How to Evaluate an Educational Website
How to Evaluate an Educational Website
Introduction
Since the1960s, computer-assisted
language-learning (CALL) has been popular in educational institutions around
the world because it offers multiple vivid texts, images, video, games, sound,
and graphics that are combined in one device. In this format the language
skills of listening, speaking, writing, and reading are integrated into
teaching language courses. Today information technology and the Internet have
been rapidly developed enabling many students and teachers to surf the Internet
to find information for learning. They may be overwhelmed by a forest of
information and do not know whether the contents of websites are qualitative,
appropriate, valid, reliable, authentic, and practical (Brandt, 1993; Hubbard,
2006; Son, 2005; Standler, 2004). Therefore, the evaluation of language
websites for educational purposes becomes vitally important. The websites
provide learners and teachers with the ability to make informed decisions
before utilizing the information. Having said that this paper highlights the
strengths and weaknesses of Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Laboratory (http://www.esl-lab.com/).
Particularly, the genesis of the paper describes the website. The second part
of the evaluation is the analysis of the pedagogical and technical aspects of
the website. The third part is the integration of one activity into an actual
course. The final part is the conclusion and recommendations to improve the
quality of Randall’s Web.
Description of an Educational
Website
Website name
Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab http://www.esl-lab.com/ is an online, multimedia listening website
that is designed to assist Second Language (L2) students around the world to
practice and enhance their English listening and comprehension skills. This
website is easy to access even for those who are hearing impaired. When typing
Randall's esl or Randall ESL on Google one is immediately connect to the site.
Randall’s ESL was created in 1998 by Randall S. Davis from the United States.
In addition to Randall’s ESL, the author has developed the Daily ESL, EZSlang,
Train Your Accent, and English Voices websites. According to Davis’ statistics,
students and teachers of 150 countries have used the website for free with no
login requirement. The website has obtained funding via contextual advertising
associated with topics on the site.
Level
Randall’s ESL can be used at easy, medium,
and difficult levels for beginner, intermediate, and advanced users. The site
is recommended for young and older adult use.
Tasks
Randall’s ESL provides a variety of
interactive activities, which help to recycle, review, and reinforce the key
lexicon in various situations. These tasks include multiple choice,
short-answer questions, sentence and vocabulary matching, gap fillings,
rearranging mixed-up sentences, and text completion quizzes. Topics are
organized according to themes such as: introductions, education, work, living
arrangements, science and the environment. Each topic consists of five
procedures arranged as pre-listening exercises, listening exercises, vocabulary
and grammar, post-listening exercises, and online investigations. Learners
click on the topic they feel interested in, read or listen to the instructions
and use their mouse to play the five steps.
When completed, a score will appear to show
how well learners understood the activities.
Language skills
Randall’s ESL primarily focuses on listening
skills via manifold spoken topics. The over 200 quizzes are simple and
practical which helps learners build, review, and reinforce their vocabulary
gradually and naturally. The site author stresses that if students lack in
vocabulary, they will face difficulties in speaking and listening. Students
with a limited vocabulary cannot understand the speakers and are unable to
relate something truly impressive or potent. Therefore, expanding vocabulary is
a lifelong activity that gives learners the ability to listen well, and aids
learners to convey things explicitly instead of vaguely when sharing ideas and
opinions. The site offers vocabulary homework sheets for users to write down
new words that they don’t know along with definitions and sentences associated
with the context. This strategy helps users to expose themselves to new
words and retain and retrieve words quickly and effectively.
Aims of the website
The purpose of the Randall’s ESL is primary
listening comprehension. The activities are designed for assisting ESL students
and teachers to practice listening and improving their overall communication
skills with natural and interesting themes. This will also assist them in
integrating speaking skills and the language areas of grammar and vocabulary.
Website design
Randall’s ESL Cyber Listening Lab is very
neat, rich, flexible, and highly interactive. All the materials are
specifically designed for promoting student learning autonomy and are
straightforward to manipulate. Users can easily practice the activities at
home, at school or anywhere there is access to a computer and Internet.
Evaluation the educational
Website
Evaluating the two main factors, pedagogical
aspects and technical aspects of language on websites is crucial.
