Internet Site Review

1 Internet Website Critique University of Richmond Introduction The following websites have been reviewed to examine their credibility, accessibility, visual appeal and overall usefulness to a secondary social studies teacher and students in regards to instruction enhancement. Most of the sites were discovered by searching Google. There are eight sites being reviewed total with six relating to secondary social studies content area, one relating to students with special needs and the final one discussing the Virginia Department of Education website. Each exemplifies a growing trend in education that demands online resources as the use of technology becomes more prevalent in today’s society. Title of Site: Bill of Rights Institute URL: www.billofrightsinstitute.org The Bill of Rights Institute is a charitable organization based out of Arlington, VA; their goal is to form partnerships with teachers by providing educational programs and instructional materials. The website offers free resources in the form of lesson plans and teaching guides for classroom instruction in history, government, civics and social studies at the middle and high school levels. The site also advertises opportunities for professional development and conducts seminars that focus on pedagogy and content. By searching “secondary social studies education” on Google the Bill of Rights Institute is one of the first website listed and is very easy to access. The home page is well organized and divided into six sections: student, teacher, give, news, about and catalog. Authorship and scholarly information is listed in the “about” section providing the names, title and credentials of the individuals in the organization; as well as contact information, address, telephone number and e-mail. The “teacher” section of the site provides free lesson plans that include background reading, discussion questions and extension options. Teachers can also purchase books and instructional materials online. The “student” section has study guides and a link to a interactive website where students can enter essay contests, take practice tests and watch or listen to educational media. This website is highly recommended to any teacher looking for support, ideas, training and resources. Individuals with only a limited amount of computer literacy can maneuver through BillofRightsInstitute.org because it is well organized, visually appealing and easy to read. Teachers will find the free “eLesson” plans very helpful during instruction and students will discover interesting and interactive materials that enhance understanding of social studies related content. Title of Site: Social Studies Lesson Plans and Resources for Teachers URL: www.csun/~hcedu013/ Developed by Dr. Marty Levine, Professor Emeritus of Secondary Education, California State University, Northridge (CSUN), this site provide lesson plans, online activities, curriculum framework, news groups and mailing lists. The site is accessible through the California State University Northridge website at www.csun.edu. Along with

2 being linked with a major university and published by a PhD, this site has received awards from outside organizations like Pacific Bell and Education Index; just to name a few. Although the site is quite plain it is simple to navigate and rich with content. The lesson plan link has hundreds of lesson plans written for grade level instruction K-12. Each lesson plan is complete with teaching material like maps, photos, handouts and even video links. These lesson plans can be pulled up on a classroom computer during instruction for power point presentations or printed out as a guide or overhead. The lesson plan and online activities pages list hundreds of topics in alphabetical order and requires a great deal of reading to find the particular subject you are looking for. Scrolling through some of the pages can be time consuming. There is a section on teaching current events that provides up to date access to the most recent network news, public broadcasting, cable channels and news for kids media sites. This section of the website has some great materials, but extensive exploration is necessary to find what you need. Some of the sites listed require subscriptions and contact information. In conclusion the website contains a plethora of information helpful to instructors teaching social studies for all grade levels. The drawback of this site is in the simplicity and time it takes to scroll through long lists of links. This website is credible source of information and worth the time to explore. Title of Site: Apple Learning Interchange URL: www.ali.apple.com The apple learning exchange is a website designed by Apple Incorporated is geared towards educators and students seeking instructional tools in the form of online media. The site is open to the public, easily accessible and no subscription is required. Individuals can watch videos and listen to podcast from their computer with the click of a button. The home page has three main sections: featured content, K-12 and higher education. There is a search bar located at the top right corner of the page and when the phrase “secondary social studies” was entered 401 results appeared. Your search can be narrowed by grade level, academic area and tools. The videos which appear on the site are posted by organizations, groups or individuals. Authors are listed along with descriptions of the video’s content. Apple’s “classrooms of tomorrow” is a concept based on the sharing of educational information through online video resources. Many of the videos show how teachers and students are learning inside and outside the classroom through activities and discussions. A class can sit comfortably in their homeroom and go on field trip with another class across the country by logging online and watching a video. Despite the endless possibilities of the apple learning exchange a teacher must have a well prepared lesson plan and the technology to incorporate these resources. Also, one must take into consideration the credibility of the information posted and how it is filtered through the site. Without a computer in the classroom or a media playing device and a certain level of technical knowledge this website is not very useful. Title of Site: National Council for the Social Studies

