Ashley Steines
ED 350 t3 F06
Web Wonders #3- Web Site Review
PE central: The premier web site for health and physical education (1996). Last updated on October 2, 2006. Retrieved on October 9, 2006 from http://www.pecentral.com/.
Purpose
This Web site can be categorized as a reference/informational site because it provides the latest information about developmentally appropriate physical education programs for children and youth. It is intended for health and physical education teachers, parents, and students. PE Central's goal is to help children become physically active and healthy for a lifetime.
This site does provide useful information I could use as a Physical Education teacher. A few of the links it provides, that I can see myself using, include links for lesson plan ideas, assessment ideas, and adaptive physical education. These are just a few of the links it provides. Each link also has sub links. For example, under the lesson plans link, you can choose from many different categories and view lesson plans from them. Some of these include classroom management, holiday, or you can narrow your search to a particular grade range (preschool, K-2, 3-5, 6-12).
You can click on "Who We Are" to receive information about the history of PEC, the editorial staff, comments from people who have visited the site, awards/honors PEC has received, and several other things.
Author
This Web site does not have an author, but rather, is made up of an editorial staff. You can click on "Editorial Team" to view the PE Central staff and editorial team. It provides a picture of the executive director, senior advisor, and the senior editors. Under their picture is very little background information. Listed are their name, the school or college they are employed at, and the city and state in which it is located. You can click on the link, "View our Executive Advisory Board," which provides a picture and background information about each person. These board members include many different professions. From professors, to a Neurokinesiologist and Consultant , a Director of Digital Education for PBS, to an Educational Media Consultant. I would say that with the information provided about the editorial staff and board members, this site is credible and the people worthy of determining what information is provided by the site.
Content
PE Central's homepage contains a link called "Top Web Sites," and under that link there are Web Sites that have been selected by the staff; ones they find valuable for K-12 Health and Physical Educators and others in charge of providing appropriate instruction to youngsters. For example, content-related sites, teaching resources sites, and curriculum and instruction sites. Although there is no link to resources, I feel that this site is not biased and its claims are not necessarily referenced, but the Web Sites listed under "Top Web Sites" each provide the author's name and copyright date.
Coverage I used Google to locate similar sites and my search came up with two results; "Top Sport-related Web Sites" and "Health and Physical Education Journals". Both of these cover aspects of the topic that are missing from the PEC site itself. Under "Top Sport-related Web Sites," several links are provided so the researcher can gain more information on all kinds of sports, both individual and team sports. There is also a site that lists several names of Health and Physical Education journals and newsletters. Overall, I feel that PE Central's homepage covers the topic of Physical Education rather well. I'm not sure if after searching for related Web Sites and only coming up with two results, if this means that PEC covers the topic thoroughly, or if there just happens to only be a couple sites that are similar.
Currency
This Web Site debuted in August of 1996 and its last update was made on October 2, 2006. Although the site doesn't have a "What's New" page that describes when content was last updated, a viewer can still find out the more recent updates. Information that was recently updated has the word "updated," in read, written before the link and then the date of the latest revision after the title of the link. For example, Updated Lesson Ideas (10/2) and Updated Assessment Ideas (10/2). The site does not include press releases.
Recognition
This site does not contain reviews, showing that its value is still recognized. However, there is a link that contains quotes from kids. You can narrow your search of quotes to any year, and also, each quote has the date it was posted right next to it. These quotes from kids do not necessarily speak about the value of the PEC Web Site, but rather, they are quotes that are just simply funny or show students' interest in Physical Education. For example, one teacher submitted a quote that a student said while working with hula-hoops in a kindergarten class. The little girl went up to the teacher and said, "My hula-hoop is broken, it keeps falling down". Another teacher posted a quote from a kid that involved the child talking to them about how they wanted to grow up and be a PE teacher back at the school they attended. The teacher said to the student that he would have fun and do a great job and maybe they could teach together. The student replied with, "You'll be dead!"
I feel that if this Web Site would contain personal reviews from people who have visited the site and find it useful, that it would help gain recognition. Even though it does not contain a link to reviews, I believe that this site must be found to be helpful to educators because it was created ten years ago and still remains, meaning it must provide beneficial information and must get frequent visitors.
Web Design
The readability of this site is supported by the use of white space, background color, and font color. The words are not all packed onto the page, but rather are evenly placed; making it easy for its visitors to locate what it is they are looking for. Also, the background is white and the links are blue, making it easy to identify the links.
This Web Site is not full of tables, graphics, or images, but I feel that those are not necessary to this site in particular.
Web Layout
The layout of this Web Site is consistent and facilitates navigation. The page is basically a two-column list of different links. Each link is bulleted and includes a brief description of the information that can be found at this link. For example, a person who is viewing this site might not really know what adapted PE is, so there is a link titled, "Adapted Physical Education," and under it there are descriptions of what adapted PE consists of. These include FAQ's, IEP information, and activity adaptations. These link descriptions help the flow of thinking.
Web Links
The links on this page adhere to copyright laws. Under the links, they say who they were sponsored by or who the incentives were provided by. For example, under the link Get Active Stay Active , it states that it is sponsored by PEPSICO.
The links also contain high quality content that supports the content of the Web Site. After all, the goal of PE Central is to provide the latest information about developmentally appropriate physical education programs for children and youth. These links do just that; they provide lesson plans that are developmentally appropriate for each grade level.
Apply What You Learned
How does it look : page loading time, author's name and e-mail address, spelling, pictures, sounds, and the date the page was made
What did you learn : title and introduction tell you what the page is about, is the information what you were looking for, does it include links, is there controversial information, and are the pictures helpful to your learning
Summary : Write a paragraph telling why the Web site is helpful (or not helpful) to your project
3. I like how this evaluation is set up. It includes a yes/no checklist which makes it easy for elementary students. I would have the students fill out the evaluation sheet just as it asks.