Pedagogical aspects, will examine program objectives, accuracy, the learner’s
level and control, instructions, authenticity, feedback, and help and
intelligence. Technical aspects will examine six components including program
operation, learner input methods, screen layout, the use of color, graphics and
sound, and multimedia technology. Based on the two indispensable
evaluation rubrics, CALL evaluator identifies the strengths and weaknesses of
the website (Son, 1995a, 1997, as cited in LIN8006, 2013).
Pedagogical aspects
Program objectives
Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab (http://www.esl-lab.com/) clearly
states its objectives are to emphasize the improvement of listening
comprehension for L2 students worldwide and those with hearing
impairment. Additionally, it is stated that teachers can incorporate the
use of CALL in their ESL classroom. With no login requirement, the site is
easily accessible and free for users provided that there is no copyright
violation. Initially users may think their activities are only to enhance
listening skills, however, they later recognize that the activities are
specially designed for improving communication as a whole, expanding vocabulary
through consolidated exercises, practicing grammar skills, and most importantly
engaging the user in developing critical thinking via brainstorming,
discussion, and researching.
According to an evaluation by Bangun &
Stefanus (2006), the site covers a wide range of rich, practical, and
interactive activities based on the level of the user from beginner to
advanced. According to Randall Davis, the audio files are graded “easy”,
“medium”, and “difficult” as a guide for the instructors and autonomous
learners. The levels of difficulty are based on rate of speed, vocabulary,
idioms, content, background noise, and other related elements. The site
especially promotes self-motivated learning among students in pairs, in groups,
or in school settings for the main goal of exploring new ways to learn L2
through easy to use activities. The creator also invites teachers to share
their lesson plan that integrates Randall’s ESL Cyber Lab listening exercises,
thoughts and ideas and/or makes suggestions to facilitate learning and enhance
the efficiency of the available materials. The opportunity for user input is a good
thing and maximizes prospects for continued site development. This also
indicates the author is in favor of diverse perspectives.
Accuracy
Boklaschuk and Caisse (2001) stated that
accuracy has two definitions. First, accurate content refers to a certain
standard or truth. Second, accurate content refers to no grammatical or
typographic errors. According to Kapoun (1998), an accurate website provides
the author’s background and contact information.
Given such views, all the information
provided on the website is accurate and all requirements and exercises have
been met. Navigation through activities and exercises does not provide evidence
of grammar or typographic mistakes. This would indicate that the author is
responsible and professional on what he builds. In term of credentials, the
audience can easily find the author’s name, background, and contact information
on the web. The site author earned a Bachelor’s degree in Spanish education and
a Master’s degree in TESL at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.
Apparently, he taught English for eight years in Japan and provided lectures on
intercultural studies, and computer courses at several colleges and
universities in the U.S, Canada, Japan, and China. His specialities consist of
CALL, video technology and language teaching, teacher training, and leaner
autonomy.
In terms of objectivity, the activities and
the language use do not reflect gender bias. There are male or female or male
and female voices in most of the audios, and even children’s voices. In terms
of content, the site was developed in 1998 and updated recently, so it is not
old. In terms of authenticity, the listening activities are everyday life
situations and audio files are organized into topics such as introductions,
education and work, living arrangements, family relationships, telephone
messaging and many more. These topics are neutral and timeless regardless of
how long ago they were released. Language function is also indicated. More
importantly, these activities and topics intend to improve English listening
skills from different levels, which not only fits well with the intended
purpose, but makes the website become qualified, reliable, and valid.
The learner’s level and control
The Website provides users with control of
the content and exercises. There is a prevalence of interactive exercises
mainly of a self-test nature in the website. These self-tests are generally
multiple choice, matching, filling in blanks, true/false, and short answers.
These elements of self-control enable users to choose their own learning path
and speed. For example, learners can choose any topic to listen to or, when
coming to the five steps of each activity, they can skip the pre-listening and
move straight to do the listening activity first. What learners need to do is
hit a button on the screen to listen to the audio file. While listening, they
can click on buttons on the screen for answering questions. After that,
learners can press another button to see the results and correct responses.
