ITEC2360

Overview: Russian language interactive site with audio.

Sara Hindman January 24, 2010 Overview The site I evaluated was NobelPrize.org and its main purpose is to educate anyone about the history of the Nobel Peace Prize award and possibly convince people to pursue that award. Along with educating and persuading, the website has educational games in subjects; such as, chemistry, physics, medicine, literature, peace, and economics. The intended audience for the Nobel Peace Prize website is for anyone over the age or 18, while the educational games section of the website is for high school, middle school, and late elementary school students. Some games include blood typing, Pavlov's dog, Lord of the Flies, electrocardiograms, and a split brain experiment. Unfortunately there are no links to available resources outside of the website. The content was very clear and concise, but the only thing I had trouble with was who designed the website and who could I contact if I had questions. Design is awesome, everything is easy to find and there is clear instructions for the games. I would use this website in my classroom, but it definitely for older children. Content NobelPrize.org had many strengths and little weaknesses. Their strengths included understanding the purpose of the website, easy access to the latest revision dates, and information quality. Their one weakness was I could not find the name of the person who provided all the information. I assume that the Nobel Peace Prize Organization provided all the information and games and that it is credible, but I do not want to jump to conclusions. There were also no links to outside resources that related to some of the same areas of interest; such as, medicine or economics. Overall, the content was great except for the lack of authority. Design This website is one of the best I have seen. The speed was fast, the home page attractive and informative, and the website was extremely easy to navigate. All the graphics, audio files, and video files worked perfectly

Posted by Kelsey Potter on January 24, 2010 This website was designed for teachers and schools. Content: Entering into School World it was evident who the audience and what the content was intended for. The content of the website accomplishes the purpose clearly. There was no specific author for the website although the group that published the site was reliable and easy contact information was access able. The website was created in 2010 so it is still a fairly new site. All of the links and content are working appropriately and appear to be complete. The links and information on each of the links are easy to understand and sufficient to the content. There is a plenty of information for each of the links and for background on the website. The website is not biased but rather informative about schools using a content management system and a center for communication and education for the teachers. Design: The website loaded promptly and the homepage was an appealing to the eye. It was clear as to what the purpose of the website is and the different index tabs were descriptive to direct the reader in the right direction. The site sponsor was clear and background about the sponsor was also clear. Contact information has easy access and a 1 800 number was clearly identified at the top of each page. Copy right was easy to find at the bottom of each page. Directions for using the website were not provided but rather self explanatory to use. Each label had more specific labels underneath. The animations were for more of a decoration than a purpose. The website as equal access through different browsers. The organized information on the website was apparent and made the website very resourceful. The same goal is visible throughout the website although nothing was repeated. Summary: Overall this website is a very resourceful place to come for a teacher or a school. School World gives valuable information for the needs of diverse schools and teachers. Teachers

CONTINUED: Teachers have access to a website with content and design for the in the classroom and outside the classroom. School World is build by three elements including: "applying Web technology best practices, proactively listening to district and school personnel, and staying abreast of the education industry's trends and happenings." The website has accomplished many different awards in the limit time it has been offered. This is a very reliable, useful and beneficial website.

Posted by Erika Jeffs on 1/24/2010 Overview: Math Apprentice is designed to show kids that math is used in the real world, and not just the obvious careers like an accountant, but other developing areas such as graphic design. The students get to pick from 8 different careers, and explore the features of the line of work they choose and do some hands on math related activities. These activities make the website very interactive. The site is designed to use in the classroom for middle school students, but could also be useful for high school students as well. Content: The website clearly states the purpose of the website and the audience, in fact, it has a tab specifically for this information. The "About" tab gives and overview of the entire website. Sponsor and contact information is easy to find, however the authors of the website are unclear. The site was copyrighted in 2009 and is fairly new, so it should be up to date. The links are relevant to math and are in working order. This site is very interactive and gives many examples of math in the real world that would come as surprise to many students. There is also a tab that gives teachers a detailed description on how to use the site in the classroom. Math Apprentice's sole purpose seems to be to educate and not to sell anything. The website is easy to navigate and well organized because there is only four tabs. Everything seems to be accurate, up to date, and correct as far as my knowledge. Design: Math Apprentice loads very quickly, especially considering all of the interactive features the site provides. The home page is attractive, easy to navigate, and the format is held constant throughout the entire site. Copyright and contact information are easy to find. Directions for using the site are easy to find and very helpful. All links are working properly and quick to load. The site specifically states that the site works best with Safari or Firefox, and that there may be some bugs th

