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Maddy Hamblen

4th Grade Clearview - Civil War - 0 views

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    Madison Hamblen Revised: 10.15.12 Overview: This website was created in order to help people study facts about the American Civil War in flash card format. The intended audience is for fourth grade students in Virginia that are preparing for the state standardized tests. There are no available resources that can link the user to other informational pages. My impressions of this website are that it is an educational link providing an activity to help students reinforce information they should have previously been taught. Content: The content within this website is similar to that in others regarding the facts about the American Civil War. Other websites have the same type of information and key points. The content is relevant to information fourth graders are expected to be tested on during their state standardized tests. The content is also easy to understand because it is on a very basic reading level at which is compatible with the intended audience. Design: The design of the website is boring due to the fact that it is just an activity and not a website meant for entertainment. It is very cut and dry with the way the site distributes information. Since the students can read both sides of the card at the same time, the website is simply a reading experience in flashcard form. The navigation process is easy because the only thing to do on this website is switch from one card to another. This site is worth visiting because no matter how much the student knows, the cards will always give them the answer. If they are always given the answer, then they are guaranteed to learn something.
Debra Burkhalter

Project Gutenberg - 1 views

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    Debra Burkhalter October 15, 2012 Project Gutenberg Overview: Being the first producer of free eBooks, Project Gutenberg's purpose is to encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks. Michael Hart the founder of Project Gutenberg invented the eBook in 1971 and in his words, the Project Gutenberg site, "wants to provide as many eBooks in as many formats as possible for the entire world to read in as many languages as possible." Thus, the intended audience for this site is literally humankind, but to be more specific for the purpose of my particularities; students, teachers, readers, writers, poets, publishers, learners, seekers of knowledge…and the list go on. Content: The site itself contains over 40,000 free eBooks and over 100,000 free eBooks are also available through the partner links. At first look, the user is able to quickly determine the basic content of the site and the audience is clearly stated in the information provided about the author. Information currency is accurate and last updated on August 20, 2012. Beyond the available eBooks that Project Gutenberg offers, the site also has a Self Publishing Portal, News Room, Blog and discussion pages and a plethora of reviews and review links. Design: The homepage downloads efficiently and has a very basic and scholarly appeal. Index tags indicate the content areas and are clearly identifiable. The user is able to navigate with ease throughout the site as the directions are very clear and easy to follow and information is extremely easy to find. There is no use of multimedia, however links to many other useful Web sites are provided.
Carrie Branscom

Starfall - 0 views

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    Overview The purpose of this site is educational for lower elementary students; its audience is therefore mainly elementary students but also parents and educators as they are the ones who may be interested in exploring the site to discover its usefulness for their children or students. This site contains many educational online interactive games for lower elementary kids that help mostly with reading and mathematics but it also has some other interactive options for other topics relevant to elementary students. Content and design Overall based on the content and design evaluations this site seems to be a good site worth bookmarking at least for use with elementary students. The design makes it visually attractive to the students it is intended for and it makes it easy for them to navigate the site. From observing a kindergarten class navigate the site it was apparent that they were able to go where they were told to with ease and then when they were allowed to explore more on their own they did so with ease.
Kaiha Harris

Dumb Laws - 0 views

shared by Kaiha Harris on 15 Oct 12 - Cached
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    Overview: The purpose of this site is to inform and entertain the audience, in this case, 4th grade social studies students, of dumb or silly laws in their given state. All 50 states are available to study and have at least 5-6 laws that could be useful in their search. Content/ Design: This site is not the best, but it gets the information across that needs to be gotten across. There is a lot poorly placed ads that interfere with trying to read the laws. However, once you have located where the laws are the information is clear and easy to read. It is also available to view the whole law not just the bit that is shown on the main page. This site is not the most user friendly but once you have found what you are looking for it is quite entertaining and useful for the state project.
Holly Page

