EDTC 5010: Finding Credible Sites

· How difficult was it to find good sites?

It was surprisingly more difficult to find credible and useful sites. There are a plethora of sites created by individuals that have great content, but there is no listing of where the information was gathered or what their credentials are for publishing it online.

· Were there many sites claiming to be educational that were only trying to sell a product?

There were indeed a lot of advertising sites trying to redirect me to different pages or offer me free trials if I sign up today. At one point I was taken to a completely different website and I couldn’t get back to the original one. A clear sign that it was not a credible site to begin with.

· Did you find many sites that were not valuable as a resource?

I did find some that were not very valuable, due to the age of children I want to teach. Their value would be beneficial to high school or elementary teachers, as some were too advanced while others were too basic. I want to teach middle school so I need an in between level of content.

· What did you think of some of the Web 2.0 sites?

The Web 2.0 sites seemed to be some of the most beneficial as most of them were tools I could use with my lesson plans to enhance learning for my students. Unlike the Tutorial websites which all seemed to be able to do the teaching for me, Web 2.0 sites would allow me to be a facilitator.

· Did you choose many of the same sites as the students you are following in Delicious?

I do like being able to see how many people are following the same sites, I feel this number gives some credibility to the site if many people are following it.

· What did you like about the 15 sites you selected?

I liked being able to access tools and generate ideas for lesson plans. I was not a fan of the tutorial sites as most of them tend to be Drill exercises with little real world interactive applications.

SITES FOUND

Tutorial

The Math Forum: http://mathforum.org/

Figure This!: http://www.figurethis.org/index.html

IXL Learning: http://www.ixl.com/

Awesome Library: http://www.awesomelibrary.org/

Kids.gov: www.kids.gov

Instructional resource

Illuminations: http://illuminations.nctm.org/

PBS Teachers: http://www.pbs.org

Teachnology: www.teach-nology.com

Education World: www.educationworld.com