Eclectic Technology

A look at the importance of teaching students how to search. Do your students (or faculty) know how to find information online? Do they have use appropriate search words, understand how results are generated, use multiple resources, to assess the information (quality and accuracy), recognize bias? 

This post focuses on some of the  information from the recent Pew Report that looked at "How Teens Do Research in the Digital World." The author also provides links to articles he has written on how to use Google to teach search to students in K-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12. 
I would also suggest teaching with search engines beyond Google. If you are concerned with tracking check out DuckDuckGo or Blekko. A great metasearch engine is Carrot2. And you can use want to compare websites side-by-side check out Slikk. 

Slikk is the new search engine with revolutionary features that let you Find It Faster. Search and browse the web, pictures, news, videos, blogs and Twitter! Search various categories simultaneously and share search results!

I have been experimenting with Slikk for several months and it has quickly become one of my favorite search engines. Below are a few of the features.  I urge you to take the time and try this tool out.

Lion View allows you to browse open website simultaneously. You click on "LionV" on the top right hand of the LionWindow and like magic, the websites you have on the screen all show at once. You may choose to maximise each. This is a great tool to compare and contrast websites that may have agendas or a bias. 

Slikk also allows you to search and view various types of results simultaneously. "The MultiView feature allows you to display one type of search result on the left side of the screen and another on the right side. On either side, you can choose between web, image, news, video, blog or Twitter results. For example, you can have web results on the left side and images on the right side. Or news on the left and Twitter on the right. The choice is always yours!"

There are many other features to this search engine. Take the time to take it for a test drive!