Thing 29 - Google Tools

Search tools: I looked at the SearchWiki tool and thought it was interesting. But I don't think I would take that much time to customize a search. In fact, I actually use Clusty more than Google because of the clustering results that suggest other possible topics to look under. In other words, I appreciate the "feedback" I get from this site in comparison to Google. By limiting my search results with SearchWiki, I would think that I might miss some information that I didn't think of originally, or new content that has come online, etc.

I do have to add that during a training I learned about a Google search tool that I found very useful. It's called Google Special Searches. A user can take a topic and choose the websites that are used during a search. I like this tool for students because I find that sometimes students get carried away by interesting, but extraneous content and end of clicking off topic. Or else they may start on a credible site, but end up on one that is questionable. By reviewing the sites ahead of time, computer research time can be much more productive and efficient. I should mention that I would use this search tool when the purpose of the search activity is to get good research content, not for learning about credible content.

Productivity: I have a GMail account for professional activities (used for all those account logins). Having this account was a requirement for using Google docs as well and made communication during this process convenient. I also think that it is helpful that a user can click into the calendar, reader and document features from this account. I finally went into the Theme and Lab settings (I hadn't looked at these before). It was nice to be able to set the theme - I didn't like the default look. I also added a few Lab features such as the attachment reminder. While I will not be getting rid of my personal email account (through another provider), I did appreciate these options in GMail.

Given all the tools that Google has, it would be interesting to participate in their Google Teacher Academy.