3 URL: www.socialstudies.org Founded in 1921 the National Council for the Social Studies is devoted to advocacy and support of social studies education throughout the country. This organization reaches out to educators by offering professional development, classroom resources and publications. Teachers K-12 can become members of the NCSS by applying online. The NCSS website is easy to find through a Google search and is well designed. You do not have to be a member to access online resources which include: book lists, media links, lessons plans, curriculum standards and teacher standards. Most of the teacher resources listed on the NCSS website deal with current events and government topics. Contact information for the NCSS board of directors and scholars including telephone, address and e-mail are available through the “contact us” link always visible on the left hand side of the page. Unlike many other sites the NCSS has a career center where job seekers can search jobs or post resumes and employers can create job listings. There are a number of other organizations that are associated with the NCSS geared towards educational supervision and social studies advocacy; links to their site are provided. The NCSS is a clean and organized website aimed help advance the teaching of social studies at all levels. This site is a great tool when seeking the latest information concerning educational research, policy making and national curriculum standards. As a classroom resource the NCSS is limited, but as a professional resource it is a valuable support network. Title of Site: Social Studies Sources URL: www. indiana.edu/~socialst/ This website was created by Fred Risinger the director of Professional Development, School Services in the School of Education at Indiana University, Bloomington; a link to his e-mail address is available at the bottom of the home page. The site is designed for K-12 social studies teachers and students with links to other relevant websites that deal with teaching strategies, professional development, resources and professional organizations. Social Studies Sources has numerous link categorized by content areas and resources for educators. The main purpose of this site is to provide links to other websites dealing with a wide range of social studies topics. Some of the links do not work and there is very little in the way of complete lesson plans or activities for classroom instruction. Social Studies Sources gives you access to some great websites with interesting facts and media that can be down loaded or printed out for use in the classroom. Being a part of the Indiana University network makes this website a credible and trustworthy source of online material, but it has drawbacks due to the fact that you are being sent somewhere else to get what you need. Fred Risinger has done a great job searching the web to find credible online sources for teachers, but the site has not been updated since 2002. Title of Site: Wayne State University Social Studies Education URL: ted.coe.wayne.edu/sse/

4 A description of this website on Google and a mission statement on the home page reads, “The goal of this web site is to provide a platform for the Wayne State University Social Studies Education students and faculty to reach out to the educational community at large with instructional ideas and research findings.” The webmaster and contributors of this site meet their intended goal by producing a great online resource. Although the site looks homemade and is not very appealing to the eye, it has been issued some awards and is relatively easy to navigate. One of the key features of this site is a link called “research ideas”. This link gives teachers a list of well designed and completed unit plans dealing with a wide range social studies topics; for example the Civil Rights Movements. Each unit plan has been designed with specific grade levels in mind according to state standards. The unit plan gives the teacher a time frame in which to cover the material; in this case 16 days. There are lesson plans, writing activities and even fields trips incorporated throughout the 16 day unit. These unit plans provide a great framework for teachers to follow when designing their own lesson plans. Another key feature of the site is a section of completed master’s projects created by students at Wayne State University. These works encompass a wide range of educational issues which discuss teaching strategies, trends and research analysis. The site also provides links to other helpful web pages along with the contact information of faculty members at Wayne State University. This site has some great resources that can be reconfigured to fit any social studies classroom. There are some disadvantages when using the site because it has been created with the requirements of Michigan’s state education standards in mind. Utilizing the resources on this website requires careful consideration when teaching the Virginia SOLs. Title of Site: Technical Assistance Alliance for Parent Centers URL: http://www.taalliance.org/index.htm The purpose of this site is to assist parents and teachers with technical support and training when dealing with children who have specialized needs. The mainstreaming and inclusion of learning disabled children in general education classes has forced content area teachers to enhance their teaching strategies to meet the ever growing needs of a diverse student population. This site is a great resource for all content area teachers at any grade level seeking to better understand students with LD and ED. There is plenty of scholarly and legal information for parents and teachers with links to similar sites and there are no advertisements. The site is well organized with a comprehensive menu which is easily accessible and written in plain English. The site seems to cover and include many different approaches to educating children with special needs. There is also a monthly news letter and what’s new link. Copyright information is available as well as a link to the webmaster. The graphics on the site are appropriate and relevant graphics consisting of mostly classroom settings with teachers, students and parents. Sponsors and authors are clearly identified along with their credentials with personal contact information to directors and advisors. The Technical Assistance Alliance for Parent Centers website is a very high quality site. The purpose of the site is clear and well stated with the intention of

