ITEC2360

AAA Math is a site used for learning, practicing, playing and exploring.

Meghan Snell September 11, 2011 Overview: AAA Math is a very useful site for the learning of children. It's goal is to help children learn any subject in math, give tools to practice with, a few games to play based on the desired subject and some exploring available afterwards. It is definitely a learning based site instead of a site based on playing game after game. Information about the site authors is difficult to find but a section about the site itself and its purposes is easy to find. Every kind of math subject you can think of is given in a table of contents on the side and a header at the top gives options to link to any grade from K-8th. Content: As stated above, the authors and sponsor were not easy to find which is a valuable part of the site itself. Although there is that one little problem, the content of the site is very nice for the use of children. I like how it is organized into different subjects as well as grade levels and then does each in order through steps of learn, practice, play, and then explore. The site serves the purpose intended but another faulty is that no information about revisions is available. Design: There is not a lot of design to the website. The home page contains no graphics and just gives information about the site itself. This could make it hard for the website to be appealing to children. Parents and teachers would be able to look past and see the value of the site but children often look of graphics and fun. Everything is clearly labeled and organized though which makes it very nice to navigate.

This website is for K-8 grade level. It is interactive math lessons. You can pick what grade and what subject you want to practice. It is a drill and practice type of website. When you go to a subject it shows you how to work out the problem then allows you to practice. I think this is a good website to allow children to practice when you first introduce a new topic.

Really great site if you writing a story and need a rhyme

Mark Hyde www.quizlet.com Overview: This site is for students to study on using on line flash cards that they can make or use some that is already on the site. It can be used for any subject and any age of student preparing for a test. Once you get sick of flashcards you can also put them words and phrases into game settings to have a little more enjoyable time studying. Content: The site has various styles of study guides based on flash card studying. A student can do anything from study math to bodyparts in already save flashcards. If wanting to study their own words they can create flashcards of their own. It also has different kind of activities to do including testing mode and game mode which allows you to find out where you are. Design: Simple design that is easy to use. It is not much of an attention getter, but students can see what they need to do and is straightforward on how to use it. The only problem that may occur is some of the flashcards that are saved on there may have wrong information.

Quizlet is an online vocabulary tool designed to simplify vocabulary learning thru flashcards. It allows users to create and share flashcard sets with anyone on the web via facebook and twitter. Due to its simplicity and multidisciplinary capabilities, I definitely believe this site has a legitimate place in educational settings.

Visual Examples of Organic and Geometric shapes

This website provides examples to students of visual instruction to organic and geometric shapes. This webpage links other students work from outside the classroom and provides inspiration to my students for pieces of their own art. Grades 2-4 would benefit from this page. Content: This page was rated average in content because of how specific a topic it had. I couldn't find things like last revision date. I didn't like how the content was presented since it was mainly pictures with captions. I did like the difference in art between each student and I feel like it would be beneficial to show when on the topic of Shapes in art. This page also links to other artistic topics of drawing, like the 'Great Wave' in Asian art and Egyptian Symbols. Design: Since this is a single blog entry post, I do not favor the site design. I feel it lacks in off-site information and thus is insufficient. I would use it as a supplement tool but not the bases for a whole lesson. The reference page for the teach is quite informational and would provide a good source for any questions. ~A.Rodriquez

Interactive website full of artistic games for elem. students

This website is used for the instruction and education of art, including but not limited to great artists, different types of art. This webpage includes ratings for all their games based off difficulty (1.2. or 3 stars) This rating system is especially helpful when instructing students on what games they should play and which ones will be too hard. Grade levels include 2-6th. Content: The content of this page ranked average as I could not find some pretty important things. I couldn't determine the base content of the site, since they are all games, to gauge this, you would most likely have to play the majority of the games. The topic of Art is universal through all applications. I couldn't find date revised or who the admin was, but the sponsoring by Tate was received loud and clear. I felt like this webpage could be very helpful in one specific topic, or very distracting depending on the age group that this webpage was introduced to- I concluded that it would more benefit grades 2-5. There was no biased that I could detect, since the art games were of a wide variety. Design: Overall, good design of this webpage, but a little overwhelming if you didn't know where to start. The homepage is formatted nicely, but there is gratuitous amount of color and things to click on. I could not find a working link to contact the admin, or off-site links. ~A.Rodriquez

Basic website for the Color Wheel, the primary and secondary colors.

