RTBot Get Free Digital Contents from Multiple Sources

RTBot is a cool web application. I think this is going to be one of the most interesting and useful web tools of 2012. RTBot is  a Real-time information service, where you can enter a topic title and instantly get related digital contents from multiple sources (e.g. Wikipedia, Youtube, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Books, Newspapers, Magazines) all at once.

RTBot lets you  access the freshest information and multimedia content about almost any subject, person, place or event in one single place. RTBot aims to be a global top reference site, enriching the way people research, explore, learn, discover and monitor their topics of interest.


RTBot is very easy to use and has a user friendly interface. It is also free and does not require any registration or software installation.


I highly recommend this website to educators and teachers. I have tried several searches on its engine and it just proved to be awesome. Head over to RTBot and give it a try.

A Great Infographic on Google Search Tips

Today  I am going to share with you a great infographic that has been making rounds online. It is about Google search tips.Out of my long experience with the literature of Google I can comfortably confirm the usability and practicality of this infographic for students. Teachers need to embed it in their classroom blogs and email it to their students. I am quite sure it can tremendously improve students' virtual search skills.

By the way if you are interested in learning more about how to better use Google for scholarly purposes then I invite you to check this article : Google Search Tips Educators Must Know.



Created by: HackCollege

The Three Effective Ways to Search The Web Educators Must Know

Using websites in the classroom is one of the easiest and less stressful ways of integrating technology into teaching. There is a large and constantly expanding collection of resources and learning materials online. The web with its growing repository of information and knowledge has certainly turned into a window on the wider world outside your class, and is of course, a readily available set of authentic material.
Acessing the content of web sites and using it with students in the classroom is not a task with no risks. There are a set of measures and steps to be taken before one can ensure the usability and appropriateness of what to include within a course book.

Several educators underrate the ability to efficiently and quickly search through Internet content and find suitable resources  thinking that it is a simple task that  any internet user can use with such an ease that no prior search knowledge is needed. This is completely wrong and , as a matter of fact, this is one of the most useful skills that both teachers and learners need to urgently acquire.
There are three basic ways of searching on the net, and I will briefly describe them below hoping that by the end of this post you will have grasped some techniques to effectively and quickly search the web and find  content to use in the classroom.

  Search Engines :

Although there is a variety of search engines, Google is , undisputedly, one of the most well known of them all with billions of indexed web pages in its online database. As you might probably know, a search engine is analogous to a telephone directory , or any other kind of database of stored information. You search for a name or title and the directory gives you back more information about that entry. But with billions of pages to choose from the task gets even much harder to easily and quickly find what you are looking for. So how do you find exactly what you want ?

To answer this question you need to first know what the process of indexing a web page means. When someone first publishes a content into the web , search engines such as google sends out their robots to explore and crawl the content and categorize it. When Google recognizes the existence of such a content it then stores it into its database for a later use, Google uses a very complicated algorithm to carry out all the above mentioned operations and I will not talk about them here because that is not our issue. What Google specifically know about a web page when it indexes it  is its address on the web, its title, when it was last updated and a few keywords associated with the content itself. These keywords are usually provided by the designer of the website and are generally meant to describe what the page talks about. The key to a good and smart searching in Google is the ability to define your keywords accurately.


Among the techniques you can use to refine your search query is the " phrase search technique " which invloves wrapping part of a phrase in inserted commas which will let Google treat those words not as individual entities but will instead look for sentences on the web page which contain those words in that particualr order. Thus, instead of searching for Cheap Flights to Canada , which can search for any or all of these words in any position and order,on a page, try searching for " Cheap Flights to Canada" as part of a phrase you might  expect to find on a web page. This technique is particularly useful when looking for lyrics or specific chunks of a text. The ultimate trick with Google is to try to imagine the web pages you are looking for and then try to visualize the content of these pages which will  help you decide on what key words to use in your search.
To learn more about some other useful tips to effectively search Google, I invite you to read:
Google Search Tutorials Part 1
Use Google to Search and Find Images Easily
Educational Image Search Engine Part1
Educational Image Search Engine Part2




2- Subject Guides:


Not all search engines are keyboard based . Some do not use this algorithm at all. In fact , it is thanks to Google for the introduction of this highly useful technique into web search. With this invention, internet search technology  has been largely revolutionized to the instant that we now talk about instant search, voice search, image search , people search and many more. However as I said earlier not all engines use key word techniques.

