The Guardian: How to pick a winner (ShellNews.net)

The internet is littered with fun and user-friendly educational sites that are free to access - but not all are appropriate. Stephen Hoare asks some experts to give him a steer

Tuesday September 7, 2004

If it's green and wiggles, it's biology; if it stinks, it's chemistry; and if it doesn't work, it's physics. These words of wisdom and the image of a tousle-haired Albert Einstein sticking his tongue out set the tone for the homepage of the free, inspirational and fun key stage 3-4 maths/science website, www.skoool.co.uk, produced by Intel and backed by the Association for Science Education (ASE) and the London Grid for Learning.

Science teacher Andrea Coates uses Skoool with small, mixed-ability groups of 14- to 16-year-olds at the Reotas Centre in Skipton, a unit for the reintegration of permanently excluded pupils.

The site, which introduces difficult stuff like Pythagoras's theorem in interactive, bite-sized steps and pathways, carries exercises ideal for mixed-ability classes with content linked to the national curriculum.

"With its numerous extension questions for SATs and GCSE exam syllabi, and its down-to-earth mix of theory and real world examples, Skoool delivers on all counts," says Coates. "Teachers can customise the site to create their own lessons.

They could select an introductory activity, follow up with a practical experiment and then conclude with revision exercises. The website can be downloaded at school or at home with an access code - ideal for students who have missed a lesson or who want to catch up."

In fact, there is an enormous appetite among schools for good online resources, and Skoool is the latest in a growing number of free education websites published by companies, public sector organisations and charities. But how do teachers judge the value of free websites and incorporate them within the syllabus they are teaching?

Peter Stevenson, manager of Gateshead City Learning Centre, assesses sites for over 30 schools in the area. "We look at who's written it and who's put it up," he says. "[We ask] is it just a company that's jumping on the bandwagon or has the material been written and developed by teachers? The reason why the BBC website www.bbc.co.uk/schools is so popular is that it has been carefully vetted. A good independent primary website we recommend is www.sparkisland.com. It's full of educational games."

Local authority ICT advisers are an excellent source of information about how to make best use of free websites. "Teachers need to ask who's producing this website and why?" says Irene Krechowiecka, e-learning development manager for Cumbria local educational authority. "There's a lot of information about global warming, for example, on the American Petroleum Institute website but would you necessarily believe it?"

Phil McBride, an adviser on study support and ICT for Newcastle LEA, believes a good website must be engaging. "We want to see colourful, well-designed pages with clear graphics and links to the national curriculum. We ask students for their favourite sites and we will post the best ones on our intranet. Young people probably spend more time on the internet than us - so why not make use of what they know?"

Free websites fall into several categories. There are the commercial sites produced as part of a big company's corporate social responsibility agenda. These include BT's citizenship website www.btplc.com/ict and Shell's business study materials www.shell-livewire.org. These sites are reviewed in resource directories by LEA ICT advisers, grids for learning and by www.curriculumonline.gov.uk. Teachers discover the best free websites and how to use them effectively through self-discovery or word of mouth.

Some sites are produced by professional bodies, such as the Engineering Council, and charities, to raise an industry's profile. The sites are tailor-made for schools to fill a knowledge gap. One example is the young engineer site at www.youngeng.org

Museum sites are another source of inspiring online information. A good example is the Science Museum's much-acclaimed www.sparkingreaction.info

Charities, too, can provide excellent background material. One example is the Greenpeace site (www.greenpeace.org.uk) which offers material for projects on the environment, although it comes with a campaigning slant.

The biggest producers of free websites are the national media and public sector, including regional grids for learning. Their content is generally independent and of good quality, as organisations like the BBC and Channel 4 have a lot of money to invest in communications and education. BBC Bitesize and Revisewise revision materials are well known to teachers at www.bbc.co.uk/schools/revision

Teachers pick and mix, relating content to the needs of their particular classes. At Seven Kings school, Ilford, head of English Paul Lindsay-Addy has a few basic ground rules for assessing the value of a free site. "Our first priority is that it should have a pupil-friendly format. We want to see simplified schemes of work and, where appropriate, national literacy strategy objectives," he says.

The sites he is using for key stages 3 and 4 are www.universalteacher.org.uk

and www.inspiration.com, which comes complete with mind maps - a useful tool for literary criticism and analysing poems.

But Lindsay-Addy advises his students to use revision sites sparingly. "You can find a lot of information on websites, but I don't want to see students spending all afternoon googling away and producing a pointless rehash. Internet research needs to be focused, so I give students questions they must find answers to. Sites easily navigable and with learning objectives, such as www.english.uga.edu, keep students on task."

Finally, be warned that there are now so many free websites that they are best used sparingly. Krechowiecka hates what she describes as the "lazy teacher approach", where pupils are directed to long lists of vaguely related websites to look up during or after the lesson. This merely encourages aimless clicking.

"Look for educational websites with deep links," she advises. "Kids need to be given specific tasks and specific places to go."

If you're worried about the suitability of a website, don't use it if it meets any of the following criteria: it carries pop-up adverts, does not fit in with the school syllabus, has a poor design, or has no links to the national curriculum. You have been warned.

http://education.guardian.co.uk/evaluate/story/0,,1298357,00.html