ITEC2360

Overview This website was created to inform the reader about Betsy Ross and all the aspects of her life. The site has great information and can be easily accessed by anyone who has a computer. Its very attention getting and has a lot of great information. Content When accessing this site it is very clear its purpose is to inform the reader about Betsy Ross. Anyone can find the information on this site useful but it is probably geared more toward younger students. The copyright, latest revision date, and publisher are clearly listed at the bottom of the website. The site also ends in a .org making the information much more reliable. The purpose of this site is to inform, there is no bias present. All the information is well organized in bulleted list form, making the information easy to find. If you click on any of the bulleted points it will take you to another link with more information. The website is very easy to access and navigate and I would recommend it to both students and teachers. Design This website has a great eye appeal. The color scheme was red, white, and blue which I thought was very appropriate, and gave the website a little something extra. The site is easy to navigate because of the bulleted information. There are pictures of Betsy Ross which also help draw the reader in. This website can be accessed by anyone and is very user friendly. Overall this is a great website.

This site provides several examples of universally designed ebooks for students ages 10 and up. ebooks provide scaffolding techniques to understand passeges (editable by teachers), read content back to students, provide Spanish translations, and allow markup and note taking

Scott Chanthongthip on January 25, 2010 Overview: Although the website has seven books students can read from, it offers a helpful tool in learning to read while listening to the computerized voice. The computerized voice can be distracting to young readers though that cannot put aside the monotonous tone and lack of colorful personality a real teacher can provide. Manipulation of the tool bar for the story can help students highlight text, translates highlighted words from English to Spanish, and allows students to stop the reading to answer critical comprehension questions. The design of the website looks simple at first but I think if this a website to help students read it should be in simpler terms. Use of the computerized reading voice can read the whole page to students, so this can be helpful to navigate the pages. Content: Most of the content is laid out simply but it takes a while to get used to navigation of the different tools. Students that would use this site would probably have some background in reading already, as stated ages 10 and up by the UDL. It takes previous knowledge of reading ability to understand some of the more complex stories the site offers. Using the "Stop to Think" option asks listeners to pick multiple-choice answers that show the student comprehends the story they just heard. If readers miss the questions, clues to the right answer help the reader find the correct answer. As a teacher, I would use this site sparingly because I believe the computerized voice reading to students can bore them quickly. The website also takes away the ability for students to learn from their peers. The books used in this selection from the UDL provide just small glimpse at the plethora of reading material out there. The project team for the website consists of people with Education Doctorates , Master's of Education, and translators. As far as the content update, I could not find when its updates or when the site came into ex

Scott Chanthongthip on January 23, 2010 Overview: The National Science Foundation (NSF) website offers diverse areas of science studies. Many of the research articles are conducted by educational institutions, which the NSF provides grants or funding to. The homepage offers an update on the most recent research released in the press. NSF website can be useful for students that may want to look into topics of interests. I would recommend this more for teachers to grasp a subject matter better, so teachers may choose age-appropriate science knowledge for students. Content: The website was last updated on November 5th, 2009, but it has updated press releases related to science from the past few days. The NSF funded research studies posted on the web site. The search tool bar at the top right of the home page offers an easy way to look for a scientific topic of interest. Each search renders multiple links that relate to the search query, and none of the links is broken. The pages on the website have a lot of content and to many people that use it, the conglomeration of links and words can be overwhelming. The purpose of this site is clear, because it states it at the bottom, "Celebrating 60 Years of Discovery." The NSF research posts are credible because most of the information is tested through research from higher educational institutions. Teachers for K-12 can click on the link "classroom resources", under "site features" on the right side of the home page. I found this part to be helpful in finding interesting ways to teach science in the classroom. When teachers choose "classroom resources" links, site re-direction may proceed to help teach subjects of interest. There are also educational grants and science funding for teachers for K-12 and for classrooms from K-12. Design: The design of the website has so much information and links that it may be intimidating to try to navigate. Once one spends a little time at the site they

Scott Chanthongthip January 25, 2009 Overview: The site offered interesting facts about sea turtles, but the majority of the organizational site purpose was to raise sea turtle awareness for conservation efforts. As a teacher, it may be useful to refer to the site for simple informational tidbits, but it is not a primary source for all turtle research. The site offers species only secluded to the Caribbean eco-system. Information on efforts to support the conservation of sea turtles helps website viewers get involved. People can volunteer, adopt a turtle, or donate money to sea turtle conservation. Content: Information offered on this site can be useful to teachers and their students. Easy to navigate the site has many interactive tools like the turtle tracking map, where one can pick a turtle and see where s/he has traveled. Tracking gives Information about the migration of the turtles often and updates site viewers about sea turtle behaviors. CCC is the longest .org website of its kind that lends its attention to turtle conservation. Dr. Archie Carr was the founder of the CCC and research efforts have accumulated almost 50 years of experience. Many of the people that edit this site and review it are turtle researchers giving it a credible source for information, but it also leans towards conservation efforts as its premise. Conservation may be the sites main priority, but lesson plans for teachers with available turtle modules for students to learn are helpful. I do not know if the website charges for the downloadable PDF files for teachers, but one must register to gain access to the teaching modules. The sites message is clear, so it provides multiple ways to contribute to the funds for seas turtle conservation. The site gave me the necessary tidbits that help me learn more about turtles, yet not a good place to start to teach about turtles. I would recommend this site more for making learning about turtles more interesting and possibly integrat

