Peer Review

Cowboy Songs and Singers: Of Lifeways and Legends

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Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:: This site is a collection of audio, video, and text on cowboy culture, as well as links to other sites, books, articles, and lesson activities related to cowboy culture and poetry.
Type of Material:: Text based reference with audio and video clips.
Recommended Uses:: This site could be used to support music history, humanities, folk music,
literature, or world music courses. The materials could be used as support for
classroom discussion, comparison, or research. The site could be appended to other historical bodies of knowledge - especially North American history and culture.
Technical Requirements:: Contemporary browser and RealAudio and QuickTime plugins.
Identify Major Learning Goals:: The major learning goal is to give a historical foundation in the area of the oral traditions associated with cowboy culture.
Target Student Population:: Those interested in American cultural expressions along with students who are
seeking an introduction and exposure to Cowboy songs and poetry would find this
site valuable. The presentation of the information is suitable for middle, high school and college levels.
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:: Only basic reading skills are required.

Rating:
Strengths:: The site uses primary sources; the information is accurate, materials are authentic and of reasonable depth. The site was developed by university faculty located in the region in which the subjects live and work. The site offers information that invites comparisons among subcultures within cowboy culture.
Concerns:: Video clips are well annotated: more detailed annotation of audio clips would be helpful. The site authors do not indicate how representative these materials
are of the greater Arizona cowboy culture.

Rating:
Strengths:: Contains description of learning activities for classroom use. The site is
modular and easily adaptable to a variety of learning objectives. Each page has
a unique URL which can be accessed independently. The site would work well in
support of comparative cultural study.
Concerns:: The site requires context or guidance by a teacher. There is no information presented for the issues and activities. Other sites and some of the links would need to be investigated to flesh out answers to these issues.

Rating:
Strengths:: Very accessible once all plugins are in place. Each link is labeled by the
plugin. Real, QuickTime, MP3.
Concerns:: Links to the sites for the plugins on the Home page would be appreciated. Some media files fail to load.

Other Issues and Comments:: The site has a clean, polished interface. The content is well balanced, accurate, and clearly presented. The use of plugins for the audio and video clips are identified clearly. The site is informative and has depth supported by original audio and video clips. There are resources offer for further research on the Cowboys and books and essays about the Legends of this music and poetry. If plugins are needed they must be downloaded outside of links from the site. This site is a product of the University of Arizona New Learning Environments 2000 grant award.
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