ITEC2360

Overview: At the Smithsonian Education site, there is a very large amount of resources for students, educators, and families. Educators can use this website to find lesson plans on subjects such as history, art, language arts, and science. There are lesson plans for all aged students. For students, there are interactive activities. For families, there is information on learning activities to do together. The purpose of the website is to provide teachers, students, and families with useful information and activities on educating students. Content: The content of this website is very useful for teachers that want to teach their students science, history, art, and language arts. As soon as I got to this webpage I knew where I was and what the purpose of the website was. The site is obviously sponsored by the Smithsonian center for education, however, I was unable to find specific authors of the site and their credentials. I was also unable to find the currency of the information, however, based on my knowledge, it seems pretty up to date. The bottom of the page says 2012 so they must keep up on it. The quality of the information seems very good. The content is easy to understand and is well written and organized. The site provides very useful things such as lesson plans, standards information, and really neat interactive games and activities. Overall, I think this would be a very useful site for students, teachers, and families. Design: As soon as I reached this site it caught my eye with cool graphics and a nice layout. The page downloads very quickly. It is easy to navigate through the site. The links provide useful information for everybody. The site includes an abundance of information so it is useful in many ways. I am unclear about the currency of the information because it is not clearly stated.

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

Chelsea Brunski 10-08-12 Overview The purpose of this website is to help students with math, science, computer science, economics, and humanities. This website breaks down these subjects into more specific subjects so you can pick what topic you are struggling with most. Once you find the topic you are looking for you can watch videos on how to work these different problems out. The intended audience is for high school and college students because the subjects are at a higher level. All of the resources are different YouTube videos showing step by step instruction. I was really impressed by this website. It is very well organized and has a lot of great information. It provides plenty of help in the subject you are looking for. Content This website is full of different videos and a few games providing help. It is broken down into five different subjects that you would find in a college or high school setting. Every subject is broken down into different topics. This helps you narrow down the subject to exactly what you need help with. After you have picked your topic there is an abundance of videos that you can choose from. These videos break down different types of problems and teach you how to do them. Design This website is definitely more of a plain website but for the intended audience it is okay that it is plain. It is more of a straightforward approach instead of trying to catch your attention. It is a very well organized site which makes it enjoyable to work on. It is also really easy to navigate so you can find what you are looking for very quickly. Overall I think the design of this website is very nice for the intended audience.

Deneé Chintala October 7, 2012 Overview The purpose of quibble.com is for someone to create a poll, survey, free response question and many other different questionnaires. This site would be helpful in a classroom by creating a different way of asking questions for students in fun interactive way. The audience could be for virtually anyone who wants answers to any question, it's a very open site. With it being free it is easily accessible and has links to make multiple forms and surveys. Content There is little to no information given on this site but that makes it so the instructor could form the information to the classroom. This website is for teachers to create something with their own content. The use of this site would be for the format of quizzes and surveys rather than looking for a place for students to completely interact with the site. The authors are not clearly stated and it doesn't seem to have a last updated date, but it is an interactive widget site so the information isn't crucial to be updated rather than the technology to be current. Design This site is easy to look through. It would be easiest for an instructor to post the url to the quiz or post it on their class website. It's a very user friendly tool when it comes to implementing it into classrooms.  All of the links are working efficiently but it is a heavily advertised based site which causes some distractions on the page. This makes it hard to focus on the main point of why we would be using this site.

Content: The content of this website is clearly displayed at the top of the page. The ages of audience is not displayed, I would estimate the information useful for grades 5-8. The author is displayed and some background information is given, but, there is no way to contact him. I did not see a date of latest revision. The information is pretty timeless and so does not need revised much. The site does have advertisements that are not related to education, which may be bothersome. There are some links to other science related websites by the same author. Design: The homepage is quick to load and easy to navigate. There are a few graphics and images that support the information, but, not so many that it becomes a hindrance. The site seems compatible with different browsers. Included at the end of the lesson there are additional links to more topics. Purpose: To give information in regards to Astronomy and the Universe. It is well laid out and gives information in a logical order. Audience: Based on the content I would assume that the grades that would make the most use of this website would be 5th-8th. Resources: At the end of the lesson there are 11 links to related materials. The links work and are to reliable sources of scientific information. Impression: I like the website, it presents information that may be daunting in a relate able way, and even gives real world examples. The quizzes at the end help students to solidify the information they have gathered

