Megan Churchwell-Media Evaluation
Blog Post
URL:
Description:
My media
evaluation was a website for teaching ocean science. At first glance, this
website seems to be set up as a student instruction website, but as you look
through each module there is a part that contains lesson plans for
teachers. There is a lot of good information
presented on this website, I think that students could use the getting started,
learn, trends, and discover tabs under each ocean science topic located in the
navigational menu on the left side of the page.
The website has a lot of section to each teaching module that provides
graphics, videos, and text information about a specific subject.
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What to Evaluate
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High
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Med
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Low
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Score
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|||||||||||||||
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INSTRUCTIONAL
ASPECTS:
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|||||||||||||||||||
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Objectives clearly
stated
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5
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4
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3
|
2
|
1
|
2
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|||||||||||||
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Objectives
appropriately sequenced
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5
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4
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3
|
2
|
1
|
1
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|||||||||||||
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Instructional
strategies appropriate for the objectives
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5
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4
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
2
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|||||||||||||
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Instructional
activities/process clearly described
|
5
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4
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3
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2
|
1
|
3
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|||||||||||||
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Tasks
adequate/significant for achieving objectives
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5
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4
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3
|
2
|
1
|
3
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|||||||||||||
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Resources
adequate/significant for achieving objectives
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5
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4
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
4
|
|||||||||||||
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Learning
achievement adequately evaluated
|
5
|
4
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
5
|
|||||||||||||
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Evaluation
criteria clearly expressed
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5
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4
|
3
|
2
|
1
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0
|
|||||||||||||
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MOTIVATIONAL
ASPECTS:
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|||||||||||||||||||
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Gaining
and maintaining learners’ attention
|
5
|
4
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
4
|
|||||||||||||
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Relating
to learners’ interest and goals
|
5
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4
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
3
|
|||||||||||||
|
Building
on learners’ prior knowledge & foreshadowing what the lesson is about.
|
5
|
4
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
4
|
|||||||||||||
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Providing
positive feedback and feeling of accomplishment
|
5
|
4
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
4
|
|||||||||||||
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Motivational
strategies serve for objectives
|
5
|
4
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
5
|
|||||||||||||
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WEB
DESIGN ASPECTS:
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Navigation is clear
and easy to access
|
5
|
4
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
3
|
|||||||||||||
|
Authorship
and date is clearly stated
|
5
|
4
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
0
|
|||||||||||||
|
Text
follows the rules of grammar, spelling and literary composition
|
5
|
4
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
5
|
|||||||||||||
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Use
of multimedia (Text, graphic, audio, video, animation, etc.) is visually
appeal
|
5
|
4
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
5
|
|||||||||||||
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Mechanical
aspects (No broken links, misplaced or missing images, etc.)
|
5
|
4
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
5
|
|||||||||||||
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Web
design appropriate for objectives
|
5
|
4
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
4
|
|||||||||||||
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Web
design appropriate for learner characteristics
|
5
|
4
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
4
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|||||||||||||
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TOTAL
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66/100
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Opinion/Reflection:
I gave this website a low rating
because there are a lot of aspects from the WBI rubric that this website does
not clearly define. On the homepage the
purpose of this website is identified in a paragraph, but it does not provide a
clearly stated objective or objective sequence.
The motivational and web aspects are the strongest aspects of this
website. In each module there are a lot of
graphics that give visual understanding about content. Some modules even have
video clips included. These two aspects help to motivate students to
learn. Students rather young or old do
not like to a lot read text to learn a concept.
The web design in this module is very well organized. There is a
navigational menu on the left side of the web page that clearly identifies
different ocean science topics.
Multimedia elements create interest and make websites more appealing to
the learner. This website is not bad,
but lacks creating a clear focus for the learners that visit this website. This would be a good informational resource
for a science student or teacher.
You may have given this site a low rating too, because the site is an ocean science site. May have been built for limited use. Other wise I agreed on your reasoning on your grade.
ReplyDeleteGreat job!
I see what you mean about no objectives being stated. However, I did see a few things about the site I thought were useful. The modules were without a doubt very informative. The mouse-over screen tips that helped to define certain words was especially helpful in understanding more about the subject. The graphics and other visuals were very clear and relevant. Also, there was proper credit rendered to the source of the information at the bottom of the page.
