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Peer Review

History of Vaccines

Reviewed:

Feb 10, 2017 by Biology
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Ratings

Overall Rating: 4.8 stars
Content Quality: 5.0 stars
Effectiveness: 4.8 stars
Ease of Use: 4.8 stars
Overview:

This website has a timeline of vaccination history, a series of articles and images and some activities. The information provided says: The History of Vaccines is an award-winning informational, educational website created by The College of Physicians of Philadelphia, one of the oldest medical societies in the United States. A group of prominent Philadelphia physicians, including Declaration of Independence signer Benjamin Rush, established the College in 1787 “to advance the science of medicine and to thereby lessen human misery.
Type of Material:

Reference material; simulation;
Recommended Uses:

Several activities could be used in-class (e.g. the demonstration of herd immunity or the animation showing how vaccines work). The articles and timeline would also work well as pre- or post-class assigned reading.
Technical Requirements:

JavaScript must be enabled.
Identify Major Learning Goals:

None specifically stated. In addition to learning the history of vaccine development and how vaccines have contributed to public health, students will also become familiar with how vaccines work, how they are developed, and the risks/benefits associated with vaccines. This site offers an opportunity to learn more about the scientific method in general.
Target Student Population:

High school or lower-level undergraduate biology, public health, or A&P classes
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:

None.

Content Quality

Rating:
Strengths:

  • Quality is very high, information is all accurate
  • The timeline and articles provide detailed information that is difficult to find from other sources
  • The activities are engaging
  • Vaccination in the United States has a large political element; arguments of vaccine skeptics and anti-vaccine arguments are addressed
Concerns:

  • None

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

Rating:
Strengths:

  • The information is well presented, with lots of graphics
  • Some information is interactive
  • There are separate sections of the site for parents, educators, and the general public
  • A blog with current events and news is maintained by the site
  • The site is connected to social media and there is an email list
Concerns:

  • More college level materials would be appreciated

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

Rating:
Strengths:

  • This site is visually appealing, easy to navigate and well-indexed.
  • The entire site has been translated into Spanish; users can access this version with one click from the navigation bar.
  • The activities and articles within the site are likewise intuitive to use, beautifully designed and intuitive to use.
  • The features worked as intended on Firefox, Safari and Chrome and on both Apple and PC
  • There are multiple ways to access some of the content
Concerns:

  • The site is navigated mostly by buttons in a menu bar, but some aspects of the navigation are not intuitive (e.g. the home page must be found by clicking the logo image for the site); for less tech savvy people, the site may prove difficult to navigate
Other Issues and Comments:

This site appears to be updated regularly. All articles I accessed (in Jan 2017) had an "updated on" date in 2016. Excellent site!
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