Group items tagged

"Google Image is one of the powerful image search engines online and it is probably one of the first options students head to when searching for images to use in their multimedia projects.Of course, there other several other great platforms for searching for images to use for educational purposes but today I want to focus on Google Image and share with you some overlooked tips that students need to pay heed to when searching for images. Using these tips, students will be able to : Search images by usage rights Search images by type Search image with specific set of colours Search image by size "

"Often times when I talk about effective use of Google search one name always pops up in my posts this is Dr Russell, search anthropologist. I have been following his blog for sometime now and I have learned a great deal from him on how to leverage the power of Google for educational purposes. Just a couple of weeks ago, I shared here the 8 search skills Russell recommended for every 21st century student and today I am sharing this wonderful visual as a follow-up to that post. This cheat sheet features some important tips that students can use to improve their google search skills. I invite you to have a look and share with your colleagues."

"The power of Google search engine lies in its hidden features. Getting precise search results requires much more than simply comping up with a random search query and hitting  'I am feeling lucky' button. Google search is a skill that needs to be explicitly taught to students. To this end we are sharing with you this handy visual that features some practical tips to hone in your Google search skills and enable you to effectively search for and find digital content using a wide variety of specific symbols and words. "

"I don't think I know anyone who isn't in a search rut. We usually begin our search in one of two search giants. But while they may not have achieved verb status, we have other choices well worth discovering. And it's kinda in our ballpark to ensure that appropriate choices are easily available on both desktops and mobile devices. Today, I'd like to share a few search engine options that might be worth sharing in a curation with your learning community. "

"Anyone who has been to any of my presentations in the past couple of years knows that I'm passionate about teaching search skills. Not only search skills, but how search can and is truly changing our world. Search has the possibility to change our classrooms tomorrow because we can ask interesting questions that we never could ask before. If you are asking your students the same questions today that you asked before Google, it's time to updated your questions. Things have changed….the world has changed and questions and information are the main reason why. I consider Dan Russell from Google the father of search today. This guy understands how our world is changing because we can ask questions we never could before. In this TEDx Talk Dan talks not only about how search is changing our world but more importantly the reading strategies we need to be teaching today to our students around how to read digital information. Dan, through research of his own, goes on to show that only 51% of educators know the digital information reading strategy of "Find". That's just one strategy! There are others he talks about in this video. If nothing else this video has fueled my passion even more on why every teacher needs to know and understand this new digital world of information."

"Reading through the solution to Dr. Russell's search challenge, which is a very advanced one that I wouldn't expect most high school students to employ, got me thinking about a search strategy and tools that I haven't employed before. That prompted me into thinking about creating a list of accessible search tools and strategies that middle school and high school students often overlook. Here's my short list of tools and strategies that are often overlooked."

"Google just updated its iOS Google Search app (iTunes link). I have always preferred searching for Web content on the iPhone using Google's dedicated search app, compared to the search box built in to Safari. Now the experience is better. "

"Back in August I shared an infographic featuring search strategies that every student can use. Yesterday, Vicki Davis posted a great companion to that infographic. Vicki shared this Google Search Modifiers Poster (link opens a PDF). Many of the modifiers featured in the poster can also be used by opening the advanced search menu in Google and making search choices. "

"I still miss that beautiful visual presentation, but you can still use Google News to search contemporaneous news. Contemporaneous news offers students unfiltered, personal connection to the past and forces them to wrestle with issues of bias and historical perspective. Contemporaneous news focuses a media literacy lens on how news is/was reported. How many different ways is the same story reported? How does the story evolve over the course of days, weeks, years? How do stories reported at the time differ from the way a story is reported with the benefit of hindsight or without the homongenization of textbook coverage? We can engage learners in considering why a story is placed where it is placed in a newspaper, why a particular headline was crafted, how our language has shifted, and why search terms may be time-contextual. (For instance, why searches for World War I, African Americans, the Holocaust, might not be effective in contemporaneous sources.)"

"Last summer the folks at Canva were kind enough to create a great infographic for me based on a set of search tips that I sent to them. The infographic makes a great poster to display in your classroom, but it is a little light on the details of how and why to use some of the search strategies. The PDF embedded below provides more detail on the search strategies that I frequently share with teachers and students."

"Google Books is one of the wonderful research tools I use when searching for books. Google Books provides some important features for conducting accurate book searches and allows users to do a lot of things with the books they find. They can for instance search for key words and phrases from within the book, clip a portion of the text and share it, and download the book in different formats : PDF, EPUB, and in plain text. These and several other features render Google Books a great search platform that our students can draw on to help them with their research projects. Here is a visual guide I created to help you learn more about the different things you can with Google Books. Check out the presentation version of this visual at the end of this post."

