Web Site Evaluation

Answers to some questions about the website evaluation.

Some of the websites that I visited:

www.westfield.alpine.k12.ut.us/school/welcome.html

www.pecentral.com
http://webtech.kennesaw.edu/jcheek3/immigration.htm
http://jc-schools.net/tutorials/interact-math.htm

I love the interactive website. And at another website that I looked at, the Mount Logan Middle School website it has links to different interactive websites, which I enjoyed.

A. What Forms did you like/dislike? I like the ncsu evaluation form. I like the idea of a point system for evaluation. It makes it easier than just a yes/no question. It separated it into four categories: navigation & presentation, content, appropriateness, and scope & validity. And then it narrowed it down even more, asking more specific questions. Then it had the scale at the bottom. It was good. I didn't really like the school discovery one. It was really well organized, but I felt that some of the questions towards the end were irrelevant for a school website. They did not include many questions that they could have to evaluate school websites.

B. Were there any secrets you discovered by using an evaluation form?

I didn't really find any 'secrets' that I discovered. I did find things that I would not normally look at or look for, which is good. Normally, I would just skim through many of these things. I would not normally go through and consciously think about each of those aspects. It is nice to be aware.

C. What is the value of using a web site evaluation process?

I have found that oftentimes, I do all of this evaluating on my own. I am so used to checking the validity of websites that I do it automatically. For the most part, I find many of the evaluation forms tedious and common sense. Because I automatically check the spelling, check the links, think about the pictures, the purpose, the accuracy, the date. However, I may introduce this idea to my students, to understand how to check the validity of a website. Because kids just believe everything that they read on the internet.

D. Are there times that you would/would not use a formal evaluation?

There will be times that I will use formal evaluations. Maybe when I post a website on an information site, as a resource for parents, or have my students themselves evaluating different websites. However, on my own time and for my own resources and coming up with lesson plans, I will most likely not use a formal evaluation.