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Starfall.com Website Evaluation

Natasha Forrest-Spence

Venessa Thomas- Vanriel

St. Joseph Teacher College

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Starfall.com Website Evaluation

Starfall.com was found in 2002 by Dr. Stephen Schutz and poet Susan Polis Schutz. The vision

of this site was to provide help for children who are learning to read English all around the world

via the internet. In 2004 the site was recognized by Children's Software & New Media Review as

the first Internet site with the highest rated product in their Early Elementary category.

Starfall.com is a free public service to teach children to read with phonics. Their

systematic phonics approach, in conjunction with phonemic awareness practice, is

perfect for preschool, kindergarten, first grade, second grade, special education,

home school, and English language development (ELD, ELL, ESL). Starfall.com is a

well needed educational alternative to other entertainment choices for children.

This website is used by teachers, students and parents and is recommended by its users. Upon

visiting the site we discovered that it can become a stable part of the teaching and learning

environment, whether at home or school.

When Starfall.com was matched up to our website evaluation checklist the following was

discovered:

The website was last updated in 2012; this showed that they are somewhat current. The date of

the website creation and creators were also displayed. The setup is colourful displayed with icons

to direct you around the site. There are also hyperlinks to other lead users to other relevant sites.

The site is fun and interactive for the early childhood learners. As an instructional material it is

an informative vehicle that can also be used as a presentation tool. It facilitates a learner’s

cognitive growth and allows them to be independent thinkers. This website provides a type of

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learning that is not always readily available in the standard, teaching -learning environment;

however it could prove very beneficial to many students.

Evaluation Criteria Excellent SatisfactoryNeeds Improvement

Website was recently updated Website creation date is posted Website is clear about the information it is providing Authors' names and contact information are visible Information displayed is current Information displayed is accurate Relevant hyperlinks are attached to information displayed Icons are there to direct you around the site

Website Evaluation Checklist

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