Website Evaluation: INFOhio, Essay Example

Basic Website Information

INFOhio, officially known as Ohio’s PreK-12 Digital Library and located at https://www.infohio.org, is an ongoing project of the Management Council of the Ohio Education Computer Network (MCOECN) which identifies itself as a “council of governments” (i.e., various local and city-based governments in the state of Ohio) that supports the efforts of the Ohio Education Computer Network, defined as a “network of information technology service providers that support Ohio school districts, career centers, educational service centers, and community schools” across the state of Ohio and serving more than 1.4 million students across the state (“INFOhio”).

Although there are no apparent sponsoring institutions outside of the state of Ohio, this website openly encourages its users which includes students, parents, and educators, to donate funds. The MCOECN notes that those who donate or gift can be “assured that your tax deductible donation not only relieves local school budgets, but lets us take advantage of the economy of scale available at the statewide level” (“INFOhio”).

Website Content

There are basically three sections or resource links at this website–1), students and parents for grade levels pre-K through 12th grade high school; 2), educators and teachers; and 3), library staff. There are also links concerning upcoming events related to the Management Council of the Ohio Education Computer Network and “What’s New” which provides current news and information about the website. At the bottom of the website page, there are additional links for students and parents, such as other INFOhio resources and a library catalog. For educators, a curriculum toolbox, IMatrix, being a “multidimensional framework designed to articulate the relationships amongK-12 scaffolding of 21st Century Skills, college and career readiness standards, common core standards, and research and inquiry” (“INFOhio”), webinars, coaching assistance, and “My Assessments” which lists assessments and certificates earned by website users. For the library staff, there is a workflow handbook, a toolkit, information on library advocacy, and “ITC Docs” that can only be accessed by users with a password and a login identification. Lastly, there are links to information about INFOhio, a contact link, a donation link, and how to stay connected with the website. After closely examining these links, it appears that they are free of spelling and grammatical errors.

Publishing Information

Although this website is copyrighted 2014, there are constant updates and all of the links are active as of 2015. Once a user account is created, one can stay connected with INFOhio by going to Facebook, Twitter, and a Pinterest page, all of which allows the user to subscribe to e-mail lists and INFOhio’s monthly newsletter in order to “stay up-to-date with what’s going on with INFOhio” (“INFOhio”). As previously noted, this website was specifically designed for students K-12, parents, educators, and librarians. Also, because of this, there are no obvious sales sites except for the link to donate to the website.

Website Usefulness

This website is well-designed and logically organized and can be used by anyone with the basic skills needed to explore a website and the Internet. It also provides an easy to use site search link that takes the registered user to every area of the website. Overall, INFOhio is an excellent resource for students, parents, and educators who wish to explore all of the educational resources offered by this fine and outstanding organization.

Works Cited

“INFOhio.” Web. 2014. Accessed 6 February 2015. https://www.infohio.org.