Talk+Archive+Web+Exemplars

Topic 1: Web Exemplars
Looking at the Web Exemplars of your peers, what seem to be the most important criteria for selecting a website for instructional use? Come up with 2 to 4 good rules to follow when evaluating an instructional site. Comment on the selections of the person who posted his/her exemplars above yours. Do you agree or disagree with their selections, why or why not?

6-7-07 - Web Exemplars - Andrew Moshirnia
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6-7-07 - Web Exemplars - Eric Ammerman
A good website should: Evaluating Luke’s Choices Based on My Four Requirements Good Website: Bad Website: 4.This website has way too many advertisements. The actual information the site contains probably takes up less space than the advertisements and outside links do.
 * 1) Be simple and easy for all users to access and navigate.
 * 2) Contain valuable information from a reliable source.
 * 3) Be interesting for all users.
 * 4) Not have advertisements and other unnecessary links distracting from important information.
 * 1) The website is fairly simple to use, although there is a lot of scrolling.
 * 2) The information is valuable and seems well organized. The source is a little questionable.
 * 3) The website is colorful and has pictures, but is a little boring. The right side of the screen doesn’t have much on it.
 * 4) The website has a minimal amount of distractions.
 * 1) The website is not very simple, there are no links to any of the topics, and there is way too much scrolling going on.
 * 2) The information is presented in a strange paragraph format and I can’t really tell who the source is.
 * 3) This site isn’t interesting at all, there isn’t anything to click on or do.

6-7-07-Web Exemplars-Meaghan Allison
Good Rules to Follow: 1. Look for clarity in organization and content. 2. Make sure the source is credible and reliable. 3. Interactive media such as video, maps and photos enhance a website's content and clarity.

Comments on Peer's Exemplar: I agree with the choices of both websites this student choose. For his good website, I agree that the site is reliable, interactive and entertaining. I would however like it if there was a clear "map" or table of contents on the page so that at user is able to reach specific information more easily. As far as his bad website, I also agree that this website is not desireable. The font is very small and there are very few pictures or other interactive materials for students to engage in. Also, there are many distractions throughout the page including advertisements and confusing links.

6/7/07-Web Exemplars-Luke Hosler
I agree with what Jacob had to say about his good and bad websites. The bad website was to bland and hard to navigate. It has good information but is useless because you can't get to it easily. The good website was easy to navigate but they needed to move the links to somewhere that is easier to see. I think he made great choices on what websites to use and explained his reasoning very well. When looking at websites it is important to see if you can move around in them easily and if the information is not overshadowed by other items that are off the subject. Pictures and other things can help but should not be overly excessive. Also, it is important that the information is reliable.

Talk 06-07-2007 Molly McDuffie
There are several things to look for when trying to distinguish between good and bad websites for instructional use: 1. Websites should be easy to navigate and should not be cluttered with distracting advertisements 2. Websites should be from credible, reliable sources to ensure accurate, appropriate information 3. Websites can be educational and still be attractive; they should be well-organized and incorporate a variety of media; it is great if they incorporate interactive material (i.e., quiz questions which can be answered and e-mailed to the teacher to ensure students are staying on track) 4. Websites should include well-placed, meaningful graphics which enhance the students understanding of the information 5. Websites should be consistent; using red for links on one page and blue for links on the next page will confuse users and is not consistent with typical web browsing.

I think that the website Meaghan chose as a good example had some positive features as she discussed, but the links which went to entirely different subject matter were problematic; as far as her bad example goes, I think she was on target - this would not be an ideal website for instructional use.

6-07-07 Christina Nelson
I agree with Jacob Thibodeau’s example of a bad website. The only thing the site has going for it is reliable sources and informative text; however, one could get this very information in the same readable format in a textbook or handout. His example of a good website has excellent graphic to text ratio but I would have liked more information and links to outside sources that relate to Christopher Columbus. I also am displeased with the links at the bottom of the page. They are too small and not noticeable at first glance although they make it easy to navigate from page to page.
 * 1) Reliable source of information
 * 2) Easy to find and navigate to specific information within the site
 * 3) Extra reliable sources listed and linked
 * 4) Minimum amount of commercial ads

6-7-07-Web Exemplars-Alexandra Fuller
A good website should: 1. Be clearly labeled. 2. Have an easy way to navigate around the site. 3. Have content appropriate to the age of the student. 4. Have an attractive appearance, so it gains the attention of the students. Evaluation of Amanda's Site: Good site: I agreed that it was good because it was an easy to follow interactive site for younger kids that had relevant information. Bad site: I agreed that it was a bad site because the site was designed for older students, it had a boring design, and it was not entirely reliable.

