Evaluating Web Sites

rubric [n. ROO-brik]
A rubric is an established set of procedures, rules, or customs. An authoritative set of instructions, a rubric can also be used as a guideline for grading. "The professor gave her teaching assistants a rubric to help them grade the students' papers."

Evaluation Rubrics for Websites: http://www.tammypayton.net/courses/print/rubric3.htm

Evaluating Internet-based Information: A Goals-based Approach:
http://landmark-project.com/evaluation/index.html
This site discusses the importance of starting research with a well thought out question.

Evaluating Internet Resources: http://www.tomsnyder.com/enews/articles/2002-09-A.asp

Evaluating Web Pages: http://mciu.org/~spjvweb/evaluating.html

Evaluating Web Resources: http://www.oakland.k12.mi.us/resources/media/evalwebresource.pdf

Evaluating Web Resources: http://www.oakland.k12.mi.us/resources/media/nmwebeval.htm
An interactive site

The availability of digital texts and graphics makes it all too easy  to cut and paste information and photographs into their reports and projects without considering ownership.  Just as you use and citations of printed reference materials, do the same with respect to on-line resources. 

  EVALUATING YOUR SEARCH RESULTS 
Conducting research on the Web is, in many ways, no different from conducting research using traditional resources. The daunting amount and kind of resources available on the Web just make it exceedingly more complex. For one, by using the Internet as a tool for research, you and your students have access to information in many different formats, including photographs, video and audio clips, and interactive environments. Second, all of the information retrieved must undergo rigorous evaluation before it can be considered usable.  
Before the Internet, teachers had some degree of control over the materials brought into the classroom. The Internet has changed this; now, since anyone with access to a server can put anything they want on the Internet, your students have access to all kinds of unevaluated, inaccurate, or just bad information.
Some of the most reliable data to be found on the Internet is live data like weather, current news, and information from government sites (whose URLs end with ".gov") and university sites (whose URLs end with ".edu"). Check to see how current the information is. Usually the homepage of a site will include the time and date when a page was updated. Another way to find good Web sites is to go to sites that specialize in rating other sites.  Don't forget to evaluate the evaluators, though!
Some thoughtful suggestions on how to use the Web as a research tool.
What makes a Web site "good"?
A "good" Web site is one that you can use in your classroom to support or enhance learning. A good Web site can do this in many ways, including promoting collaborative activities with other online learners, introducing visuals or audio that promote a new way of seeing things, putting students in touch with professionals in the field you are studying, or providing an environment for self-guided inquiry.  But, before you decide that a site is "good," you must assess the information it imparts for accuracy and timeliness.
What kind of evaluation criteria should I develop?
You can use the following checklist as a starting point in evaluating sites and resources you find on the Web.  

Site Evaluation Checklist:
How does the site make use of the Internet?
What is the quality of the related links?
Is the site well designed?  
Who is the target audience?
Does the site support my curriculum unit?
Who sponsors and maintains the site?
Is  the information reliable? 
Are there reviews of the site? Has it  received any awards?
Website Rating Parameters
Visually Pleasing  - Rate it from 1 to 5-- with 1 being too confusing/too much to look at and 5 being aesthetically pleasing with a balancing of text and/or graphics.
Navigation - Rate it from 1 to 5--with 1 being difficult or confusing to 'navigate' through the website and 5 being 'no problems.' Website Rating Parameters
Visually Pleasing  - Rate it from 1 to 5-- with 1 being too confusing/too much to look at and 5 being aesthetically pleasing with a balancing of text and/or graphics.
Navigation - Rate it from 1 to 5--with 1 being difficult or confusing to 'navigate' through the website and 5 being 'no problems.' Grammar - Rate it from 1 to 5--with 1 being frequent errors and 5 being no errors detected.
Use of Graphics - Rate it from 1 to 5--with 1 being too distracting and 5 being visually balanced and relevant.
Usefulness of Information - Rate it from 1 to 5--with 1 being useless and 5 being extremely /helpful/relevant.  

Evaluating a Web Page

Name of document __________________________________________________________
http://_____________________________________________________________________
1. When was the page created? ____________________ 
2. When was the most recent update? ____________________ 
3. Check all that apply. This site provides access to:
   › research information       › links to related information             › student projects
   › questions and answers    › communication with experts          › material for teachers
   › interactivities      › multimedia elements               › graphics           › advertisements
   › other ______________________________________________________________
4. Who is responsible for creating/maintaining the page? What are his/her credentials or affiliation? Is the author's e-mail address included on thepage?___________________________________________________________________
Is the author associated with a(an) › K-12 school › university › government agency
   › organization     › company     › other _____________________________________
5. Where did the originator get the materials? ________________________________________
    Is the source credited on the page? › Yes › No
6. Is there a bias or point of view? › Yes › No
Please describe ____________________________________________________
7. Are primary or secondary sources (or a combination) available on the site?    ________________________________________________________________________
8. What types of information/resources are located on the site?
Photos _____ Text/Documents _____ Maps ____ Movies _____ Sound recordings _____ Other (describe)______________
9. Are there links to other sites? › Yes › No
Are those links useful? › Yes › No
Are the links still active? › Yes › No
10. Could you have gotten the information elsewhere? › Yes › No
Which print or nonprint sources would have worked as well? _______________________  
11. How long did the page take  to load? ___________________________________
Was the page easy to navigate? › Yes › No
Was there an image map? › Yes › No
12. Were the graphics meaningful or just "flash?" ___________________________
Evaluation
After thinking about the above questions, consider whether this Web site would be truly useful toyour project. Record your evaluation here, giving reason(s) for your rating.
Consider:    
Content
Design
Interactive communications
Documentation
Links to related topics/sites
Rating:     5     4      3       2      1
High                   Low   

