WEBSITE EVALUATION RUBRIC
The following rubric can be used to evaluate websites created by teachers. You may use it as you evaluate the websites of others during the first two sessions. Later on it may help you as you create your website. You may find it helpful to print out a copy as you review some sites.
CONTENT: How useful was the content in general? For parents? For students? Put a checkmark in the box that applies.
| Full of useful information | Some useful information | Information not helpful | |
| Content In General | |||
| For Parents | |||
| For Students |
DESIGN: Information must be accessible to use and easy to maintain if the website is to be a success. First consider the ease of use. Pretend you are a student. What would you be interested in finding. Could you find it quickly? What about a parent or other family member? Is that information available and easy to locate? Now consider maintaining the site. If the site builder must make significant changes to the site or remember where information is posted that must be changed on a regular basis, the site is likely to fall apart because it is harder to maintain. Consider this as you look at the sites you visit. How much time would you have to devote to the site each week? It is important to have both STATIC and DYNAMIC pages on your website. Dynamic pages are changed regularly. They keep people coming back for new information, but must be maintained. Static pages, such as information about a course or program or class routines need only be changed once or twice in a year. These add richness to a site without taking much time in regular maintenance.
| Easy to Use | Important information can be quickly located by the user | Important information was available but was sometimes hard to locate | Important information was either not available, could not be found, or was out of date |
| Easy to Maintain | Only a few pages need to be changed each week | Many pages need to be changed frequently | Information throughout the site must be updated on a regular basis |
PRESENTATION: Balancing content and entertainment is often very challenging. There is a tendency on the web to put so much entertainment on a site that content becomes secondary. Remember that entertaining features also take longer to download. Use the rubric below to help you see how the sites you visit balance these two important concerns.
| Colors | Colors were well chosen and matched the intent of the website | Colors were somewhat distracting or not pleasing | Colors were not thought out at all |
| "Bells and Whistles" | Gimmicks on the website were minimal and supported the users experience | Gimmicks on the website were thoughtuful but were somewhat districting from the overall expereince. | Too may gimmicks took away from the content of the site OR site had too few and was not very interesting as a result |
| Download Speed | fast | medium | slow |