ITEC2360

The next website provides clear examples of the animals affected by wildfires and what they have to do to survive.

This next website gives data to explain the results of a wildfire by providing data to show the effects of wildfires on the environment.

htmlThe first website provides clear examples of the effects of wildfires on the environment and explains very clearly what happens to animals or plants in the area.

Peggy Hall\nAugust 31, 2010\nWebsite Evaluation\nOverview:\nI reviewed the website, Reach Every Child which is a website that helps teachers establish lesson plans. I believe the point of this website is to link the viewer to other websites that have information (i.e. lesson plans, facts, and data) about certain subjects. It is mostly a resource for teachers and students looking for information in whatever subject they need to discover more information in. I feel like this website could use some more content in explaining its overall use, but it does have a lot of great links for the viewer. This website needs to be enhanced, but the meaning behind it is good. I did also find some lack in labeling each section effectively. It took me a little while to completely understand how this website works and the author's credibility and contact information is lacking. \nContent:\nAs I previously mentioned it was not easy for me to decipher the overall objective of this site, I knew it dealt with lesson plans, but how those lessons plans were presented and used on the site was a little confusing at first. It is known on the webpage that Horace Mann developed it and that it is founded by educators for educators, but it does not have a bibliography page or link describing who Horace Mann Company is. It addresses in its disclaimer that if there are any questions to email them, but there is not an email address. This website does have over 5,000 resources and different links which I do find beneficial. However, it does also mention that you could hit a dead end and to not be discouraged. It is not apparent how current the information is that is being displayed on the webpage. This site does have some organization, but as I previously mentioned there is not exactly a clear homepage or labeled content links etc… There are a lot of links which do not clearly explain where they will be taking you next. \nDesign:\nThe design is lacking. It does not catch my eye appeal when I first l

Educational Math Games

Learning math while having fun

Alicia Blanchard ITEC2360 Fall 2010, World Almanac for Kids-Science-DNA Overview I reviewed the Website World Almanac for Kids- Science-DNA. The content was poorly put together. I knew it was about DNA because the title is " What is DNA?". The audience seemed to be kids in the higher division of Elementary Education: so 4th or 5th graders; however, it also looked like they could get bored because it didn't have any way to draw the kids in. The authors of the site were hard to locate. I thing it's by the world almanac book authors who wrote the books but I'm not sure which author wrote which article because there were a lot of articles without clear authors and it was poorly organized. A few authors were either teachers themselves or parents but the website did not have a way to contact the people to find out if the information was not valid, nor did it have many citations. The website was up to date: it was revised on Aug 3, 2010. The website wasn't very useful though, because some links in the site wouldn't open. Content The content of the website was informational, and pretty accurate. It describes in a very general sense what DNA is and what it does. There are a few definitions of what a gene is or a chromosome and other valued information. The content on the page is pretty clear, however the ending of the page and paragraph is quite abrupt and feels like there could be more information or another page. Reading the information given was easy and rather quick, I felt like the website gave a good foundation to continue learning about DNA. I believe I would use this website as a beginning format the kids could read. Design The homepage is a little slow at loading and I don't think kids will like waiting that long to read about something if they aren't that interested in. However the homepage was pleasing to the eye. It used a lot of color and used a lot of graphics to point out the important parts of the site. At the bottom half of the s

Gary Schmitt September 1, 2010 en.wikipedia.org Content: While Wikipedia provides tons of information, most of it is out of order and irrelevant. When I searched the word fine art I found that a lot of the information seems confusing and even a little bias. This web page draws information from lots of different sources so it's hard to tell what is true and what is just hear say. However it could be used to help somebody get a quick overview of a topic. Design: So just as the content of Wikipedia is unsatisfactory, so is the main design of the page. It's plain white background makes it seem as though little effort was put into it. Also when searching general topics you will be shown random pictures that aren't always explained very well. Overview: Wikipedia is a loosely constructed web page that is changed many times every day. Knowing this I would have to say that it is not going to be the most reliable place to find good information. If you're looking to get a quick overview of a person, place or event it might provide a starting point but if you need credible information it's not a good place to find it.

Overview
The second website that I evaluated was bartleby.com. This website is a resource to hundreds of different texts that are all available for free online. You can read these texts online, purchase them, or download them as ebooks from amazon.com. This is a great resource for all ages. Overall I thought the website was a decent website. It's not very catchy and doesn't offer much information about the site, but it is a good resource to have.
Content
This website isn't an eye catcher. I think it would be hard to get students interested in the site because it looks very dry. It offers lots of content for free which is great, but it doesn't do it in a catchy way. The site is easy to navigate and has great resources. It seems like there is something for everyone on this site as long as you stay long enough to look for it.
Design
The site is set up very basically. It's easy to find your way around and search for something that you're interested in. It doesn't offer information about the website though. There is information on how you can advertise on their site but now about where the site gets its content and how they put it up for free. The site really looks like a reference library, which is appropriate for a website of this type.

Website evaluation submitted as email

Chaun Ary Teaching with Technology Professor Yeshi 1 September 2010 Website Review for "The Learning Network" Content 1. The website was great at first look because it is sponsored by the New York Times which is a reliable source. The site was clearly meant to give teachers more interacting teaching tools. The authors were provided but their contact information wasn't. The site didn't mention their credibility but it did give all their past publications which in a way is credibility. The information was all current and updated to the current date. The content of the site was complete and well organized with links to specific areas such as civics, global history, and American history. The information is good however the reader must understand that they do have links to NY Times editorial links which are always biased. The site also has interactive maps and teaching tools which is invaluable in teaching. Overall the site was definitely worth while.

