Evaluating WWW:

How to select the best website for your students

One of the most important steps in teaching is planning. That implies thinking about what you want to do, how you are going to do it, who is going to do it and where, when and why the activity is going to be developed. Considering these questions, teachers have to look for strategies, tools and evaluations that match with the purposes already established.

When thinking about the Internet and its inclusion or integration in the classroom these questions, and some others, become really important. A starting point should be the URL (uniform resource locator) and especially the TLD (Top Level Domain). There are two important TLDs like .org (non-profit organization) and .com (commercial). Most of the time, the information found in an .org site is for free and reliable. However, everybody can buy a website and name it .org or .com, so be careful.

Once we select the website, we have to check some details like the accuracy and acceptance (the way the information is written, if it is updated, etc.), authority and coverage (the validity of the information), audience and relevance (your learners and the purpose of the activity), educational focus (how the information is presented) and finally ease of use (the technical aspects of the site). When you check all these aspect you are ready to start planning how to use the information and the website itself and transform it in a tool for you to teach.

There are some criteria we can find on the web that can help us select the best website for our students. In the following links you will find some models to guide you in your evaluating process. Hope you take advantage of them.

Kirszner, L. and Mandell, S. The Brief Wadsworth Handbook

Watson, D. and Andersen, J. Networking the learner: computers in education

Wilkilson, G; Bennet, L and Oliver, K (1997). Evaluation criteria and indicators quality of internet resources, Educational Technology.