The purpose of this site is to educate young elementary students on the primary, secondary and tertiary colors. The webpage is fairly simple and straight forward and includes pictures for more visual learners. In addition, this website gives other fun activities linked to other topics: Seed Germination, Co2 reactions. Content The content of this webpage was 'worth bookmarking for future reference'. I found the sponsors of the page to be not labeled correctly, or given proper dues.. I couldn't find the contact information of the website author either. Overall this webpage is good for k-6 students in many different subjects. Design: This page was simple in design, and rather easy to understand. All the parts of each page were purposeful in contributing to the topic and making pages interesting. I found the homepage to be a bit bland with only a list for navigation to other pages, it lacked a personal touch. I did like, however, how it was broken up into grade level, then by topics. Quite useful for planning broad spectrum lessons plans. This page showed not date of revision but the 'about us' page says who the admin is. ~A.Rodriquez

History teacher recouces

Brienna Gregor 10/11/12 Overview: This site would work best for students from late elementary to high school levels (5-12). This website is intended to help students and other educators understand the underlying factors of predicting volcanic eruptions. Available resources provided include: Melting Rock, Dynamic Earth, Judging Hazards, Forecasting, Coping with Risk, and more. Initially I predicted that this website wasn't going to do well in the content standards because the design standards were a little bit lacking compared to other sites however, I have come to find that this website is a very handy tool and does well in both content and design standards. Content: This website is very good in that its information is always up to date, the information quality is great, and it provides more information. Some sites lack in giving the viewer options to leave the site and look at links that are provided. This website does lead viewers to learn out of their site in a constructive way while instilling learning on their site as well. Design: This website isn't the most appealing to the eye after following the introductory page. Despite this fact, it is fast, easy to navigate, and uses videos as a media source. It gets the job done in fulfilling its purpose by instilling the idea that natural disasters, such as volcanoes, can be predicted (not stopped) and then can lead to less of a disaster through preparation. Information is what is most important in educational websites and I believe this website is great due to that aspect.

kids.discovery.com Reviewed by Kristie Neises on 8/30/2010 Overview This site is a branch off of the discovery channel main site. It features the television series that are on the discovery channel for their younger viewers. It also has games and activities and some television episodes meant to teach that are themed with the popular shows. This site is overall good for its content and design but it can be a little overwhelming for the audience it is intended for. The site has great graphics and would capture the attention of any child visiting the site, it is worth the bookmark to come back to because of how well it integrates teaching with its activities. The useful information that adults might need is a little hard to find. The main down side I can find is that younger kids might need an adult to find games and activities that they can do on their own since the site takes in such a wide spectrum of age categories. Content The content of this site would not be rated very high by adults. Sponsors are not credited, there are no specific things like author information or reviews. Even finding the contact information is a little tricky. Copyright is not posted since each part of the site has a different one based on the show the game or activity is themed after. There are no links to other sites since it is made to go with a very specific set of content to match the television channel. It is very clear on what the purpose of the site is, it is to entertain and even have a little bit of marketing to advertise for shows and the television channel itself. The website has its obvious upsides in that it is something that has accurate information as an educational program and it is made easy to understand for the age group it is intended for. Design The design of this site is well done. It stays true to its roots and copies the same theme colors and graphics that the television channel itself uses such as the chomping teeth and themed background of the month

Brienna Gregor 10/11/12 Overview: This website is very useful for students, teachers, and other educators in that it fulfills a plethora of scientific inquiries. This website is targeted for children from all grades and ages. Its purpose is to instill scientific exploration in children so as they grow older, they continue to be curious in the science world. This website provides many opportunities for both teachers and students to learn through interaction of available resources that include: Games, Puzzles, Activities, Quizzes, Tell Me More (further analysis for many different scientific interests), and more. I believe the design and content of this website is very, very well done. Content: The information currency and quality is superb due to the fact that it is sponsored and created by Discovery Channel. Contact information can be located at the bottom of the page through the link "viewer relations". This website is professionally done and very credible. Design: It is very easy to navigate and provides a huge amount of information. It is very fast, functional, and uses many different modes of media to stimulate children in their learning. Teachers can definitely bring their students to this website and build a lesson plan on one of its many subjects with ease and gratitude from the children. It is very appealing to the eye while stimulating little minds with information.

Brienna Gregor 10/11/12 Overview: This website is very useful for students, teachers, and other educators that want to learn more about volcanoes. This website is meant to stimulate the mind through comic book graphics that simplifies the learning objectives as indicated in earth sciences. Available resources include: plate tectonics, volcanoes, volcanic database, games, comics, teach, top sites, and more. This website is great for students and teachers in that it is exciting and easy to go through while serving as a helpful tool concerning lesson plans. This site would work best for students from late elementary to high school levels (5-12). In my opinion, the content and design of this website is well done. Content: At first look, this website looks to be professionally done. The content of this website appears to be current and correct however, the designers are apart of a ThinkQuest team called, "Team 17457". These teenagers did a very good job however; it may not be the most reliable source due to their age, inexperience, and living situations (all three are from different continents). Despite this, this website's information quality is very well done. Design: The design of this website is very well done in that it is very fast, it is easy to navigate, has many different sources of media, and the presentation of the content contributes to the website's purpose. Its design draws you in and makes you want to explore and learn the information provided.

