Evaluating Teacher Websites for Special Education

This website that I found is called Using Technology to Raise the Achievement of ALL Students. The website is sponsored by Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), which is a professional organization that specializes in utilizing technology in the classroom. The purpose of this website is to inform and educate teachers on ways technology can be incorporated for students with and without learning disabilities. It also provides information on laws associated with individuals who have disabilities. The layout of the website is very professional and easy to navigate. There are no ads visible other than logos of companies that the website incorporates. On the right hand side of the website, it allows viewers to sign-up for updates made by CoSN. This appears to be a nice feature for some teachers. As a future educator, potentially in the field of special education, this website would be extremely helpful. It would help me design activities that incorporate technology for students with disabilities. The website also provides a tab that contains many other resources that could be viewed. The amount, as well as variety, of resources provided is remarkable. There are resources that simply describe the laws associated with special education. There are resources that provide general information on students with disabilities. And, finally, there are resources that are more specific to technology and special education uses. A final point to note about this website is the self-assessment test feature. This allows educators to see areas of strengths and weaknesses when it comes to utilizing technology. When the results from the self-assessment are completed, the CoSN provides additional resources to view. This added feature is not something you always see on websites and could be interesting to examine.