What makes a good educational web site

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What makes a good educational web site?

• By Rebecca Sheppeard

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Characteristics of good educational websites

• Simple
• Interactive
• Accurate
• No advertising
• Links work correctly
• Easy to navigate
• Appearance
• - Noise kept to a minimum

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Simple

• Web sites need to be kept as simple as possible,
  to ensure that students dont get confused with
  too much information.
• Web sites can contain a lot of information, but
  remember that children need websites that contain
  simple messages that they can understand

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Example of a simple website
http//www.geocities.com/Athens/1850/
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Interactive

• Web sites need to be interactive to ensure that
  the user is engaged.
• Interactive web sites are fun which means that
  children are more likely to take in the
  information presented
• Children can learn a lot from interactive
  websites without knowing it because they are
  enjoying themselves

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Example of an interactive website
http//www.scholastic.com/magicschoolbus/simplesci
ence/home_noflash.htm
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Accurate

• Remember that there are a lot of people who use
  the net
• Information needs to be reliable and sourced so
  the user knows exactly where the information came
  from
• Needs to be free from spelling and grammar errors

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Example of an accurate website
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No advertising

• Advertising distracts the user from what they are
  looking for
• This is especially important in the classroom
  because children are more easily distracted
• Children can easily provide their details to
  these advertisers

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Example of a website that has no advertising
http//www.mathcats.com/contents.html
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Links work correctly

• It is extremely frustrating when you find a great
  website to discover that the page cannot be
  displayed
• If a link doesnt work correctly, a lot of
  valuable teaching time is wasted, and a lesson
  may be ruined

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An example of a link not working
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Easy to Navigate

• The site should be easy for children to use
• Children should be able to navigate the site
  independently, to ensure that the teacher doesnt
  have to spend all of the lesson helping children
  move around the site

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Example of a site that is easy to navigate
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Appearance

• First impressions of a web site are vital to the
  success of the web site
• The site should be colourful, but not so much
  that the use cannot read the site with ease
• Information should be easy to read

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Example of appearance
http//pbskids.org/clifford/
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Noise kept to a minimum

• In a classroom, there will be more than one
  student using the computers at a time.
• Excess noise can prove to be a major distraction,
  and make it hard for the teacher to give
  instructions

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Example of a website where noise is kept to a
minimum
http//pbskids.org/arthur/