Hi there! Last week we had to submit our first Practical Work for this subject. We were asked to work in groups of 3 and choose two websites: one that we could use as a resource for teachers as material designers and another one that presented resources that can be directly used in the classroom. The assignment was to analyse the two of them following some criteria for evaluating websites. Our teacher suggested  an article from the University of Lesley called "Evaluating Web Sites" that we could find beneficial to work with. This recommended article proposed the following criteria to think about when judging a web site:

-Purpose

-Authority

-Objectivity

-Appropriateness

-Currency

-Responsability

-Clarity

-Accessibility

Bearing in mind some tips when analyzing web sites is fundamental. I remember that whenever I had to look for information on the Internet, I always asked myself whether that page was reliable or not, feeling unable to clear up my doubts.  Therefore, the only thing that I took into consideration was the website design and the template, which is not always a hint of reliability. But after reading this article, I realized that it is of paramount importance to consider many other aspects that add to a web site´s trustworthiness. While I was browsing through these two web sites to be analysed for the practical work, there were some elements that really captured my attention. For instance, why there are advertisements, the importance of reading between lines in order to realise if the author reflects some kind of bias, the importance and meaning of the word “Copyright” at the bottom of the page, and, above all, that you can determine the purpose of a website by inspecting its address.
Not only is it important for teacher to make use of these criterias, but also for students.We have to provide them with tools for developing awareness as regards this matter, especially in this technological era in which we are constantly bombarded with information. Many students are not acquainted with the fact that not all the websites they visit are valuable, and, consequently, they trust in the first one they come across.

All in all, we should thank Lesley University for this informative article! Although it is not the only article available dealing with this topic, I consider it to be really helpful and practical. Hope you find it as useful as I do! 

The importance of taking into consideration
 some criteria for judging web sites 

Evaluating web sites