A rare and precious opportunity came to me last week: I took part in a teacher panel that met with two Google executives regarding how to optimize Google search for teachers. They were scientific engineers of the sort you would expect to be executives at Google and they were genuinely interested in hearing from teachers about how we use search to find resources for lesson planning and what our ideas were for how to make the search feature better for teachers. Really, genuinely interested. They were full of questions! Many about how we teach (this is because we are a new tech school that uses the PBL model - we are far from traditional and hard for people to understand) but more about where we find the info we need and how we use it to supplement our curriculum.
When it comes to how teachers use search there is so much to to talk about. One thing we discussed was how to streamline search processes and workflow so that teachers have quicker and easier access to educational materials that we know are good. A method for teachers to "vet" materials if you will, and tag them so that other teachers could know something found while searching is a tried and tested source. Imagine that. Imagine also if Google knew when you search that you are a teacher and then customized searches for educational sources and filtered out those that were not of that sort. Talk about streamlined.
I mentioned that I used Google scholar for my master's program (bonus points for me - many of those present had no idea what that is!) and how great it would be if there was a K-12 version of that search so that students also could get "vetted" material rather than have to sift through all the mess to find the good, reliable sources that they need. Making something like this a reality is a complicated task that seems daunting especially for the resistance the idea could receive. Might some companies not like that their site isn't considered "educational"? The idea is good but how to implement? (That's why they have all those engineers on the payroll, right? To figure out those details?)
YouTube was a big part of the conversation as well. The execs were quite curious about how we use YouTube in our classroom and as a resource overall. They were wondering how much we use "blended learning" or "flipped classroom" models in our classrooms and how we use YouTube to supports that model. (To be honest, there is not a lot of "flipped classroom" stuff happening on my campus. I would love to see us move more toward that but the technological aspects are daunting for many teachers. These things take time.)
Google has a face for me now. It's those two engineers (or really "brilliant scientists" is the a better title for them) that I will think of every time I drop my terms into that Google search bar on my screen. The company's commitment to education is very strong. That they are taking the time to seek out feedback from those of us on the ground in the trenches is clearly indicative of their genuine interest in using their talent and influence to improve the lives of educators. This in turn will improve the education system in America and throughout the world. I am hopeful that through the information gathering process they are undertaking they will come up with great ideas, and that before we know it Google will become an even better resource for teachers. Imagine the possibilities.
When it comes to how teachers use search there is so much to to talk about. One thing we discussed was how to streamline search processes and workflow so that teachers have quicker and easier access to educational materials that we know are good. A method for teachers to "vet" materials if you will, and tag them so that other teachers could know something found while searching is a tried and tested source. Imagine that. Imagine also if Google knew when you search that you are a teacher and then customized searches for educational sources and filtered out those that were not of that sort. Talk about streamlined.
I mentioned that I used Google scholar for my master's program (bonus points for me - many of those present had no idea what that is!) and how great it would be if there was a K-12 version of that search so that students also could get "vetted" material rather than have to sift through all the mess to find the good, reliable sources that they need. Making something like this a reality is a complicated task that seems daunting especially for the resistance the idea could receive. Might some companies not like that their site isn't considered "educational"? The idea is good but how to implement? (That's why they have all those engineers on the payroll, right? To figure out those details?)
YouTube was a big part of the conversation as well. The execs were quite curious about how we use YouTube in our classroom and as a resource overall. They were wondering how much we use "blended learning" or "flipped classroom" models in our classrooms and how we use YouTube to supports that model. (To be honest, there is not a lot of "flipped classroom" stuff happening on my campus. I would love to see us move more toward that but the technological aspects are daunting for many teachers. These things take time.)
Google has a face for me now. It's those two engineers (or really "brilliant scientists" is the a better title for them) that I will think of every time I drop my terms into that Google search bar on my screen. The company's commitment to education is very strong. That they are taking the time to seek out feedback from those of us on the ground in the trenches is clearly indicative of their genuine interest in using their talent and influence to improve the lives of educators. This in turn will improve the education system in America and throughout the world. I am hopeful that through the information gathering process they are undertaking they will come up with great ideas, and that before we know it Google will become an even better resource for teachers. Imagine the possibilities.