Website Evaluation

I will now aim to evaluate a website based on the following criteria taken from Cornell University Library:

• Accuracy
• Authority
• Objectivity
• Currency
• Coverage

The website that I will evaluate is one that I and my students often use in my Earth Science Class. It is meant to accompany the textbook that we are using. The link is found here.

1. Accuracy - the website gets high marks for its accuracy as well it should considering that it is from McDougal Littell, the company that prints our textbook (see picture on the left). The site also has links showing how to get in touch with different people operating the websites for the various divisions and subsidiaries of the company.
   
   
2. Authority - although not specifically named, it is assumed that the author/s of the website are also the author/s of the textbook because the website is meant to complement the text. In that case, the authority of the website is unquestionable because of qualifications and advanced degrees the authors of our text have.
   
   
3. Objectivity - the website was intended to be used in an Earth Science Class to complement the activities and lessons found in the textbook. It is not meant to advertise or sell the textbook (it is assumed you have the textbook before you can use the website) and so is pretty objective and unbiased.
   
   
4. Currency - the website was created in 1995 but was recently updated (2007). The website carries no dead links and has up to date information.
   
   
5. Coverage - there is no special software to view most of the documents. Although some of the animations are in javascript, nowadays most browsers run java so that does not seem to pose any problems whatsoever. Most of the information is free to view (assuming you have the text for easy reference to different topics) although some resources require a key which one must have gotten after purchasing the textbook. Since I am the nth user of the textbook in my school, the username and password required to logon for some of the resources have promptly been forgotten/lost.

All in all, this is an EXCELLENT website for any Earth Science Class. I have found it helpful especially when visualizations help students better understand a topic, e.g., plate tectonics, aquifer formations, etc. The website also contains links to outside sources (in case what they have is not enough) which I have also used.

So, two thumbs up for this website!