Evaluating Website Form
Make four columns
First column : the five areas: ACCURACY, AUTHORITY, OBJECTIVITY, CURRENCY, COVERAGE.
The second column was the criteria for each of those.
ACCURACY:
This page identifies the author.
The page identifies a group, association or academic institution with whom the author is associated.
If a group, association or academic institution is identified, an email or address is listed.
AUTHORITY:
The information makes sense.
The information on this page can be found in a t least two other unrelated sites or unrelated print resources.
OBJECTIVITY:
The site presetns factual information without trying to sway the audience's opinion.
The page is advertsing free.
CURRENCY:
The page indicates when it was last updated.
The page includes contact information for a site maintainer.
COVERAGE:
The material is in depth.
A variety of topics is included.
The third and fourth column:
A YES column with a box and a NO column with a box. The student can then check the box for each criteria.
from Nancy Brunker

Evaluating Websites: http://www.eddept.wa.edu.au/cmis/eval/curriculum/ict/webeval/index.htm

Evaluating World Wide Web Sites: http://www.libsci.sc.edu/miller/Evaluate.htm

Evaluation Criteria: http://lib.nmsu.edu/instruction/evalcrit.html

Evaluation of information sources: http://www2.vuw.ac.nz/staff/alastair_smith/evaln/evaln.htm

ICYouSee: T is for Thinking: A Guide to Critical Thinking About What You See on the Web: http://www.ithaca.edu/library/training/think.html

Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators - Critical Evaluation Surveys and Resources: http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/eval.html
This site includes a series of evaluation surveys, one each at the elementary, middle, and secondary school levels.

Long Island University-Southampton College Library-Evaluating Library Resources: http://www.southampton.liunet.edu/library/evaluate.htm

Of Course It's True; I Saw It on the Internet: http://www.wellesley.edu/CS/pmetaxas/CriticalThinking.pdf

Richard Waller Website Evaluation Checklist: http://www.waller.co.uk/eval.htm

Rubrics and Evaluation Resources: http://www.ncsu.edu/midlink/ho.html
Several different sources cover assessments and rubrics for such diverse student work as book reports, multimedia projects, and writing exercises.

Rubric for Grading Art: http://www.zimmerworks.com/rubric.htm

Rubric Template: http://edweb.sdsu.edu/triton/july/Rubrics/Rubric_Template.html

Takoma Park Maryland Library-WWW Evaluation Guide: http://www.cityoftakomapark.org/library/reference/eval.html

Thinking Critically about Discipline-Based World Wide Web Resources: http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/college/help/critical/discipline.htm

Tips for Choosing Rubrics:
http://intranet.cps.k12.il.us/Assessments/Ideas_and_Rubrics/Rubric_Bank/Choosing_Rubrics/choosing_rubrics.html

Toward a Multicultural Approach for Evaluating Educational Web Sites: http://www.edchange.org/multicultural/net/comps/eval.html

The Virtual Chase: Evaluating the Quality of Information on the Internet: http://www.virtualchase.com/quality/index.html

Examples of Website Evaluation

Evaluating Health Related Web Pages: http://www.gananda.org/library/mshslibrary/evalhlth.htm

Evaluating Web Sites: http://volweb.utk.edu/Schools/sullivan/sullms/evaluate/evalwebstu.html

Habits of Mind-Deconstructing a Web Site: http://www.noodletools.com/debbie/literacies/newsmedia/polweb.html

A WebQuest About Evaluating Web Sites: http://mciunix.mciu.k12.pa.us/~spjvweb/evalwebstu.html

Bogus (Hoax) Websites

Aluminum Foil Deflector Beanie: http://zapatopi.net/afdb.html

British Stick Insect Foundation: http://www.brookview.karoo.net/Stick_Insects/
All you ever wanted to know about stick insects. How to feed them, train them, and breed them.

California's Velcro Crop under Challenge: http://home.inreach.com/kumbach/velcro.html

Dihydrogen Monoxide Research Division (DMRD): http://www.dhmo.org/

Feline Reactions to Bearded Men: http://www.improbable.com/airchives/classical/cat/cat.html

How To Tell If Your Head's About To Blow Up:
http://www.mit.edu:8001/~mkgray/head-explode.html

Internet Hoax Site: http://www.shsu.edu/~lis_mah/documents/TAET/hoaxtable.html

Museum of Hoaxes- http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/

The Ova Prima Foundation: http://www.ovaprima.org/
Which came first, the chicken or the egg? This organization has produced scientific evidence to suggest that it was the egg which came first.

The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus: http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus.html

Sellafield Zoo: http://www.brookview.karoo.net/Sellafield_Zoo/
The website of the Sellafield Zoo, located near the Sellafield Nuclear Power Plant. It boasts that it's the zoo "where the wildlife has a half-life." Predictably, the animals in the zoo tend to display interesting mutations.

WingMakers.com: http://www.wingmakers.com/
An elaborate site that was launched back in November 1998. It claims to display artifacts that were found in underground caves beneath the New Mexico desert by the Advanced Contact Intelligence Organization (ACIO), a secret branch of the U.S. Government's National Security Agency.

Email comments and questions to studyplans@yahoo.com. This page was last updated on August 21, 2011 .