ITEC2360

Overview: The purpose of this website is to be a resource for Teachers and Students alike in English as a Second Language (ESL). There are links to lesson plans, quizzes, and more. It's a very simple website but the links are helpful and up to date. Content: The content of this site is relatively up to date. Towards the bottom it tells the viewer when the last revision was made. There is a lot of information in this site that can take a while to go through, but all of it is helpful. The information is well organized with headings and titles. You can register for free and gain access to even more information. Design: The layout is simple and there aren't a lot of advertisements. The information is divided into sections and has main links listed, but when one selects the main heading another page comes up with a ton more information. This design is easy for anyone to use.

Rebecca Gardner Jan. 24, 2010 The content of this website is based on lesson plans for grades kindergarten to 12th grade. This was easy to determine. It was also easy to determine that this website was intended for teachers. The authors and sponsors were easy to identify and they seemed qualified to present information on the topics. I could not find when the website was last revised, but the ads were current. The links to other websites were current and working properly. The purpose of this website was clear and informative. The content was well organized and offers sufficient information for my needs. I didn't see any bias, but I believe that there could be, because the website is presented by Discovery. The website provides interactivity that increases its value. The links provided are worthwhile and appropriate. The design of this website is effective and it down loaded efficiently. The homepage is attractive, but did have a lot of ads. You can tell where you are immediately and the title, description and image captions are clear. The sites sponsors and copyright date were established and easy to determine. The user is able to navigate around the website with ease. The directions are clear and easy to follow. The internal and external links were working properly and there were no dead ends. Each of the graphics, video files, audio files ect.. serve a clear purpose and make a significant contribution to the site. There is sufficient information that makes this website worth visiting. The information is clearly labeled and easy to find. The contact information is provided and easy to find and the links to other websites are provide and some are useful while others are ads. My over view of this website is that it can be useful for grade levels. They provide free lesson plans that could come in handy. This website is associated with the Discovery channel so you may run into a lot of ads and maybe even some biases. I would recommend this

Katie Hertel 1-22-09 Overview: This website provides various educational materials to its primary users of students, teachers and parents. The purpose of this website is to educate about numerous subjects and provide preparatory material for standardized testing. It is set up so you can click on links such as Weekly News, Info Central, Global Warming, Elections in the US and Games and more. It also has Student and Teacher Resources containing lesson plans and study guides and practice tests for the standardized testing. Overall I found it to be okay but definitely has room for improvement. Content: When navigating through the links I found that there was quite a range of information that you can click on to learn about your desired topic that was accurate, according to my viewpoint at least. Although it had that, I also found that the Weekly News and the Elections in the US did not work. It supports decent educational value and has stated authors for certain articles and even a link to read about the author giving it credit that is reliable. This website has a twice monthly publication so the web page has authority and accurate information is being placed on the site. Design: Its design was easy to understand and eye catching along with very few to no advertisements that distract from many other sites. It had various links to other pages that relate to the site and shows how to use the site. Because of its structure, it may be hard to access the information you want unless you know what you are doing.

Rebecca Gardner Jan. 24, 2010 The content of this website is based around math. It has links for students from kindergarten to 12th grade. It is very clear from the start what the website has to offer. The author of the website was not clear identified, but there was a link to e-mail them. The sponsor of the website was also not available. The last time the website was revised was May 21, 2008. So the information may be out dated. However the links were for fun math lessons and they still are very relevant to today's teaching methods.. The links to the other sites were working properly. The purpose of this site was clear and very helpful for finding math lessons and games. The content of the website is well organized and easy to navigate though. Grammar and spelling are correct and the content was free of bias. The links on the website were worthwhile and appropriate to my needs. The design of the webpage was attractive and very easy to read. The website down loaded efficiently and so did the links. There is a clear title and description of the webpage. Even though the website has not been up dated in awhile all the links were still appropriate and I ran into no dead ends. On the home page there was little multimedia, nut the links had a lot and they made a significant contribution to the site. The browser was effective with a variety of browsers. The information provided from this site is worth visiting and is very organized, and a basic format is used though out. I do believe however that the website needs to be updated, because there is a lot more links that can be added. However, the links that are provided are up to date. My over view for this website is that I found it very useful. The links were interesting and appropriate. I will defiantly visit it again for ideas on math lessons. The only thing I didn't like was that the website hasn't been up dated in a while. The information is still of good use and I would recommended it to a friend.

