This week’s journal serves as a look at two websites: Smart Museum and 2Beme.rog.

Looking at SmartMuseum from a critical eye, I like the home page. There are four clear options students can choose from and each offers a different educational path. A trip to a museum with students usually only happens on a school trip where art or museums are the last things on students minds. They are usually thinking about the girls on the bus, what’s in the gift shop or what is for lunch. It’s a play date away from school. This happens because trips are too few and far between. This website could help a teacher plan ahead of a trip – like an advanced organizer to helps students focus on the task at hand. I particularly like the artist’s tour of the site. It is so important to introduce students to careers and hook them up with real world practitioners. This section of the site attempts that.

However, I don’t like the constant popping of things on the site. It is sensory overload, distracting and childish. The sketchbook, parent section and theme-options are a nice touch and should provide students with some level of engagement. I would like to see more video of real museums.

2beme.com is a touching website that helps a niche audience with real emotional needs. Suffering from cancer, one would hope these teens would have had the time to discuss these four issues with their doctors or parents. If not, this site offers an outlet. I like how it is again broken up into four catagories and is artistically relevant. The colors and images are soft and cartoonish and should hopefully convey a feeling of optimism and positivity.

The animations are borderline. They should be tuned down a little bit as they are distracting and provide a little too much extraneous load as someone looks to get information about a serious topic. I also like the catchy titles like “chill zone.” I think it brings some levity to students who may be feeling down about their condition. It may seem callous on the surface to suggest this, but this soft, emotional touches seem to go a long way with the healthy students in my classroom.