Colter Huhn 1-25-10 The purpose of this site is to watch informational videos and read articles on science programs from PBS. The intended audience is all ages that can understand the material which looks to be about middle school age up. The site has many different science based categories with videos and interactive articles. Overall the content is very useful for exploring science television programming further with articles and online video on certain science based programming. The design is very professional and well layed out. The content is very good on this site, with a few minor flaws. Upon first look its fairly easy to tell the content for the site and from it know who the audience is. The information providers seem clear with the sponsor (PBS) being clearly identified and the makers of all videos. The currency seems very good with new material being added constantly and all links working properly. The quality of information is great with a clear educational purpose which is well executed. Every archived program is well organized into categories with easily understandable links and information. Many programs can be watched online with teacher links making the content very interactive. All information seems relevant and correct. The only flaws I found were no direct authors were shown or their contact information, but you can contact PBS. Also, I couldn't seem to find a date of revision, but all program dates are shown. The website design itself is also very professional. The speed is great and the site is compatible with both Firefox and Internet Explorer. The homepage is very attractive, clear, organized and all sponsor and copyright information is easily found. The navigation is simple with good organization of programs into categories and links. All videos are fantastic and relevant and the pictures represent these. The content is perfect for getting involved in science topics through documentaries and videos. There are plenty of links from eac

A great site for Science videos and documentaries. Includes links for teachers to utilize these as well.

Several interactive puzzles of states and countries throughout the world.

Monique Koller Jan. 24 2010 This is a site that is helpful when trying to learn maps and geography! Content: The content is very good. There's a list of places you can do. You are given a map and you fill it in. The maps seem pretty accurate. The maps can get harder so that you can make sure you are learning. Design: The site isn't overly interesting or colorful however it is easy to navigate and use! The maps are well done and they load quickly! I think periodically they make a new map of an area. I can now learn more about China. Overview: The purpose of this site is to teach anyone the locations and capitols of different parts of the world. The maps have different difficulty levels making you learn the locations better. I think this site has a lot of benefits and I would love to use this site more for my own knowledge. I like that the maps time you so you know how well you know them by the speed you finish.

Colter Huhn 1-24-10 This site has a very clear purpose which is to be a resource for middle school teachers and students, which is the intended audience of the site of course. The resources available on this site lessons and activities for a classroom, project ideas for clubs and classrooms, information on science, games for students and a message board for teachers to share ideas. My overall impression of this site is it is a spectacular resource. The content is perfect for the intended purpose and the design is easy and also nearly flawless. For the content this site is very strong. The basic content is easily found as well as the audience. The author is found at the bottom of the page with some information as well as how to contact them. The information is current, revised within the last ten days, and all links seem to be working fine. The information meets the sites purpose, is complete, very well organized, easy to understand, interactive, accurate as far as I can tell. The web site design was also very strong. The site was fast and compatible with both Firefox and Internet Explorer. The homepage was attractive, clear; it has the site organized into sections, with the site sponsor, information of the provider, and a copyright date. The site was very easy to navigate with the site split up into sections of interest, and all links were appropriate and working fantastically. All videos and pictures helped to enhance the information and the site was very current. The presentation of content was sufficient in information to make the site worthy, it was clear and organized, basic theme, info was easy to find and the links were well organized.

For middle school teachers and students. Resources given are lessons and activities for a classroom, project ideas for clubs and classrooms, information on science, games for students and a message board for teachers to share ideas

Monique Koller Jan. 24. 2010 Invention at Play is a website designed to get kids interested in being inventors. Content: This is a cute website that has good stories about people who have done some inventing. It also has informational videos and games that encourage parents to allow play as exploration. The games are educational and logic based. Design: This site is very easy to navigate. The links work well and guide you to places that you might find interesting later. The games are educational and encourage creativity. It is easy to find who you would need to get a hold of if you had any additional questions or concerns. I wouldn't be super surprised if this site added new stuff regularly. Overview: The big goal of this site is to encourage learning and imagination! It is built for children and parents. This site has a lot of great stories of people who have become inventors, it has learning games, and informational videos that encourage parents to keep their kids exploring! I really enjoyed Word Play and Tinker Ball, the videos were reassuring and the stories of inventors are inspirational.