=6-7-07- Web Exemplars- Becky Aubrey= Good Rules to Follow: Comments on Peer’s Exemplar: I thought that Le comments where superb. The bad website that she went to was very confusing. It was easy to get lost in and it was not very user friendly. The good website she went to was great for kids in K through third grade. It was easy to follow and very informational. I feel the kids would feel like they were playing a game put at the same time learning.
 * A website needs to have organization and the text needs to be easy to read and trustworthy.
 * A website should be interesting and fun to look at, but not to much where is takes away from the learning process.
 * There should be only a few of commercial ads.

6.7.07 Web Exemplars-Amanda Payne
What make a good website: 1. There should be consisten formating through the entire site. 2. The topic should be clear and the site should be easy to read. 3. There should be relevant pictures that increase understanding of the subject, not distract from it.

Comments on Becky's web site: Bad: I agree that this website is not kid friendly. 1. The heading is above the advertisements which makes it look like they are actual links about Christopher Columbus. When you click on the first one a dating site comes up with a half naked lady. This is not good. 2. There are no pictures on this site and it is way too wordy. 3. There is not much information on this website.

Good: This website is okay for older children but it is too wordy for younger children.

1. There are not many pictures to keep the student interested. 2. This site requires a lot of scrolling and does not have a menu at the top. 3. There are a few flashy advertisements that could be distracting to learning.

June 7, 2007- Web Exemplars- le tran
Evaluating a website: I evaluated the website using the above criteria for her websites. I agree with Alexandra on the good website, actually it is the same site that I selected to be good. It is easy for students to navigate and using texts that are kid- friendly. With her bad website, the information was not relevant to the topic and it was no longer there when I went in to look at it. Within a few days the website had been disabled. Teachers need to select reliable websites for students to use, otherwise, it will take more time to go back in and find another site.
 * 1) Is the website easy to follow and navigate through?
 * 2) Is the text easy to read visually and appropriate level?
 * 3) Does the website have consistent formats?
 * 4) Does the icons/text have a meaningful purpose on the page?
 * 5) Is the information what you are looking for?
 * 6) Was the website created by a credited source?

__**6-7-07 web exemplar Jacob Thibodeau** Rules to follow__ I feel that a site needs to use a variety of mediums to communicate the information, such as text, pictures and videos. The site needs to come from a reliable source, not an opinion page. The site needs to be easy to navigate. Finally, the site should have links to other pages to provide clarification related to the subject. __Evaluation of peer site: Molly__ We both had the same bad site listed. We listed this site for the same reasons, it was poorly constructed and it was all text. Very boring to look at and did not take advantage of the medium that the computer offers. I would just as soon give my students a dictionary to read as send them to this webpage. I liked her good site equally as the one I found. It had all the same elements that mine did that made it a quality site. It came from a reliable source and the information seemed correct. In addition, the site she found had links so that the student could gain a more in depth understanding of the subject or related subjects if needed.

Amy Rousselo I think that a good instructional website should include as few distractions as possible to the actual information. There should be no advertisements or unnecessary graphics. You should be able to recognize that the information is from a reliable source and will not mislead students of slanting information. It should also be clear and concise and appropriate for the age group you are working with. I liked Meaghan's good example of a website. The information was broken down into categories which I think seems less daunting to students. While there were a few unnecessary links, it was an overall good site to use in a classroom. I also agreed with Meaghan on her bad example of a website. There were graphics that did not enhance the information but were distracting instead. Some of the graphics even had a constant motion which is even more distracting. The text was large and centered which made it hard to read. These were both great examples of what to do and what not to do when working with websites in a classroom.

