Group items matching

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Kara Mitchell 1 February 2011 This website is intended for a young audience. This is evident thru the colors, animations and links. The purpose of the site is to explore areas of science, math, spelling and history. Following each link is a list of options for what the student wants to study or look into. Further down the page is a list of games the student can choose from to apply the knowledge read prior. It is simple to navigate, however I feel there are too many options for students giving the students opportunities to get off task. Content and Design: Based on content there is a good deal of information for each section. It is essentially an online textbook with pictures on each page. The content is correct as is spelling and grammar. There is a copyright and year easily accessible at the end of each page as well, making documentation very simple. As for the design, the site has a clear title page and an index of options. The site loads efficiently, quickly and is easy to navigate, as it has the same format on each page. In my opinion there are too many ads directly on the content page. Out of four ads only one is about the subject the others have no relation, or a relation that should not be included in a child's website. Overview: Overall, this website could be more interactive and child friendly. It is a bit word intensive and contains ads that should not be made available to children. There is a good bit of information that can prove very useful and if guided, through a web quest could be led to find the right information and learn more about the subject in the process. I would like there to be more videos or maybe music from the time period to help history really come to life.

Alexis Lunberg: February 1, 2011 The purpose of this site is to help children with their reading by using interactive games and guided reading. The intended audience would be for low level readers like kindergarten through third grade. The site also has a few things for teachers to use so teachers are also an intended audience. The website offers interactive games and guided reading stories for the children. The website also provides literacy worksheets, lesson plans, and reading software for teachers. Overall the design and content of the website is good, but could use improvement. Content The viewer is easily able to see the intended audience for the site and it provide quite a bit of information about the creator. It even gives a link for his blog if the viewer wants to learn more about him. The site is up to date and outdated information is no longer on the site. The information is effective and there are reviews on the site that praise the website. The site would be good for small children because it is easy to understand and has interactive games. Design The design of this website could use some work on the home page. The homepage isn't very appealing and the visitor can't tell what the sites title is right away. Also the site does not clearly identify the sponsor and the copyright date on the website. Another problem with the design of the website is that the view doesn't know when the last time the site was updated. The website also has beneficial things about it. One of the good things about the websites design is that it is easy to navigate. It takes less than three steps to get where you want. The site also uses good graphics and is effective in several different browsers. The overall design of the site could use some work but it is usable and worth visiting.

Roy, the tale of the singing ZebraOverview- This website is very cute! It is such a good idea to get young children involved. The audience is young grades such as k-2. The website is all about reading. I thought it was a really cool way to get kids to read in a different way. The interactive reading games and guided readings would really help those kids just learning to read. Although the site may be a little busy for the little ones to navigate with a little teacher help they would get a lot out of it.  Content-  At first look this website looks like it is easy to use and looks fun for kids. The author of the website is clearly defined, you can access his blog and look at investors and contact him personally. Which would be great if any teachers had questions. The website looks current although it does not have any current dates or update dates. The links work great within the website. The content in the website is great, all of the spelling is right and the information is helpful. The site would be very helpful for young children. Design- When opening this website it loads quickly and looks very appealing. Although the home page is not clearly labeled you can tell that you are there. There is a clear index at the top of the page telling you where you can go. Which makes the navigation in the site great. The use of media is great! They have moving pictures, which is very appealing to young children. The site looks current although there is no current date. But everything in the cite looks wonderful and would be great for kids to navigate. 

Interactive site for math, vocab, memory, and geography and puzzles.

Ryan Pinkston January 22, 2011 1) Overview- This is a web site that parents and kids can use to learn basic skills while having fun. This goal is to provide a safe place to learn computer skills, math skills, reading skills and problem solving skills in a context that is fun to use. 2) Content Credibility- It is easy to determine the basic content and intended audience. The author was not clearly identified however, the contact information was readily available and easy to locate. The latest revision date was not given and it's not stated how frequently the page is updated. The purpose of the site is effective for the intended use and is well organized with information that is easy to understand. 3) Design Evaluation- The page downloads efficiently and it is somewhat attractive and appears to have strong eye appeal to children. There is an index, the information for contacting the provider is available, and the copyright date is at the bottom of the page. The same basic format is used throughout the whole site, the information is easy to find, and everything is clearly labeled. 4) This is a site that I would use. It has a variety of games for children to use to learn about math and English or science.

