Review
As any
student would know the internet is full of small supposedly informative
websites that offer little to no help for the assignment you need to finish.
With a fresh breath of air I found one that isn’t completely useless. Thinkdolearn.com
is a small time site made by a Georgian teacher for the use of his students and
others in need of aide. When first entering the site I was greeted by a large
green frog, little did I know this was the first of a couple surprises the site
gave me
.
At first
glance the site looks like something a 16 year old tech junkie through together
for his own personal use. Which, in most cases may be a good thing because it
won’t discourage the technically uninitiated from viewing the site. Thankfully,
the site makes up for this with intuitive presentations and information. But I
quickly got past the distracting frog and leaped into the site. I clicked on
the links that I thought were relevant seeing as though the site is a work in
process and it should be scrutinized as so. So in doing so, clicking on all the
links, I could get a quick feel of the site’s structure and how it worked.
The first
instructional link of the site that I clicked on named “Introduction to the
Class” was
actually more of an introduction to the web page, kind of like a concise manual
on how the site works, while informative it was a little misleading.
First off I must state I wasn't too
keen on the two frame web page design, while effective it really isn't needed
and it seems like the second, more large frame, is just useless filler, and it
wouldn’t hurt if the site was consistent. The two frame scheme is okay just not
a necessity for the first page, however with the rest of the site it is a very
useful addition, and the excess space on the front page could possibly be used
to keep students updated on homework and or any other useful things they may
need to know for class.
Once you
finally get to the helpful parts of the site you are greeted with an
interesting, fairly functional layout. First you are provided with an image
illustrating the chapter, a few key terms that you may need to know for full
comprehension and a brief overview of the subject matter. This is a tried and
true method used in almost every text book made in the past 20 years. Why fix
something not broken? One major
grievance of mine is the overdependence of power point presentations on the
site. When the other tutorial outlets aren’t helpful and you want to try
alternative routes, without power point installed, it is almost like looking at
free money through an electrical wire fence. Although this is
slightly redeemed by the shockwave and java presentations, even though they
cower in comparison to the power point presentations. I often ran into
this pop-up which stopped me from using the aide:
In
conclusion the site is a solid tutorial skill. It is definitely worth bookmarking seeing as though it takes the hard part of
finding sources of information and complying them into
a fairly decent scheme for your pleasure. The short comings expressed in this
review aren’t that hindering to the overall goal of the site, which is to help
the student, and for that it does a wonderful job of it. This teacher is
probably more accessible to his students than their next door neighbor. I love
the way technology has been implemented to give students a certain edge that
most other schools cannot boast. I would rate this site a 7.5 out of 10.
Joel
*******
11/3/05
Period 4