Mr. Anker Tests - 0 views

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    Holly Page October 14, 2012 Overview: The website entitled "Mr. Anker's Tests" was created for teachers and students. The website covers all content areas in grades k-7. The site is filled with activities that support California State and the Common Core State Standards. The site provides link with additional resources for outside information. The links provide information in math, social studies, science, reading, vocabulary, literature, and Spanish. I found the site very useful for my particular needs. I think this website would be very useful in a variety of subject areas for online exploration. Content: I thought that the website was pretty self-explanatory from looking at the homepage. I had no trouble identifying the audience and content of the website. The author is clearly identified (a biography of the author is provided giving credibility to the site) and available to contact at any time. It was difficult for me to verify how current the website was due to the lack of a revision date. The information seemed up-to-date and the links on the site were current and fully functioning. It was clear upon entering the site that it is used for educational purposes. The content supports the intended purpose and is complete. The site was well organized and seemingly free of bias. The games included on the site were interactive and seemed accurate to the best of my knowledge. The site was professional with correct spelling and grammar. Design: The site's homepage downloaded efficiently and was well organized; easily orienting it's users. The creator of the site and contact information was provided. There was no copyright date anywhere within the website. I found it easy to navigate the webpages within the site; directions and external links were provided and well functioning. There were graphics and games (these made a significant contribution to the website). "Mr. Anker's Tests" had plenty of information that was clearly labeled and consistent. A
Aaron Waring

eHow - 0 views

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    Overview A how to site that has instructions for a multitude of things. It claims to have over two million articles. The intended audience is anyone looking to learn a skill. Content Content is clear and easy to understand. Multimedia works well and is useful. Site links work but sponsored links are not identified so it is easy to end up in an advertisement. Design Website is easy to read and navigate. There are many multimedia resources that add to the information available. Some pages may have too many links to quickly find the information you need.
Aaron Waring

American Lung Association - 0 views

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    Overview This is the official site of the American Lung Association. The intended audience is anyone with lung disease and friends and relatives of those with lung disease. The pages load quickly, are easy to read and contain useful information. Pages contain multiple links to help quit smoking, clinical trials, and more detailed information by disease. Content The homepage is well organized with broad easy to find categories that link to various pages with more in-depth information. The pages then have more information and links to current news and medical research Design The site is well designed, easy to navigate and looks good. Each page loads quickly. The graphics are helpful and the links work.
Holly Page

Math is Fun - 0 views

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    Holly Page October 14, 2012 Overview: The purpose of Math Is Fun is to help learners better understand mathematics. The objective is that students are capable of learning math content both enjoyably and easily. The audience for the site is both teachers and students (grades k-12). There are links to several other websites that are up-to-date and easy to access. The website makes it possible for users to find outside resources. I found the website useful in the subject and content areas I explored. There seemed to be information on a variety of mathematics topics. I was overall very impressed with the website. Content: Content wise, it was very easy to determine upon first glance that mathisfun.com can be used as a mathematics curriculum guide and serve as supplemental reading for students. Though there was little background on the author of the site, the information seemed very credible and links were provided for questions and verifying information. The site was current, including a recent revision date with several working links to other related sites. The content aligns with the intended purpose of the site, the information was displayed in a creative and organized fashion, and there was sufficient information for my searching needs. The site was interactive and professional. Further information on mathematics content was provided via updated and working links that were both appropriate and effective. Design: The design and layout was both creative and efficient. I had no trouble downloading the homepage. The site was decorated with picture links that added to the website organization. There was provider and contact information provided in the site contents. I easily found the copyright date at the bottom of the home page. The website was easy to navigate and follow with clear directions and updated links both within the site and for outside sources. The site had several pictures and utilized creative media. The site was compatible with several browsers. The
Debra Burkhalter