 If we look at Yahoo , which existed way before Google, this search engine uses subject guides  and divides its content into subject areas and subdivisions of those areas. So instead of a keyword search from the main page, users browse the section that best reflects their interests and their search. For instance, you want to search for the biography of a certain singer, you have to access the Yahoo directory then click on Entertainment, then Music, then Artists.and finally search for the biographical information you want. This process means that Yahoo will only  search in " Entertainment, Music, Artists rather than in its entire directory.


3- Real Language Search


A real language search such as Ask (www.ask.com) allows users to type simple questions as search queries . This does not mean that Ask will try to analyse and understand the question but rather selects the keywords from the query and construct a search based on them. The final result page a user would get will definitely contain the answer to his/her question at the top ( of course if Ask has been able to find a direct answer ) and links of related websites below that. For instance, if you want to look for a biographical information about someone you better phrase your search query as such: When was xx born ?

 As educators, It is really worth taking the time to explore all the three sites and spend some time simplifying them to your learners. Learners can really benefit from an exposure to all three types as they activate different linguistic and mental processes. Keywords are good for exploring word relationships and lexical areas. Subject searches help define and refine ideas and contexts. Real search can provide useful practice in question formation.

educational image search engines part 2

This is a follow up post to  Educational Image Search Engines Part 1. In the previous post i have talked about issues with copyrighted materials and how to teach your students to respect owners’ copyrights when including their materials in the classroom and have also provided two Image Search Websites that are licensed under creative commons and public domain these are : Google Image Search and Morgue File . Today i will introduce you to two other websites where you can look for images and include them in your work without having to worry about copyright issues.
3 Wylio

Wylio is another image search engine that allows its users to search millions of photos that have been designated as Creative Commons works by their owners/uploaders. What really amazes me about Wylio is the fact that it provides you with an html code to use on your blog or website as an attribution to the creator of the image you are using.
Wylio does not only provide pictures but also help you do some editing and customization to the images you find. You just need to have an account, it is free and easy to use . Once you are registered you will have access to more advanced features that are not provided for passerby users.
Google has ranked Wylio with a page rank of 6 which is definitely  an authority in the topic the website talks about. Wylio is also featured on the most renowned websites like : TechCrunch, Makeuseof, and WebBeat .
If you are a teacher i advise you to keep this website in your mind whenever you are looking for visual stimulants for your students. The images are licensed under creative commons and copyright will not be an issue.

4 EduPic Graphical Resource

Edupic Graphical Resource provides free photographs and graphics for education. It is a teacher designed free image resource for educators and their students. All the images included in this website are free for use by educators and students without permission but any other user has to take permissions because all rights are reserved.
Edupic Graphical Resource is created by Mr. Vann who is already a teacher and an amateur photograph. We really thank him so much for giving us free permission to use his materials.

I like the way Mr. Vann has organized his materials. There is a tab right under the header where you can learn about contributors or browse through several categories of pictures. just hover over the tab named “ photographs” and a subset of categories will be displayed for you to choose from. You can also hover over “ Drawings “ to check the different  fields provided there.
I advise teachers and students to have recourse to this great educational resource and give it time till they get acquainted with it before starting using its materials.
Now head over to Educational Image Search Engines Part 3 to learn about the other Image Search Engines.

Educational Image Search Engines Part 1

Images speak thousands of words. Educators use them on every day basis, students love them and include them in their multimedia projects.Given this growing importance of images in education , the pending questions that we need to urgently answer are : do we know how to safely look for images online ? do we respect copyrights of those images ?
The first thing that comes into our minds when we want to look for an image online is Google Image Search. This is the most reputed  online image directory.It is a great resource for ‘copyrighted’ images and students can use it without the least doubt about its credibility. but that is not it! There are other image search websites that are licensed under Creative Commons. Today i am going to introduce you to a bunch of these sites and show you some of the features they offer.



