My media
evaluation covers a website called Duolingo. Duolingo is a website that
teaches foreign languages. Languages taught on Duolingo include; Spanish,
Danish, Irish, French, Italian, German, Portuguese, and Dutch (Netherlands).
Duolingo at first glance looks to be well designed. The site is not just an
English based site. It is setup with a drop down menu to choose the language of
the site itself then there are a menu of options for languages you want to
learn accompanied at the bottom of the homepage with the flag of that nation.
This site has a gaming aspect to it. The site claims that 34 hours of learning on this site
is the equivalent of a semester off a foreign language on the college level. This site goes from very
basic to full Immersion in the chosen foreign language. Duolingo teaches the learner to read, write, and speak a chosen foreign language. I like that the site
goes from the most basic to advanced. Best of all it is free and accessible.
Duolingo is also an app available in the Google play store for android and
ITunes for Apple products. I think Duolingo is good for learners of all ages. I
see it more as an outside of the classroom tool; however it could be utilized
in a classroom setting.
|
What to Evaluate
|
High
|
Med
|
Low
|
Score
|
||||
|
Instructional Aspects:
|
||||||||
|
Objectives clearly stated
|
5
|
4
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
5
|
||
|
Objectives appropriately sequenced
|
5
|
4
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
5
|
||
|
Instructional strategies appropriate for the
objectives
|
5
|
4
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
5
|
||
|
Instructional activities/process clearly
described
|
5
|
4
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
5
|
||
|
Tasks adequate/significant for achieving
objectives
|
5
|
4
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
5
|
||
|
Resources adequate/significant for achieving
objectives
|
5
|
4
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
5
|
||
|
Learning achievement adequately evaluated
|
5
|
4
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
5
|
||
|
Evaluation criteria clearly expressed
|
5
|
4
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
5
|
||
|
Motivational Aspects:
|
||||||||
|
Gaining and maintaining learners’ attention
|
5
|
4
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
5
|
||
|
Relating to learners’ interest and goals
|
5
|
4
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
5
|
||
|
Building on learners’ prior knowledge &
foreshadowing what the lesson is about.
|
5
|
4
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
5
|
||
|
Providing positive feedback and feeling of
accomplishment
|
5
|
4
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
5
|
||
|
Motivational strategies serve for objectives
|
5
|
4
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
5
|
||
|
Web Design Aspects:
|
||||||||
|
Navigation is clear and easy to access
|
5
|
4
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
5
|
||
|
Authorship and date is clearly stated
|
5
|
4
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
1
|
||
|
Text follows the rules of grammar, spelling
and literary composition
|
5
|
4
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
5
|
||
|
Use of multimedia (Text, graphic, audio,
video, animation, etc.) is visually appeal
|
5
|
4
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
5
|
||
|
Mechanical aspects (No broken links,
misplaced or missing images, etc.)
|
5
|
4
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
5
|
||
|
Web design appropriate for objectives
|
5
|
4
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
5
|
||
|
Web design appropriate for learner
characteristics
|
5
|
4
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
5
|
||
|
TOTAL
|
94
|
|||||||
Reflection:
In
evaluating Duolingo I rated it high because it is very well thought out. The
lessons are accessible and easy to follow and understand. The gaming aspect of
it does well at keeping the learners attention.
The main reason for any points being taken off in my evaluation was for
the aesthetic portion of the site. It can be used for any learner and the
content is suitable all audiences, however I felt the design was more playful
and geared toward an elementary aged learner around 3rd
to 5th grade,
yet it claims that 34 hours study with Duolingo is equivalent to 1 semester or
11 weeks of Spanish at a higher learning institution.
