ITEC2360

Casey KarchOctober 6, 2012 Overview:  The purpose of this site is to inform the reader on current news happening in, on, or around the ocean. It is set up so all ages can use it, but the home page is more for a literate patron due to the scholarly articles. Children can use all kinds of programs throughout the site, such as ocean portal, to learn about the ocean and it's inhabitants. Educators are benefited with an entire link to help with lesson plans. Resources are abundant and vary in type. There are articles, media videos/pictures, and social networking connections to name a few. Overall, a user could not go wrong with this site for an educational purpose. The Smithsonian sponsors Ocean Portal and all content can be trusted as a viable source. Content: At first look, the content is exceptional. Content of the site is easily determined. Information on the author is not available because many people compose this site. Authors for individual articles can be found though. The information is current to date, new articles are always added and old ones kept on the site to reference. Information quality cannot be rivaled; all information is acceptable for education. Design: The design of this page is extremely well done. The home page is eye catching and informational as well as all the subpages. When the user wants to navigate, links are clearly labeled and it is easy to maneuver. Multimedia is everywhere; a form of multimedia backs almost all articles. The revision times for Ocean Portal cannot be found, but the site is well kept. 

Casey KarchOctober 7, 2012 Overview: The purpose of this site is identified right at the header, "E-learning tool designed to facilitate teachers' work and enhance the learning process." Kubbu is intended for teachers and educators, helping them with design and evaluation of lesson plans. Resources are a little slim, but users can create games, quizzes, and crosswords with ease.  Overall, this site is not eye catching, not overly informative, but gets the job done for helping educators. Content: First look on this site is mild; there is not much to look at. There are no true information providers but the content of the designs for teaching tools is very well done. The quality of quizzes, games, and much more is fascinating; they will be an important tool for instructors. Since there is no information, there is no way to get more information. Design: Speed of loading the home page is very efficient. The home page itself is not overly flashy, but it lacks a lot of information. Navigating is easy, links are clearly labeled and few in number. Multimedia is evident in the teaching tools, making the tools requires different forms of media. As before, the presentation could use some work, maybe some different colors. Information is available to contact the designer further.

World War II in Europe: The purpose of this site is to give a general overview of the events that happened in Europe during World War II. It gives specific dates of the events that happened such as the Invasion of Poland. The attended audience of this website is 10th grade Modern American History students. The available resources on this website are good, reliable sources that give information about this topic but also about other countries in World War II. My overall impression of this website was that it would be a good website to use for a project that involves World War 2 in Europe because it can give the dates of events and a little information about it. Overview: This article is about World War II in Europe and the dates of the events in Europe. The strengths of this website are that the dates are accurate and that they do a good job of listing all of the dates in the corresponding year and that it doesn't just give the important dates. The weaknesses of this website are that they do not give a description of the events. Content: The content was strong because the dates were accurate and because the list of events had both major and not as major events. The content was weak because it did not have a clear author, had little information about the event, and did not discuss the role of the event. Design: The design was strong because it was easy to navigate around the site; it was well organized and knew where you were at all times on the site. It was weak because it did not have a lot of pictures and they could have done a better job of drawing the readers in.

Oct. 7, 2012 Site stopped working for some reason..

Overview: This is a free site that allows users to create and publish their own stories after creating an account. It is intended for all writers, but has specific features for educators and students. Users do not need an email account and there is no minimum age requirement. The site has templates, artwork, and programming for book creation as well as teacher administrative capabilities. This site has excellent design and content and is perfect for the classroom. Content: Users can quickly tell that the site is for publishing stories and that it is appropriate for all audiences. No authors are identified, but it is clear that storybird is a corporation with many contributors and the content they generate indicates that they are qualified. There is a "contact us" link in the help section and there is an "about" section as well. Last updated information is available on all stories, but not on general site content. All links function. In addition, it is easy to navigate and there is a how to video. Content is complete, organized, easy to understand, and free of bias. The site is almost entirely interactive as it is based on creation. I explored several eBook tools and this one is the best one for teachers. The site does not have any external links, but all content serves its purpose. Design: The homepage is visually attractive and downloads quickly. Navigation is simple and content is clear. There are many resources to help first time users navigate and use the software. The site sponsor information is available at the blog and at the help section. There is a link to email for assistance. The site is easy to navigate, includes an index at the bottom of the page, and all links are active. Excellent multimedia is used to make the site look good. The website is available on a variety of browsers, including Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Safari. The content of the site is excellent for the classroom. The content is organized, easy to use, and design is consi

Overview: This intended for all readers, but specifically a grade school audience. The purpose of the sight is to provide free tall tales to the public. It contains an array of folk tall tales. The content of the site is excellent, and the design is adequate. Content: At first glance, the site is clearly full of tall tales. The site presents itself as a resource for all readers. At the bottom of the site, there is a link to email a contributor to the website, as well as a link that gives information about the founder and main author of the site. The founder has extensive knowledge and formal training in the areas of writing and story telling. The website is updated frequently, last in late September of 2012 and all links function appropriately. It serves its purpose effectively, by being complete, organized, easy to understand, and free of bias. Information on tall tales is accurate and extensive, likely comprehensive site about tall tales I have found. It is well written, and encourages user input. The site contains many links to tall tales and stories, which are relevant to its purpose. Design: The homepage is visually appealing and downloads quickly. Navigation is simple and content is clear. The site sponsor information visible at the bottom of the page with contact information and copyright and last edited date. There is a link to email the webmaster. The site is easy to navigate, includes an index, and all links are active. There is little use of multimedia and what is used is not visually excellent. The website is available on a variety of browsers, including Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Safari. The content of the site is extensive. The content is organized, easy to use, and design is consistent throughout the site. There is not outdated content.

This website is essentially an overview of the important events of the Trojan War. The website is clear and organized in chronological order. If you simply read the page top to bottom you get a clear and basic overview of the most important events of the Trojan War. This was written for basically anyone who wants to learn about the basics of the Trojan War. I read through and I feel that it could be useful for anyone in middle school or older due to the level of vocabulary. I feel that all the necessary content is there, however the design could use some work. Pertaining to content, this website is great. Everything someone would want to learn about the basics of the war is there. This website also brings a unique perspective about the war because of the link "The Women". It's not very often (especially in Greek or Macedonian) society that women's opinions or chronicles were valued at all, let alone saved like these were. Information on this site is very easy to find because the links and headings are clear, making it easy to find what you are looking for. The author's and bibliography section are done well, a background of the authors is present, and all websites are presented in order and correctly formatted. The pages about the important women may be the best of all. They included the original Latin text, and an English translation. They also include descriptions of how that particular woman impacted the war or society. Pertaining to the design, this website could use some design help. While it's nice and simple, there aren't many colors, for instance every page has black font with a white background. The images are useful and pertain to the website, but there aren't many of them on the main pages. The sidebar looks very nice, the top bar does as well, if this theme would have been utilized more throughout the whole website it would certainly add to the attention grabbing aspect of the website.

Agriculture.com is an extremely useful resource for an ag instructor. This sight combines the markets agricultural news and forums that we can use to build curriculum for our classrooms. We can use this sight for talking points or to allow the students to use to find research for their desired topics. This web page was used very often when I was in high school learning from my teachers. They were able to use this information to help mold me into the advocate for the industry I am today, also this allows ag teachers to instill a knowledge in their students so that they can educate the public in the importance of the industry.

This website helps students 8-9th grade improve their writing.