Remember , we are educators and we need to educate our kids the best way possible. We need to teach them how to respect copyrights of images and other materials they might find online. You should never tolerate any breach of this rule. We want to prepare people who will ,in the future, respect each other and respect others’ copyrights and to do this wisely you need to introduce your students to Creative Commons and Public Domain issues. If you do not know anything about these two keywords then this is your chance to learn , go around online and collect  resources and links and prepare a few paragraphs to share with your students ( if you are busy or lazy to look for links about Creative Commons or Public Domain then contact me here and i will send  them to you ). Remember Giving the copyright holder credit is part of the deal when using a Creative Commons picture.



After this short introduction, here are some of the most famous image search websites that are licensed under creative Commons and Public Domain. You and your students can use any of these links to look for images to include in your classroom without worrying about copyright issues.
1 Google Image Search



I have already covered this topic in two previous posts and so there is no need to regurgitate what i have already said. To learn about Google Image Search and how to use it to look for images you are invited to read :

1. Google Image Search – Search Info about any Picture




2. Google Images with Sorting : Search and Find Images Easily

 

2 Morgue File

Morgue File is another website that provides free photos with license to remix. It “contains free high resolution digital stock photographs and reference images for either corporate or public use. The purpose of this site is to provide free image reference material for illustrators, comic book artist, designers, teachers and all creative pursuits”.
Morgue File features a ‘ Classroom ‘ where you can learn the basics of photography and improve your skills. It provides several lessons and tutorials about the art of photography  for free.
Now head over to Educational Image Search Engines Part 2 to learn about the other Image Search Engines.

Google Scholar: Get the best academic and scholarly search results

Google Scholar provides “a simple way to broadly search for scholarly literature”. We all use Google in our daily lives and there are billion of queries searched daily in Google. To better use Google and get your search results as accurate as possible , i have devoted a post just to teach you some of the tricks to better search Google which you can read in Google search tips .

To look for researches or academic productions published in scholarly journals  then you will need a whole different kind of Google. This is called Google Scholar. It is very easy to use and above all free. Google Scholar allows you search across different disciplines and sources to look for these, books, abstracts, articles, surveys and many more. The results are mainly submitted by academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities and other web sites. Using this free service will make your academic researches much more easier than ever before.

Google Scholar uses a pretty smart algorithm to provide the relevant results for your queries. It ranks articles based on “the full text of each document, where it was published, who it was written by, as well as how often and how recently it has been cited in other scholarly literature “. Don’t worry no spam result , It is Google.

Here is a video tutorial that will introduce you to some tips and tricks about using Google Scholarly.

Applications of Google Scholar in education

Educators, teachers and students all need to be using this free service; why not and it is created solely for them. You can refer your students to Google Scholar to browse for articles and scholarly publications they might be needing in their research projects. Teachers can also use it for their own professional development. I personally think that Google Scholar is a must have service for all of us in the field of education.
That’s it about Google Scholar: Get the best academic and scholarly search results.
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• Google Shared Spaces in education

Google Social Search: Socialized Search Results

Google Social Search is a newly released service. It allows googlers to get ideas and recommendations from people they trust and right into their search results. Wow isn’t that great ?Google has made it again and honestly speaking, Google has never stopped from amazing me with the high quality services they keep coming up with especially those ones that  are education oriented. I am one of the biggest Google fans and i have devoted a whole section of this blog just to Google services and tutorials , you can have a look at what you might have missed from this Guru in Google Search/ tools page.

How does Google Social Search work ?

