Encyclopedias, Wikipedia and Times Topic Pages: Research Resources and Ideas Ángel Franco/The New York TimesA set of the Encyclopaedia Britannica on the shelves of the New York Public Library. Go to related article » Last week, Encyclopaedia Britannica announced that, after 244 years, it was going out of print. That inspired us to collect and update our resources and ideas around how and where to research, and to pose questions for students about searching for and using information in the digital age. Let us know what you do to teach your students best practices for research. Thinking About Where and How You Research Where do you go first when you need to research something? Our lesson plan Just Google It? Meanwhile, take a look at the timeline on the left, from the article about the demise of the print Encyclopedia Brittanica. Wondering About Wikipedia How much do you use Wikipedia? What is your school’s policy on the use of Wikipedia? Using Times Topics Pages for Research Times Topics pages are The Times’s own gold mine for research. Considering Plagiarism
10 Ways Google Recommends You Stay Safe Online | Education Technology and Teacher Tools – Edudemic This is part of Edudemic’s Staying Safe Online series. We will be periodically publishing guides and helpful bits of information to keep you thinking about how to stay safe among all those bits and bytes. Google has just published a terrific new guide to staying safe online . Since we all likely use at least a few of their products, it’s a guide worth checking out. Visit Your Google Dashboard If you have a Google Account, Google Dashboard helps you answer the question, “What does Google know about me?”. When you go to your Dashboard you’ll find a single page where you can see the various products you use with your account and what’s stored in them, along with easy access to the product-specific controls. Passwords Passwords are the first line of defense against cyber criminals. Use a unique password for all your important accounts. Add an extra layer of security to your Google Account When you leave your house you feel a bit safer knowing the door’s locked. Your Online Presence Phishing
Xmarks Sync 2011-10-28 Google Workshop for Educators - Google Workshop for Educators Agenda and Resources Our day will begin with a brief overview of Google culture, and how it can be a great model for schools. We start the day off right with a fun video, a few anecdotes, and an activity to get us all thinking and talking. We'll start with how you know Google best: search. We are going to create, use and share Docs, create Forms, and learn how to "Iron Chef" a lesson using Google Presentation! Many of us had heard of tours; we are going to make one. Google Sites offer students and teachers an easy way to build their own rich multi-media web sites. We'll go over some tools that people may already have heard of; but we will share ideas that can take some cool free tools and make them amazing. After a fast-paced high-energy day together, we'll take the time to reflect on our "ah-ha moments" and next steps.
Google Launches Search App for iPad -- With a Siri-Like Feature Google unveiled the latest version of its free Search app for the iPad on Monday, making searching on the Apple device faster and more intuitive — and, ironically, giving Android tablet users another reason to switch. Google's YouTube video on the app, above, highlights some of the key new features of the free app — including an easy way to recommend and share content with others on Google+, Siri-like voice search, and Google Instant — that is, seeing display results as soon as you begin to type, without the need of pressing the search button. "You’ll notice that searching is faster and more interactive from your first keystroke," said Daniel Fish, Software Engineer for the Google Search app, on the Google Mobile Blog. The app – available for iPads with iOS 4.0 or higher – also includes an innovative way to look at search results and websites side by side. New pages are added with a slide-in pane that layers over search results and makes it easy to go back and forth between them.
Ten Search Tools and Tactics Teachers and Students Need to Know I often find myself in conversations with teachers and students about Internet search strategies. Often times the conversation reminds me that what's obvious to me is amazing to someone else. Last week I had that very experience as I taught a couple of teachers some search techniques that they are going to pass along to their students. As a follow-up to that experience, I've crafted the following list of search tools and tactics that every teacher and student should know. 1. Stop Googling "What" questions. 2. 3. 4. 5. Sweet Search is a search engine that searches only the sites that have been reviewed and approved by a team of librarians, teachers, and research experts. Wolfram Alpha is billed as a computational search engine and this is exactly what it does. Twurdy is search tool that automatically displays the readability of your search results for you. Twurdy with Pop - searches using Twurdy's most complex algorithm which includes looking up the popularity of words within the text.
How to carry out an online survey using Google Docs Here’s a short guide on how to carry out an online survey using Google Docs. I’ve put a link into the Guides section of this website. For example this would be alternative way to collect class data about variation which might be easier than having one computer in the corner that each students goes to in turn to add their information, or having lots of different spreadsheets that have to be cut and pasted into one master document. Using this method the class could each visit an online form and enter their data, filling up the spreadsheet automatically. The spreadsheet can then be downloaded and shared via the school network. It could also be used for parental surveys, or for class projects – sending the link to the survey out via Twitter or email to partner schools and ask them to fill in the information. The guide is up on Scribd – so you can read it there or download a copy. How to Carry Out an Online Survey Using Google Docs Let me know what you think in the comments below!
A fresh start for Google presentations A year and a half ago, we released completely new document, spreadsheet and drawing editors. Google Docs has been picking up speed ever since with more than 60 new features and millions of new users. Today we’re rounding out the suite by previewing a new version of presentations with faster collaboration and more features. A collaborative approach Presentations are made to be shared—whether it’s presenting your thesis to your professors or inspiring colleagues at a conference. And the best presentations are made together, collaborating with others to build a compelling story that captivates your audience. See exactly what others are working on with colorful presence markersEdit with your team members simultaneously from different locationsUse revision history to see who made changes or to revert to earlier versionsSay hello, start a conversation or share new ideas using built-in chat What’s nextWe’re gradually rolling out the new presentations.
Google steps up help for schools looking for savings Monday, 09 January 2012 00:00 UK schools are starting to move to the cloud, and Google, making its BETT debut aims to help them US technology giant Google will present a healthy challenge to UK education's ICT status quo in its first year as an exhibitor at the BETT educational technology event at Olympia, London. It will be certain to ramp up competition when it shows how its mobile Chromebook computers, coupled with its Google Apps cloud services, can deliver substantial savings for schools (see "'Google it' takes on fresh meaning for UK schools"). “We may only be at the beginning of our work with Chromebooks in education, but we know that we have a compelling proposition for schools,” says Google’s head of education, William Florance. Chromebooks look like netbooks but are designed to work with cloud services. The key points being presented by Google about its Apps are that they are: The Chromebooks are for people who can do everything they need on the web. More information