Web Site Evaluation
Evaluating web pages for classroom use involves making
a value judgment about a site. And the judgment is quite simple, really: should
you use it or not?
To make this determination there are factors to
consider such as:
- Who did it?
- Is the author known and reputable?
- Is the information current and true?
- Is it easy to use?
- Does it contain explicit or implicit objectionable
material?
In many cases you will make very quick decisions about
evaluating pages, and that will be necessary and good. But before you make these
quick decisions as a teacher you should know what you are looking for in
evaluation. Kathy Schrock provides an excellent resource for evaluating web
pages. She includes materials for evaluating pages based on grade level, plus
she has specific evaluation forms for teacher sites, student sites, blogs, and
podcasts. You can find her set of forms here:
http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/eval.html
Your Assignment:
- Working in groups related to your curriculum area
choose a curriculum standard. Use that standard to search for a site that
you would recommend for students in your class to use. This must be a
content related page or site. Don't try to evaluate search engines or sites
that are not directly related to your standard.
- Go to Kathy Schrock's site and download the form
appropriate for your group.
- As a group, use the form to evaluate the site.
Look at the site. Talk about the site. Click on some links. Be thorough but
efficient. Fill in the form, sign all of your names to it and turn it in.
- Show the site to the class. Tell us if you
recommend the site and why or why not. You will have 2 minutes to show us
the site.
- Create a new post on our blog. Post the link of
the site you evaluated to the course blog. Tell us if you recommend the site
or not. Provide your justification in no more than 2 sentences.
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Copyright
Marshall G. Jones, Winthrop University, 2007. Use with permission of
the author.