e-learningcentre.co.uk is a site focused around the advancement of technology in learning. Content: This site is extremely advanced and is not a good recommendation for teachers of young learners, however, it is great for upper level teachers and scholars. It allows viewers to search through numerous organizations and articles from many different countries that are working to enhance both technology and learning. Layout: The site is less easily navigated than others. At first glance their mission is unclear, however, once explored, it becomes a descent resource for any and all who are curious. There are no advertisements, and other than the graphics at the top of the page, there is little color or decor to be spoken of. Attribution: This site is good for college level academia. I would rarely recommend this site, for I feel as though it would be only beneficial to a select few. However, I feel it would be pertinent for anyone who is interested in the advancement of higher education with technology to look this site over.

Data Dragon describes itself as information services. It has friendly graphics and no advertisements. It is not intended for any particular age group, and appears as though both a teacher and a student could use it. Content: It provides online tutorials, a Sudoku game, an offer to remove banners from web pages, and a "This Day in Music History" section. This all sounds very nice, and although there is no outright problem with the information provided, it is a very basic layout, however, the tutorials have a very easy chronological layout. Design: The design is very poor. The animations are very reminiscent of bad clip art. The script is oddly spaced and there is little information provided about the creator or the websites purpose. Attribution: I would not use this in my class other than to possibly allow my students to play Sudoku. Although there is nothing incredibly suspicious about the information provided, it is not a good aid for teaching.

Robb Lancaster January 25, 2010 The Labyrinth is a resource for medieval studies site sponsored by Georgetown University. Content: This site offers one of the better searches for medieval content as well as quite a lot of links that will direct you to very specific content. When you click on a link it will take you to other links, each more specific than the last, until you finally wind up at your desired information. The content is spot on with anything you would need to do a research paper about the medieval times. There are links from archeology to myths and ledgends. Furthermore, if you aren't satisfied with the links there is an easy to use search box. Design: The design for this site is not as simple as it could be. The links open up too many other links and other tabs. Also, the search area is not very user friendly. They definantly call this web site the Labyrinth because of the difficulty your going to have using it rather than how it pertains to the medieval world.

Robb Lancaster January 25, 2010 This site is a website evaluation site which is designed to help researchers and anyone interested in finding the best sites with history information. Content: This site is one of the better ones that I've looked at. It has information on every kind of history; from prehistory to modern history to oral history. It's really interesting and engaging. This site claims that it's an "award winning portal that contains annotated links to over 1200 history web sites". Furthermore, there are lesson plans, guides, history activities, games and quizzes. Design: The design for this site has tons of information and links to other websites. Through these links you can read descriptions of the sited and how good and relevant they are. The design is also full of pictures of historical figures and other useful informational links that are easy to see and to navigate to and from. This site is truly one of the best tools for anyone interested in easy and quick results.

a. Overview: This is a dot-gov site so it is presumed to be non-biased and accurate. The site is full of information including all the members of congress that are involved. This site is very informative with a history of what the site is about. b. Content: I like this site because it was the first one to be linked up to many of the science journals and other important global resource sites that are important to Earth resources that are being affected today. Although this site is loaded with scientific information, it does not however have a lot of resources for teachers. I think this site is primarily an information site to reference but does not offer very many tools for teachers. c. Design: This is a very professional and legitimate site. I would trust the information derived from the articles. This site has links to science foundations and the Library of Congress and a great "search" menu.

Robb Lancaster January 25, 2010 This site is a teacher help site where members get benefits. Content: This is a teacher help website that includes tons of links and recommendations to help teachers in interactions with students. Some of the links include: inspire your students, sites for teachers, free learning kits, online degrees for teachers, ect.. According to the site there are over 330 theme based recourse pages. Design: the website layout is simple and easy to navigate. There are hundreds of links and other pages of help for teachers. The links are spread out everywhere on the site. The only hard part of this site is determining which links are links and which are advertisements; because many of the advertisements are education oriented.

Kayla Rider January 23, 2010 Overview I found this site and thought it to be a great idea for art classes to incorporate technology into their classrooms. It is aimed at art teachers and students. It grabs the reader right away with its qwerky sayings and great design. Thought it would be a lot of fun to navigate through entirely. Content This website is aimed at the arts. A portion of our lives that is slowly dwindling downward. It creates a technology environment to enrich and learn more about art. It is geared towards teachers and students but anyone can benefit from this website. Design Of course, being an artsy website, it is colorful and fun to look at. However, the overall design of it is quite applicable as well. It is easy to navigate through and catches a readers attention quickly. Overall, I believe it has great potential for a classroom and/ or a fun afternoon of learning more about art and yourself.