Shelley Limegrover January 22, 2011 OVERVIEW The first site I evaluated was physicsclassroom.com. This site is intended for both students and teachers of physics at the high school and early college levels. The site is very comprehensive including everything from curriculum and worksheets to tutorials and simulations. I found this site so helpful and easy to navigate that I imagine I will be returning to it many times in the future. CONTENT As noted above, this site is very comprehensive. Information is easy to access including information about the author, who is a graduate of chemical engineering and now a high school physics teacher. The author claims to make frequent edits to the site, thought the dates of last revision are not apparent. As far as I can tell, the information appears up-to-date with current-day physics knowledge. All pages contain complete information and there are no broken links. DESIGN This page is very well designed. The author did an excellent job presenting a lot of information in a concise format. The navigation is easy to use and the layout of the pages is consistent. Portions of the site that may be problematic for the user are accompanied by a brief introduction and, when applicable, instructions (such as for the interactive portions of the site). Should any confusion arise, the author's contact information is available.

Ericka Chorniak October 7, 2012 Overview: The purpose of the Physics Classroom is to provide examples for teachers, as well as ideas for instruction and worksheet opportunities. This site is also a good resource for high school level physics students because it provides practice problems and explanations to answers in addition to physics games for the students to entertain themselves during their free-time. The links available on the site can be used as good resources a wide range of purposes. For example, there are sections on this site that provide guidance for using the site, there are review, explanation, and even ACT sections for the students who are struggling with the content, as well as a section for teacher that will provide ideas for teaching the content and problems to work through. Based on these things and personal experience with the site, my overall impression is that this site is not only worth using, bookmarking and referring to, but also it is worth sharing with others. Content: The content of this site is easy to determine at first glance and it is easy to determine the intended audience. The authors of the site are clearly identified, their information is available for viewing, and appear to be qualified. The sponsor of the site is also clearly identified and they provide contact information for any questions. This site provides the date it was last revised and it is appropriate for the material. All of the links are current and work properly. The purpose of this site is clearly identifiable as informational and it achieves this purpose effectively. The content appears to be complete, is well organized, is easy to understand, offers sufficient information related to my needs/purposes as a future high school physics teacher, is free of bias, provides interactivity, is accurate, and is consistent with similar information in other sources. The spelling and grammar are correct. The site provides links to other sites (within the site) that are related

DAR.org Michelle Petty, January 22, 2011 Overview: The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) website is aimed at educating others about the American Revolution, genealogy of members and scholarships for those who meet the criteria. It is not necessarily aimed at students or teachers, but it is a very informative and useful website for American Revolution projects. The site it set up with clear tabs leading to specific sites and searches. The most important link on this site is its online library catalog, which allows individuals to search for specific battles, commanders, cities and other items related to the American Revolution. Content: This website is aimed at informing the public about the DAR and the American Revolution. It is for an older audience, middle school and high school, and would be most helpful in research projects. It is a very nice, official looking site with a clearly identified author and copyright date along with contact information to the site. The site is organized in a very user friendly way with links on the left hand side of the page, and special featured items on the right and DAR related sites across the top of the page. All links lead to educational sites, or journals that are written by experts in the field. Design: The design of this website is very official, with clearly identified authors and easy to use links. It is easy to navigate, and has links to journals, pictures, and videos that are relevant to the American Revolution. All links work and take the viewer to the correct site, and the information provided at the site is educational and useful. This site is great for American Revolution information and is one that I would use as a teacher, however it is probably too complex and advanced for younger audiences.

David May 1/23/11 This site is very educational. Great information with a reliable source. Too much advertising the museums. Overview: The website of the Smithsonian museum with a fun educational spin. The site has a few games with animations that are well put together. The games have good images and great animations that put complex things in simpler terms like comparing a planet size with a beach ball compared to a golf ball. The site overly advertised visiting the actual place too much. Everything that was clicked on encouraged visiting and it got very tiresome very quickly. Content: The site is very easy to navigate and find what one is looking for. There is a constant sidebar with information about where you are and what things are easiest to link to.. They list the curator of the museum who is in charge of the content on the website. The copyright of the website is 2010 which shows recent content on the website. There is an informational theme to the site, but the clear objective of this site is to get visitors to the museum. Design: The website is very well put together. It is impressive with the amount of graphics and page design that they put in effect on the site. The problem is that if users don't have the latest flash player they will have to download it and go through the download process. If this is for students the schools might restrict the ability to download the software. The website other than over advertisement is good for information and reliable for what one is looking for.