This website is a good overview of Alexander The Great (King Alexander III of Macedonia.) It includes everything from his early life, to him claiming the throne, his conquests all the way up to his death. This is a great website because Alexander the Great is one of the most important figures in history and essentially merged Western and Eastern civilization. The website is very well organized and all information is under a specific heading. The vocabulary on this website isn't overly advanced so I believe anyone from middle school and up would gain information from this site. There are a lot of useful images, which really add to the website. Although the website is fairly plain, it's main purpose it to pass along information, and this website does just that.

This website is very simple, it's an English translation of the history of the Peloponnesian War written by Thucydides. It's organized well and the translations seem to be accurate. The vocabulary in this website is pretty advanced, so I feel that an account like this would work a lot better for high school or college students. Since this is an archive there isn't really any original work from the website's author, however there is a comment link where you can post and read comments from other people who have read this account, and get some new thoughts and opinions from there.

Kerensa Aris 10/10/12 Shotgun's Home of the American Civil War: The purpose of this site is to gain information on the Civil War, most information pertains to the Confederacy. The intended audience is both students and teachers, both can collect useful information from the site and it is appropriate for all audiences. The site contains links to many other sites for available resources. My overall impression is that this is a quality site containing pertinent information. There is some bias since the site is run by a southern college, but upon first looking at the site this fact is very clear.  I assessed the content of this site as worth marking for future reference. The site is run by qualified individuals from LSU, and information is useful and trustworthy. The site is revised frequently but new information is not routinely added because it is a Civil War site. The site is well organized and all external links are in working order.  The design of the website is well done and easy to use. All pages download quickly and site indexes are available. The home page could have more detail to make it more eye catching. There are several different kinds of media such as audio and visual files, and likes to further information and useful sites are available. The site is compatible with other browsers, and the content is presented neatly and is organized. 

Kerensa Aris 10/12/12 North Carolina and the Civil War The purpose of this site is Civil War education. The intended audience is students, teachers, parents, etc. It is appropriate and educational for any age level. Resources available on the site include links to external sites, pictures from the museum, and interactive media such as videos and virtual tours. My overall impression is that this is a very high quality site maintained by reliable sources and very well designed.  The website was very well designed and easy to use. All pages load quickly and are compatible with multiple browsers. The homepage is attractive and you can tell where you are immediately as well as the site sponsor and the index is readily available. Navigation is very easy, links work properly, and directions are provided for virtual tours. The site contains vast amounts of information that is easy to find and revised often. However material is not added often as the entire site is about the Civil War.  Based on content, the site is very useful for information needs. The content and intended audiences are quickly and easily determined. Authors of the material are clearly defined and information about the authors and sponsors as well as contact information are provided. The purpose of the site is clear, content is complete and well organized, and information is accurate and sufficient for user purposes. Interactivity is provided through various media. Information is reliable and educational. 

Ffa.org is one of the MOST important tools for when you are an ag educator. We use this sight to sign up for various national events and it is used for a resource for the various activities that take place in our program. It holds guidelines for the national competitions that take place and outlines for speeches that our students give. This website is what allows us to keep up to date also with the various changes that Ag Education are undergoing. As we learn and grow so does agriculture it is starting to focus more and more on the services that agriculturalist can provide since production agriculture is only ran by 3% of the American population. It offers us an opportunity to get more members in our chapter and allows us to help us offer those students a broader range of Supervised Agricultural Education Programs. Ag ed used a series of 3 rings to help us better our educational process; FFA, SAE and Agricultural Education, this sight is where all 3 are combined for us for easier access and information to help provide the public with in the future to help continue support for years to come.

Cassie Nelson February 3, 2012 Overview The purpose of this site is for FFA advisers, members, and alumni to get current information. The intended audience is advisers, members, and alumni. This site is very useful in getting members started in FFA and to learn what FFA is about. Overall, I like this website and will use it when I teach. Content At first glance the user is able to determine the content and audience of this site. The site has all of the information about the authors and who to contact for questions. The material is clearly identified. The site seems to be updated frequently. The downfall is there is no revision date provided. The information is accurate, organized and appropriate for the audience. The site itself worked properly, along with the links within the site. Design This website downloads efficiently and has strong eye appeal. This site is easy to navigate and you can tell where you are within the site. A downfall is that the site doesn't have a copyright date or date site was established. There is sufficient information and is clearly labeled and organized.

