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Beyond Google -
AddThis
Posted by Mr. Byrne at 2:12 PM
Labels: Google, Internet search, teaching technology, Teaching With Technology, Technology Integration, web search, web search strategies
5 comments:
SIS Media Specialist said...
Geesh Richard, another great resource; like your posts are not enough. Many, many thanks. I have followed your blog for about a year and have learned SO MUCH. I understand you are from CT. Any chance we can get you to the joint annual CASL/CECA (Connecticut Association of School Librarians and Connecticut Educators Computer Association) conference next year?
October 24, 2009 10:35 PM
Mr. Byrne said...
Yes, I am originally from Connecticut. In fact, I went to CCSU for freshman year. I'd like to come to CASL/CECA. Can you send me an email? richardbyrne (at) freetech4teachers
Thanks.
October 25, 2009 6:47 AM
Linux and Friends said...
Thanks for the amazing document.
I am aware of a few of the resources listed in the document. However, many of the others are new to me. I will definitely check them out.
November 2, 2009 9:45 PM
dunnes said...
I visited and bookmarked four sites from this post! Thank you for the great resource. Students want to use Google rather than stick to the school library catalog, but they need more instruction on how to do this. I have seen too many children search with ineffective terms, and then waste time clicking on their random results.
November 8, 2009 12:38 PM
Lois said...
Beyond Google is a great resource. I wish I had your skills for taking what you learn and putting it together as you do. I love reading your daily blog.
November 15, 2009 10:04 AM
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Links to this post
Beyond Google: Improve Your Search Results
http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2009/10/beyond-google-improve-your-search.html While working with some of my colleagues in a workshop earlier this week, I was reminded that a lot of people aren't familiar with tools
"Google Books can be a good research tool for students if they are aware of it and know how to use it. These are activities to teach students and others about the features of Google Books.
1. Search for a book by using the "researching a topic?" search box.
2. Use the advanced search menu to refine your search to "full view only" books.
3. Use the advanced search menu to refine a search by date, author, or publisher.
4. Search within a book for a name or phrase.
5. Download a free ebook.
6. Share an ebook via the link provided or by embedding it into a blog post.
7. Create a bookshelf in your Google Books account and add some books to it.
8. Share your bookshelf with someone else. "
"Updates/Posts
* Facebook status updates: 700 per second
* Twitter tweets: 600 per second
* Buzz posts: 55 per second
And compared to searches
* Google: 34,000 searches per second
* Yahoo: 3,200 searches per second
* Bing: 927 searches per second"
"Yes, if you really want to go into those little hidden lanes of the web you need to keep a roster of alternative search engines close by. Here's a roll call of some search engines which can grab for you what even Google can't."
Feed readers
are probably the most important digital tool for today's learner because they
make sifting through the amazing amount of content added to the Internet
easy. Also known as aggregators, feed readers are free tools that can
automatically check nearly any website for new content dozens of times a
day---saving ridiculous amounts of time and customizing learning experiences for
anyone.
Imagine
never having to go hunting for new information from your favorite sources
again. Learning goes from a frustrating search through thousands of
marginal links written by questionable characters to quickly browsing the
thoughts of writers that you trust, respect and enjoy.
Feed readers can
quickly and easily support blogging in the classroom, allowing teachers to
provide students with ready access to age-appropriate sites of interest that are
connected to the curriculum. By collecting sites in advance and organizing
them with a feed reader, teachers can make accessing information manageable for
their students.
Here are several
examples of feed readers in action:
Used specifically as
a part of one classroom project, this feed list contains information related to
global warming that students can use as a starting point for individual
research.
While there are literally dozens of different feed reader
programs to choose from (Bloglines andGoogle Reader are two
biggies), Pageflakes is a favorite of
many educators because it has a visual layout that is easy to read and
interesting to look at. It is also free and web-based. That
means that users can check accounts from any computer with an Internet
connection. Finally, Pageflakes makes it quick and easy to add new
websites to a growing feed list—and to get rid of any websites that users are no
longer interested in.
What's even
better: Pageflakes has been developinga teacher version of their tooljust for us that includes an online grade tracker,
a task list and a built in writing tutor. As Pageflakes works to perfect
its teacher product, this might become one of the first kid-friendly feed
readers on the market. Teacher Pageflakes users can actually blog and create a
discussion forum directly in their feed reader---making an all-in-one digital
home for students.
For more
information about the teacher version of Pageflakes, check out this
review: