Assignment: Evaluation of Educational Websites

By Cliff Locklear

For EDT 555 – Advanced Web Design

Arizona State University West – Professor: Dr. A Christie, PhD.

My current teaching position includes instruction in a Tech Lab for 6^th – 8^th Grade students at Desert Heights Charter School. I decided to research other Charter Middle School Schools in the State of Arizona to see how they compared to a basic Web Design rubric. I’m calling this Assignment:

How Sweet it (the web site) is!!! Or Is it?

I have provided a link to the complete rubric at Dr. Christie’s

ASU-West Home Page.

The Candy Canes below are my personal critique of the Web Site.

It is based upon the following scale:

Emerging sites were given a >

Developing sites were given a > or

Exemplary Sites were critiqued with a or

Name of Site #1: Arizona Agribusiness and Equine Center, Inc. – Charter School
URL: http://www.aaeci.org/
Use of color?
Comments: Very simple and straightforward – good site to visit.
Use of graphics?
Comments: Fantastic photos that reflect a quality approach to education
Organization and Structure of data?
Comments: I was impressed with the layout, navigation buttons – there was very little clutter – but the excessive scrolling really made reading the information labored.
Ease of navigation?
Comments: A tremendous amount of scrolling (horizontally and vertically) needed to be done to see just about any information
Speed with which Pages loaded?
Comments: Using a home dial up connection the loading speed was slow – including navigation to other pages
Overall quality?
Comments: A good site that had a definite purpose and emphasis. The presentation would appeal to anyone interested in this kind of a charter school.
Name of Site #2: Skyview School – Charter School Educational Partnership
URL: http://www.prescott.edu/highlights/skyview.html
Use of color?
Comments: The site was of average quality in regards to their color scheme – it was consistent and easy to view.
Use of graphics?
Comments: I appreciated the simple but tasteful graphics I never felt like the page was cluttered with non-essentials.
Organization and Structure of data?
Comments:
Ease of navigation?
Comments: This site was very well organized and simple to navigate.
Speed with which Pages loaded?
Comments: On a home dial up connection this site loaded fast
Overall quality?
Comments: This is a great educational site!

Name of Site #3: Arizona Montessori Charter School
URL: http://www.arizonamontessori.com/
Use of color?
Comments: This web site developed by Phoenix Creations catches your eye and attention from the very start. The Splash Page is professionally done and GREAT! Other colors didn’t “wow” me but they were pleasant to the eye and grouped in a good way.
Use of graphics?
Comments: Most of the site had very little graphics on them but I felt the information had been given precedence over most other factors.
Organization and Structure of data?
Comments: The web site was organized with thought and easy to know the options – it would have been nice for more “back” buttons at the end of segments.
Ease of navigation?
Comments: The Organization was great! A few links were broken but other than that it did everything it was supposed to do! The roll over buttons worked very well though the horizontal menu was a little hard to read because of the size of font used.
Speed with which pages loaded?
Comments: Overall speed was very fast. Each page would load almost at once with very little hesitation or waiting.
Overall quality?
Comments: This site maintained the high regard and status that I already had for Montessori Schools in general. It would be a site that I would explore more.

Name of Site #4: Call A Teen Arizona
URL: http://www.azcallateen.k12.az.us/
Use of color?
Comments: Very good use of color – simple and direct!
Use of graphics?
Comments: The graphics were pertinent – and the pictures good. The concept of thumbnail pictures might have been a good option for this site. Designer did not use Alt tags which might be very hard to “view” for those needing them.
Organization and Structure of data?
Comments: This site is well organized and has helpful links to other organizations that are related and connected to this site.
Ease of navigation?
Comments: The site was very easy to navigate and all the links I tried worked!
Speed with which Pages loaded?
Comments: The pages loaded fairly well with the home computer connection that I am using. This site loaded a little faster on the connection that I am using in school.
Overall quality?
Comments: I would rate this site with a very high 3 – but would not call it Exemplary!

Name of Site #5: Intelli-School Charter High School
URL: http://www.intellischool.org/
Use of color
Comments: I am sorry to conclude this…but this was a very minimally designed web site in regards to color.
Use of graphics
Comments: The use of photos was extensive but of very poor quality – there were several other graphics present but definitely “emerging” in its design. There were a number of graphics that were not present.
Organization and Structure of data
Comments: A minimal amount of designing went into this site with very little pertinent information and presentation.
Ease of navigation
Comments: It was easy to navigate through the web site simply because there were very few options. It would have been nice to have “home buttons” rather than having to use the “back button”.
Speed with which Pages load
Comments: Very labored loading between pages…the site probably had photos of very large size.
Overall quality
Comments: This is a very low rated site. It could use so many of the simple but essential elements taught in Dr. Christie’s EDT 555 – Web Designing Class!