Web Evaluations

For this assignment, I evaluated several different websites. One of the websites I evaluated was the school web site for Edith Bowen Lab School. As I looked at the website, I tried to take into consideration if I had a child attending the school and what information I would want on the site. I found the site very professional and user friendly. The site wasn't too complicated and all the information was credible and useful. There were links to tell parents about PTA activities, a calendar of events, and many other things that I would find useful as a parent. I rated this website as a credible and good source.
Another web site I evaluated was a website to find lesson plans. This site was Discovery Education; Classroom Resources. I thought this was going to be a pretty good site because discovery is a international company with a good reputation. The information on the site was useful and pretty fun to look at. For the lesson they provided several alternative resources to add to the lesson. They provided links to videos and other fun things to enhance the lesson. Also at the end of each lesson they have a section called Academic Standards where they provide links for the research and standards of education. The site was easy to navigate and it provided a printer-friendly version for teachers to print out the lessons and use them. I found this site extremely helpful and one that I will probably use.
One of the site we had to look up was an informational website that contained elementary content. One of the first things I thought of that I learned in elementary was Utah history so I looked up an informational website on Utah history. The site that I found was actually published by the Utah Department of Community and Culture and also supported by Utah State Government. It was a pretty great site and it had this link to Utah History for Kids where children could go on and learn about facts, play games, and discover Utah. All of the facts were correct and interesting to learn. I actually had a good time playing the games and learning more about Utah. The site didn't take long to load and didn't have any necessary fluff anywhere. I really liked this site.
The final site that I evaluated was a student interactive site that they can use to enhance learning. I choose a site that I was already familiar with and totally love! It is the National Library of Virtual Manipulatives. It is a really great website that supports what children learn in math. This was actually created by Utah State University in 1999 and is continually updated about once a year. This is a great source that makes learning fun and enjoyable for students. I am most definitely going to use this site in my teaching.