Posted by Erika Jeffs on 1/24/2010 Overview: Brightstorm is a dot com website for high school students to prepare for various college preparation exams, such as, the ACTs and SATs along with advanced placement exams. The site offers practice on certain subjects of the tests. The math section is particularly emphasized and has wide range of high school level material. It includes videos of concepts and practice problems that are very helpful. However, the website does sell practice packages which is the ultimate goal of this website. Content: The audience and purpose of this website is very clear. There is information about the creators of this website along with their credentials. The "managers" are qualified and contact information is available. The site has current information and seems to have been updated this year. The purpose is obvious, they do not try to hide that they ultimately wants to sell something. Brightstorm is effective for practicing high school level math and has accurate information. The site is interactive because it offers videos teaching concepts and practice problems as well as a question/answer feature. Also, it is very easy to navigate because it is organized and has clearly marked tabs. As far as I can tell, grammar and spelling are correct. There are not many outside links. Overall, this website as good content. Design: The page loads quickly. When you arrive at the home page, it is appealing and not too cluttered. There are clearly marked tabs that contain the most important aspects of the site. There is also another set of tabs that are easy to find with information about the creators and contact information. The copyright is clearly stated. Navigation is very simple because everything is broken into subjects, and many video clips are available that load quickly and work well. The math section is particularly helpful and has a lot of useful information for high school students. It is very simple to find the informa

Sara Scribner 1/24/10 Overview: This website is kid-friendly and offers a wealth of information about the weather. Included are weather games/activities, encyclopedias, teacher resources, environment conservation ideas, and the daily forecast. Content is applicable in a classroom and is fit for its audience of elementary school students. Content: Audience and content for this site are easily determined. The sponsor of this site is The Weather Channel and a contact is given for the site, but other than that I was unable to find an author, a revision date, or a copyright date. To my knowledge, the information provided on this website is accurate, but I do not think one would be able to find in-depth information on a certain topic. Overall, the content on this site is well organized and easy to understand. It also offers a variety of learning tools from activities to videos to glossaries to encyclopedias which is helpful in a classroom. Design: The Weather Channel for kids has a lot of useful information for students desiring to know more about the weather. This visually appealing site downloads efficiently and one can easily move within the website because of superb organization. It incorporates graphics as well as informational videos with elementary students in mind. Although contact information is available there is not a date with the site's last revision or a copyright date. Also, there are a few advertisements on the sides of the page.

Amanda Lamey January 23, 2010 Overview This website is designed for any individual who can drive a car. It's not meant for children. They don't need to know how to change a tire if they can't drive yet. They should focus on something they enjoy or want to learn more about. I choose this site because it was an ".edu". I figured it had been reviewed by more important individuals and was used for educational purposes. I knew I could trust the information located on this site more than a ".com" site where websites have not been reviewed or edited by someone else. It listed multiple sites that were related to this site and had personal information to contact the author of the website. It had the class involved and the copyright date listed. Overall this had all the required information needed to evaluate a website. Evaluation of Design The design of the website was simple. It was one page, but it had other sites listed that were available if this wasn't what you were looking for. All the information regarding the author contacting us, copyright information and location were all located towards the bottom. There were eight simple steps to changing a tire. There were photos involved, but most of all before it even began there was an insert of tools required for the job. That's something different that stuck out to me and I think it would make it easier for everyone if life was like an outline, this is what you need, here's how to do it. Towards the end if you had and questions or comments you could leave them. The only other available resources were the related sites you could visit, but they worked well. You clicked them and you were able to navigate away from you current page to your new one in no time. There wasn't a "error" can't load page or refresh here. The purpose was clear, it was informative. Content The content off the page was designed by children and could be read and understood by anyone. I think that the photos and beg

