WebCHECK

Just in case you missed it, there is an article in the Jan/Feb issue of Knowledge Quest that should bring tears of joy to the eyes of school librarians everywhere.  WebCHECK is an online evaluation form that teachers and librarians can use with students to evaluate websites.  There are age appropriate forms for elementary, middle, high and professional level evaluations.  At the end of you evaluation session on WebCHECK, the user gets a report showing the “value” of the website for the task the user wants to complete.  On all except the elementary form, the user gets a graphical representation of the value of the website.  This fabulous instrument was developed by professors at Syracuse University and field tested by school librarians from around the country.  It is based on the Common Core Standards and AASL Standards for the 21^st Century Learner.  Instructors (called facilitators at the WebCHECK site) can set up classes with codes, so that they can generate a class report of what their students evaluated.  (Was I right about the tears of joy or what?)

I will be using this web evaluation tool with my online Humanities students and I should be able to report back after this semester about how wonderful it is.  Did I mention that there are lesson plans available on the site as well?  I am thrilled about this and I cannot believe someone did not think of it sooner. 

Check it out for yourself at http://www.mywebcheck.net/.  I think you will be as happy about it as I am.