Website Evaluation AssignmentEDP 601Fall 2012Katie Burkhart, Cong Cong, Su Jin, & Lauren Smallwood

WebsitesAll literacy-based websitesRanging from Early Childhood, to

Young Adult, to Multicultural/Multilingual College Students

www.starfall.com (Early Childhood)

http://www.educationworld.com/ (Young Adult)

http://www.duke.edu/web/eis/ International students

www.starfall.comEarly Childhood based (free to

public)◦Preschool-2nd Grade◦ELLs◦Special Education◦Home Schooled

Content Area (Phonemic Awareness)◦Letter Identification & Knowledge◦Emergent Reading

AudiencePreschoolKindergarten1st grade2nd gradeEnglish Language developingHome schooled

CreditabilityDeveloped by a husband and

wife◦Husband struggled with literacy as a

childWife has professional educational

experienceHusband has a PhD in PhysicsJoined with a group of educators

to create websiteLacks biographies of educators

AccuracyWritten in proper English,

following all grammatical, conventional English language rules

Pronunciation is also correct◦In young child’s voice

Aligned with current expectations of students

CoverageContent is aligned with state

standards for the intended age groups

Starting with phonemic awareness to emergent reading

CurrencyDeveloped in 2002Added Kindergarten Reading and

Language Arts Curriculum in 2009

Compatible with various internet services

Aesthetic/Visual AppealKid friendlyFree of adsPrimary colors

◦Aides in comprehensionHome page is rather basic

NavigationHome page clearly states

intended content areas‘Home Page’ button present on

all links within website◦Rather small

Possibly a good thing?

AccessibilityVarious internet servicesAble to bookmark pageAble to create shortcut to

desktop

http://www.educationworld.com/

AudienceTeachers of all genre, No specific grade level listed Has nifty ideas for lessons It’s more the teacher perusing the

internet for interesting things to do in their classrooms.

Able to look at the specific courses but not grade level.

It’s written by teachers for teachers.

Asethetics The website is a aesthetically

pleasing purple. They use a sliding bar to draw

your attention to specific topics. Use of clip art to enhance the

pages.

NavigationThe navigation is meandering. Have to look around and explore

the website when you click on something you don’t know exactly what you’re going to get.

I clicked on a link and was presented with a hodgepodge of articles.

Frequently you’re more than three clicks away, sometimes more like 6-8

AccuracyThe information is only as

accurate as the educator that posts the information.

It’s up to the educator to decide whether the article is worthy of being tried.

The information is completely the opinion of the author.

ObjectivityThere are commercials mostly for

online colleges and school supplies. Some of the articles state who they

are by and what type of educator they are, some do not.

Except for the occasional add I didn’t see anything that state what company the website was created by, it’s just a reference tool for teachers

Coverageit is implied as to what the is

“teacher’s best friend.” the website covers a little bit of everything there are some really good topics and there are some duds but to find the good ones you have sift through all the other stuff. The website has links to other websites that could be helpful.

http://www.duke.edu/web/eis/ international

students

Aesthetic AppealUnder the dark blue background,

the whole website looks clearly and identifiable.

On the homepage, the three major link set using different color that making users distinguish them easily.

CoverageThe website aims to support the

academic life of international students whose first language is not English

provides a set of resources and training to help them improve performance in their academic programs.

It provides oral communication and academic writing both are basic and useful skills for international students study aboard.

NavagationThere is a link form on the left sideclearly show what three major programs it has make visitors realize what they could obtain

from the website immediately. There is a list about countries on the right, which

covers all the users’ original nationalities. As a website shared by Duke University, there

are several links as access about graduate schools and international house in the bottom.

as a public website source, some of the links are not available for users who outside Duke. ◦ it did not include website map ◦ confuses users when they are looking for materials.

Objectivitythis website do provided a series of

professional methods and materials to help student improve academic skills in their own field.

However, this website lacks interaction and cultural communication. ◦For instance, to build a community or discussion

group to share students personal experiences to each other, people could learn a lot of things during it, or hold some event about American cultural to encourage international students really engage native culture, which would help students to actually apply English better.

AccuracyThis website provide professional

introduction about the online tests and courses, and with links about authorize documents which include basic requirement for international students how to applying programs and career certificates. All those tests and courses are updated timely.