Emily's Page

	<a href="http://personal.colby.edu/~bknelson/SLC/">http://personal.colby.edu/~bknelson/SLC/</a>	<a href="http://www.wordreference.com/">http://www.wordreference.com/</a>	<a href="http://www.studyspanish.com/">http://www.studyspanish.com/</a>	<a href="http://www.senorjordan.com/">http://www.senorjordan.com/</a>	<a href="http://www.voicethread.com">www.voicethread.com</a>	<a href="http://spanish.about.com/">http://spanish.about.com/</a>
Grade-level match Is this age appropriate?	Yes, this is appropriate for high school students	Yes, this is appropriate for high school students	Like spanish.about.com, this is a similar resource for all levels of foreign language learners, including high school students.	Absolutely appropriate for high school students!	Yes, this could be sued for high school students in a foreign language course.	Yes, again a great grammar resource to be used by high school language learners.
Accuracy How reliable and free from error is the information? Who or what organization published the document? Do editors and/or fact checkers verify the resource? When was the website updated?	Spanish Language and Culture with Barbara Kuczun Nelson was copyrighted in 2007, but does not show when last updated. Ms. Nelson is a former professor at Colby College, so that assumes some accuracy. Through years of use, I have not seen mistakes on her website. A quick google search shows that many other Spanish teachers use her site as a reference tool for  their classes	Because this is a dictionary and thesaurus resource, there seems to be no errors. However, there is a forum for comments and suggestions.	This is published by Study Languages LLC, and last updated in 2015. The website seems free from error, and there is a way to contact the contributors if you do find an error.	As a registered Spanish teacher himself, Señor Jordan seems to have a strong grasp of the language and enjoys sharing his love for it. Other teachers regularly use these videos and there is always lively conversation in the comments both from the teachers and students. Any mistakes I have ever seen (which are few) have swiftly been corrected. The website was last updated in August 2015.	I included VoiceThread on here as a resource because it offers amazing digital story telling for classes. It is always being updated by the course developers and was last updated in 2015.	This is one of the education websites on about.com and I really like it. Again, I would use it more like a reference tool, like studyspanish.com and not necessarily in class.
Authority Is the author identified? Is there a biography of the author? What are the author’s qualifications? Do other experts in the field mention this author? How is the website published?	As a Spanish Professor at Colby College, Barbara Kuczun Nelson used to teach at Colby College, so that assumes her qualifications for the role. The website is published through a personal page on Colby.edu. This also assumes authority. Many Spanish teachers around the world reference her page and exercises.	The author is Michael Kellogg, and as an online language dictionary, there is implied trust. This is routinely used by teachers and professors as the go-to website for students to use in translating and using in thesaurus. It is one of the top 500 most-visited websites in the world!	Yes, the authors are identified under “about us”. There are five main authors, all of whom have their credentials listed. Many are native speakers and many have impressive resumes.	The author is Señor Jordan, who is a high school level Spanish teacher. He originally just began making these videos for his classes, and now they have gotten incredibly popular as a wonderful way to present materials. All the teachers in the department use these. The videos are hosted both on his website as well as on YouTube.	This is a web tool, so the author is not identified. However, it allows the teacher the opportunity to create his/her own lesson plan with speaking and visual components.	The website lists Gerald Erichsen as the resident Spanish expert. He has an impressive background; however, there is no way that only one person is contributing to the site nor that Gerald is keeping up with everything that is happening. Likely, there are many experts.
Objectivity Is the information presented with a minimum of bias? To what extent is the resource trying to sway the opinion of the audience using rhetorical skills (appeals to emotion etc.) instead of logic?	The information is presented objectively, as it is mostly grammar, and that cannot be with bias. However, there are a few cultural grammar exercises that do charge the students to give opinions or make predictions about the environment, the future, and their goals and dreams. Within the context, this is appropriate.	This is purely objective. There is no opinion as it is a dictionary/thesaurus.	Learning is the objective of the site. There is some push towards purchasing a membership, especially as a teacher. This is understandable in order for the teacher to be able to track students’ work.	Señor Jordan certainly has his own flair in presenting ideas, but there does not seem to be any bians, again because it is teaching mostly grammatical content.	The teacher or student using the website has the ability to produce the content, so yes the website itself is objective.	The website seems fairly objective and more educational and informative than having its own agenda. The students might find that it is more focused on Spain Spanish than Latin American Spanish.
Pedagogy What topics are included in the work? To what depth are topics explored? Is the resource interesting and engaging? How are the topics relevant to your students’ learning? Why is this relevant or better than other webpages? Is the website easy to use or does it interfere with learning?	Most Spanish grammar topics are included with explanation. There is the option for in-depth study and application with the cultural exercises and paragraph writing. The resources are engaging and relevant to the culture the students are learning about. These exercises provide context for the student and are easy to use.	This is a helpful resource for students and teachers to use when translating or trying to better understand words. It is as engaging as a dictionary can be. It does offer the spoken sound for some words. Hugely helpful to students and teachers!!!	The sheer amount of information available here is impressive. It includes pronunciation, vocabulary, verb-drills, grammar, private teacher sites, podcasts and words of the day. This is so varied and fofers teachers a lot of variety to explore in their classes. I anticipate that I would use this information much like the information on about.spanish.com as an additional resource for students to turn to at home. Likely, would not use be used in class.	This is mostly grammatical content videos, which are so engaging with information presented very clearly and in a wonderful manner. I would routinely use these in class, as students love videos and the way that the material is presented is relevant, easy to understand and fun to watch. These are my favorite grammar videos to share with students and is an easy to sue webpage.	I am so impressed with VoiceThread and what it can do in a language classroom! It is used to upload media (such as images) and then allows for both text comments and voice comments by the students. It is continually being developed, with a new application allowing voice-to-text to increase accessibility. I think it promotes greater digital literacy and engagement online and would definitely use it in a language classroom online or for homework for students to collaborate. It allows great interaction with the material and the users.	The site is enormous, and offers many different activities, news, grammar, pronunciation, blogs, use in classroom,  tips, travel, history, entertainment and the list continues. It is really impressive and a tad overwhelming. As a teacher, one would have to be quite specific about what was used here and have a clear focus. There are many ideas and I would use it more as a resource than as a daily activity. While easy to use, you would have to be very careful in your choice so as not to get distracted.