6-7-07- Web Exemplars - Sommer Taylor
Instructional websites should be clear and concise; they should be easy to navigate for any user. These sites should not have ads of any kind that can be distracting to students when they are searching for information. Instructional websites can be interactive, but too many graphics can also be distracting to users. These graphics must be in line and should not interfere with text. It is also extremely important to check the page for accurate information which can often be found from educational institutions. Christina touched on this when she talked about restricting her search to .edu sites only. These sites are typically great sources with accurate, scholarly information. Other sites can include the same information, but it is best to stick with sources that you as a teacher know are reliable. I believe Christina was accurate in her identification of a bad site because the it had too many advertisements and no graphics at all. Students want pictures or graphs of some kind to help identify certain materials and better thier understanding.

Topic 1: Web Exemplars
Looking at the Web Exemplars of your peers, what seem to be the most important criteria for selecting a website for instructional use? Come up with 2 to 4 good rules to follow when evaluating an instructional site. Comment on the selections of the person who posted his/her exemplars above yours. Do you agree or disagree with their selections, why or why not?

1-25-08- Web Exemplars- Samantha Rist
My peers seem to have different opinions as to what deems a website as useful or horrible. Grant disliked the website http://www.columbusnavigation.com/ because he claimed it was amateur, and could have been designed by a high-school student; it was not as interactive as he would have liked, and the colors were obnoxious and distracting to him. On the other hand, he enjoyed the website http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/famouspeople/standard/columbus/index.shtml#focus, because he felt that it was easily navigable, and it provided quizzes and outside links that the student could use to review the material. Thus, it is evident that Grant’s main criteria for a “good” website were navigation/interaction, appearance, and options for his students.

Sarah DuPree disliked http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/christopher-columbus.htm, because some of the information was hard to access, and was cramped into a small space. Yet, the site that she enjoyed was http://www.columbusnavigation.com/, which is amusing since it was Grant’s “bad” site. While Grant disliked the site since it was too simple, Sarah (and I) liked it because this made it easy to navigate, and would be easy for a high school or junior high student to use. So, for Sarah, it is obviously important that the site is navigable and organized.

Thus, as the aforementioned observations suggest, the main criteria that teachers use in determining the quality of a website seem to be organization, easy navigation, and interaction.

1-27-08 – Web Exemplars – Grant Noble
The most important criteria for selecting a website for instructional use seem to be the amount of advertisements on the website, the quality and quantity of information, the accessibility of the website, and the credibility of the website.

I believe that Kristen’s bad website is extremely awful and boring. There isn’t even a background color on the website and several students have this website as their bad website. I would say that this website is bad. On the other hand, I believe that the Columbus Navigation website is not so hot either. The website is very poorly put together and the author does not seem to be too credible. I wouldn’t use any of this information in my classroom, but I suppose that one may be able to verify that the desired materials from this website are accurate and then present them in their classroom in a more interesting manner.

1-25-08- Web Exemplars- Chase Ketchum
The most important aspect when evaluating an instructional site is the accuracy of the material. If the material is not accurate, it should not be used in a classroom. The best way to see if it is professional and accurate is to look at the source of the information. If the web site is from a credible source such as the Encyclopedia Britannica or the Library of Congress, it can be assumed that the information is correct. If the source is not named or it is some random individual, the accuracy of the information could be in question.

Another area I look at when evaluating a web site is the arrangement of the links and how easy it is to navigate the web site. If the links are clearly arranged on the left site of the screen and the information is placed on the page where a student could easily see it, the web page has a proper design.

One area of web page design that is important to me is the color schemes and layout of the graphics and written print. If the print and background color do not go well together, it can make for a headache, literally. Colors and images should complement each other in a way that is pleasing to the eye and easy to read.

The two web pages the person above me selected were two of the most popular web sites examined by the class. The poor web site was http://www.ibiblio.org/expo/1492.exhibit/Intro.html, which I agree is laid out terribly, and to be quite honest, is boring. The background is white, with black text. This is easy to read, but offers no color to make it more appealing to the eye. The good web site examined was [|http://www.columbusnavigation.com]. This is the Columbus website with a blue compass background that everyone seemed to disagree on. I personally do not think this is a good web site because the material is not laid out in a manner that is easy to follow. The links are all over the place and there is no real order. I also do not like the compass blue background. It is hard to read the text and is corny. I do not find the author to be the best source of information either. There are much better credible sources on Christopher Columbus. No one really knows where this guy got his information.