General Chemistry Online Overview: General Chemistry Online is a website for general chemistry students intented to help students learn general chemistry basics thought FAQ's, featured articles, tutorials, and other tools. The article included are incredibly interesting, from a chemistry standpoint, and can spark interest in chemistry. There is also a Common Compound Library that has over 800 common compound names, formulas, and structures, which could be useful past general chemistry and into organic chemistry. Overall, the site is a very valuable tool.  Content: The site's purpose is easy to determine with a quick look at the home page. The information is liberally cited when necessary, and the author is qualified to be publishing such information. The sponsor is Frostburg University, and that is clearly identifiable. The information is current, as general chemistry does not change frequently or quickly. The content of the site is well organized, and it is easy to find the information you are searching for, as the homepage is somewhat of a table of contents.  Design: The design isn't fancy or even eye-catching, however it does not need to be. The design is simple, and easy to use to find the information desired. It was designed for an older audience learning general chemistry, and bright colors or fancy graphics would get in the way of information and be distracting. All of the internal and external links are working, and each section of the site and each link serves a clear purpose. 

American Chemical Society Overview: The website is for all chemists, including members of the American Chemical Society, chemistry teachers, and students as there is chemistry information as well. There is also a 'new and research' scrolling bar that includes scientific news other than chemistry, as well as 'molecule of the week.'  Content: The site's purpose is not clearly defined at first besides that is is chemistry related. A little bit of digging is needed to find what a user is truly looking for, whether it is information on chemistry, chemistry careers, or the section for members of the American Chemical Society. The author and copyright date are easy to find. The education tab is very useful, providing links to science experiments for kids, programs for undergraduate and graduate students, workshops, and funding and awards for chemistry students. There is also funding for researchers and applications for having information published.  Design: The website's design is good, but has some holes. For one, the website does not load effectively in Internet Explorer, and the homepage does not load efficiently. The homepage has strong eye appeal, however it has a lot of information in a small space, and makes it hard to find or even determine what a user is looking for. The homepage's visual appeal and interesting sections such as 'molecule of the week,' 'cool science,' and 'everyday chemistry' make the site eye-catching and cause the user to stay and take a look around. 

Reader Response Criticism

Kacy BaileyDate reviewed: October 8th, 2012All Weather, all the time web questContent: The content of this website was very helpful, and useful for teachers. It was clear that the content was meant for 2nd grade students trying to learn more about precipitation. It is clear who the author is. Even though it is not clear who the sponsor is, I do not believe that there actually is a sponsor. The website is providing second graders with information that is required to learn. It also has a teachers page making it easy for teachers to have their students complete a web quest like this one.  Design: The design of this web quest makes it stand out from a regular website, but it is not super interesting to look at. I do think that it will get most kids' attention though It could use some more designing. This website is also very easy to navigate. Each link is up to date and useful. The homepage clearly states everything that is needed (title, author, what the website is about, etc.) The only downside to the design of this website is that it may be kind of difficult for second graders to navigate. This is kind of hard to assume though due to the fact that children become more technological every day.  Overall: Overall this website is another great web quest to use for students. Instead of learning on the usual white board and projector, this gives students a more hands on way of learning. And of course students love using technology so a web quest is always a good idea to get them working with it. The website had great information for students to learn, and many links to look up the things that the website may have missed. Overall the website seemed to be a great teaching tool. 

Kacy Jo Bailey October 8th, 2012 Content: The content of this website is for second grade students learning more about sharks. This website is a good way for kids to learn more about the diversity of animals we have in our environment, and how sharks are similar and different from other animals that we see everyday. The content of this website is clear, easy to understand, and easy for second grade children to work with. Some of the content is a little old, but for the most part this website still gives teachers the ideas they need to make a web quest similar to this one Design: The design of this website is relevant to it's topic. It is a website about sharks and it has sharks for animations, and a blue background to represent the ocean which sharks live in. This website is easy to navigate with it's layout. Things are clearly labeled and easy to find.  Overview: Overall this website is a great way to get kids involved with learning about sharks in groups and not just getting information from the teacher lecturing. The website has good information and links that are useful to further investigate the information that may not all be included on this website. 