Overview: The purpose of this website is for teachers to join the community of teachers that teach Spanish or Portuguese. There are a number of important links for all people to see that are not members of the AATSP. The overall layout and design of this site is Professional and has a sense of prestige. Content: The content of this site is up to date. The contact information and date of copyright is listed at the bottom of the page. Content is organized, helpful, and accurate. The calendar shows upcoming events and there is a link to the monthly Journal. Design: The layout is professional and makes it seem that if a teacher joins, they will be part of an important group of people that will provide great resources. The table of contents is in alphabetical order and the scrolling photos make the website seem relevant to the information it provides. All links work properly and provide very useful information. Due to the amount of links, there seems to be a great resource of information available to people with the AATSP.

Posted by Erika Jeffs on 1/24/2010 Overview: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) is website that provides updates on assessment, curriculum, and instruction for educators. The organization also has an impact on the policymakers of education. The NCTM provides updates for teachers on new research that is being conducted related to teaching mathematics. The site also provides scholarly journals and essays that teachers can purchase. Also, for an annual fee, individuals can become members of the NCTM. Content: It is evident that this site specifically for teachers and math professionals, but to fully understand the content of the website, you must read the mission statement. The authors and creators credentials are available as well as contact information. The content is updated frequently and dates are provided for each individual section that has been changed. The site has a lot of useful available material, but there's a lot of options each page making it difficult to find specific information. For teachers looking for the latest updates, this site is useful, but not appropriate for students. The links are all in working order and the advertisements are all from the NCTM. Design: The NCTM homepage is cluttered and difficult to navigate. There are clearly labeled tabs for navigation, but there is a lot of information on each page. Because of all the information, there seems to be no room for graphics or interactive tools. This site appears to have some importance in the math community, but it was very difficult to use.

Rebecca Gardner Jan. 24, 2010 The content of this website offers a lot of different sources and links. It is a little hard to determine what this website is offering, because there is so much going on. It also is intended for a wide audience. There are links at the top of the page that will take you to the different sources, but then navigating though them can be a little tricky. Information about the author of the website is available and so is there contact information. The latest revision date was not provided, but the sites copy right dates were current, and the links were up to date. The purpose of this site is informational. They did however have some entertainment under the kids area tab. The links to other sites were related and appropriate to my needs The design of the website is to give you information on education, study abroad programs, and international jobs. It also offers information on career training and learning different languages. The tabs at the top of the page are easy to navigate though. The links to other pages were useful and appropriate. I didn't run into in dead ends when using the links. There was little to no multimedia except for ads. The website was very effective with a variety of browsers. There is a lot of sufficient information if you are researching topics that they have high lighted. The same basic format is used though out the website and it is fairly easy to find other links. My overview of this website is that I would highly recommend it to students that are learning another language or teachers who teach different languages, and also if you are interested in teaching or studying abroad. There is a lot of information and that to me was over whelming. But the over all content and design was helpful and appropriate.

Overview: The purpose of this website is to provide Spanish language teachers with a resource for learning tools and lesson planning. The links are helpful and the content is easy to understand. It's not an elaborate website, but is simple and to the point in design. I feel there could be better information in this website. Content: When arriving at this website, you immediately know it is designed with teachers in mind. The authors have a link at the bottom of the screen and look to have won a number of awards for their information on this website. Some of the links don't work which leads me to believe the site isn't that up to date. The Lesson Planning section really isn't that helpful because the links take you to other sites that either don't work or require you to buy products for your classroom. Design: The homepage isn't that appealing to me. There are a number of advertisements that make the site feel it isn't real. It is easy to navigate using the toolbars even though some don't work. There are links to other languages. There aren't many graphics on this website, but I don't believe they are necessary in this instance.

Emily Scoles 1/24/2010 Content Summary: This is a Russian language learning site. This site has some audio but is more in depth with writing, grammar, and sentence structure. There are links to other Russian language learning sites as well. Overview: The website clearly states it's purpose to teach the Russian language to anyone who wants to learn it. The layout is descriptive and organized. The site is geared toward older age groups. The site is basic in it's look with no pictures or graphics. Design Summary: The sponsor is shown on the website and a link for questions is given. There isn't information about the author on the site. Overview:This site fulfills it's purpose to explain and help teach the Russian language and writing. The site and links are working properly. The information is mostly unbiased, but some of the introduction paragraphs have opinion. The grammar and spelling is correct in the site.