1-27-08 - Web Exemplars - Laura Draxler
Reading about Courtney's good website choice as well as other classmates, it seems like the general qualities in a good instructional website are pretty consistent. Sites that have bold headings, are easy to navigate, have little or no distracting advertisements, and are clear and easy to read are usually the winners. The link to Courtney's website did not work, but she talked about these same good qualities listed; therefore, I guess I would have to agree with her assessment and good website choice. She does not have a bad website listed, but the class discussion focused on poor color choices, distracting links, and bad organization as qualities of a bad instructional website. I guess the process of evaluating an instructional website should include the following questions. 1) Is the quality and layout of the information easy to navigate and to understand for the grade level? 2) Is the information readable and the site design effective? 3) Is this website a window for students to find distractions in side advertisements?

1-27-08 - Web Exemplars - Travis Lindeman
From the presentations given, layout of the website and how easy the information is to find are important for any website. There were several different opinions about the appearance of websites and how important themes, colors and professional appearance, but these are subjective to the level being taught. I think that the content of a website is most important, but with everything else an engaging first impression is a good way to keep users involved with the content. To make a site most effective, color schemes and themes can be used to enhance appearance but also to tastefully arrange information on the site in an organized manner.

1-25-08 - Web Exemplars - Amy Gress
After exploring the websites of my classmates, I have to say that the most important criteria for selecting a website for instructional use seem to be the quality and quantity of information, the overall design of the site, and the credibility of the site and its author.

After looking at Stephanie's websites, I would have to say that I agree with her selections. I myself thought that her bad website, the Enchanted Learning website, had an overall bad design, did not seem to have much information, and found that there was no author listed anywhere on the website. Under the overall design, some of the things that came up were the amount of ad space, the navagation of the website, and that the graphics lacked descriptions. Now, I had also looked at her good website, the Famous People site on the BBC website, but I thought that it would work better for younger students but that it was a good website, nonetheless. She found that the overall website design was great, that the information was credible, and that it was easy to navigate. I agree with her on that the website was interactive and would be great for middle school kids.

1-28-08 - Web Eemplars - Alex Rock
One can conclude that Hayley believes that the most important criteria for juding a web-site to use in her classroom is easy natvigation, credibility, and the web design. The web-site that she did not like was [|http://www.columbusnavigation.com] due to the amatour web design. She also saw a lack of credibility in the site making her uneasy about using it as an academic resource in her classroom. Lastly, the nuture of navigating the web-site did not appeal to Hayley because the student would have to scroll down initially to find any of the links to further information. She believes that the links should be in the traditional spot of being in the top left hand corner, or flowing across the top of the page.

1-28-08- Web Exemplars- Alex Riemann
Looking at Laura's good website and most of the others in the class there are obvious rules in distinguishing a good website. One of the most important rules is having a website that is easy for the students and teachers to navigate. Laura's encarta website is extremely easy to navigate and it outlines where certian information can be found. Another major rule that can be seen in the encarta website is it offers other helpful links and other places where you can find more or related information about Christopher Columbus. Also Laura's website looks perfessionally done and there a no major flaws in its design. I also agree with Laura that having a source for all the information on the website is important becuase the students will be using and trusting this information. Her encarta website not only provides sources but it also gives you a bibliography. I agree with pretty much everything Laura pointed out about her website and I would agree that it is a very good website for students needing information about Christopher Columbus.

1-28-08- Web Exemplars- Sarah Peterson
It seems to me that what makes a website good in the context of having students use it would be minimal advertisements, easy navigation, and quality information. Many of the bad websites we discussed in class had tons of advertisements on the right on in the middle of the information. Another flaw was that the links on some of the websites led to advertisements and never took you to the information the links suggested. Furthermore, some sites had paragraph after paragraph of useless or inaccurate information.

Lindsay and I had the same website as our good site. I think this is due to the fact that the website has credibility, links to other websites that may be helpful, and the fact that it was not very distracting, mostly because of its simple design which some didn't like. As far as her bad site goes, I agree it's terrible. There is no information about Columbus at all within the site. None of the links take you to information and the main page is has a scroll bar for the center frame which is nothing more than a picture and some text. This site is amazingly horrible.

