Evaluation of Learning Material in MERLOT

As part of CEP 811, I have to evaluate a resource found on MERLOT. Here is the resource I have chosen to review:

Free Printable Vocabulary Flash Cards with Photographs

On MERLOT here.

On the Web here.

Quality of Content:
This resource provides vocabulary flashcards with high quality photographs. The flashcards are written correctly in a font easily read by young students. They also include the part of speech and definition if applicable. The flashcards are matched with the correct photographs and several tabs are provided to easily access vocabulary words at differing levels. This resource is educationally significant for English Language Learning students who are practicing basic and advanced vocabulary terms. In addition, this website was honored by the American Library Association in 2009 as a Great Web Site for Kids.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching-Learning Tool:
This tool can be used in a variety of contexts, grade levels, subjects, and ability levels. The material can be useful at several stages during the learning process including explanation, demonstration, practice, and application. As part of the explanation stage of the learning process, it can be used during direct instruction as a resource for teachers to communicate with English Language Learning students. The flashcards can help students visualize a challenging word and may give teachers new ways to show a word and its meaning. Students can use these flashcards as a visual dictionary to look up unknown or difficult words to practice fluency. Some of the words contain an audio file so students can hear the word, as well. This resource can also help students apply their knowledge to new situations. Teachers and students can create their own visual dictionary with words they are currently studying. It can be a class or team challenge to figure out a way to visually depict the word and its meaning using drawings, photographs, or acting it out. This resource does not include objectives or learning goals, but can easily be adapted to meet the needs of any teacher, student, age, ability, and subject. The open-endedness of this resource means teachers can create their own assignments and projects using this tool as a resource.

Ease of Use:
The layout of the website is very user-friendly. When you first load the page, a random sample word is chosen and displayed in the center. There are four tabs at the top right side of the page that will take users to the four categories of words on the site: basic, easy, medium, and hard. When you click on a tab, the words in that category will appear below it. There is a scroll bar on the right hand side to scroll to the bottom so users can view all the words. Then you can click on a word or picture to see it displayed in the center. You can easily click between tabs and on different words without navigating away from the main page. There is no login or signup required to use this resource. This resource simply requires a computer connected to the Internet. The information is presented in a way that would be familiar and attractive to students.

Suggested Improvements:
One thing that I would like to see added to this resource is a search box that will allow you to look for a particular word. I would also appreciate more audio files connected to the words and pictures. In addition, I would prefer if the printed words were all lowercase letters instead of the first letter capitalized. Unless used at the beginning of a sentence, the majority of words listed on the site should always be lowercase.

I am excited about the prospect of creating a customized visual dictionary. Several hundred cards are available to print for free for bookmaking and other projects, as well. You can click which cards in the category you want to include when printing. This is a great resource that I have bookmarked and plan to use frequently in my class. The bright, colorful, lively photographs will make for interesting discussions with my students!