Website Evaluation submitted by email

Gary Schmitt September 1, 2010 www.the-art-institutes.info Content: The content of this site is well organized with headers along the top and side margins of the home page. The main purpose of the site is clearly displayed on the home page. Contact information including a phone number is also available in case you desire more information. Most of the content is about the school itself so there is few outside sources being used to construct this web page. Design: The design of this web page is very clear and easy to navigate. Visually the page is very aesthetically pleasing. The visual elements and photographs on this web page suggest that the page is set up to attract younger people who might be interested in college. Overview: Overall this sight seems to function very well and is easy to navigate through information that you might be looking for. It seems as though many design elements were also taken into consideration. The web site uses warm colors that also create relaxing and inviting atmosphere. This web page seems very resourceful and professionally done.

Jamie Szallar Website Evaluation #1 9-1-2010 U.S. Department of Education www.ed.gov Overview The U.S. Department of Education website is extremely useful. I found the information to be current and correct. The site is easily explored and visually appealing. Overall I would highly recommend this site to anyone interested in education, teaching, or the United States public school systems. Content The content of this site is amazing. The information given covers a wide variety of topics related to the education field. Links to numerous educational sites, as well as other government sites, are easy to use and all beneficial to furthering the understanding of the site subject. The site is very well organized, subject headers make it easy to find what part of the site you are interested in exploring. Contact information is given for several government agencies, as well as other educational resources. Design The site has great eye appeal. A general theme follows the entire site, appropriate photos and emblems are add nicely. The home page does have a large amount of information on it, but is not cluttered to the point that it becomes difficult to navigate. This site is definitely worth visiting and would be valuable for a wide variety of visitors.

Overview: WebMD is a website designed to provide very general and basic information (not necessarily medical advice) for patients about health problems and healthy eating. As far as credibility goes, I do not doubt much of the information provided, but if you are looking for real answers to medical questions, this is not your website. Fortunately all content is free. It would be a good site to look at to find out what a certain disease is, what the symptoms are and how to go about dealing with it (drug names, etc.) and when to call a doctor. I think overall it is a good site for basic medical information but I would not rely on it to solve any medical problem, as its' purpose is not clinical based. Design Summary: From a first look, there is a lot going on in this webpage. Pictures are flashing back and forth, ads are flashing on the sides of the page and there is a lot of different colors and different sizes of texts. It is fairly organized however and is easy to find what you are looking for relatively quickly. I had trouble finding a list of sponsors and all I could find was a statement on the information tab which said, "We allow third parties to provide funding for WebMD to independently create information about certain topics within a specified health category". Also the ads on the site were mostly for drug companies, which cause some bias. The site worked the same in Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox. Finding contact information was easy enough (at the very bottom of the page in small text) but I could not find any means of contacting them except for email.

Sarah Schepp September 1, 2010 Website Evaluation #2 Overall- This website was created to give high school students worksheets they could do that would let them still have fun like kids. The worksheets focused more on engaging the students so they don't always have to do book work or listen to a teacher give a lecture. The worksheets seemed very useful but I didn't care for the layout or design. I couldn't find the information I was looking for very easily. Content- The content of having the information that gives students worksheet that is fun to them is a wonderful idea. This will keep the students wanting to do the homework. I couldn't locate any information from this website other than the copy right date at the bottom of the page and sponsor who's name was in the lower left had corner. Other than that I couldn't get any of the information and it made this website not seem so good. Design- The design was very flashy and full of graphics, this livened up the website and made it seem like students might actually like the worksheets that it provided. It had a black background with white words which seemed to make the words explode from the page. The information seemed more interesting. Everything was labeled clear and seemed to be easy to locate, it even brought up worksheets for elementary students.

Jaymie Sheehan ITEC 2360-04 9/2/2010 OVERVIEW For this review, I visited the National Council of Teachers of English site, http://www.ncte.org. The intended audience for this site is clearly for English, literacy and language art teachers, from the elementary to college levels. The intended purpose of the site is to provide these educators with information and resources that will help them improve in the classroom. The site has various resources including professional development, press relating to English and education, shopping, and the ability to interact with different educators. I felt that this site was great for a multitude of reasons. The layout is simple and extremely easy to navigate, there were seemingly unlimited resources and links for teachers of each grade level, educators are able to use this site to interact with one another and become more proficient in their classrooms. located at NCTE. By scrolling down the page, one can find the sponsor's address and phone numbers if quandaries arise. There is also a specific tab that allows the user to contact NCTE for any variety or reasons. The information on the site is kept current. All links seem to work and are relevant, however I found no date telling the user when the last revisions were made. The information quality of this site is superb. The purpose of the site is clear and everything seems to be complete. There is myriad information located within the site for teachers. Of course, since this is a site aimed toward English teachers all grammar and spelling seem to be correct!

When looking for different techniques to use in a classroom setting, I came across a website called www.southernworlds2010.com. While viewing this web site, I first notice that there is not very much offered on the site and it has limited information. The target audience could be applied to as anyone that is involved in the Education system such as a student, parent, teacher etc. The basic concept behind this web page is to explain how virtual worlds can be used to reach children in their educational studies. Although this may sound like an interesting topic to read about, there is no Author given and therefore no information describing who wrote this. All that was provided was what the idea came form the Tasmanian Department of Education. There is also no sponsor given on this web page. This website was also only added a couple days prior to my finding.