1-28-08-Web Exemplars-Stephanie Heady
I think that there are several good rules to follow when evaluating websites to use for class. First, is it easy to navigate. If the students cannot get around the website, then a lot of their time will be wasted trying to find the information they are looking for. Second, is the readability at the level you are teaching. If the readability is too high for the students, they may be struggling to comprehend the information and will end up not learning anything. If the readability is too low students may get bored, and not pay attention to what they are reading. Next, are there too many distractions. If there are a lot of adds and extra websites they can be directed to, then students may not focus on the material they are there to learn. Last, is it visually appealing. If the site is engaging and has the right format it makes it a lot easier to focus on the material. If it is hard to read because of the colors, then the whole point of the website is lost.

Ryan used the Columbus Navigation page as his good website, which was used a lot in class. I think that this page has many good and bad qualities to it. While it is easy to navigate, the color makes it weird to look at, and the author has a bunch of weird awards. I think that because of all the good and bad qualities it has, it would not necessarily be a website I would use in the classroom, because I feel like it would be better to find a website that does not have as many of the bad qualities. For his bad website, Ryan used the 1492 Columbus website. I completely agree with him with the website. This website is uninteresting, and the readability looks a bit high for students. Overall it is just a bad website.

1.29.08 Web Exemplars - Lindsey Jones
I believe there are several important criterias for selecting a website for your classroom. One is age appropriateness. Carolyn took this into consideration when choosing her websites for this project. She mentioned that she was looking for high school level and she was finding many elementary level sites. This is important because a website could be too juvenile or over the student's heads. Organization also seems to be an important factor when choosing a website. An unorganized webiste can lead to confusion and frusteration. Also, the accessability and expansion opportunities seem to be of importance. I agree with Carolyn's good website and I think she provides some good arguements to support her choice. Looking at it, it seems well organized and geared towards the student and classroom as well as the teacher. This might be a personal thing, but one thing that really enhances a website or learning experience for me are pictures. There really are no pictures on this website. However, it is not overwhelmingly wordy and would be a good source for a classroom. I definetely agree with her choice for a bad webiste. Wikipedia is not really a credible source since any member can edit it. It is confusing and you do have to search through lost of things to actually get to the information you are looking for. So many words are hyperlinked and when you click on them they don't necessarily take you to anything that has to do with the information you are looking for. I would not use this webiste in my classroom either.

1-29-08 - Web Exemplars - Erin Cook
I think that three important criteria for selecting a website to use for instruction are readability, organization, and credible source information. First of all, as I learned in class, it is important to consider readability when evaluating a website because the information obviously needs to be accessible to the studen of whatever particular grade level you are trying to teach. I also value organization in a website. If a website is too cluttered, I will quickly lose patience and interest with it and I imagine students will react similarly. Included, in my mind, under the organizational category is the whether or not the website has excessive advertisements and links that may cause a student to wander the web. Since I plan to be a middle school teacher, I am especially concerned about maintaining my students' interest and attention--excessive links leading to games and other lures would be very distracting. Lastly, I think its important that a website cites its sources for the information it includes. If this isn't listed on the site, who knows if the information there is accurate? If this information wasn't listed on a site that I liked, I would still use it but I would double check on my own to make sure the information is credible. My criteria seems to be very similar to Lindsey's and others. I think Lindsey's "good" website is a great site, but I didn't see a citation section so I would probably read through all of the information to make sure its correct. Even though the link to her bad website didn't work when I clicked on it, I agree with her choice to name it as a bad ste based on her descriptions. She said it included advertisements, and I especially hate distracting advertisements. I would disagree with Lindsey and others who do not like wikipedia sites. Although I realize these sites can be edited by anyone, I have generally found them very useful myself. I would definitely read over the site to make sure everything was accurate (although most do include citations!) and maybe make some adjustments for readability.

1-30-08- Web Exemplars - Ryan Durant
Based on the presentations and by reading some of my peers comments I think that some good criteria for evaluating a website are the layout of a website, having enough relative information for the person looking at the site to use and the quality of the content, as well as if there are many ads that may distract the user from finding the information.