Instructions
General instructions are provided on the
top-right hand side of the home page,. Concrete and detailed explanations are
also offered before doing any activities. Users greatly appreciate the
creator’s detailed instructions on working with the audio files in “help with
audio” on the top right-hand side. First-time users are provided instructions
in navigating the site to explore the cyber lab. Free handouts are offered to
aid learners in keeping track of their progress and figuring out how the site
works. The “Tips for teachers” especially assists users in self-access and
individual learning. Careful guidance from teachers is often essential because
listening to a L2 language is one of the more difficult skills to develop.
Learners have to deal with speed, unfamiliar sounds, words, new culture,
contexts, and structures, so they may be afraid while listening. Therefore, the
author suggests that teachers should walk students through some activities,
especially leading them through the five steps of the exercises before allowing
them to work on their own. This approach will obtain better results, build the
learners’ confidence, and facilitate the students’ learning process.
Authenticity
Gebhardt (2004) and ESL PartyLand stated that
it is very difficult to offer current, authentic, and relevant topics to L2
students. One excellent source that L2 teachers should not miss is to find
materials, especially audio files, movie previews or trailer clips, on the
Internet. One of a few CALL Websites that makes them satisfactory is Randall’s
ESL site. The site has vast uploaded information, which presents
real life situations (family relationships, college life, telephone messaging,
job hunting). In addition, authentic listening tasks contain certain speech
errors and background noise. This enables the learner to connect between the
CALL environment and the real world. The authentic content also makes users
become more interested and engaged in the process of acquiring the knowledge
according to the reviews by Bangun & Stefanus (2006) and Botea (2008).
Feedback
Feedback is provided by the program as a
result of input judgement. Feedback can be either implicit or explicit. For the
listening exercises, feedback simply shows correct and incorrect answers and
the score. With the vocabulary quizzes that include various types of tasks,
such as the mixed-up sentence format, feedback can take other forms. If the
answer is correct, apart from providing the score, feedback indicates other
alternative correct answers. If the answer is wrong, feedback replies in an
appropriate and encouraging way and provides a hint for the learner so they may
try to do it again (Hubbard, 2006).
Help and intelligence
Online help is available in a PDF file format
or audio. For example, there is an audio help short cut on the right hand side
of the website, which provides very useful information. The author offers
technical support with instructions on how to download players, and how to
record audio from the Internet. In addition, the FAQs are also helpful for
users and the site author is willing to answer questions related to pedagogical
and technical aspects of the web via email.
Technical aspects of the
Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab
Program operation
The address is easily accessible to all users
with Internet connections, however, the author’s name may not be easily
remembered by international users. The advantages are that the web is neat and
well-organized; links for navigation are consistently placed and clearly
labeled. In addition to navigating from page to related page easily without
becoming lost, users are provided social networks such as LinkedIn, Facebook,
Twitter, and the Google+ blog to communicate with the site author as well as
with other users. According to the 4seohunt, this site has a number
ranking of 54,829 on the World Wide Web. The statistics show that the
average page-loading time is 0.616336 seconds. This website has a
Google Page Rank of 7 out of 10 maximam and is very popular and visited
by approximately 7,241 visitors per day and has 30,412.2 page
views per day. The common keywords of the search are: esl, English as in
English listening and listening comprehension which is hosted on a server
located in Dallas, Texas, United States.
Learner input methods
The interactions between users and the website are conducted mostly by using a mouse and there is no integrated engine
.
Screen layout
The screen shot demonstrates an appealing,
effective, and usable layout. It is very easy to locate all important
components. The space, graphics, sound elements and alignment are used
effectively to organize materials. The homepage adopts a three-column layout
with headers and footers, with the article content itself in the center.
Clicking on the activity provides the content in a center and is made to
stretch the entire width of the window area. As for the advertisements (ads),
they are generally placed at fixed locations and have fixed dimensions for a
given website. However, the screen shot ads above indicate that there is no
relationship between the products advertised and the lesson. The author
mentions that the ads go with the theme of the lesson (Botea, 2008).
The use of colour
Colors of the background, front, unvisited
and visited links form a pleasing palette that do not detract from the content,
and are consistent across pages. The Word font is clear and consistent, easy to
read and the front size varies appropriately for headings and text. A
consistant font style is used, therefore, improving readability
Graphics and sound
Graphics are consistent with content and
related to the purpose of the site. They are of high quality and enhance the
users’ interest and comprehension. Generally, sounds are good enough to assist
the users in understanding the content and making the site more accessible to
people who are visually impaired.