Kacy Jo BaileyDate Reviewed: October 8th, 2012 Content: The purpose of this website is to get third grade children to work together to learn more about a specific planet in an engaging and interacting way. The content of this website seemed very informational. There were many links that lead to gain more information if anything was missed within the actual website its self. The content was easy to spot right away, and was very clear who the audience was. The website had content that was meant for the correct audience that was listed. The content of this website also had a page for teachers which made this website not only seem like a good tool for students, but teachers as well.  Design: Because this website was about planets and space there were space ship animations and there was also a starry background. This website also had a very attention grabbing homepage, which is great to get students interested in learning. This website was very easy to navigate for kids and adults as well. Although the website did not have a "how to navigate" page, it was not really needed. The website did have a table of contents for navigation, but you could also get to everything by simply continuing to scroll down the page.  Overview: Overall I thought this website was great, especially for a teacher! Teachers are always looking for inspiration and new ideas to make their classroom more interesting. They are also always trying to find new ways to get kids involved in learning and actually have some fun while doing it. I thought the website had some great ideas, some that I myself, as a future teacher would like to use someday. 

Hannah Clucas October 10, 2012. Overview: neoK12 is an educational video website. The whole site is basically a giant database to help teachers with their lesson plans. The main purpose of the website is to offer educational videos that teachers can use in their class. But there are also quizzes on topics of choice, diagrams, pictures on topics of choice, and even an option to create a school presentation. The site is simple but useful, though it is probably more useful for science and history teachers rather than language arts or math teachers. Content: As I said above, neoK12 is a website that allows teachers to find videos to help with their lesson as well as quizzes, pictures, and diagrams. All of the videos are from Youtube and cover a wide variety of age groups. The content was amazing in some areas and not so great in other areas. In regards to the history and science sections for videos, they are amazing. Several of the science videos are from National Geographic and the history videos are well done and cover a wide variety of eras and cultures. Several of the language arts videos were not made very well. They would probably be more useful to teach with if a teacher cannot come to class. It is the same for the math videos. The quizzes are useful and relevant. The ability to create a school presentation is a great tool for students to write about what they have learned or for creating study guides. All of the videos and other functions of the website are relevant and useful. Design: The site is extremely easy to navigate and is well organized. The home page is the list of the main categories of videos and their subcategories. The design is very simple, nothing flashy or amazing. The site does not bombard you with ads or other websites, which is nice and helps insure that students will stay on the website.

This website shows many different links to science videos, games and lessons. This helps the teacher and the student in many ways. It gives the teacher a way to look at other lessons and other perspectives to help them teach the class in different ways. The students also get to look at other ways to learn something, and they get to play games and watch videos to learn content instead of reading. Content: The website has multiple different links that relate to sciences from earth and space science to physical science. Each link that is clicked then shows different activities for different grade levels.

This website shows many different links to science videos, games and lessons. This helps the teacher and the student in many ways. It gives the teacher a way to look at other lessons and other perspectives to help them teach the class in different ways. The students also get to look at other ways to learn something, and they get to play games and watch videos to learn content instead of reading. Content: The website has multiple different links that relate to sciences from earth and space science to physical science. Each link that is clicked then shows different activities for different grade levels.

Chemistry Professor Overview: Chemistry professor is a website that sells DVD's and chemistry notes intended to help a chemistry student. The website was recommended to me by my chemistry teacher from high school if I ever need good, extra material. I used his DVD's to study for the AP exam, and they were extremely valuable. They presented content in a unique way, however free general chemistry information can be just as good, such as the other website evaluation I submitted, General Chemistry Online. Content: The site's purpose is easy to determine, and it's also easy to determine the site is not free. The information is cited in the DVD's themselves, but not on the website. The courses offered by the site are well-organized and it's easy to determine what information will be covered in each course. The information quality is very good, and more in-depth than free informational websites. Somebody could learn enough chemistry to be almost as proficient as through college courses. Design: The site's design is minimal, and uses a simple color palette that makes information easy to see, and the site easy to navigate. Checkout directions are easy to follow, and are secured through PayPal. Information is current and well-presented, and the authors are available for contact through phone or e-mail.

Over View: Activity Village is a website that allows children to explore various subjects from Thanksgiving, to Steve Irwin Day, to Japan. It gives children examples of activities that they can do to learn about their subject which includes color pages, crafts, some youtube videos, and geography if they are learning about a country. Content: This sites purpose is easy to determine. It is a free site where children can learn about various topics and subjects. Everything is free and can be printed easily. The audience is for younger kids, but there are subject areas for all the grade levels. This site would give kids a good introduction into a variety of subjects. Design: The design of this website is very child friendly. There are a lot of colors and the text is fairly large. I think that it is probably meant for teachers and parents to find the activities and give them to the children, but an older child would be able to navigate the page with little supervision.