I think that Stephanie Filardo’s good website http://www.kidport.com/RefLib/UsaHistory/Columbus/Columbus.htm, was a pretty good website. She liked it because it has a clean look, and students can find information pretty easy and know what information they can expect to learn from each section. I agree that this is important in finding a good website for a classroom teacher to use for his/her students. She also liked that there were links to the different categories as well as links to other information regarding Christopher Columbus. She also liked how the information was direct and to the point, and not so wordy. I agree with her, but I felt that the website was lacking enough content to make a good website, but it makes up for it in having a link to other websites that where more information can be found.

Her bad website, http://www.enchantedlearning.com/explorers/page/c/columbus.shtml, I also think is a bad website for classroom teachers to use for their students. She didn’t like it because it had too much unrelated information at the top of the page; which may be a distraction for students trying to find information. I agree totally that this website has too much other things going on, that anyone, not only students may get distracted away from trying to find information. I also am not a fan of having to pay a fee to use the website without any of the ads, because there are a lot of them.

1.30.08-Web Exemplars-Carolyn Sears
I think that one thing that was really important to our class was the ability to navigate web sites--when links don't work, or they get confusing to operate they become much less useful tools for the classroom. Websites that focus more on useful information and less on distractions like advertisements are also a high priority. We were drawn to websites that offer the students the ability to interact and materials to help us, as teachers, facilitate this learning process. Finally, it is important to many of us to check out the readability of a web site before we use it, sites that are too confusing or use terms and tactics that are difficult to understand are not very useful in the classroom. I totally agree with Stephanie Heady's choices. Although the good website she chose is much too young for my high school students, it is really cool because it is so interactive. I especially like that it develops quizzes that are fun cause they are interactive. This makes this site a great learning tool because it offers the opportunity to make sure students are absorbing knowledge, to recall main points, and its much more enjoyable than a paper quiz. I think this is a great way to make this unit more exciting and useful in the classroom. I also agree that the bad web site is bad. I think that is a pretty general consensus since half the class chose it as a bad site. I agree that it is poorly organized, difficult to navigate, confusing, and that the links aren't that great. One thing I did find interesting is that some of those links are also used on my good page, but they are additions to information, used as additional resources to clarify points on the main page. I find them very useful in this setting. As links on this website however, they are lacking context and are pretty boring. Together our two examples show that it really is all about organization and how you use the information and display it!

1-30-08 -Web Exemplars- Alissa Ramsay
I agree with Carolyn's criteria for what makes a good website. The ability to easily navigate the site is very important for both the teacher and the student. I also agree that the reliability of the source is extremely important. The teacher should always read the website before presenting it to his/her students to make sure it comes from a credible source and is age appropriate.

I disagree with a few who cited wikipedia as their bad source. While it is true that anyone can edit the page, I think it it a good website to perhaps introduce students who had no prior knowlede on a topic. I also agree that http://www.enchantedlearning.com/explorers/page/c/columbus.shtml is a poorly designed site. It would be very distracting for students, and possibly difficult to locate the information they are trying to find.

1-30-08 - Web Exemplars- Richard Schilling
Alissa makes some very good points. I like wikipedia as a good website but I think that students tend to rely to heavily on wikipedia and are oblivious to the other ways in which good information can be found out on the net. I have some college friends who only use wikipedia for information gathering when writing a paper. This limits the information that they can get and can be detrimental to their growth as a student. Nonetheless, it is still a good site for students to use.

A good site for students is one that can be easily navigated by everyone including those without much computer experience. Furthermore, i think that it should be visibly oriented to draw students in. Another criteria is that the site does not have a lot of distractions such as advertising or off topic information. Finally, i think that the site should be designed in a way that the information is easy to access but the students must do some work in order to procure all the information they need.

