In my seventh and eighth grade computer classes, exploration of the world wide web is part of the curriculum, which seems to necessitate an update every few years!  For the seventh grade Mall Project, students visit the web sites of different stores and evaluate them.  After viewing the good, and sometimes bad, they then create the first page of the website for their very own store in the mall.  In the past, I had them use Kid Pix Studio, but this year will plan to use Netscape Composer.

The 8th grade publishing class utilizes several web activities.  First, they visit various web sites of desktop publishing companies to explore what type of information is important to include in such a site, anything from publishing services to employment opportunities. In addition, a website sponsored by PBS also contains a section on Understanding the Internet and the students visit it as well.  Last, I have them view various school web sites to illustrate what other schools have done to create their sites.  Ultimately, I would like each of them to create one page for the school website, which is currently being “minimally administered” by me.

Students use a checklist of questions to while doing their evaluations.  Extremely helpful in the preparation of the checklist was the American Library Association website:  http://www.ala.org/parentspage/greatsites/help.html. The following criteria are what the students use:
 

The WHO…Authorship/Sponsorship a. Who put up the site? b. Is there a source given for information provided in the site? c. Are users able to ask questions or make comments?

The WHY…Purpose a. What is the reason for this site? b. Is the purpose to entertain, persuade, educate or sell? c. Is the advertising at a minimum or does it take over the site? d. Does the site contribute to the experience of the user?

The WHAT…Content a. Does the site provide meaningful and useful topics to educate, inform or entertain? b. Is the material easy to read and understand? c. Is there a large amount of information to wade through?  If yes, is there an outline provided or a search tool? d. Are there any misspellings or grammatical errors? e. Is the information up-to-date?  Is a “last updated” date included? f. Does the sire provide links to more information on the topic? g. Do the graphics make sense to the site or are they a distraction? h. Are the skills required to use the site appropriate for the intended audience?

The HOW…Design a. Is the information on the site easy to find and easy to use? b. Is the design appealing to the intended user? c. Is the text easy to read?  Is it cluttered with distracting graphics, fonts and backgrounds? d. Is the user able to get around the site easily? e. If there are pages consisting mainly of links, are they well organized and appealing to the user?  Are those links useful and well chosen for users exploring the site? f. Is the design appropriate for the intended audience? g. If it is a game site, are the directions clear? h. Does the page load in a reasonable amount of time? i. Is the page consistently available and does it load without problems? j. If there are “plug-ins” required, are they clearly identified and available? k. Does the user have to pay a fee or type in personal information before using the site?