Laura Rice 2/5/12 Overview: The purpose of this website is to expand educational knowledge and resources for education. The intended audience ranges from educators, families, and students. This website provides many resources for public use. The educators are provided with resources for field trips, professional development organizations, lesson plans, resource library, and online events. For families the website provides information about what is available at the Smithsonian, time you can spend together as a family, and events families can do together. The students are also provided with information about the Smithsonian, topic they can explore, secrets of the Smithsonian, and events available for kids. This website is a great source to a variety of people. The links to each page provide a lot of information useful to educators, families, and students. Content: The website is extremely useful to all types of people from educator, families, and students. Teachers have access to lesson plans for all subject areas ranging from K-12th grade. Teachers are also provided information about taking a field trip to the Smithsonian and the programs it has to offer students. The tab for educators also has a link to online events that are taking place. For families the website contains different activities the Smithsonian has to offer as well as activity sheets for children. Students are provided with events at the Smithsonian that may interest them, as well as topic they may enjoy to see there. Overall the content is very educational and centered around what the Smithsonian can offer to others, and also provides lesson plans that could help educators in their future career. Design: The overall design is easy to understand and information is extremely easy to access. Tabs clearly identify the intended audience from educators, families, and students. Under each tab there are others that provide information useful to each age group. At the bottom of the page ther

Erin Kirby January 23, 2011 Overview: The sight http://www.brainpop.com/is a good sight for older elementary students, and middle school students. The homepage offers different subjects that a student would learn everyday in school. Each time you click on a link it keeps breaking down into certain subject. This makes it simple for students to use, each link is filled with helpful information. The site is very 21st century based and there are many different things to do such as read, play games, watch movies, and more. The content on this site would be helpful to use in a classroom and would get more students interested and involved in certain subjects. Content: Everything on this site seems simple to use, easy to follow, and has very reliable information. There is a link that allows parents, students, or teachers to see what brain pop is all about. It tells you that there are other brain pop sights that are for younger children and even some for teachers that will help them create lesson plans and other activities. It is an educational website that contains a lot of material that all seems accurate and easy for children to understand. One thing that could be a problem is that on some things on the site you need to subscribe to get the full information, but they do have tutorials and lots of other helpful information. I think that most students would enjoy looking through the subjects on the sight and finding something that they are interested in to learn about. This sight is easy to get involved in and enjoy it at the same time. There is so much information that some kids might stay on for hours! Design: The websites speed is fast and works smoothly link to link. All the videos and games that I tried ran great and I had no problems. The graphics are clear and entertaining for students. When starting at the homepage, it is simple to follow and not distracting at all. There are no pop up that get in the way or take away from learning. This sight is great for

Overview: This website was very visual and very organized. This website was good for educational purposes at the high school level. There were many different subjects with interactive games involved. Content: Each subject that this website offered had alot of information in it. There was a wide range of topics under each subject which helped the viewer get a better understanding. THe content of the site was clear and obvious. All of the information for the providers of the website was easy to find. I couldn't find the lates revision date, but other than that, the information quality was accurate based off of my knowledge. There were few links to other sites. Design:Everything downloaded efficiently. The hompage was very organized. The copyright date was obvious. Navigation was easy and clear cut, it was easy to move around the site. There was alot of interactive games that consituted as multimedia. This website had plenty of useful info. that made the site worth visiting

Lauren Peterson 10-21-13 http://www.brainpop.com/ Overview: This website is a multifaceted educational website that contains numerous subject matter. The site provides educational tools that can be utilized within classroom activities; furthering understandings of various subjects. In order to simplify and further education in particular areas of study, this website makes use of games and videos. Overall, this site seems to be a rather useful tool for a classroom, as it is easy to navigate with content that is clearly understandable. Content: The content seems to be geared towards Jr. High students, although there are other websites from BrainPOP that offer similar content more appropriate for younger ages. This site makes the various subjects within Math, Science, English, etc. very clear through explanation and visuals in videos, as well as interaction through educational games. Design: The use of color and animation throughout this website seem to be rather appealing to the eye. Not only does this sites appearance have the potential to intrigue a viewer, it is also easy to navigate. The links and activities function successfully with very few issues.