Google Social Search is a great way to get search results containing results from people you are connected to on blogger, flicker, twitter and publicly available site. Social Search can help you find information, pages, and links your friends have created and submitted online. It will also help you find links your contacts have shared on twitter and other sites. Therefore , if someone you are connected to have shared a link ,then you may find that link in your search results with a clear annotation. For instance , if you are looking for information on How to Teach Large Classes and your colleague John shared a link on Teaching large Classes then you will see an annotation and picture from John under the results.
Remember that these social search results are only visible to you and only appear when you choose to log in to your Google account.
To learn more how this service works you need to watch this short video tutorial.

Applications of Google Social Search in education

Google Social Search is a great service to be used by teachers and students. Now students can use it to look for search results submitted by their friends or teachers. We all trust people we know much and in this way the info published by the ones we are connected to are likely to benefit us more in our queries .
That’s it about Google Social Search: Socialized Search Results.
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Google Images with Sorting : Search and Find Images Easily

Google has recently introduced Google Images with Sorting . This utility allows users to search for images by its sorts . When you search for an image in Google Images , you will no longer see only images related to your query but you can also instantly sort the results by subject . For instance , lets say i am looking for an image of a flower , when i go to Google images and type in flower and hit search i will get a plain page result that is full of flower images but when i click on ‘sort by subject’ that is on the left hand panel i will get a neat page with flower photos organized into tabs and categories . what do you think ? is not that great for topic exploration or school presentations . Teachers need to be using this functionality offered for free by Google . It will help a lot in narrowing our image search and get the maximum benefit .
Watch this short video to see how it works

Try this tip with your students and show them how they can make their image search more focused .
That’s it about Google Images with Sorting : Search and Find Images Easily .
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Google Search Tutorials Part1

This is one of the most important posts I have ever published here .It is about Google Search Tips . I have recently  attended a conference in Halifax , Canada about emerging technologies and Google Search techniques and given the importance of Google in education I can not wait but  share with you some important tips about how to use Google search effectively . I know every one us uses Google almost on a daily basis to search the net but do we really know the techniques to harness this engine and use it in advanced way other then just typing phrases and sentences into the search box and hitting I am lucky ?

We are educators and we have a big responsibility towards what and how we teach .Part of this responsibility is the sound integration of technology into education .The backbone of this technology is search engines and the king search engine for scholars and internet users ,in general, and according to the latest websites rank statistics is Google . Ask your students if they know Google and the answer will definitely be positive .Do they know how to search it to get exactly what they look for in the least time possible , the answer is definitely negative . We are in a fast paced digital age . The information is available everywhere with a tremendous ease than ever before . Sometimes we and our students feel like we are lost and drowned in this ocean of untamed knowledge and are desperate for help .How many times have you tried to look for a specific information using Google search box then you end up sailing in links that have nothing to do with your search query .You loose time and energy and sometimes you would even quit the search for irrelevant results .

This is exactly the reason why I am devoting  a series of posts  about Google search tips . The purpose is to help you search Google effectively and get the specific information with the minimum time possible . I am quite sure that by the end of these tutorials you will feel a great improvement and will definitely change the way you handle Google for the better . So lets start these series by this post that covers a bunch of video tutorials about Google . watch for the coming posts to learn more, this post alone is not enough . stay tuned
Please I would refer you for the source of these videos which is http://google.blogs.lincoln.ac.uk/ .

What are the tips that are covered here ?

The following are some important features that you MUST know about Google Search to refine your queries and make them to the point

• Real Time Search Tutorial


• How Personalized search works


• Searching phrases and sites


• Find and read patents


• Find Related Websites


• Include synonyms in your search


• 15 second search tip ; Weather


• 15 second search tip ; Local Business


• 15 second search tip ; dictionary


• 15 second search tip ; Time

Real Time Search Tutorial

How Personalised search works

Searching phrases and sites

Find and read patents

Find Related Websites

Include synonyms in your search

15 second search tip ; Weather

15 second search tip ; Local Business

15 second search tip ; dictionary

15 second search tip ; Time

That’s it about Google Search Tutorials Part1
I will be soon posting another articles with more search tips so that by the end of these posts you will have a solid background to help you using Google in the right way .
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• Google Shared Spaces in education