Website Evaluation: A+ Math

With the current shift towards technology, it is important that teachers utilize it in the classroom as much as possible. However, one must be careful not to misuse this wonderful gift. Educators need to ensure that they are using only the best, most helpful tools available, specifically including appropriate websites. Therefore, it is important that teachers are able to accurately evaluate a website. In doing so, one must use seven different criteria for evaluating a website: author, publishing body, bias of information, accuracy of information, currency of information, design of the interface and accessibility.

The process of evaluating a website is important. As educators, one of the biggest mistakes we can make is showing an inappropriate website to students, be it inappropriate because of the content, graphics, faulty information or even not at the correct age level for your students. It is also important to evaluate websites because even the most seemingly valid websites may have incorrect information because the author is not credible. Finally, most people are familiar with a few websites. Even those that we think we know everything about must be reviewed before showing them in the classroom because one must view them from the perspective of a teacher as opposed to someone surfing the internet. This change of view can drastically alter how you feel about a website and potentially impact if or how much you show in the classroom. Overall, website evaluation is an important aspect of integrating technology into the classroom and should be used before showing any website to students.

One mathematics website that I evaluated is titled A+ Math. This website has many helpful tool such as flashcards, homework helpers and even games to help students master basic mathematical facts. Overall, I would recommend this website for educators, but I would caution them before using it in the classroom.  I found the website to be rather confusing because the interactive parts were very close to the links to A+ Math's sponsors and the differentiation was not clearly marked. However, A+ Math does offer many beneficial tools and links to help students master basic mathematical facts. Check it out here at Aplusmath!