Overview This site offers a number of games for students to learn the human anatomy. Content The author appears qualified and the presenters of the site are easy to contact. The copyright is for 2008; however the material appears to be up-to-date and usable. There are links to add it to Facebook and other cloud sites. The information is educational and entertaining. The content and intention is clear. The only complaint I have, is that to use the boasted free games, one is subjected to ads. The ads are discussed in the content introduction and with purchase, games can be downloaded. The site is worth bookmarking for future reference. Design The website is attractive and though a bit cluttered, it is easy to navigate to the games. The games loaded easily and are simple to utilize. The use of multimedia is effective. I was able to find the site and use it, from multiple browsers. There are multiple game options that are broken down by physical system for easy adaption to a lesson plans. Overall: It is very well designed and easy to use.

Sarah KautzkyJanuary 31, 2011 Overview: The purpose of this website is to provide a small amount of information relevant to statistics courses and students and then redirect the user to other sites that deal with statistics help. This site is intended for students who are enrolled in a statistics course, high school or college. This website would be helpful to teachers teaching a statistics course, but using takes time and willingness to navigate from page to page until an answer may or may not be found. This appears to be a branch site of an online encyclopedia. My overall impression is fairly poor. Content: The creator of this website is not listed and there is no way to contact the people who run the site. There is no recent revision date or copyright date listed. Links to other sites and sources are in working condition but they are not categorized by content. There is no organization of information because the site itself provides very little information. This website does not achieve its purpose in providing help to statistics students and there is not way to know if all of the information is correct or relevant without visiting every link, and there are many of them.  Design: The design of this website is not to my liking. There are no download errors or broken links, but the entire site lacks any sense of organization. It is a hodgepodge of links and the disorganization distracts and even discourages learning. It is obvious what the title of the webpage is, but that is the only clear introduction to the site. The graphics limited and helpful. They are not excessive or annoying. Overall the site is designed not well for its intended audience. This is not a source that I would endorse or use in my classroom.

Sarah Kautzky January 31, 2011 Overview: The purpose of this website is to provide basic statistics help to high school and college level students. This site is intended for students who are enrolled in a statistics course and are seeking additional help and information. This website may also be used by statistics teachers to create lesson plans or be used as a reference. The information is separated into chapter like grouping. My overall impression of this site is a very good one. This is something that I would surely use as a statistics teacher and I would encourage my students to look at it and reference it as needed. Content: The creator of this website is an undergraduate professor who created it as a supplement to the textbook for his students.  He is a credible source and contact information is available in the form of a drop box. Links to other sites and sources are in working condition and are very helpful. This website achieves its purpose in delivering the basic information taught in a statistics class. All of the information is current, relevant, and correct. The information is easy to understand as well. The site is very well organized and free of bias and spelling or grammatical errors. Design: The design of this website is pretty good. There are no download errors or broken links. The homepage is very neat, clean, and organized which appeals to me, but others might be that it is plain looking. The site does not contain a table of contents because it is one in itself the way it is laid out. A copyright date is listed at the bottom of the page. Navigating the site is fairly easy and there are links that allow the user to jump to related pages. The graphics are only used when appropriate and when they add something to the material. The cleanliness and simplicity of it promotes learning and limits distraction.

Lauren John 1/31/2011 http://www.learn4good.com/kids/learning_spanish_online/free_lessons_for_children.htm Overview: Although the web design is not as well put together and eye catching as the first site I reviewed, it fared much better on the checklist than the first. The site is much more organized and user friendly to navigate, with working links and activities that don't require membership. They also are available for contact and do not require any downloads/installation of products to participate. It is fairly obvious what the site covers and the content available for free versus the products you can buy. This page is effective, efficient, and conducive to several learning styles. I would use this site in my classroom someday in the future. Content Summary The content of this page is clear and indexed well so that the user can very quickly navigate to their desired lesson and know exactly what they will be learning about. I was impressed that not only the information providers were clearly identified, but the currency and the quality of the site very obvious. They also had a variety of categories to learn about, which in a language site is very desirable. All the links worked correctly and were worthwhile to the learning taking place. It covered all the areas of the content checklist with ease. Design Summary: I was happier with this site than the first for several design reasons. First of all, the homepage that downloads is not only fast, but the only place you need to go. The first site had a homepage that then took you to another menu that asked for a download before taking you into the learning space. Although it doesn't have the same eye appeal, I knew what the content was and who the sponsors were with ease. They were also available for contact! The menus had clear pictures and labels to help the user navigate efficiently, and the directions to the learning games were clear and easy to follow. Everything seemed to be in its appropriate plac

