Educaplay
is a website that enables teachers to create a wide variety of different
educational and interactive activities. Activities teachers can create include,
but are not limited to, listening and reading dialogues, jumbled words and
others various games. These activities can then be linked or embedded in
various areas around the web, such as the teacher’s blog.
We
chose to evaluate this website because the members of our group decided it was
a step above the rest. Unlike many educational websites that seem to only focus
on content and not presentation, Educaplay has a pleasing layout and an
excellent color scheme. In addition, all the graphics are smooth looking and
related to what they represent. The layout is not only pleasing to look at, but
also easy to navigate. All areas are clearly spelled out, and almost nothing
seems to be out of place. Wording at the directional bar is a bit obtuse
(directories for what? Groups of what?) but considering how well planned the
rest of the site is, it is easy to overlook.
All
of this is not to say that the content is lacking. Rather the opposite is true.
There are a good number of games and educational activities. However, while
there are a fair amount of activities listed, the information under each
individual one is sparse. These activities could stand to be updated with a bit
more information.
One
reason that these activities might be lacking in information is because the
site seems to be a bit outdated. The last informational blog post from the
administrator was in 2014. While this date is not exceptionally past, it seems
longer than needed, especially for the web.
Overall, the Educaplay achieves its goal of
bringing educational and fun activities and games to teachers. The site could
stand a bit of improvement, but it is still wholly usable and as such, a great
asset.