Website qualities

[Barbara Braxton <barbara@AUSTARMETRO.COM.AU>]

Dear Folks
Am sending this to a number of lists as I would like a variety of
perspectives....

I am working on the policy document to accompany our school website and am
using a US school's document as a guide and one of the phrases is this -
"Objectionable material is defined as material that does not meet the
standards for instructional resources as specified in District policies" .
It is referring to the sorts of websites that a school website may link to.

Now I know there are a lot of sites on the Net that offer advice about
evaluating a website, but I am interested in knowing what are "the standards
for instructional resources" and if they are the same as those that we apply
in our collection development policies to print materials and so forth.  In
the PDPS policy we have this ..

Electronic Resources
provide learner control through flexible pacing, variable difficulty, and
optimal branching and linking
information is accurate, and reliably and regularly maintained
organisation, searching capabilities and navigation tools enhance
information retrieval
provide record keeping and management options if applicable
provide readable text, attractive graphics and an appealing layout
easy-to-understand, comprehensive documentation
has top quality technical production including clear and well-crafted audio
and visual
user friendly
site license costs are not prohibitive

but this would appear to be more related to software than websites.  So do
you have separate criteria for websites that are more specific than
§       authority
§       accuracy
§       relevance
§       currency
§       bias
§       accessibility
§       suitability?

If you do, could you please share them; if you don't, what do you think they
should be?
And if anyone can send me the 'standards for instruction" for their
district, I would be interested to see what was included, and whether they
are ever reviewed.

Thank you
Barbara

Barbara Braxton
Teacher Librarian
Palmerston District Primary School
PALMERSTON ACT 2913
AUSTRALIA

T. 02 6205 7241
F. 02 6205 7242
E. barbara@austarmetro.com.au
W. http://www.palmdps.act.edu.au

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