Peer Review

Shofar Webpage

Material Detail page

Reviewed:: Mar 20, 2023 by Music

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Ratings

Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:

Exploration of ancient 'brass' instrument.

This website explores the history, construction, and playing of the shofar, a ritual instrument associated with Judaism. It is primarily a text webpage, with sections devoted to musicality, ritual use, and aspects of embouchure and contruction.

Type of Material:

Reference Material

Recommended Uses:

Individual reading

Technical Requirements:

Browser and ability to hear sound for examples

Identify Major Learning Goals:

Describe the ritual, musical, and physical properties of the shofar

Target Student Population:

High School, College General Ed, College Lower Division, College Upper Division, Professional

Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:

Some preexisting knowledge of both Judaism and musical instruments may be needed to fully understand.

Content Quality

Rating:
Strengths:: The website provides information about an instrument that may be left out of most textbooks, but would be a valuable point of discussion in courses on music appreciation, world music, music and religion, or Jewish history. It includes details of physical construction, performance, and maintenance that might be difficult to find elsewhere.
Concerns:: The quality of the pages within the site vary widely. The strongest page, at least for a music course, is taken from a different website and author. The others contain interesting information, but often lack context that would be helpful for students, and need editing for formatting.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

Rating:
Strengths:: The sub-pages are generally brief and focused, so they could be assigned in targeted ways.
Concerns:: The webpage does not seem to be designed with a student in mind, so there is very little in terms of explicit scaffolding, learning outcomes, or assessment to evaluate.

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

Rating:
Strengths:: The site is primarily text, so there are few obstacles to access, and it could be accessed on a mobile device.
Concerns:: The visual appeal and design are not very effective. Viewing the website in Chrome, there are multiple overlapping text blocks, a busy background, etc. There are also text editing issues such as sentences and their references running together, that impede usability. Not all images have alt-text and there are heading structures that are not ideal. Some of the few interactive or visual elements, such as the recording and image on the homepage, either seem to be the incorrect file or are not explained.

Other Issues and Comments:: There is valuable information here, and a strong website on the shofar would be a useful supplement in many music and religion courses. However, it needs significant editing with attention to instructional and visual design to be appealing to students and instructors.
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