The Reliability and Usability of Funbrain

       Today, I accomplished another first-I evaluated the educational, children's website, funbrain.com, for its reliability and usability on the internet. I have never done something like this before, but I can honestly say that this was quite helpful because I was able to distinguish if this is truly a website that I would consider using in my classroom when I am teacher one day. I have to say that I got a little stressed looking at the evaluation sheet because I did not know if I would be able to find all the answers and get them correct. I know I did my best to dissect the website and find what I needed, but there were still some areas of the evaluation sheet that I was unsure of my answers. However, not only was this evaluation helpful for funbrain but I can definitely see some of the questions it asked rolling over into my decision for the reliability and usability of other children's websites as well.

       This site is wonderful because it is easy for children to navigate and find what they want, yet still educating them every step of the way. It is also great for teachers because it builds on what they teach their students everyday. Another plus is that funbrain includes a link to standards for teachers to show that the games and activities on the site are addressing the standards. I think this site is especially great for elementary school students because it is still quite young with its graphics and is very elementary just in just the nature of the website. Because of the fact that I am a hoping to be a Deaf ed./Special ed teacher, I find this site helpful in that it is interactive and fun yet it still explicitly and systematically states what it wants the child to do. I can definitely see a site like funbrain keeping a student who has disabilities or ADHD (for example) very engaged. My only concern with a student who has a disability is that the words and text all over the sight might get in the way of what they are trying to find when they are navigating the site. With the proper assistance though, I think that a student who has a disability could function well on this site. 

      Funbrain balances education, fun and interest very evenly, which I don't see as an easy task to accomplish. I commend the creators of this site because it seems quite difficult to do. I think it is safe to say that I would 100% use this site in my classroom as a general elementary education teacher and I would also use it as a special educator, while still providing assistance to the student who has the disability. Also, for deaf children, they still learn the same math, reading and literary skills that other students learn so I don't see why they would not be able to navigate and use a site like funbrain. It can definitely make learning for them more interesting and it gives them a different opportunity to practice what they have learned. Sometimes lessons can get quite boring, such as many math lessons, so a website like funbrain can make a math lesson that seems quite boring actually fun.

If you would ever like to use this the site in your classroom or just for fun the link is: http://www.funbrain.com/ (I really recommend it!)