So.....evaluating the website was more difficult than I thought it would be. I evaluated IXL Math. This is a site that offers math practice problems (20 per day without an account) from Kindergarten math through Geometry. If the user chooses, they can purchase a membership for around $10 a month or $80 a year. From what I could tell the site looks good for practice problems. I always hesitate when the site is trying to sell something. I did not sign up for the free 30 day trail. If I recommended this site to a parent, I would only do that after I had explored the 30-day trail. I found that a bit frustrating.
When I was looking for the author, it was hard to determine this as well. The problem is that IXL Math is a company. The site list the leaders of the company. I googled them and they came up on different websites. I still didn't know if these sites would be acceptable to use for verification. Then they list there different teams.....development team, sales team, etc. The website listed were to the different teams (or departments) not to an individual. Again, I was not sure if this made it an accurate source. So I called the number listed on the site. The company directory did answer making me feel like it was a little bit more authentic.
I also had a hard time determining who the publishing body was. I assume since the URL ends with .com that the publishing body is an individual entity manly the company. The entire site went back to Quia Web and Quia Books. So I believe that this is the publishing body. I would love to have a better grasp of that concept.
The other concern was finding dates on the site. It was in the bio that I found the date that the company originated in 1998. Here is where I found the IXL Math was created in 2007. BUT the copyright was for 2013. So I am unsure if that is good too. I could tell however that the math on the site was factual and could be used by students to reinforce standards.
So, I am not sure how well this review went. I am mixed about whether or not I did enough research on this site. I am not too sure how to dig deeper when it is a company based site. I hope to walk through the process on a non math based site before I come to class to see if it is simpler.
You did a very thorough job. Most sites it is hard to find a lot of the things you would want to consider. The main thing is that after all you considered, is this a site you deem acceptable to use? If you believe it is you have done your due diligence and you should use it.
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