Amanda Lamey January 23, 2010 Overview I chose this site because RosettaStone has seemed to help lots of individuals learn a second or third language. I was impressed when I came to this site. You can choose from a variety of languages, you can purchase packages or just one at a time. With each package it listed the price and a button for you to add it to your cart. They have a toll free number to call. There are videos of people who have used it and learned from it. I think this is a beneficial part in helping someone purchase this item. I know it would help me. I would want to know from experience whether a product is good enough to spend hundreds of dollars on. This website is designed for anyone, but limited to people with credit/debit cards. Any one person can learn a language with assistance and it has been proven that younger children learn quicker and faster than adults. They had a contact button for further information. It also had other available resources like case studies from a classroom, stories of individuals who had used it, videos of people who had purchased and used RosettaStone. It had different options to chose from like; Home school, Schools, Organizations and Personal. The purpose of this site is to let you explore multiple options and not limit you to one thing and one language, its open ended. I think it's a wonderful site and easy to use. I also think RosettaStone's product is expensive which is a downfall because as a college student I have enough bills and money concerns to worry about to where I can't just go spend three hundred dollars to learn a language on my own time. Evaluation of Design The overall evaluation of the design was accurate. It had useful information and sites to attend to gather further information. Instead of reading the material you would have to purchase it, but it showed what levels were for sale and for how much. It even had it available for different schools and organizations. It had a contact us box

Sara Scribner 1/23/10 Overview: This website called Beeswax is meant for elementary students to inform them of current events in a fun, interactive way. It is a new website so the creators are still looking for feedback to improve the site, but it is a great tool for students to learn about current happenings in the world. Currently it is only updated twice a week, but for elementary students I believe this to be sufficient. Content: Information presented on this website is high quality. Its purpose, to present news, is clear, complete, easily understood, and is interactive. Contact and sponsor information are current and available. There might be potential bias on this site however because of its sponsor, Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The amount of information offered on this site is sufficient, but the teacher would need some background knowledge about the event. An advantage to this site is that it is free of advertisements. Design: Beeswax communicates the news in a fun, interactive way and is aided by graphics that you click on to see the related story. It has a unique organization that is effective yet appealing. Sounds also accompany your actions as you navigate the site.

Posted by Amber Rittenhouse on 1/23/10 Overview: This site is particularly intended for grades K-8. The site focuses on the basic skills in order to be successful in the games. It does not offer any lessons to teach the skills. It just assumes that you already know the material, so you can use your knowledge to play the games. There are no further links available through the site. The site does accomplish its purpose of entertaining kids using math, but the site is not very credible. I would not recommend the use of this site. Content: This site contains many math games for many levels of math. The author of the material is not shown, but it does seem to be sponsored by Jefferson County Schools. There is no information given to contact someone in the case of questions. There is also no dates of revision, so the accuracy if the site is questionable. The purpose of the site is to entertain kids with games, using their math skills. The content is well organized, so it is very easy to get to the desired place. There are no math links available to go to further sites. There are no ads or distractions, so the viewer is not distracted from the games. Design: This site is not very well designed. The homepage is not very colorful or eye catching. It is pretty dull. However, it is very easy to follow the steps to get to the games for a certain type of math problem. The copyright date or the date that the site was established is not available. The information is well organized, and information is easy to find. It is unable to determine the date of the last revision. There are no further links to other useful sites.

Nathan Hissong 1/23/10 Content: An important part of any government class is debating current issues in America. In fact POLS2000 is a class devoted to just debating the issues. Opposing Viewpoints is an excellent resource to research issues. When you search of click on an issue you get a list of articles from repeatable authors who either agree or disagree with an issue. A new addition to the site is that you can debate over message boards (which requires you to sign up). Now like message boards one cannot put a rating on the experience. In high school a student and either be censored or be understanding that some language is inappropriate. Being that the site I a beta site it is put up with the help of advertising. Personally, I find this annoying but it is a necessary evil in this instance. Design: Opposing viewpoints is a very eye-appealing site. I has a variety of issues you can look up. However, in the top tabs they are organized into menus that make it easy to fine a recent topic. This site is made for the ipod generation. It feels like social networking site with purpose. It is one of my favorites Overview: This site is a good research tool. It can also be used to implement the CRAAP test because it does have some questionable content. It is a good teaching tool telling students to fin a current issue to present and then debate it in class. Again a site I use quite a bit.