5 supporting and informing parents on their child’s special education needs. There are many links which take you to well documented research references, legal guidelines and parent resources. There are no advertisements or pop ups which take away from the site’s content. The site is fully accredited, easily accessible and full of current news and contact information. A list of regional facilities with the names of directors and staff are also available. This site is highly recommended to parents in need of more information concerning the education of their special needs child. The site also has information valuable to educators concerning the law and research on many disabilities. Nothing on the site concerned me accept for the small amount of regional centers. The Technical Assistance Alliance for Parent Centers seems to be a reputable and accessible resource for both educators and parents. Title of Site: Virginia Department of Education URL: www.doe.virginia.gov The Virginia Department of Education website is a necessity to any educator working in the state. The content on the home page alone is extensive and somewhat overwhelming when visiting for the first time. Despite an initial information overload the site contains everything one needs to know about education in Virginia. There are multiple ways to navigate through the page by quick link, search or index. Within the site are test scores and achievement ratings of every school in the commonwealth. This information is extremely helpful to educators looking at job openings and parents who want to know how well their child’s school is performing. Individuals moving to Virginia from another state will find these test score and progress reports helpful when choosing what school district to move their family to. Students may not find the website very interesting or helpful unless they are getting ready to graduate and go to college. There is plenty of information concerning graduation requirements and schedules, along with resources discussing college admissions. As for resources concerning instruction there are no study guides, learning tools or course work information; only material about the SOL and its requirements. Newsletters and press releases keep people up to date on the latest news occurring in the field of public education. Superintendents’ memos and a calendar of events keep the public aware of what is going at the DOE, but there is a great deal of items to sort through. Teachers will not find any lesson plans or interesting materials to use in the classroom, but they can what is included in the SOLs. In conclusion the DOE website can be extremely helpful to anyone seeking answers and information about schools, SOLs, news and test scores just to name a few. Everything one needs to know about Virginia school is on this website, but finding what you need can be extremely tedious. The site requires a great deal of reading, patience and exploration. Headings and links can be misleading considering there are multiple ways to get to what you are looking for. The DOE website needs work in order to make it user friendly and reach its full potential. By the look of the site web designers seem to be in the midst of the process, noting multiple format types varying page to page. Conclusion

6 The pressure put on educators to utilize online resources is greater than ever before and that pressure will continue to increase as society demands that students must demonstrate two types of literacy. Traditional literacy focuses on a student’s ability to read and write. Now, educators are being asked to focus some of their attention on computer literacy, as skills in today’s job market become more technologically centered. Both types of literacy are needed in order for students to succeed and teachers must demonstrate the growing usefulness of technology by utilizing it in the classroom. Education has been slow to catch up with technology, but the resources currently available are plentiful, diverse, rich with content and free to access.