Custom Search Engines

When I question my students on the first or second day of class about search engines, I usually ask: “Raise your hand if you use a search engine…” I make a dramatic pause “ … other than Google and Yahoo.” In 4 years of asking this question, I never have experienced more than 2 students in any class who have ventured any further than these 2 search giants; and these brave souls usually have only ventured as far as Dogpile.

There are many reasons to try other search engines, but see if you can come up with your own. Here is a short list of 5 search engines with which to get started.

1) Giga Blast

"We've been around since 2000, and we launched the first version of our search in 2002. We quickly became known as a highly-efficient search engine with both broad and deep coverage of the growing Internet.”
http://www.gigablast.com/

2) Ms Freckles



"From the UK, MsFreckles.com provides an easy way to make professional searches for the ordinary Internet user. It also offers translation of a text, calculator, superfilter, blogsearch and more. The site is available in English, Swedish and Chinese (simplified).”
http://www.msfreckles.com/index.php?lang=en




3) Kart00





“KartOO is a metasearch engine with visual display interfaces. When you click on OK, KartOO launches the query to a set of search engines, gathers the results, compiles them and represents them in a series of interactive maps.“
http://www.kartoo.com/

4) Glimpsy




Type your request (e.g. buy books) and click to Find. You can begin with the phrase: I want to...
http://www.gimpsy.com/




5) Custom Search Engine




The directory of Google Custom Search Engines (CSE).
http://www.customsearchengine.com/

Online Community Memberships

Memberships in online communities can be extremely valuable for those who teach with technology. One such interaction for me is the Ning community of 'My Learning Space.' One has the opportunity to communicate with others from such distant places as Brazil, South Africa, France and Australia -- a treat from one who makes her living teaching on the gorgeous island of Guam.

View my page on My Learning Space

BLOGs for Technology and Education

I have found several excellent BLOGs that concern teaching with technology. I have listed them below in no particular order.

Tech Bytes http://blogs.moundsparkacademy.org/tro/techbytes
Chalk Dust http://chalkdust101.wordpress.com/
EduGeek http://www.edugeekjournal.com
iLearn Technology http://ilearntechnology.com
Craig’s TechTalk BLOG http://stream.minot.k12.nd.us/blog/craig/

Teach42 http://www.teach42.com/
21st Century Collaborative http://www.21stcenturycollaborative.com/blog.html

E-Learning Journeys http://123elearning.blogspot.com/
Classroom 2.0 http://www.classroom20.com/
Tech Ruminations http://weblog.techruminations.org/
Miguel's BlogRoll http://www.edsupport.cc/mguhlin/share/index.php?n=Blog.Blogroll

You might wish to add these sites to your 'del.icio.us' list, ed links, or your blogroll.

Del.icio.us Redesigned

The website for ‘del.icio.us’ has been redesigned so that editing and revising tools are in the upper portion of the web page for easy access. The tools to save a new bookmark, create a public profile, and to create and edit tag options are easily accessible for those who use this site as a bookmark repository. Options now allow one to choose between alphabetical, recent and reverse sorts. On the Network page, we now have the option of removing people; however, I would very much like to be able to remove fans from my list.

There are also 3 different viewing options: title only, regular view and full view. By revamping the Tags page, del.icio.us has offered a much easier way to explain and demonstrate the use and function of tags to students in a classroom setting.

Of utmost important for longtime users is the domain name change from ‘del.icio.us’ to ‘delicious.com’. The change requires one to sign in again, but the old domain name should still work.