Morgan Carlson 5-18-2011 Overview: The purpose of this site is to help teachers create positive lessons about the Holocaust. The website is intended for teachers, and for students from kindergarten through college. Some of the resources available on this website are learning about the founding organization of the website, personal stories from Holocaust survivors, book reviews on the issue, and causes such as the Global Relief fund and Darfur. The content of this site is useful to my needs, and explains in detail the purpose of its postings, and also of the related links on the website. There are several other useful links from this page, and the design of the website is easy to use, and is appealing to the audience. Content: In the opening paragraph of the website, the purpose and intended audiences are clearly listed, along with information about the founder of the site and contact information. The purpose of the site is informational/educational, and the founder of the site is qualified. There are a variety of links, videos, reviews, etc. pertaining to the purpose of the website, and information is cohesive with one another. The website provides a link to the corporate sponsors, and it appears to be free of biased attitudes. However, there are one or two broken links on the page, and the date of last revisions is not stated. It is then difficult to assess how frequently the material is updated. The website's main purpose of providing a variety of instructional tools to help students and teachers is fulfilled, and easy to find using search tools. Design: The homepage is fast to load, and you can easily see the title, name of the sponsor, and contact information upon first viewing the website. There is a table of contents and a search bar that makes it easy to navigate the website. Graphics and videos are placed accordingly, and are relevant to the material being discussed. There are directions that explain how to click on certain links, and a dis

Overall: The website I used for my bad example was called Kindergarten Games. The game for this website is unclear on what teachers or students are supposed to learn. It shows some requirement for multitasking but is not complex enough to really take something from this. Where to go for help is not clear and only the sponsor is listed. The author was not listed; only the game is "information" on this website. Content: The basic content is unclear for whether this game is for teachers or for students. The author is not stated nor links for help. The sponsor is listed as a game site for teachers' and children. Since the author was not listed I cannot determine if he or she is qualified to give information. The website also failed to give dates to validate currency; the purpose is not clear for who/what is going on. The game is not complicated enough for teachers and too much is going on to explain to kindergarteners. Overall too much is missing from this website for it to be a decent, valid place to seek help/information. Design: The website downloaded efficiently and has strong eye appeal; the sponsor was identified and there was a space to leave comments but no information to contact. The copyright date was not established nor was the most recent update. There is a tutorial telling directions how to play the game but not who it is directed towards or the objection of the game. The only links were leading to different games by the sponsors; the music went along with the game as did the graphics. It was not a big enough site and did not contain enough information to navigate through it.

Overall: The website that I chose for my good example was Mrs. Herbies Kindergarten Web site. This was a website for teachers to go to get help setting up their own websites. It had links to example pages with ideas of what would be helpful to parents to know what is going on with their kids' school day. I tihknk this is an example of a good educational website because it was organized well, it was bring and had relevant graphics. The website also showed that it was recently updated and had contact information in case of questions. Content: At first glance it is easy to determine basic content, you know that this is a teacher website creator by the graphics and titles. Both the author and sponsors are listed through titles and at the bottom. All of the links were up and running. They all were worthwhile examples of her work or links to email in case of help. Design: The website uploaded quick and efficiently in multiple browsers. It is colorful and really catches your eye even as it begins to download. As I mentioned copyright, sponsors, author and clear titles were all present. Information and links were easily directed through and were current, useful information. The same format was used throughout the whole site. Last date revised was listed as 2011.

