Instructions for Assignment 1, Task 1: Reporting the Results of a Website Evaluation
In addition to performing in this role, students must also recruit two other individuals (adults that may or may not be in this class) to use specific instruments to evaluate the same website in order to avoid biased evaluation.
you will be assigned a specific, real website to evaluate. The website evaluation will be conducted using two instruments:
• Small and Arnone's Website Motivational Analysis Checklist (WebMAC) - Professional Version
• Arnone and Small's Content Validity Scale
These instruments allow you to pinpoint both specific and more general areas in need of improvement regarding your assigned website. Both instruments are posted on Blackboard.
Once you and your "recruits" have evaluated the assigned website using both instruments, you will synthesize the evaluation results from both instruments (separately) and individually write a comprehensive evaluation report (approximately 4-6 pages long).
In this report, you will describe the instruments, your methods, the results, and offer constructive suggestions for improvement based on the evaluation results.
The comprehensive evaluation report should be written professionally, and should be free of typographical, grammatical, and spelling errors.
For those students where English is not their first language and is not the official second language of their country (e.g. EFL [English as a Foreign Language] students), submissions must meet all aspects of the criteria and the English used must be of sufficient accuracy to meet the course outcomes and convey appropriate meaning for grading purposes.
The comprehensive evaluation report should include:
• The Title and URL of the Assigned Website;
• The Name, Title (Evaluation Consultant), and Email Address of the Student;
• Goals and Learning Objectives of the Project (explain to your client what this project is about);
• A General Description of the Website:
o What is the purpose of the website?
o Who is its intended audience?
o What content does the website contain?
o Does the website have any special or unique features?
• A Brief Description of the Evaluation:
o What criteria/method for evaluating the website was used?
o What instruments were used?
o Who evaluated the website? What are their titles? No names (other than that of the student in this course) should be used.
o How was the data analyzed and synthesized?
• Results: specific evaluation results
• Interpretation and Synthesis of Overall Findings; this synthesis should base on the evaluation results. Please explain what the scores mean and use evidence to support your argument.
• Recommendations/Suggestions for Improvement;
• Reflection on the Experience (e.g. challenges you have encountered, what you have learned through this project, how your future work/study can benefit from this experience, etc.); and:
o Why is evaluating websites important?
o What suggestions do you have for additional or alternative criteria for evaluating websites?
• References and Resources
o Please include the instruments and website used.