Criteria for Evaluating Web-based Materials

Criteria for the Evaluation of Web-based Materials

When I first tried to evaluate web-based materials, I used only two methods. First I would search a topic and then review individual sites in a general manner to see if the site was applicable for my subject. The other method was the “word-of-mouth” method. My colleagues would suggest a site and I would use it because they said that it was okay.





IN 1999, Branch, Kim and Koenecke wrote Evaluating Online Educational Materials for Use in Instruction, an article found on a library instruction web-site. They suggested seven topics that might be addressed concerning evaluating a website.
• Judge the accuracy of the information and take note of the date modified.
• Is the level of information in this site appropriate for the intended audience?
• Is the information in this site presented clearly?
• Is the information in this site closely related to purpose, content, activity, and procedures?
• Is the information in this site complete in scope and ready for use?
• If a website has activities, are the content, presentation method, and learner activity potentially engaging?
• If it claims to be comprehensive, is the information in the site well organized?
They also post a set of questions to be answered for each of the topics. For example, theses four questions are suggested for judging accuracy: Does the site provide evidence that it comes from reputable sources? Does the site contain any obvious biases, errors, or misleading omissions in the document? Does the site contain advertising that might limit the nature of the content?
Is the information current and up-to-date?
Looking at these seven topics and related questions, I found these to be a great way to evaluate web resources.


21st Century Information Fluency, formerly a part of the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy, offers an evaluation wizard which I have used occasionally to evaluate web-resources. The on-line process walks the user through, step-by step, a method to evaluate a site.
To evaluate a site, its url had to be entered into a form. Then the evaluator is directed to select one of eight evaluation criteria: author, publisher, objectivity, links from, data accuracy, evidence and links to. After selecting one of the criteria, the site asks three to four guiding questions concerning the selected topic. Tutorials are also provided to assist in finding answers to these specific questions. A place for notes is also provided. Once the evaluation has been completed, a report can be printed, with all the notes that have been collected concerning that specific site.
So I decided to use the 21st Century Information fluency’s tutorial on the Evaluating Online Educational Materials for Use in Instruction site. The related report is pasted here:

Author:
Branch - Head of Tech Dept , U of Ga
Kim - author of several articles on technology.
Koenecke - author of articles on distance learning and on-line learning

Publisher:
Lorenzen - Ed d in library science - head of lib services at Central Michigan U. Michael Lorenzen

Objectivity: Objectivity appears to be present

Links From: links from go to a wide variety of related sites, both in and out of the web site.

Date: date can be found, but date does not affect the reliability of the overall information provided.

Accuracy: Facts along with grammar are accurate.

Evidence: Comments can be made on the author's blog which was last added to in May of 2009.

Links To: Links are reliable, and support article. This article has appeared in several bibliographies related to web source evaluation.

Looking at the report, I can honestly state that the original site, Evaluating Online Educational Materials for Use in Instruction, is a reliable source of information. This method of evaluation seems to be a real improvement over the “word-of-mouth” method.