Posted by Erika Jeffs on 1/24/2010 Overview: Webmath is a website designed to aide in math homework for many levels of math. The site helps solves problems and shows the processes to get there. The student can type in specific problems or practice concepts with provided examples. The site is meant to help when students are having trouble with their homework; however, this site could be utilized too much and may allow students not to do there own work. Content: Webmath directly states what this website is for as well as the levels of math that can be found on it. The site is copyrighted and contact information is readily available, but the authors of the site are unclear. It is also unclear whether or not the site has been updated recently. The information you are looking for is easy to find because the math content is broken up into in an easy to understand fashion. There is also a quick find drop down bar, but it has several options that may be hard to wade through. Students can type in specific math problems and the answer is delivered instantly. There are several advertisements, which imply that math help is not the sole purpose of the site. Internal and external links seem to work well, but the site has limitations and probably cannot answer every question. Design: Webmath loads and operates quickly. The homepage is unattractive but effective. The site is easy to navigate, and there are instructions if there is any question on how to use a feature. The links work properly, and the layout is consistent throughout the site. Webmath is lacking in interactive material and attractive graphics.

Overview: The website MathisFun.com is a math website for elementary and middle school aged children. The purpose of this website is to help children understand math in a fun way. In this website there are many different fun learning tools to help the students understand geometry, algebra numbers and measurement better. This website gives links to other helpful websites that have games using base ten blocks adding and subtracting games, and much, much more. Content: The content of the website MathisFun.com is very clear and organized in a very interesting way. This website is fully completed and is used effectively with a well organized and interesting home screen that is easy to understand and helps the child or the teacher find different types math subject areas without any problems. There are other games that have been listed for the higher grades such as 5th grade to help challenge the students in a fun way. The website offers many different types of games and puzzles, along with games to further the education of elementary and middle school aged children. Weather the teacher had the games pulled up on the smart board and then the students could interact with other students and work as a class to figure out the answers. This is a great interactive website for students and for the teachers. Design: The website MathisFun.com is a well designed website that looks like a road with many math stops. This website is full of different colors that grab your attention. The website does not have any ads which is a good thing so the children can focus on just the math subject areas. This website also offers worksheets and a dictionary that the teachers section that offers many different tools like print zone of different activities and work explains different math terms.

Whitney Mills; Website Reviewed: January 24th 2010 Overview: Mathisfun.com immediately draws a person's eye in with a fun, exciting homepage. Anyone can see clearly that the purpose of this website is to help teachers teach their students math. Content: This website has a clear and definite purpose, and that is to help teach children math in a fun and exciting way. The site is very well organized and very well made. I feel like there was much work put into making this site effective for children. The author is very clearly identified, and the links to other websites do work effectively. This website also covers many different areas of math such as; algebra, geometry, data, etc. It is stated on the actual website that the content is updated frequently, which is a huge plus for using this site in a classroom. A person can also check out all the different additions added to the website which could be helpful. Design: The website is very well designed. It is exciting to a child's eye. He/she would be more than happy to learn math using this website. For adults/teachers the website is very organized and clear throughout the entire page. The design is the same throughout the whole site and it seems like a very fun and exciting site to use anytime, anywhere!!

Whitney Mills; Website Reviewed: January 24th 2010 Overview: Funlessonplans.com is my favorite site that I have looked at to review simply because it involves lesson plans. I feel that becoming a new teacher, lesson plans would be the hardest thing to try to come up with. This website involves lesson plans for many different subjects which could be a huge help for future teachers. Content: The purpose of this website is to help future teachers with lesson plans. The author is clearly identified and the website is revised often. It is very organized and provides a user with tabs to help navigate throughout the site. There is a contact address to ask questions if needed. The links to the other sites are current and they do work properly. The website is very well made and looks professional. I would use this website in my future often if I was having difficulties with lesson plans. The intended audience of this website is meant for teachers. Design: The design of this website is very clear and easy to follow. The website has the same them throughout the whole site. The homepage downloads efficiently and has a strong eye appeal. I was able to move around the site easily and was overall very happy with the design of this website.

Whitney Mills; Website Reviewed: January 24th 2010 Overview: Songsforteaching.com is a website that uses songs to help teach students. It seems as if it'd be very helpful in the classroom because younger age children love to learn through songs!! Content: There are many different aspects on this website that include singing songs in different languages, singing for different holidays, different ages, different subjects, and even for special education students!!! The purpose of the website is clearly defined, and that purpose is to teach through music. The site offers thousands of songs, clips, etc. The links to the other sites work properly and effectively. The grammar and spelling are correct throughout the whole site and the overall content is very well done. I would definitely use this site in my future classroom. The author is stated clearly and it is updated often. Design: The design is very organized. The theme is the same throughout the whole site and it is very easy to follow. The graphics are very well suited to the site. The homepage has strong eye appeal and makes a person want to find out more about the site. I think this is one of the more professional sites I have looked at throughout all the sites I have looked at to review.

