Title: What You Need to Know about Web Search for Education: Both Students and Teachers Require Instruction in Safely Finding the Information They Want, and New Technology Can Light the Way
Abstract: Microsoft's chief educational evangelist Cameron Evans has a vision for the future of search. General word queries that yield broad results I would be replaced by searches using analytical technology to identify complex relationships and find content that is best suited to the individual seeking it. Evans explained it, What Microsoft is doing is really focusing on machine learning: fundamentally, about how you connect disparate pieces of data together to make it actionable. Evans' vision also calls for integrating information about the user into the search itself--think of it as a student having a search account. This approach could yield results that are customized to the student's established educational profile and performance level. In a search assignment, every student could potentially obtain somewhat different results, which would be targeted to their individual needs and abilities. That type of search is still in the future, though. In the present, educators are tackling two big issues: 1) Search results may not be appropriate to the reading or comprehension level of individual students; and 2) according to administrators, many teachers need lessons in how to search effectively. Broadening Teachers' Searches Jennifer Judkins, an instructional technologist at Lynnfield High School (MA), believes that one of the most important skills she works on with faculty is effective search. Web search is an integral piece of almost any project we are doing, particularly when doing writing related to some sort of research, Judkins said. A lot of people assume they know how to search because they can go to Google and type in some words. But the efficiency is not necessarily there. Despite the enormous volume of content available, typical Internet users don't go past the first page of search results. Evans commented, you look at the amount of content that is being created--with documents and presentations, graphics, as well as video from flipped classrooms and even tutorials that teachers are creating for students--there is so much more to find. This is where Evans hopes that next-generation search tools will help educators sort through data and find new content in areas like social media and blogging. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] San Diego Unified School District teacher Julie Garcia provides two important perspectives on search. Garcia does double duty as a classroom math teacher and digital leader at her school. The 450-student campus has 1-to-1, and, she said, Our staff, as well as our students, are very tech savvy. Garcia explained, As an educator, I search for sample video lessons on teaching a concept, for real-world applications of mathematics problems and for teaching strategies. I create my own videos for a flipped classroom, so I often look for samples of other teaching strategies to support the strategies I might use in my classroom. When students search, I have them look for vocabulary, math applications to real-world situations and sometimes on different ways to solve a certain topic. Narrowing Students' Searches Jennifer Roberts, an English teacher at San Diego Unified, asserts that the most important element in search is the user's approach, which is something that students can't learn all at once. …
Publication Year: 2014
Publication Date: 2014-11-01
Language: en
Type: article
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