Scholastic.com Learning Activities (Grades K-5) Sara Scribner 1/23/10 Overview: I found this website to be very helpful. It has numerous resources for student activities and links to other sites with information and resources for teachers. Ads are present throughout this site, but they do not overwhelm you. Also, on the primary page with learning activities for students there aren't any ads at all. Not only would I use this source in my classroom, but I would recommend it to others. Content: Scholastic, a website for teachers is very credible. Information found on this site is current (updated and links work) and information to contact or learn about the sponsor/author is available. There does not seem to be any hidden agendas on this site. This site is organized according to grade level, K-2 or 3-5, and has activities for both age groups. Its information is consistent/accurate, easy to understand, and organized making it easy to navigate. Another positive aspect of this site is that it has activities for subjects like math, science, language arts, social studies, and Spanish. Design: This site is definitely worth visiting. It's content and links to other useful websites makes it a valuable resource. Content layout is organized and everything is clearly labeled. Graphics provide a glimpse of what each game entails and add appeal to the page/game description. Animations and sounds make one's experience as he plays the games enjoyable and exciting.

Nathan Hissong 1/23/10 Content: In any good government it is important that students know who represents them. I chose Senator Mike Enzi's site just as an arbitrary example. Like many Congressmen's sites this is an informational site. Yes Mr. Enzi has a campaign site but I did not choose that one for a reason. The site features a featured story, a way to find issues in your county and even get an email newsletter. What really caught my eye though is that he has a separate tab for students. Here you can get valuable bill resources and even sign up for a internship which in my experience was amazing. Design: The design is rather appealing and makes the site easy to navigate. It is nice to Enzi's picture. It would help students identify his name with a face. I like the health care tab and a featured story that affects his constituency. Being that Enzi probably pays someone lots of money to work on his site it has to be designed well and updated frequently. Good design. Overview: As previously stated it is important for students to understand the congressional process and who represents them. It would be a cool assignment to use this site to see how congress works and who the main players are.

Sara Scribner 1/22/10 Overview: This website is intended for students and teachers in Elementary Education. It includes interactive games ranging in difficulty from grades kindergarten through 5th. Although some games are less educational than others, this site offers some helpful, fun tools in teaching most subjects. Overall, this website is very credible and well suited for Elementary Education. Content: At first glance, the audience and basic content for this site are easily determined. Located at the bottom of the homepage are links to find information about the author, the site sponsor, contact information, and a note to parents and teachers with more information about the site. A copyright date was available, but a revision date was not provided. However, the site seems to be current. As I navigated through this website, all links were working. ABCya! is well organized, easy to understand when learning a new game, and provides accurate (content-wise and spelling/grammar-wise) information. Although this site offers games for all subjects, it seems primarily focused on student math skills, for majority of its games are math related. Also, it is clear this site is commercial because of the many ads that litter the pages. Despite the multitude of ads, I believe the content is accurate and useful in the classroom. Design: This quickly downloaded website is visually appealing to me and to young children. Although the rainbow of colors makes the page seem busy, it is very organized and the content is easy to locate and use. Links to other websites are not given, but there is so much information provided one could most likely find what he is looking for. Fun sounds accompany most games one plays adding excitement. For Kindergarteners, all games have sounds and the instructions are read aloud. I would however caution students using this site unsupervised because of the many advertisements.

Content: This site is a monster. I was looking for a site to explain landmark cases in the Supreme Court. What I found is a site that not only explains but also gives political reactions and the aftermath of the decision. For instance, I clicked on Marbury v. Madison. This is the case that allowed Judicial Review. The site divides the case in two sections Resources and Activities. In the Resources section you can read about the case etc. The Activities students can read logistical information about the case for further understanding. Design: The design is geared to educate. The visual make you think of the Constitution a crinkly brown. I like how the homepage lists the cases on the left side and concepts that came from some of those cases on the right. When you click on a case there is a wealth of information that can further understanding of a case. Many of these cases are a little complicated and I feel that this site can tie up loose ends. It is even geared toward high schools, the sub title reads "one-stop shopping for activities related to key Supreme Court cases and concepts as mandated by State standards. Overview: This site is put on by the Supreme Court Historical Society, meaning it is rather legitimate. I would love to use this site in an activity for class. The site is rather bland but I believe that students would love to be directed to find info and be able to present that info to the class. I could even make them use technology in their presentation. This site is not a baby sitter in the least it is a way for students to use technology and not listen to a boring lecture.

