: The site is not clear about when it was last updated. But most of the events are current so that leads me to believe it has been update recently. The other site links are updated and in working order. The only one that I had problems with was the questions tab. It said the site was unavailable. Information Quality: This site offers a wide variety of information that I believe could be helpful to new teachers. Also I believe it could help students learn more about agriculture. Design Evaluation: Speed: Most of the pages opened quickly and effectively. Home Page: The homepage is attractive and eye appealing. All the information is clear and organized and easy to find what you are looking for. Ease of Navigation: The site is easy to navigate. All the information is clear and organized and helps you find what you are looking for easily. Having the main points larger and bold helps navigate through the site. Use of multimedia: All the graphics and other media's used are effective. Browser compatibility: Only tested Internet Explorer. Content Presentation: All this information could be really helpful in the classroom for both teacher and students.

Content: This website was designed for math homework help. It has the four distinct categories; addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, and levels each visitor might need help in. Visually this website isn't very appealing, but the games look interesting for teaching students and help the promotion of a fun learning environment. Clicking on different tabs takes you to the different perspectives of the classroom i.e. the teachers, the learners, and the parents. There are also numerous links to other homework help websites as well. Design: Overall I think the design of the website is good and user friendly. There are a lot of links and tabs, but become useful when it is designed for not only students, but parents and teachers as well. The only downfall to the design of this website is their selling of products gets mixed in with some of the learning material too, so it becomes a little overwhelming. Attribution: I would encourage my students to check out the games on this website because they are a fun way to learn math. I would also encourage parents to play along with their students because it would also familiarize them with the material their students are learning too. The visual aspects of this site promote a fun learning environment and nothing vulgar or inappropriate is presented, making it a safe site to encourage students to visit.

Content: This website's purpose is easily determined within moments of looking at the page. Although I do not specifically want to teach science the information it provides makes the idea a lot less threatening. The content that is displayed provides a variety of topics that have to do with biology (whether it is human, animal, ECT…). Even though, the website is pretty short the attention it demands when you open the screen is remarkable. There are links to several other websites that all open and are available to further education in other areas of biology like I said previously. Design: From exploring this site, I believe that it is a reliable educational website for the use of teaching science topics and providing stimulating visuals to assist in the students learning. This is a website teachers can use for a variety of grades as it is grade appropriate website as it suggests. The homepage not only opens quickly and efficiently but exhibits other science based activities and strategies in other tabs; it is very clear and directive for the users Attribution: Overall this website is one that I would most likely use if I was going to be a science teacher. From the moment you open the site you see that the intended audience is for students but also provides valuable information for the teachers. As far as what links connect the user to where seems to be very clear. The media that is presented in this site is both interactive with the visual effects and descriptive which amplifies learning. From what I experienced, everything runs smoothly and is up to date with the current knowledge of what is to be expected in the classroom when covering these topics as well as making learning fun, which is equally as important. There happens to also be various links in which the user can use to seek out help.