1-30-08-Web Exemplars-Sarah DuPree
After looking at the web exemplars of fellow students i think for the most part we agreed. For some though we definetly disagreed. For the site http://www.columbusnavigation.com/ i thought it was a good site, while others though it was uncreditable and kind of not useful. DIsagreements on sites shows good ways to find out what instructional sites will work for our students. Some thing to look for is the availablilty of access for students, the credibility of the site and its information, an author and their background of the topic, whether or not it is useful to the student, and if it keeps students interested and easy to understand for whatever subject or grade level. I totally agree with Samantha Rist on her good example b/c it's the same as mines. For the bad one, the enchanted learning one is pretty bad. It's difficult to keep attention because so much is going on. = =

1-30-08- Web Exemplars - Courtney Mense
When determining what types of websites we all found to be effective, most of us liked websites that had a nice straightforward layout with as few shiny distractions and obnoxious colors. We liked information that was easily accessible and organized into sections or chronologies or some other way that avoided huge bulks of text that lose attention quickly. We all seem to appreciate toolbars that led to additional sources or questions or anything else we might need, additional links or browsing advice. Websites with specific information for teachers in addition to research and resources for students seemed more education oriented and credible. When there were nice visuals we tended to feel that they would be more interesting for students. Fundamentally, a website would be usable if it was easily navigable, offered additional resources in a clear cut set up, and looked and functioned professionally. The web sites that we shied away from tended to be non-interactional. They had bulk text that was available to read but didn’t have other links or resources that would allow students to build on the knowledge they were gaining and were not effective for a constructivist education.

1-30-08 Web Exemplars- Morgan Riley
One feature that I found to be very important when choosing a website is that it should be eye-catching. When I was looking for a good website on Christopher Columbus, I immediately closed out of the sites that were dull and boring to me. I didn’t even read the information on the site. I figure that if I as a teacher would do this, so would all of my students no matter what age. Although websites should be eye-catching, having too many colors, graphics, and links (etc.) is also a bad feature to have on a website because it can look obnoxious and confusing to many students because there is too much to look at on the page. Another feature important to have on a website is good organization. The website I chose had very good and easy to understand links and the organization on the page was easy to follow and the information was readable to students at the middle school level. I also found that sites that had links to activities such as games and quizzes were useful to not only the students, but for teachers as well. I agree with Lindsey J. when she said that the sites should be age appropriate. As a teacher, you need to make sure that your students are able to read and understand the site or if the site is too juvenile for older students that are in high school.

1-30-08 - Web Exemplars - Kristen Cunningham
The most important criteria for choosing a website to use in the classroom are the amount and accuracy of the information, organization of the information into a manageable and searchable form for students, as little distraction as possible – meaning no advertisements or links to unrelated topics.

I do agree with Sarah’s choices for her good and bad websites. Her bad page, http://www.enchantedlearning.com/explorers/page/c/columbus.shtml, is very distracting with ads at the top and a poor layout. The information doesn’t seem to be organized very well, and the site seems to be directed more toward teachers than students.

Sarah’s good choice, http://www.columbusnavigation.com/ was mine also, so I agree that it is a valid website to use. It has a lot of good information and it is organized into categories which would be helpful if students were trying to find information about specific events. As we discussed in class, this website also has many negative aspects. The author isn’t particularly credible on this topic, and the information on the individual pages, have large blocks of text that may be overwhelming for students. This page is good, but probably not the best choice for a teacher.

1-30-08 - Web Exemplars - Stephanie Filardo
I think the main rules to follow when choosing a website are 1.) Age approproate 2.) Well-organized/Easy to navigate and 3.) Credible source. Age appropriate is important because a site can have great information, but if it isn't accessible to your students, it's not worth using. A site must be well-organized and easy to navigate because students need to be clear on where the information they are looking for is located. The information needs to be credible because part of our job as educators is to teach students how to do research on the internet. It is our job to teach with accurate information, so this part cannot be skipped.

Alissa chose an article from Brittanica online encyclopedia for her good site. I think this is a good choice because Brittanica is a "household" name as far as encyclopedias go so I would expect the website to be credible and well done. This page has a table of contents and is easy to navigate. The information is also written for a broad range of ages, although it is rather wordy, I would be comfortable using it starting in middle school. For her bad site, Alissa chose the now infamous Columbus Navigation website. I think this is an excellent example of a bad site because it is by no means well-organized, making it difficult to navigate and read. The site also seems to be a one-man project and the site does not list any sources. Even if this guy is an "expert" on Columbus, I would not feel comfortable sharing this information with students (aside from its other problems) without any source information.