Nathan Hissong 1/23/10 Content: The Worlds Smallest Political Quiz provides five questions concerning personal political issues and five questions about economic issues. Each question is followed my a matrix which includes whether you agree, are not sure, or disagree with the question. When you are finished with the quiz which literally take two minutes you are presented with a chart that shows where you lie on the "political map." Below the chart the site tells you where you are. For instance, mine is Liberal. Under that heading it explains what that political ideology means. The site also out lines the other political ideologies below yours Design: The design is rather modest in aesthetic appeal. However, in my opinion is appealing in the content it provides. The site that provides the quiz also has quotes from The Washington Post and USA Today hailing its legitimacy as a tool to understand the political system. In conclusion its content makes up for bland visuals. Overview: In my opinion, this site is very educational. I plan to use in my classroom. American High School students often have no idea where they stand on the political map. This quiz not only gives you questions to decide where you lie it shows you the other sides and shows you why you lie where you do. It is a good exercise to show how different the ideologies are and how extreme they are in nature. It is a valid teaching tool and is simple enough for complete naves to understand.

Charlene Asay: 1/23/2010 Overview: One more story is a great site for beginning readers. This site will read a book to you in English, Spanish, or Chinese. You can either have the site read a book to you or if you are learning to read you can read the book yourself. This site is a great way to learn about different great children's books, and to get children excited about reading. Content: This site could be a great tool to either entertain children, or to have them practice on their reading. And they could find books that they enjoy, and as their parent of teacher you could purchase those books. This site is a learning and profited site for the maker. There aren't a lot of different links to click on to distract others from the purpose of the site. Design: This site is pretty well done for the purpose the maker wanted it to do. I think that this site is made for advertisement of different children's books. If a child can read the book, or hears the site read the book to them they could fall in love with it and want to buy the book. This site doesn't however have a copyright date or who published the site. This could be a scam of a site. But all the links seem to work fine.

Charlene Asay: 1/23/2010 Overview: Kids Video maker is a site where students can learn how to make their own video. This site takes them step by step on how to write their own script, how to make their video, how to edit it, and how to show your video on the web or put it on a CD rom. This site is can be used for a teaching tool. This could be a easy way to get your students interesting in creating something of their own. Content: This site does have just a few different links and advertisements for booking trips, and different film schools to look at. This site looks like a great educational tool for students. A teacher could use this site to easily teach their students how to create their own video and post it wherever they would like to. They could share their work with the world. Design: The site is well designed. There are a few different advertisements that could be clicked on, but this site doesn't over whelm a person with so many advertisements they ant focus on the purpose of the site. This site does have a copyright date and who published this site, so this is a pretty creditable site it you ask me.

Charlene Asay: 1/23/2010 Overview: Puzzle maker on discovery education is a free teaching tool or resource. This website is used to make different puzzles on your own with your own information to put in them. This could be used for teachers to use as teaching resources in their classroom. Or a student could use them for assignments. All the different links seem to work just fine. You can buy different teaching resources software on this site. This site seems to be pretty user friendly, besides that there is so many different links that are distracting. Content: Besides all the different links and advertisements that can be clicked on this site, this could be a great site to use for an educational purpose. You can make different puzzles such as word searches, math squares, number blocks, and mazes on this site. There are also different links for brain boosters, science sites, and links to buying software. Design: The site is well designed. There is a lot of links, ads, and other distractions to look at on this site. There is a copyright date, which means that it was published, instead of just some plain old person getting on here and putting scam free puzzle makers online. There are difference chances of learning links that can be clicked on.

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Charlene Asay: 1/23/2010 *Overview: I think that the first promotion of this site is to learning, and to get students to think that learning math is cool and fun. In the end this site becomes more of a distracting site because of all the advertisements. I wouldn't use this site in my classroom without having me there to walk my students through it so it would be easier to get to the lessons I wanted them to do. *Content: This website has a lot of different things that you can use it for. It has different math and thinking games, puzzles, for every age. There are different links for certain subjects such as arithmetic, prealgebra, algebra, and all different math lessons. There is also a link for parents and teachers. This is more of a game site than an educational site, but if you look closely at the certain games, you could be learning from them. There are a few advertisements on the webpage. Such as Walgreens, and Triaminic ad that has a coupon to click on. This webpage has many advertisements that will distract the visitors into clicking on them instead of playing the math games. *Design: The design of this webpage is quite confusing. If I were a young student and my teacher as me to get to a certain lesson in prealgebra, I would get lost with all the different advertisements and other links there are to look at. I would also want to go to the games instead of the lesson my teacher as me to do.