ReplyDeleteI totally understand your comments when reviewing this as a site for WBI. It has lots of criteria gaps, and you nailed them. You also did a great job evaluating the quality of the resources presented. I really liked the graphics, photos, and videos too!
ReplyDeleteI wonder if this site seemed was designed more for teacher use than student use. I got the sense that it was simply a site to present available resources, rather than to directly teach learners. That would explain why it is missing so many of the criteria from our rubric (or, it could just be bad design). I could see information from this site being used to teach the topics, and even to have learners go to the site as part of a lesson plan, but a teacher would have to do some work to prepare students for the experience.
Interesting stuff, and nice review!
Great job Megan! I try to go through modules before reading the evals to so that my review is not skewed towards the reviewer's. There are no clear objectives to this module, and assessments are few and far between. I found one assessment under classroom resources, and it seemed low level or basic to me...so, I started searching for grade levels that this module pertains to and came up with nothing. On the getting started page, I was already overwhelmed by the size of the images and the amount of text, so I knew I was going to have a hard time getting through this from the beginning. I would probably not use this module as a stand alone teaching resource, but rather to supplement and use in addition to!
ReplyDeleteGreat find Megan. I really like the idea of this module. I thought the layout was very appropriate. I agree with Titus, I thought the mouse-over tips were very helpful. I also agreed with Marybeth. I wondered if this site was developed for teachers to use and develop their own objectives and be used as a resource for teachers. I thought having the words appear on the opening video was very beneficial. I did have trouble viewing the images under the module tour, but my service has not been cooperating with me today and could have been me with the issue. As I said before I enjoyed the layout of the site and I thought the images of were good quality and assisted in my understanding.
ReplyDeleteThere are some great aspects of the site. I liked the try it section under the discover section of the site. It lets you choose from different options to see changes in the habitat. I also liked that there were many types of media on the site. There are images, videos, as well as charts in the site.
ReplyDeleteI am glad that most of you are understanding the same good and bad aspects that I was seeing. I agree that this site has some great information and things on it. I just wish some things were clearly stated. Thanks for the support and responses.
ReplyDeleteGreat job on your evaluation. The visuals look great and will be great motivation. There did need to be objectives for the website. I saw short paragraphs about what certain sections were showing, but still not sure what the objective was.
ReplyDeleteCool website! I agree with no objectives it is hard to know where to find specific information. However, this website is extremely informative for teachers and students.
ReplyDeleteNot sure what happened to my first post. Sorry if I'm double posting. I agree with how you rated the website. I felt like there was a lot of really great information, but it was hard to figure out exactly what you are looking for. I did really like that the graphics had the option to enlarge. It seems like I'm always enlarging graphics.
ReplyDeleteGood post. I thought the website was ok, but for an instructional website to have no objectives is not very helpful.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your comments about adults and kids do not like to be indented with a lot of text. Graphics, audio or video can replace text in instrumental areas. The site was pretty good and informative. I was not bowled away. You did a good job evaluating the site! You picked up on areas that could have used improvement and mentioned the areas that caught your attention. Funny about the objectives....we are having problems at my school with no objectives being posted on the board. It seems to have frustrated you as well as those who responded so can you imagine how a thousand students feel?
ReplyDeleteYou all are getting more and more experienced in your review of other people's WBI! Great job!
ReplyDeleteYes, this website is already pretty good with its visual design and attraction to users with all the graphic, interactive and video pieces! And, it is very informative! Somehow, it does carry too much information in text, and I guess it is partly because we are getting used to looking for shorter, and more organized(using lists or bullets) kind of texts...
Did you notice that the site does have a very good Glossary section, which is linked to the highlighted words on each of the pages. The only shortfall was they used underline for the highlighted words, I wished they had used some kind of color to differentiate the words. Also, the site has a "site map" and "Credits" page. These are all the good things we can learn from!
Have you read the "About" page? That usually explains the purposes of the site. It is part of an NSF funded project to offer teacher training to STEM teachers. And, teachers can probably use some of the content on the site with their students, if they choose to do so. Yes, they should have included some Instructional Designers in the overall project, I agree with you all!
I agree with your comments concerning this site, but it was very neat and organized. The information was good and links gave vocabulary and accurate information. It wasn't as much a teaching site as it was more informative.
ReplyDelete