Student News Daily - 0 views

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    Debra Burkhalter October 15, 2012 Student News Daily Overview: Student News Daily is a fabulous current events site for high school students to become readers of the news. The founders set up the website with a goal to "to build students' knowledge of current events and strengthen their critical thinking skills…in a manageable format." Using the site gives great references and information to students in a very easy to navigate way. Teachers will also be impressed with the format and many links to other useful current events websites. Content: The user of this site is able to identify right away that the content is current events. The site is updated daily. The intended audience is stated clearly under the "About Us" tab: "StudentNewsDaily.com is a non-profit current events website for high school students." The directional tabs are organized and easy to navigate and teachers will also appreciate the easy and manageable format. Student News Daily has six main categories which would be quite useful and could easily be incorporated into weekly current event lesson planning: * Daily News Article * Daily Best of The Web * Tuesday's World Briefs * Wednesday's Biased Item * Thursday's Commentary * Friday's News Quiz In addition to main categories the site also provides other current events items including: editorial cartoons, quick takes and a quote of the week. Design: The homepage downloads efficiently, is easy to read, extremely navigable and updated daily. Directions for use are clear and easy to follow and the content areas are labeled and very well organized. The site incorporates the use of multimedia via weekly videos, daily cartoons and links which makes a huge contribution to the site as an up to date portal for global current events. The design and purpose of the site is to educate and the content presentation which is inclusive of questions and answers makes it very doable for students to learn
Chris Mertz

Civil War Timeline - 0 views

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    Overview: This website is very detailed and not only covers the most important dates of the civil war but also dates that aren't in the normal textbook. It's very simple to find your way from date to date and is in chronological order so its easy to spot a specific date. Content and Design: Like I said the content of this website is full great information and dates that cover the most important battles to certian speeches that President Lincoln gave. It starts out on April 9, 1861 and ends in May of 1865. Also the dates are detailed in information. The audience that this targets is just about anyone because it doesn't go into much depth but it also gives enough information that it can be useful. The design of it is very very simple. It's sectioned off in years and all a user has to do is scroll down and read whats presented.
Sarah Lindstrom

Teaching Time - 0 views

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    Sarah Lindstrom October 15, 2012 Overview The purpose of this website was also to help elementary students practice telling time and it would be useful for elementary teachers as well giving them ideas for activities having to do with telling time. This website has games and worksheets about telling time as well. This website has good activities for students to do to practice telling time. In my WebQuest I specifically used a game about being able to read analog clocks and it is a fun way for students to learn because you are trying to do the game as fast as possible which appeals to young kids, they always love to race. It is not hard to find the activities for students to do. Content The content was of a good quality and it had to do with telling time. It was a somewhat interactive website because it provides games for students to play about telling time. The website in well organized and it is easy to find multiple activities for kids to do. The website was updated this year, so the information is still relevant and ok to use. The author was not specifically mentioned on the website, but there is an email address you can email if you have questions about the website. Design This websites homepage wasn't extremely exciting to look at, but it did very nicely have all the activities listed so you could click on them with one touch of the mouse. The one game I used for my WebQuest had sounds which make playing the game more fun. The website was easy to navigate and it had relevant information pertaining to telling time. In order to use some of the activities on the website you have to download or purchase a CD. This design might make some teachers not want to use this site especially if it costs them money.
Chris Mertz

Civil War Overview - 0 views

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    This webiste is great!!! It is the most realible out of all the other websites I chose to do. It provides a brief summary over stuff like how the war got started, background of the war, outbreak of the civil war and the Emancipation Proclamation. Plus it has a huge number of videos to view and help the user understand the subject better. Content and Design: The content of this website is just tip-top and the audience is for anyone that is wanting to know more about the great Civil War. The videos are simple enough that a elementry kid could get the basic idea of it but also is filled with enough facts that a high school kid could get what they and probably be satisfied. The design is very simple and easy to navigate. They have the videes to watch at the top of the page and the reading is just a bit down the page. Plus there are a few links that a user could explore at the bottom of the page so they can explore more into the website.
Allison Cetak