Whitney Mills; Website Reviewed: January 24th 2010 Overview: Kidgen.net is a helpful website for teachers who are looking to help their students learn to read, write, count, etc. It is suitable for all ages and can also be used in different languages. The only downfall is that there are different levels of membership, when it would be much more helpful if it were free. Content: It is very easy to understand what the purpose of this website is as soon as a person clicks on the link. The intended audience is anyone at any different ages, which is stated right away. The author is listed at the bottom of the page. The links to the other sites do work properly and the site is current. The purpose of the site is clear; it is intended to teach students words, spelling, counting, etc. Overall the site is well made, organized, and looks professional. Design: I feel that this website is ok in the design. It could be a bit more worked on to be a little more exciting or appealing to children. However, the site design is common throughout all the links, and isn't confusing to look at. The site has very current information and looks as if it is visited often and revised often. I would recommend this to anyone who'd be willing to pay for the memberships but not to anyone who is looking for a free website to help teach their students.

Posted by Amber Rittenhouse on 1/24/10 Overview: This site is intended for anyone who wants to get better at multiplication, primarily students in elementary school. The site offers many different strategies and a lot of help to learn the multiplication tables. The site offers many games to apply their knowledge of multiplication to win the games. This site accomplishes its purpose of teaching. There are many links available through this site to go further and learn more. Content: This site contains many games, as well as techniques, tips, and secrets, that deal with multiplication. There is a way to contact someone in the case of questions or a problem of some sort. The purpose of the site is to help kids with their multiplication problems. The site does this through games, so the kids are entertained. Through the entertainment they are learning. The content is well organized. All of the games you get to choose your level of difficulty, so kids of a variety of ages can use this site. There are further links provided for more practice. There are only a few ads spread around the outside of the web page, so they are not very distracting. Design: This site is well designed. The homepage downloads quickly, and all of the links do so as well. It is very easy to get to the lessons and the games. Strategies to help someone better learn their multiplication tables is also easily found. The whole site is very colorful, and it catches the eye very easily.

Sara Hindman January 24, 2010 Overview I evaluated the Discovery Kids website because of my interest of the Discovery channel. The purpose of this website is to advertise the channel and I know this because of all the emphasis on their characters. Although the website's main purpose is to advertise, another purpose is educational. Most of their games have no educational value whatsoever, but I was did manage to find some that were extremely beneficial. One was the Build a Volcano game in which the student controls the viscosity and gas of a volcano and watches to see what happens when different variables are increased or decreased. Another game was Make a Mummy, which the student learns about the different procedures the body must go through in order to become a mummy. I learned many things I did not know before. The intended audience for this website is ages seven through twelve. I did not find any links to other websites. I find this website to be a waste except for the few games I found to be educational. Content The Discovery Kids website clearly stated its purpose of advertising and the intended audience by pasting most of their television characters on the home page. Like the nobelprize.org, kids.discovery.com failed to state who the author of the website is, although I was able to find when the last revision was (2010.) The information quality is great, there is nothing "under construction" or inaccurate. There is no further information for this website. Overall I would say the content is ok, nothing spectacular. Design The design of this website is good because of its eye-catching pages. I completely understand why children would find this website appealing because it has everything to offer children; their favorite characters and fun games. The speed of this website is fast and it is easy to navigate. All of the multimedia is loaded fast and provided perfect quality. I am not sure if this website is compatible was different browser bec

Cole Baumann January 24, 2010 This website helps teachers build their lesson plans and assists them to help the students. I could see this being a really good website for new teachers due to all of the lesson plan designs for any category of learning such as history, or mathematics, English, and literature. All subjects have different sections in the website showing how to make a lesson plan. For example, there is a lesson plan for a Kinesthetic, visual, and auditory method to teach students about the U.S. Constitution. I find this site to be very helpful for teachers that do not know how to teach a visual learner or a Kinesthetic or auditory learner. The website is very easy to navigate with a lot of fun little bits everywhere. There is a search bar in this website so that teachers can type in whatever they are looking for and find anything from how the Roman Empire fell to the book The Epic. There is also a whole section in this website devoted to video so if you are not much of a reader you can watch these videos and find new ways to teach in the classroom. This all helps teachers grow and become more successful in the classroom for the students. This website is good for any new teacher to learn how to finally develop lesson plans and be effective to all three ways of learning. Also, it could be good for teachers who want to teach the same thing, but they want to do it in new ways each year which keeps it fun and exciting for the students and the teacher. This website has many educational videos which is also very good for teachers to demonstrate other techniques of teaching.

