Colorado Department of Education Website Search and Critique - Research Paper Example

Nowadays many organizations have websites to tell about themselves, their aims and goals. The Colorado Department of Education (CDE) is an organization which is preoccupied with providing “all Colorado children” with equal and high quality education (CDE). It is necessary to point out that the website of the organization meets all requirements to high quality and helpful website. The very first page of the website “CDE Home” tells all the necessary information about CDE. It is easy to navigate the page.

All questions concerning the organization’s aims, mission, activities, structure are answered in this section. All contact information can be easily accessed. Any visitor can read about the history of organization and even view schedule of every meeting held. In fact, the page contains thorough information about all offices of the organization. There is no doubt in organization’s transparency. There is nothing to be changed in this section because it provides thorough information which can be easily accessed.

As far as the second page “SchoolVIEW” is concerned it is necessary to note that it is a bit confusing and it needs to be improved. The major problem with this page is that it is too informative. There are too many data which are not easy to comprehend. It is necessary to take one’s time to understand what all those data mean. It is a good idea to include section “learning center” which instructs how to comprehend the data. However, this section should be in the first place, so that the website viewer step by step learned to use data available and then looked through information presented.

It is also a good idea to include “community connections” section: the organization gets the necessary feedback and can improve the website. The next page “For Educators” is designed for those who teach and even only thinks about starting their teaching careers. The page is not so easy to navigate. It contains loads of information, so this page’s visitors can be a bit confused. However, it is necessary to note that the page is aimed at helping professionals who are (in the vast majority of cases) able to search for the necessary information.

Nonetheless, it could be better if information, which can be helpful for novice teachers or those who only try to decide whether they want to be a teacher, was presented in some section which could be easy to access. The page also provides many helpful links to other online resources. As for the next page “For Administrators”, it is helpful for school administrators. It is necessary to point out that this information (its major part) is already presented in other sections of the website. However, it is very convenient for administrators to have all information which can be helpful for them on a separate page.

This page is quite easy to navigate. It also includes links to other valuable online resources which can be helpful for administrators. The page “For Parents & Students” is aimed at helping students and their parents to solve many issues concerning education. The page’s visitors can find information about students’ assessment, various programs, and find links to other helpful resources. It also contains a section where the most important and helpful information is presented in Spanish, since there are many people whose primary language is Spanish.

Though information is divided into certain sections it seems that the page is too confusing. The list of links is not the best way to present information for students and their parents. It is necessary to make this page more “reader friendly” and descriptive. For instance, the initial page is a good example of the best way to provide information. On balance, CDE website contains all the necessary information about the organization and education in Colorado. However, almost all pages of the website should be improved since it is not easy to access and perceive information presented.

Two pages which can be left without changes are “CDE Home” and “For Administrators” which are informative and still not confusing. Work Cited CDE. The Colorado Department of Education, 2011. Web. 29 Apr. 2011.