Elizabethan England Life - 0 views

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    Elizabethan England Life Allison Cetak 10/11/12 Overview The subject matter of this site is life during Elizabethan England. The purpose of this site is to educate students of history or literature about all aspects of life during Elizabethan England. The audience of this site is students of history or literature who want to know more about any aspect of Elizabethan England. This site contains information pertaining to any aspect of Elizabethan England someone could want to know. However, while the content scores were good in my review, there was no information about the author, who wrote the information, or if it was ever updated. The only reason that I knew that the information was good was because I have done quite a lot of research about this topic. Also, the design of the website was not great because it contained many pop ups, ads, and links that had nothing to do with the content. Content Within this site, the actual information was great, extremely thorough and detailed. However, due to the fact that there was no credits page or authorial page, I do not think that this information can be used credibly. Although it was good information, as I mentioned previously, I know it is good information because I have done extensive research on this topic using other websites and books. Overall, the lack of information about the author discredits all the information on this site for me, despite the fact the information just so happened to be correct. Design The homepage of this site is not attractive at all. It contains advertisements and pop ups that are completely unrelated to the subject matter at hand. That said, the organization of the actual content was good and easy to follow, which made for easy consumption. However, as previously mentioned, despite the good organization and easy reading, the content is not backed by anything making it null and void as far as I'm concerned.
Kaiha Harris

Fact Monster - 0 views

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    Overview: The purpose of this site is to inform the audience, in this case, 4th grade social studies students, of US state facts. Once the appropriate state is clicked on the student is given a whole bunch of information that is both relevant and accurate. Content/Design: This site is super user friendly and easy to follow. It has maps and pictures and is really kid friendly too. The information is presented in a way that is easy to read, follow, and interpret. When check against other sites the information was correct and it was up to date.
Kaiha Harris

Maps of United States Indians by State - 0 views

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    Overview: The purpose of this site is to inform the audience, in this case, 4th grade social studies students, of Native Americans in their assigned state. Once the appropriate state is clicked on there is a list of tribes and their locations and some of their customs. Content/Design: This site is very useful in what its content is designed for. The information is easy to read, it is relevant to the topic and it is accurate. When checked against other sites it seems to line up perfectly in accuracy, and it wins out on easy to navigate and delivery of information.
Maddy Hamblen

Civil War: The War Between the States - 0 views

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    Madison Hamblen Revised: 10.15.12 Overview: This website was designed to be an educational tool for studying the Civil War. It was specifically engineered for fourth grade students in Virginia to prepare them for the state standardized tests. There is a worksheet for students to complete after exploring this website in great detail. Mrs. Walter made the worksheet so the students could be evaluated on their understanding of the Civil War. I think this website was very well constructed. It covers many influential people who played a key role during the Civil War in America. Content: This is an informational website which was created in order to educate students on the history of America during the Civil War. The content on this website is accurate and relevant to my interests of study. Even though the page has not been revised since 2005, the facts remain the same. The reason for the lapse in revision is irrelevant to the accuracy of the information is because the website is about history. The past is what happened in previous years, and therefore it can't be changed. No matter when a history site is produced, the content will remain consistent and true. This site is very beneficial for elementary school social studies students. The facts are basic enough for their comprehension level, yet in depth enough to form a solid foundation of the history of America during the Civil War. Design: The homepage of this website is appealing at first glance. It is nice how the homepage immediately splits off into two different links. One link takes the student to a Union page, while the other one links to a page on the Confederacy. The design of this website is very basic and extremely easy to understand. Navigating through the different links is easy when the links are easy to read and the pictures are relevant to the content.
Saydi Gardne

Sheppard Software - 0 views

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    Saydi Gardner 10/15/12 Sheppard Software Overview: This website is very useful. The information provided on this site ranges from science, math, geography, art, health, and English. There are multiple games and activities for students of all ages to use to learn the intended subject. While this site is mainly designed for elementary age kids, it can be used by all ages to learn new things and play games to help master the material. Content and Design: This site is very easy to navigate. Each section is labeled and easy to get to. Some pages take longer to download than others. The design is appealing to the eyes and the background/text color scheme makes it easy to read the text.
Evelyn Hernandez

Sharks - 0 views

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    Content: The information found in this website was very useful for my webquest. All the information was very legible and kid friendly! There were a lot of interesting facts that I didn't even know. It was very clear and the content achieves the intended purpose. Web Design: The design was very legible and easy to navigate through. It was very kid friendly because there were many colors and was very clear to read. The links that came with the site were helpful and connected to other helpful sites. There were lots of pictures that helped students decipher which sharks were which and it pointed out body parts.
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