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Google Instant Search - Impact on student research?

Last week Google released a new way of searching when you are on their home page called instant search.  What instant search does is provides a list of website results instantly as you type each letter.  Now if you are logged into your google account the results are both personalized (based upon your web history) and localized.

While it is good practice to employ several search strategies and to use different search engines, data suggests that most students will only use Google.  Now with Google instant the displayed results of your search are different based upon where you are and who you are.  While this might be a good thing if you are searching for pizza, what if you are comparing the policies of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.  As you type W...A...S...H...I...N...G and so on the results you get will change instantly based upon where you are at and your past history as you type each letter.  Will this be a distraction to students as they search?  Student habits rarely took students past the first page of results and some would suggest that this new method of displaying results will not take students past the first three hits for the first few letters of a word that they type.

Here I typed an L into the search box while logged into my google account.  The top hit is Las Vegas Review Journal.  However, I bet that is not the case for my father who lives in Northern Wisconsin.

So my question is again... what implications do you think this will have on student research?  Or am I over thinking the implications?

Webquests vs Websheets

Webquests seem to be a popular activity for teachers to use in their classrooms.  I have no problem with webquests when used and created as they were originally intended.  However the traditional webquest has been skewed into something that it shouldn't be, a websheet.

A webquest, in it's intended sense, is to divided into several parts.  First the student should be presented with some sort of real world scenario/problem.  The student(s) is then given some sort of role in which they need to solve that problem.  The webquest (especially for students first learning how to navigate the web) then will then provide a listing of resources for students to look at to gain background, current research, and general information about the task at hand.  This can help model for the student what quality web sources look like.  After the student wonders through the information the students then tackle the given task, and CREATE something.  They need to use upper levels of their brain and synthesize and evaluate the information.   They need to come up with a solution to the problem by creating the actual product.

I have been disappointed with the number of webquests that I have found/seen/heard about that are turned into glorified worksheets, or as I call them "websheets" (not to be confused with Oricle Databases websheets).  It is absurd that we continue to have students lookup, record, lookup, record, lookup, record.... and depend on Bloom's lowest level of taxonomy.  Having a student look up information on a website and transfer information to a piece of paper is NOT a webquest, and does not deserve to be called that.  Call it what it is a boring worksheet, that uses the internet as the source of information instead of a textbook.

Check out the webquest created by Duncan Morrissey Lisa Tattoli at SDSU called Modern Museum of Romanticism.  It challenges students to look at Romantic Art and then create a museum exhibit.

Teachers, please be careful when browsing through webquests.  Make sure that the webquest is of quality design and not just a last ditch effort at lesson planning.  Webquest authors, please continue to create quality webquests that are fun, exciting, and challenge students to think.

Download Youtube Video

There are many ways to download and use youtube videos in presentations.  This one came to my attention this summer at the BLC09 conference in Boston, MA.  I like the fact that you do not not have to download any software and it is very easy to use.  I have only run into a couple videos that would not download.

Professional Develpment ... Optional?

I am currently working on a professional development plan to prepare our faculty for a 1:1 laptop program to be rolled out in the 09-10 school year. Next school year each month we are planning on having one 3 hour workshop. Then to supplement the workshop we are planning on having smaller sessions on a weekly basis either before or after school. The problem is that some in our school want these smaller sessions to be optional with a monetary incentive for attendance. It is of my opinion that if these sessions are not required then teacher attendance is going to be very low, even with the incentive.

The better alternative would be to make the sessions mandatory and then add an incentive for using what they have learned in the classroom. To document the use of the technology they could post the lesson plan to a school wiki, and provide examples of student work. I also think if we want to give them choices, then offer 4-6 different sessions a month and make them pick 3 or 4 of them to attend.

Teachers have enough on their plate, I know I am one, but I also know teachers are not going to come to an "optional" professional development session for a small bonus on their paycheck.

photo by edublogger on flickr.

Memorization and 21st century skills

I was sitting at our faculty in service today and our guest speaker is a prominent psychologist in our area. I was listening to him talk about strategies that we can use to help students with learning disorders be successful in our classrooms and ultimately in the "real world." Many of the strategies that he discussed were great recommendations that any good teacher should and would incorporate into their classroom.

One section of his talk did bother me. He said that memorization is a very important skill that should be taught and incorporated in all parts of the curriculum. Where does this fit into teaching students 21st century skills? He was correct in saying there is too much information for anyone to memorize, but his answer to the problem is wrong. As we are preparing our students to be successful in the 21st century, we need to get past this idea that everything needs to be memorized. As an anatomy teacher I struggle with this issue myself. We need to teach students how to access and filter the enormous amounts of information that is constantly being streamed at them. The faculty at our school was asking "How do I help my students memorize this?" The question we should be asking is "How do I teach my student to access and use the information appropriately?" We need to teach students how access the information and to use their learning network. We need to move beyond rote memorization. With technology tasks that have been traditionally left to memorization and left brain thinking can be done by a computer. We need to encourage and foster the right brain skills in order to prepare our students for the 21st century.

Teachers in the 21st Century must change and adapt to keep up with their students. The time has come for teachers to move away from rote memorization, repetitive practice, silent study without conversation, and brief exposure to topics, and instead, move closer to authentic learning.
-Dave Sherman "What Really Engages All Students?"

We need to teach students how to learn how to access the information to make informed decisions and solve real world problems.

Image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/tashamort/2316193178/ username: Natrasha

Technology Summit Day 2 Part 2