Just Google it!

google

It is now one of the most common things that we get our students to do, a Google search. It is certainly not uncommon to hear the phrase “Just Google it” as part of our everyday language. It is the most common search engine that our students use (although there are many others) and for something that is so commonly used in schools you would expect that teachers and students would be fluent in its use. Do we know how to access the full power of the Google search engine? For me the answer is no.

As part of my own professional development I have started listening to pod casts from The EdTechCrew. Listening to my first pod cast by these guys I heard them talking about free online courses around how to use Google search which, considering how often I use this tool, sounded really interesting. So after a quick search on You Tube I was able to find a range of videos made for one of these courses. I have put a selection of these videos on the blog, see the page titled ‘Google Search Lessons for Teachers’ at the top of the blog.

The videos range from 5-10 minutes and do not necessarily have to be viewed in order (although recommend videos 7, 8 & 9 are). If you don’t want or think you will get to all of these videos then I recommend videos 1, 4, 10, 11, 12. Learn how to filter images by colour & why this might be useful. Learn how to find specific text on a web page full of writing (without reading it). Learn how to use an image instead of text to find information – drag an image from your desk top into Google search and find out where it originated. This is one that really surprised me, you can even take a photo of an object and use that to create a search! Learn how to narrow a search by time and date or view the web at a point in time by filtering out anything prior or after a specific time. Finally video 12 will show you how to translate web pages written in other languages into English. Great for students wanting to get perspectives from non English speaking countries.

 

Interested in pod casts?

podcast

Pod casts (audio/video) – Get the podcast app on your iPhone/iPad/iPod and then through the app you can access pod casts to download onto your device to listen to at a later time.