THREE SUPER WBI WEBSITES EVALUATION II

Site: NROC – Introductory Algebra 1A

Subject: A multi-representational approach to algebra; understanding, writing, solving, and graphing linear equations; systems of linear equations and inequalities, quadratic equations, and rational equations.

URL:http://www.montereyinstitute.org/courses/Algebra%20IA/nroc%20prototype%20files/coursestartc.html

NROC Introductory Algebra course is an excellent course website. The whole site is divided into three parts: introduction, syllabus, and units. Course description and learning objectives are provided in the introduction section. The syllabus section is illustrating that the course will be taught in two semesters and the course outline in this semester are provided in a subsection under syllabus. The four units that offered in the first semester including 19 lessons and each unit includes four lessons. The majority contents of this course are in the units section. In all the lessons under each unit, there are three subsections: Readings (Objectives and Readings); Multimedia (Play Introduction, Play Lesson); Assessments (Chapter Test, Answer Key). All the lesson objectives, chapter need to read from textbooks and multimedia lecture can be found among all these lessons. Furthermore, learners can evaluate themselves through the assessment sect. Generally speaking, the whole course emphasizes a multi-representational approach to algebra, with concepts, results, and problems being expressed graphically, analytically, and verbally. It is really a good course website for algebra studying.

When I view this web site I felt comfortable and quiet which is the environment needed for study. When users go through the pages they can find that not only the navigation bar is consistent, but also is very clear and convenient. The header of this site is very simple, but it matches the whole design. White is the majority back ground color, plus the black text and green and red header, they work well together. The totally 19 lessons, also, are created in same style and have three categories: reading, multimedia, and assessment. Learners can figure out how to learn and where to start very quickly. Especially the multimedia subsection offers users very clear videos with audio which are also separated into several sections. Users can watch them online and the speed is very good. I also found that if the designers can add more sections to this website may make it more helpful to users. For example, some users may want to download these materials and listen to them in iPod, mp3 or some other portable devices which cannot be realized in this course. Also, if the designers can add another section for learning pace or something like schedule for learners to follow maybe better.

Undoubtedly, no course websites can be the perfect. There must be somewhere can be made progress. Plus different people may have different opinions to the same website. This website overall is a very good one. I like the design style and simple layout which make me very clearly know where to go, how to get there and where I am in the sites. It makes learning convenient, interesting and easy. Learners will enjoy learning through this website and this is also the goal for all the course websites: making learning more fun, convenient and efficient.