Evaluating Educational Web Sites for Young Learners

1. Evaluating Educational Web Sites for Young Learners EDST 497B Effective Use of Technology with Early Learners Instructor: Alice Tunnell Tuesday, August 3rd, 2011

2. What to Look for in a Good Website • When constructing activities based on the Web, it is important that educators first visit the sites and evaluate them for: • Readability -- are there simple texts and graphics? • Function -- how will the resources be used? As a class, an independent group, or individually? • Ease of use -- are the resources easy to use independently? • Do all navigation links work? • Extensions (domains) on addresses possibly indicating reliability • a .edu extension indicates a college or university • a .org extension indicates an organization • a .gov extension indicates a governmental entity • a .com indicates a commercial enterprise

3. Quality and level of content • Sites should be content-rich and reliable. • Sites should be produced or supported by respected institutions or individuals. • Content must match the level of the learners. • Higher Order Thinking • Challenges learners to think, reflect, discuss, hypothesize, compare, classify, etc. • Is engaging through use of multiple senses whenever possible (E.g., sight, sound) • Contains interactive elements which are intuitive to children, building on known skills (use of green icons/buttons for ‘go’ and red for ‘stop’) • Allows individual choices

4. 1950's Benjamin Bloom developed his taxonomy of cognitive objectives, Bloom's Taxonomy. categorized and ordered thinking skills and objectives. follows the thinking process. You can not understand a concept if you do not first remember it, similarly you can not apply knowledge and concepts if you do not understand them. It is a continuum from Lower Order Thinking Skills (LOTS) to Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS). In the 1990's, a former student of Bloom, Lorin Anderson, revised Bloom's Taxonomy and published this- Bloom's Revised Taxonomy in 2001. Key to this is the use of verbs rather than nouns for each of the categories and a rearrangement of the sequence within the taxonomy. They are arranged below in increasing order, from low to high. Bloom’s Taxonomy Blooms Digitally http://www.techlearning.com/article/8670

5. Bloom’s Taxonomy • Higher Order Thinking • Challenges learners to think, reflect, discuss, hypothesize, compare, classify, etc. Multiple Intelligences or Blooms’ Taxonomy • Effectively integrates at least 3 intelligences or talents, (language, math, intrapersonal, interpersonal, spatial, musical, physical) • Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy http://prezi.com/gxgypkp67mka/blooms-digital-taxonomy-and-web-2-tools/

6. Layout of content • Young learners in the early grades are still learning to navigate the Web. A willingness to experiment must not be confused with competence. • Content must be presented in a way that does not distract young learners when learning. Empty of empty fluff, extraneous pictures that don’t compliment content, distracting animations that don’t support learning concepts • Sites that are easy to navigate and that divide information into easily digested chunks will facilitate independent in-class use.

7. Lesson plans and activities • Generally, it may prove easier to use sites that have been created with a specific set of learning outcomes in mind, and which have lesson plans and activities that match the content. • Some sites with lesson plans, links, experiments, extend your thinking questions, and different activities for various learning levels

8. Loading time • Sites that are too slow will disrupt lessons and inhibit learning. Sites with heavy graphics are particularly guilty of this.

9. Links to other sites and advertising • For ethical reasons, educators need to consider what other messages are being sent with the content, in the form of banner ads and links to other sites. • Watch for inappropriate language or content on external links with the site

10. Websites • Needs login & email • Reading Eggs http://readingeggs.com/?gclid=CN6Kqvz_n6oCFQg_bAodO1Wl2g • Club Penguin http://clubpenguin.com • Hidden Object http://www.hidden-object-games.com/?gclid=CPC3xZWDoKoCFQFsgwodCDJT8Q • Boohbah http://www.boohbah.tv/zone.html • BBC Games http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/ • Funschool http://funschool.kaboose.com/ • Gamequarium Junior http://www.gamequarium.com/junior.html

11. Some Sites to Look At • Early Years Book Club http://www.ozprojects.edu.au/course/view.php?id=86 • Count Us In http://www.abc.net.au/countusin/default.htm • Assortment http://www.teachers.ash.org.au/judybeal/eyideas/index.htm • Play School http://www.abc.net.au/abcforkids/sites/playschool/ • Starfall http://starfall.com • Storybird http://storybird.com • Aussie Educator http://www.aussieeducator.org.au/resources/teaching/earlylearningresources.html • Learning Planet http://www.learningplanet.com/stu/index.asp?tab=0 • Lots of sites http://mrsmichalsky.wordpress.com/2011/05/26/early-childhood-sites/ • Alice’s Resources http://alicesresources.wikispaces.com/home

12. Research • Evaluating Internet Resources http://www.southampton.liunet.edu/library/evaluate.htm • Website Evaluation Rubric http://www.faeriekeeper.net/criteria38.htm • Evaluating Internet Research Sources http://www.virtualsalt.com/evalu8it.htm • ITLC Children’s Software Evaluation - Center for Best Practices in Early Childhood http://www.wiu.edu/itlc/ws/ws3/childsoft_3.php http://www.wiu.edu/itlc/ws/ws3/docs/SoftwareEvaluation.pdf