Monday, November 19, 2007

Texas Tech New Teachers Website

I. Name of Web Site: New Agricultural Teacher Program
II. Web Site: www.depts.ttu.edu/agriculturalteachers/
III. Updated: October, 2007
IV: Organizational Credentials: Texas Tech University, Ag Education
V: Web Site Design: The home page design is interesting, and a little confusing. There are no tabs to click on just pictures. There is a Georgia Agricultural Education link on the home page of Texas Ag teachers, which I found a little misleading. I would expect on Texas links for your home page. I clicked on it and got page cannot be displayed. In the center of the home page is a picture link that “Local Program Resource Guide 2005-2006.” If the program was updated in October 2007 you would assume that this link might be outdated. So, I clinked on it and found this page no longer available. There are education games online, and computer learning links. I chose the classroom link and found a wealth of information. It breaks it down into two categories, discipline and general. The subcategories were very helpful. I went to discipline as a new teacher and found information ranging from setting up your classroom discipline to ice breakers for the first day. The discipline that I looked at gave positive reinforcements and links to certificates and letters praising children’s behavior. Next I found a link emphasizing what will not work in the area of disciple. These were really good links. I went back to the home page and tried the Livestock Show link and it was excellent. Then I tried some of the game links; they didn’t seem to work on my computer. The agency links seemed to work well, and were easy to navigate. However, I did not have a search engine to help navigate the web site.
VI: Response and Recommendation: I was somewhat disappointed in this web site. I assumed that it would be more effective being supported by Texas Tech University. The picture links were ok, but I didn’t particularly like them. I like to have a description or index to the links. I did not find a search engine either. Some of the links did not work. However, the education link was great. I believe that discipline is a major role in the day to day activities of teachers and they had some very helpful hints. Overall, there was good information, but I found the web site needing attention and I would get frustrated going to links that do not exist, or games that cannot be displayed. I believe the other four web sites I looked at very far superior to this one.

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