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MULTICULTURAL PAVILION Digital Divide and EdTech Search:

A Multicultural Model for Evaluating Educational Web Sites
by Paul Gorski
December 1999

NOTE: You can read the article that led to this model here.

What follows is a set of questions to guide your assessment of educational Web sites from a multicultural perspective. Some will be more relevant than others depending on what type of resource you are looking for and how you plan to use it. I have not included a rating scale because I believe it is more effective to use your own experience in getting an overall, holistic sense for whether a particular site will be valuable in your classroom.

Relevance and Appropriateness

1. Is the site's content relevant to your needs?
2. Is the Web medium appropriate and necessary for your needs?
3. Is the target age group clearly indicated and consistent with the age range of your students?
4. Are the mission and the scope of the site clearly indicated and relevant to your purposes?
5. Are graphic images appropriate for your students' age group?
6. Is the content timely and updated reasonably often?

Credibility

1. Is the author of the site clearly indicated?
2. Is the author's experience in the content area sufficient?
3. Is the site author and/or sponsor a known entity?
4. Is there evidence of quality control?
5. Is the site or site author affiliated with an identified educational organization?

Bias Identification

1. Does the site include a statement about the author or sponsoring organization that helps identify potential bias?
2. Is the site authored or sponsored by some person or organization with a known position regarding the content? If not, is their position clearly stated?
3. Is the primary purpose of the site commercial, and if so, how might this interest be informing content?
4. Does the site include forums for users to discuss its content and present divergent perspectives?

Accuracy

1. Does the site contain obvious content errors or omissions?
2. If information on the site is time-sensitive, is it routinely updated to incorporate new and follow-up information?
3. Does the site provide or invite diverse perspectives, or does it rely a tightly defined single view for understanding its topic?
4. Are sources within the site clearly cited?

Accessibility

1. Is the site free of coding bugs?
2. Does the site load reasonably fast?
3. Is the author or sponsoring organization accessible to answer your questions, or those of your students, via email or online form?
4. Is contact information provided for the author or sponsoring organization?
5. Does the site take into consideration the needs of differently-abled students (e.g. non-frames version and other considerations)?

Navigability

1. Is the site organization intuitive?
2. Is the necessity of scrolling kept to a minimum?
3. Is navigation simple and obvious?
4. Are navigation bars provided to allow users to jump to different places within the site?

Multiculturality

1. Does the site use a variety of media and styles to effectively engage students with varying learning styles?
2. Does the site encourage interaction between author and user or among users?
3. Does the site encourage participation among users through intercultural interactive or collaborative opportunities?
4. Does the site invite critical examination or divergent perspectives through interactive forums or online evaluation instruments?
5. Does the site provide voice to other perspectives through links or other connections?
6. Is the site free of material that may be oppressive to one or more groups of students?

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