Cassie Nelson February 3, 2012 Overview The purpose of this site is to help Agriculture Educators teach in their classroom. The intended audience is Ag teachers. This site has multiple website links to different Ag based sites. Overall, I really like this site and will use it in my future teaching. I especially like how it has activities to build awareness for agriculture. Content At first glance the user is able to determine the content and audience of this site. The site has all of the information about the authors and who to contact for questions. The material is clearly identified. The site seems to be updated frequently but there was no revision date on the site. The information is accurate and organized. The site itself worked properly. The links are also related to my needs. Design This site has an attractive eye appeal. You can tell where you are in the site. A downfall is that the site doesn't have a copyright date or date site was established. This site is very easy to navigate. There is sufficient information that is worth visiting.

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Posted by Mitchell Clark 9/18/09: Lesson Planet is a search engine designed to save the effort of designing various lesson plans by providing over 150,000 teacher approved lesson plans and over 75,000 worksheets. This site provides material for all subjects in grades K-12 and also includes state standards. Content: This Education World sponsored site has an incredible amount of information that has been provided by many teachers in various fields. It has lesson plans for all grade levels and all subjects including math, science and technology, language arts, education, social studies, health, art and music, and it also includes research resources. Each lesson plan includes the author and date that the lesson plan was posted. Also every lesson plan is rated on a scale of 1-5 by other teachers so you don't waste your time searching through inadequate lessons. Another great feature about this site is that because teachers can post their own lesson plans, there are always new and relevant lesson plans. These plans are easy to access due to multiple links which are designated to different fields of education i.e. science or math. There is also a search bar at the top of the web page that allows the user to search specific lesson plans as well as narrow their search results to grade level and rating (1-5). Overall this is a well organized site that provides a wealth of knowledge. The only thing to keep in mind is that these plans are posted by individual teachers which could contribute to a partial bias in the lesson plan. Another thing to consider is that there is $40 dollar membership fee for this site which is an inconvenience, but this fee also discourages the submission of junk lesson plans and worksheets by other internet users. Design: This site is well designed and very easy to navigate. There are no advertisements or links to unrelated material. The sponsor of the site and contact information is clearly displayed at the bottom of the page as well as t

-Overview: Lesson Planet is an excellent resource for teachers to find ideas and lesson plans for specific topics and grade levels. They are able to type in exactly what they are looking for and it is just like a Google search engine just for lesson plans. There are other links to related articles and blogs for teachers, and there are places where teachers can access the standards. It is a very good place to create lessons from and gain ideas for teaching successfully in the classroom. -Content: The content is easily accessible from exactly what the teacher types in to find. There are specific tabs and easy instructions to help the teacher find what they are looking for. It is a very helpful resource tool that teachers can use to plan activities for specific subjects, for a specific standard and find worksheets and articles that relate to the topic they are teaching. There is a huge amount of content within the website that is easily accessible for anyone who would like to use it. On each page there are tabs to things that relate to the topic as well as a list of subtopics that are easily accessible as well. -Design: The creators are in the process of creating a new design that may be more visually appealing, but currently the design is very simple and professional. It has enough color and visual recognition tools to help you locate specific things quickly and find what you are looking for without creating distractions and taking away from the content. The search portion is big and centered on the top of the homepage so it is easy to type in and find exactly what you need right off the home page.

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Ericka Chorniak October 9, 2012 Overview: This site is a guide for writing a lab report for students in a science setting. It provides the students with definitions and expectations of each section of the lab report. It could also be a very good resource for other science teachers looking for a guide for their students to follow while writing a report for their class. The provider of the site appears to be qualified, but it would be wise to check other sources' materials and other guides before settling with this one specifically. This site doesn't have a lot of interactivity for the students to remain engaged in the content, but for the purposes of a guideline for lab report writing, it is worth bookmarking for future references. Content: At first glance, the content of the site is easily determined, as well as the intended audience. The author of the site is clearly identified; in fact his name is in the link itself. The author did not provide any additional information, or give any contact information, but he does appear qualified because it appears to be a teacher. The latest revision date is present, which was October 29, 2010. This date is appropriate for the content of the site because it does not need to be updated frequently, and the links provided are current and work properly. The purpose of this site is very clear, it is a lab report guide (informational), and the content achieves this purpose effectively. The content of this site is complete, easy to understand, is appropriate to my needs/purposes, is free of bias, appears to be accurate, was proofread so that all grammar and spelling is correct, and is consistent with other sources materials. The site does not provide interactivity to increase its value. The links provided are also worthwhile, appropriate, and relevant to my needs and purposes as a student and pre-service teacher. Design: This website has a semi-attractive homepage that downloads efficiently. It is easy to tell where the user is