Cole Baumann January 24, 2010 This website helps teachers understand more about learning disabilities such as dyslexia and ADD. This is helpful in today's society as there is a very high probability that there will be a dyslexic student in their classroom and the teacher needs to help him/her learn in a way that the student can understand what is happening and help them retain the information the best way possible. There are stories of success throughout the website and journals from teachers who found a way to help the student who had a learning disability succeed in the class, all of which could help other teachers do the same. This web site feels like it is a large community of teachers coming together and trying to help each other succeed with the students who have learning disabilities. Suggestions abound for helping those students prevail without having to make them standout from the class, all within budget limitations. This website is a little bit more confusing than what I would like initially. But, after you explore it for a while, you start to understand and notice that it is actually quite easy to navigate. This website will help teachers learn more about learning disabilities and how to cope with them without drastically changing the students' learning. The pictures on the website seem old and outdated which makes the reader feel like maybe some of the information is outdated but that is the only downside I can see in this website. On the whole, is seems this site would be very helpful for any teacher This website is specifically for the teacher to help the students. It is not describing what dyslexia is and how to cope with it or what a learning disability is and how to cope with it. This site is saying that if you have the student with this learning disability these are ways to help them and make them successful in your class without making them feel too strange or too different from all the other students. This is very important as children wit

Cole Baumann January 24, 2010 This website holds many hints and suggestions on how to help children with dyslexia. The site holds many suggestions on how to help students with dyslexia such as little ways to help them remember things and suggestions on ways to help them feel more comfortable in the classroom. This is helpful as children with dyslexia do feel a lot of stress that no other student does due to knowing there is something wrong but not knowing exactly what. They do not know why they struggle with work in the classroom while other students seem to perform just fine. This website will help teachers and parents make the students feel more comfortable in the classroom and may even be able to help the students work with their problem to become more literate and, consequently, be able to help them grow as a student and a child. The design of this website is very entertaining. There is a picture for almost every paragraph which is just pleasing to look at. This prevents boredom as you search through the website and explore. Also, this website allows you to change the background color which is not a real important thing but it is always fun when websites add little things like that to keep it more entertaining and more appealing to use. Additionally, the site looks presentable and very nice. It is not a very 'sketchy' website to go to which is very important if you are trying to help your student and you do not want your computer to fail due to finding a terrible virus. Though the website is for parents who have children with dyslexia, this website could also help teachers improve the learning abilities of any student that seems to be having trouble reading. This website does not consist of large programs or big dramatic ways to help dyslexic students learn, but there are small items and suggestions that in the end if you put them all together the teacher may be able to help the child function as a better student.

Cole Baumann January 24, 2000 The F.A.S.T. reading website is to help teachers and parents see how to best educate their children or students that have dyslexia. The F.A.S.T. reading program was designed by Mr. Tattum from Colorado, who is very well educated in the field of learning disabilities. The program seems to be a phenomenal success and is being looked at more and more throughout America as a way of teaching how to read. This website explains a little bit more on how it works and how effective it is by showing graphs and charts of improved reading and students. I think that the F.A.S.T. learning program should be available in all schools due to its show of massive improvement for any student who was unable to read or had a struggle reading. These students completed the F.A.S.T. program and came out at a much higher reading level and were able to function in everyday life. The design of the website is very easy to navigate and there are no hidden links. Everything is very large and noticeable and the website interacts with the person using it very easily. If you are looking to learn more about F.A.S.T. there is a big button for that or if you want to see how to help kids as an educator with F.A.S.T. there is a large button for that. There are no hidden areas. Also, the website is very pleasing to the eye. It also looks like a very legitimate website and does not look like you should be getting any viruses from this or any other negative vibe from it. There are wonderful pictures and videos in the site that help describe how F.A.S.T. works. Overall, I see this as a great website which features a great program that any dyslexic, ADD, ADHD or anyone with a learning disability should look at and use to enhance their learning in such a way that they can perform functionally in college, everyday life, and in a job. I highly recommend this site to anyone who has a child with dyslexia or a student with dyslexia. This site will really help.