I was astonished that there are so many search engines available in the Internet. Then I start to question myself why I have only been using Google. Am I influenced by social media, friends, or what? Then I wonder why many of my Mainland Chinese students use Baidu but not Google. Does that have to do with culture?
I selected 7 search engines from the long list of "Choose the Best Search for Your Information Need" that may be useful for students and myself. They are SurfWax, IDEA Portal, SweetSearch, Infotopia, CIA World Factbook, Social Issues, and Search Engine Colossus. Some of them are good and can be used as resources for class projects and activiies. The ones that I would recommend are:
- IDEA Portal
- SweetSearch
- CIA World Factbook
- Social Issues
I also try using the search engine "Exalead" which claims to be an excellent alternative to Google according to "Phil Bradley's List of Web Search Engines". I think the results generated are limited and for some broad terms, such as non verbal communication, Exalead can't find any matches to my search.
Another reading that I find very useful is the Web Searching Tech Tip by Deborah Healey. I have had a lot of experience of not being able to find materials that I want from the Internet. I think it is because I didn't know to use Boolean opeators to limit or expand my search.
After finished the readings for this week and the online discussion on websearching, I can't wait to get back to the classroom to share these tools with my students.
The readings about learning objectives and the ABCD model shed some light on me. I understand the concerns of our new teachers and why they are so confused about the course materials and activities. I think the terminologies "objectives", "learner outcomes" and "goals" are intepreted differently by teachers so it caused a lot of misunderstanding. Moreover, the objectives in our course outline are vague and they are not easy to measure. There is a need to revise the objectives and the A.B.C.D. method can be adopted. Though not many colleagues might wish to take the time and trouble to improve the objectives, I think the clearer the objective, the easier it is for teachers to evaluate.
Hello, Teresa. I find it interesting that your students don't use Google often. I too wonder if it's a cultural thing.
ReplyDeleteThe list you included is very complete, I can see you did a very thorough research when we saw the other search engines in the course. How often do you use academic resources with your students?
I agree with you; the objectives should be stated clearly for us to evaluate the outcomes more easily. In my context, many teachers tend to use the word "learn" as specific objectives for their curses. It's too broad a term and I believe it's not easy to measure whether learning is actually happen or not, so the ABCD model is very useful to solve that problem. And in my case, it's also difficult to get colleagues to work with new ideas and to define their objectives clearly. Learning is eventually what will happen, we know that, but how are we sure it's happening? By means of specific, behavioral objectives we can measure, tally, evaluate, analyze and explain. As long as an objective is clear, well-worded and easy to read, the students and the teachers can get rid of unnecessary pressure and focus on the important little steps essential to build the students' confidence and performance. At least that's my opinion.
Best regards,
Lupita.