Multimedia technology
All multimedia clips, such audio and video
files are simple and easy to access. However, users may need to download and
install either the Play Window Media or the Play Real Media software, and Adobe
applications. Appropriate hardware and software are specified at the beginning
of the activities (Bangun & Stefanus, 2006).
Integration
Despite the fact that implementing CALL in
classrooms in Vietnam seems to be new and limited, it is useful and meaningful
to integrate CALL materials into the overall curriculum. The lesson plan below
demonstrates how essential and beneficial it is to employ specific drills from
Randall’s ESL website.
Lesson
Overview (CALL)
Course: Listening
Term:
II
Week:
One
Date: August 30, 2013
Number of students:
25
Level: Intermediate
Time: 90 minutes
Lesson:
One
Topic of lesson: Nice to meet
you
Objectives:
- To
help students focus on fluency when speaking
- To
develop the students’ communication skills by introducing themselves to
other classmates
- To
develop the students’ listening skills
Preparation
- Hardware:
26 computers for 25 students and one instructor with Internet connection
- Software:
A word-processor and Windows Media Player or RealPlayer
- Other:
A projector so that teachers are able show the pictures or examples to
students
Procedure:
- Pre-computer
work
- During
computer work
- Post-computer
work
Summary of the lesson and home assignment
Conclusions
In this paper the strengths and weaknesses of
Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab evaluated (http://www.esl-lab.com/) to help
learners make an informed decision before using the web. The description, the
analysis of the pedagogical and technical aspects and the integration of one
activity into a real course were highlighted. Now the final part is conclusion
and recommendations to improve the qualities of the Web.
Several website evaluators (e.g., Bangun
& Stefanus, 2006; Botea (2008); Rubiano (2012)) and the author of this paper
undoubtedly are in possession of the positive feedback on Randall's ESL Cyber
Listening Lab regarding authenticity, good quality, usefulness, practicality,
accuracy, and elements of technicality (see Appendix 1). However, there are
some concerns related to the website. First, users may face difficulties in
downloading the activities to work offline or they may not be able to access
the work online if the internet is down, which causes problems when integrating
this content into an online class. Second, there are times when a speakers’
voice may become boring. This might prevent the learner from listening to other
videos. Audios should be recorded with different accents because, in real life,
students are not only exposed to American accents but also to other accents as
well (Blake, 2010).
Third, the author’s understanding is that the
website is free for users and in order to maintain the web for free, ads are
inevitable. However, it would improve the appearance if the home-page had fewer
ads and that the ads were related to the current topics. Fourth, the font color
is satisfactory, however, a better color would make the content more readable
for more students. Fifth, the website is well-organized in terms of content
presentation; it is neatly sorted according to the level of difficulty, rich
with activities and exercises and the audio files used are of high quality.
Perhaps there should be a shorter presentable display or the content layout
should be in three columns. The site author should display about 10 to 15
topics and prepare a drop down list for the remaining topics. Sixth, in order
to assist learners in expanding their vocabulary ability, it would be better to
offer the root, prefix, and suffix of a word for words commonly confused. The
across-cultural issues of some audios are of the author’s final concern. The
author agrees with Blake (2010) that the first date content is not culturally
appropriate for Muslims and for Vietnamese. In Vietnam, parents only allow
their children to date once they are 18 years old.
In addition, the Website may want to update
the latest information on a regular basis and add more new situations such as
the latest news, weather, timetables, new technologies, statistics or the
latest research, stock market, politics, and cross-cultural communication. This
does not mean that the older information is useless; however, in this
information technology age, content needs to reflect the latest issues.
Finally, apart from American culture, the author might want to offer other cultures,
e.g., Korean, Vietnamese, and European covering more topics for the listening
activity. Son & Park (2012) stated that language and culture are blended
together, so learners need to learn and know both their culture and their
target language culture. This not only helps learners understand different
interactions and perspectives among beings but it also helps to become a
competent and effective communicator.
By Doan Thi Ngoc
References
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