Kayla Rider January 23, 2010 Overview This site is amazing for kids of all ages! Even if you are a kid at heart, it is still a great site. Also, it is very informative. It is a history site for the United States of America. It has games and loads of information on it, especially information that is normally not found on information and educational websites. It is brought to you in a fun way. I would definitely use this site to teach my students a thing or two about history and to keep them involved with it. I would also use it in the home for my children. Fun and very informational. Content This website provides a fun filled environment of historical facts about the USA and people of the USA. It is provided by the Library of Congress, so therefore it MUST be credible. However, if you don't believe in the title of it, there is a very informative About Us section that will have you believing in the content of the site. It also provides contact information so that you can ask questions about anything on or off the site. Overall, very impressive. Design The design of this website catches your eyes immediately. It is fun! It is easy to navigate through, especially since it was designed with young minds in mind. There is a table of contents and colorful links to navigate through. Overall, again, very impressive.

Kayla Rider January 23, 2010 Overview This website, I believe, will be very useful for pre-service teachers as well as in-service teachers. It is an educational website for ESL students. It has many links within it that show you how to teach or how to use grammar, search for jobs, writing skills, etc. I have yet to use it for anything rather than this evaluation, but I could definitely see myself using it in the future for my students and myself. Content As said before, the content is for ESL teachers and students. It has links for grammar….etc. It has a table of contents of to the side to navigate through its perimeters. If you are stuck on MLA guidelines, it has a link to help you. It can be used for any writing mis-hap or question that you might have. It looks to be credible due to its vast amount of copyright restraints. I believe that overall this educational website can be very useful. Design The overall color scheme is appealing to the eye but does not distract you from its content. It is very easy to navigate through due to its overall set up. The tabs can be easily found, as well as the links in which you might want to navigate to. It has descriptors for its links that allow you to read a summary of what you are getting into. Overall, very effective design.

Amanda Lamey January 24, 2010 Overview The website is designed for people who are eager to think outside the box and like puzzles. This was a ".com" site allowing me to find a website that had more "no" checkmarks then "yes". This particular page did not list an author or copyright date. It was clearly laid out and easy to read. It had step by step instructions. It had pictures of each move to help individuals who are visual learners complete this task. The point of this website was to help you solve a Rubik's cube, but without the last two steps it makes you think outside the box to solve it. Leaving you stranded like that could make it frustrating or make you mess up your previous steps, leaving your cube unsolved. Evaluation of Design This site was not very appealing to the eye. I think that it could have used a little more color and used more colorful words. It seemed to the point and simple. Although I have tried to solve a Rubik's cube a few times and it's a lot harder than the directions appear. You can move through the website easily and understand the content. There are not directions or any other tabs that allow you to navigate to a related page. The directions are clearly laid out in steps. The last two steps are missing and in order for you to get them you have to purchase them. At the very bottom in small print you can click the contact us tab for further information or questions regarding general information. Content This website was not copyrighted or revised at any time. It is a ".com" meaning that anyone could have added their own spin on things and it was not edited or reviewed by a group of higher individuals. There is no address or frequently asked questions. There is a contact tab that leads you to three different emails. The site is a trademark of Seven Towns Limited. The grammar and spelling was accurate. The site was easy to navigate through and understand. The purpose of the site is to show you how to solve a

Kayla Rider January 23, 2010 Overview This site, I believe, is a very resourceful website. It is for those intended audiences looking for more information on Queen Elizabeth 1. This would be useful for any history course involved with the years of which she reigned, or any Shakespearean class. I have used this site many times throughout my collegiate career. It has some great information within it and is easy to move around in. Content The content of this website is as I afore mentioned. It allows you the choice of U.K. or U.S. English to follow along to. It gives you a table of contents to divide the history and story of Queen Elizabeth 1. This website has a vast amount of information about her and does not get boring. It has a section about the author, giving her credit for this website, and also letting the readers know if she is credible, which she does seem to be. It allows you to e-mail her with questions in the About the Site link. Overall, I believe it is a credible and reliable source to venture to. Design The design of the website is very appealing. It catches your eye at the moment you log into it. However, it doesn't over power the content of the site either. It allows for pictures within the text to help you follow along with the times in which Queen Elizabeth ruled. Overall it is very appealing and informational.

Robb Lancaster January 25, 2010 This site provides a historical account of stories and situations during and surrounding Native American involvement in World War II. Content: This site is a .edu educational web site. It pertains to Native American WWII draftees and military volunteers. This site is a scololairly informative-story telling paper, which leans more towards telling these true stories. This website would be very helpful to teachers because it deals with two major aspects of our history; Native Americans, and WWII. Design: This website is among the most simple I've ever seen. There are absolutely no links and all you need to do to access the information is scroll down. The only problem I can see is the site is too simple and it is not very long.