Kandase Quonn 9/5/11 Overview: This website is where all teachers can go look and share lesson plans. There where so many ads that I could barely tell what I should be trying to look at. I don't see myself going back to this website anytime soon. The idea behind this site is great but it needs more work! Content: There are many lesson plans and ides on this website that it seem like it would be a really great place to go as a teacher to share ideas and find new ones. The links are all clumped together and some don't even work. They do have contact links and the copyright date. Design: The lay out is simple when you get pass all the ad's and extra links they have on here. It was easy to navigate when using the tabs located at the top. Besides that the rest was just list of links without any real order.

Kandase Quinn 9/5/11 Overview: Made for teachers teaching K-12. This website gives lesson plans for all different grade levels and all different subjects. It is clear and easy to use and I found it useful when thinking of new ways to present different material to students. Design: Lay out is easy to navigate throughout the different links. They have a contact link and the copyright is clearly stated. Texts are all readable and all links and pictures worked. Content: This site has printable, assessments, special needs resources and lesson plans by subject and theme. There are also many other links on this site to get more information that this site may not have.

Katrina Swanson February 26, 2013 The intended purpose of this website is to provide teachers from many different grade levels access to creative and fun lesson plans, printables and other fun activities to include in their classrooms. Content: This website contains a lot of material that is very informational and helpful to teachers. There are links to almost any subject and more to incorporate into a classroom. Design: The design of this website is attractive but pretty basic. It is for teachers to use not students, and this is very clear just from looking at the different pages. Everything runs smoothly and the links seem to be working properly!

Danielle Walter 9/5/11 Spanish Just for Children Overview: This is a website for English speaking or Spanish speaking students. It provides you with tools, activities and websites to help children with learning Spanish. It helps Spanish, English or bilingual students to learn more about their own language or to learn the other. Content: This website is difficult to navigate. It is unorganized and has things scattered all over. It doesn't seem very professional. It has English and Spanish writing throughout the whole page so it's a bit confusing. The websites and activities at the bottom are all unorganized and are hard to figure out. The website is set up by a professor from the University of Northern Iowa but it still doesn't seem too reliable and professional. Design: The design is set up very well. It's extremely unorganized. Words and boxes are all thrown around and it just isn't very appealing to the eye. It doesn't have one color scheme or a theme. It does not have a copyright, only an email of the professor who set up the site.

Taylor Pilch 09/09/2011

Taylor Pilch 09/09/2011 Overview: The purpose of this site is to provide an easy online educational website to help with learning and provide teaching games. The fun games use technology to teach kids. The intended audience is for Pre-K to 8th graders, but you have to sign up to use everything on the site, so it is primary for parents at the beginning. I did not find any resources on this website; it just contained things from the website that I could see. The overall impression of the website was that it could be really fun and helpful, but the fact that you have to sign up made me want to find somewhere else to go to that would be easier to start using. Content: As for the content, it was easy to tell what kind of content was in the site and who it was intended for. The information quality was good- the purpose was clear, it was organized and easy to use, and it seemed pretty reliable. On the other hand, I could not find an author of the site as well as information about the author. There was a place to contact them, but I did not see any names about who was in charge or anything like that. Also, I did not see any links to other websites or sources, which could be a bad thing. Design: Everything was clearly identified and you could find where you wanted to go without much difficulty. There was a copyright date and everything seemed to be in working order. It seemed current and the same format is used throughout the site.

Regene DePiero 9/5/2011 Overview: The purpose of this site is to provide resources for math teachers.  It provides publications, teaching standards, and classroom resources.  It offers a long list of helpful tips for math teachers as well as project and lesson ideas. It is an easy to use site with a clean design layout and provides lots of relevant information. Content: The site offers complete, well organized, and easy to understand information.  Although lacking in any real interactive elements, it fulfills its intended purpose to serve as a comprehensive resource for math teachers.  The content seems to be updated frequently although no revision date could be seen aside from the copyright notice.  The sponsor of the site is clearly listed and links to other relevant sites and resources are provided.  Information appears to be accurate, although no specific author is credited. Design: The layout is simple and easy to navigate.  The table of contents is clearly listed to the left  and is accessible from any area on the site. A similar layout is used throughout the site and links are well organized.  Contact information is easy to find.  The site is lacking in multimedia elements but the links provided bring you to more interactive sites.  There is definitely enough information provided her that makes this site useful to any math teacher or future math teacher.