"Here's a flashback to Back to School time!  I never got to post all the activities we did at the beginning of the year.  Colorful quotes is one of my favorites! I had been on the search for motivational quote posters that were appropriate for my fifth graders.  My second grade ones seemed too "little" for them and all I could find were ones that belonged in a high school classroom.  Then I came across Doodle Art Alley.  They have educational, motivational, and inspirational quotes "doodled" just waiting to be filled in.  I found almost enough quotes for my entire class.  I doubled up on my favorites."

"Here is a quick and handy search tip I learned today from Ana Hoffman's post on Google Plus. For those of you who are using Chrome browser this nifty tip will allow you to search for content on any website right from Chrome address bar. This means that you do not need to access the website to use its search engine to look for content hosted on it."

"Today, I finally got an iPad. An iPad mini, to be exact. And now the search for good French apps begins. The choice is vast and while there are many free apps to choose from, it appears that often the better apps cost money. The problem is, one cannot explore an app until it is bought! I therefore created this blog to facilitate the search for appropriate FSL apps. I will be reviewing apps on a regular basis, and rating them so that you can better judge whether to buy them or not. I will only review apps that require a purchase. The free ones you can test out yourself (see some of them below, #1)!"

"July 16, 2014 While searching for some resources on a paper and writing on  the 21st century learning skills I came across this skills checklist created by the university of Toledo. This checklist is meant to help students build powerful resumes outlining all the skills they master. I spent some time going through the components of this sheet and found it really sharing with you here.  You can use this sheet with your students as an explanatory guide of some of the important skills ( I said some because some other important skills particularly those related to digital citizenship and digital literacy are missing) they need to work. Below is a round-up of the 9 most important skills which I selected from the entire list. You can acccess this list from this link. 1- Research skills Know how to find and collect relevant background information Be able to analyze data, summarize findings and write a report 2- Critical Thinking skills Be able to review different points of view or ideas and make objective judgments Investigate all the possible solutions to a problem, weighing the pros and cons 3- Organizational skills Be able to organize information, people or thins in a systematic way Be able to establish priorities and meet deadlines 4- Problem-solving skills Be able to clarify the nature of a problem Be able to evaluate alternatives, propose viable solutions and determine the outcome of the various options 5- Creative thinking skills Be able to generate new ideas, invent new things, create new images or designs Find new solutions to problems Be able to use wit and humour effectively 6- Analytical/ logical thinking skills Be able to draw specific conclusions from a set of general observations of from a set of specific facts Be able to synthesize information and ideas 7- Public speaking skills Be able to make formal presentations Present ideas, positions and problems in an interesting way 8- Oral communication skills Be able to present information and ideas clearly a

"After the publication of "9 Google  alternatives for academics and student researchers" today I am sharing with you this excellent list of academic search engines specifically curated for history teachers. Using these search engines, you will be able to look for and find resources and materials to use in your class with your students. These resources include original historical documents, maps, images, records, memorials, primary source materials, interactive timelines and man"

"In today's post I am sharing with you some interesting search engines ideal for folks in engaged in social science research.Researchers working in the fields of psychology, anthropology, and related subjects will find great results using these search engines."

"he sound of activity echoes throughout the classroom. I find myself engaged in a small-group conversation around the igneous rocks that the students in this group are holding. Remembering that shortly before that conversation I'd been about to redirect some students, I quickly scan the room searching for off-task behavior. To my delight, I find that a wide array of learning is taking place. In one corner, I see students watching a video and typing online reflections. In the other corner, I see students comparing their drawings on the rock cycle. This is what a good day built on learning centers looks like. As teachers strive to find ways of promoting key success skills while making use of limited resources, learning centers can be an invaluable tool in the secondary classroom. In addition, learning centers provide time-strapped teachers with opportunities for meaningful formative assessment that helps drive the classroom instruction. What are some strategies that secondary teachers can use to successfully launch learning centers in their classrooms?"

"As we were having a great discussion about the connectivism article and what it meant for universities and their classrooms, one faculty member spoke up with this: I just wish they could find information better. They can't tell the junk from the good stuff. ….and that's when I started appologizing for our K-12 system. I find it sad that university professors are not using technology in their classes. They are not trying new things like posing interesting questions and having students research those questions and come to class ready to have deep discussions about them because "they can't tell the junk from the good stuff". As soon as this statement was made, heads started nodding around the room and with my own recent rantings on this subject as well….I led them into that discussion."

"I did a quick search, delving a few pages deep in the results, but couldn't find what I wanted. I thought that it would be useful if a trailer could be planned in advance, rather than shoot footage and hope that there was enough of the various types of scenes to fit the trailer templates. I know that we should design a trailer around our content, but it is also nice to be able to create one quickly from the templates."