Searching in the Spotlight

So I've searched plenty of times, in fact I really like to search and I think that I'm pretty good at it. I have always liked Ask.com because of the format that the results and related searches are presented. I've also been a fan of Google because it seems like the universal search engine. So needless to say, I was very surprised at the statistics from class that discussed how many of the engines don't search the same sites or areas of the web and that one engine really isn't enough. When researching the search engines I tool a little walk back in time with Lycos. I remember the adds with the dog as their icon going to "fetch" information from the internet.

Keeping these things in mind, I was having students word process some activities in class and many of them were searching for additional information. Not one of the students deviated from Google so I took the opportunity to mention the statistics from our class and then offered up some alternative search engines. All of my students enthusiatically attempted other engines and then compared their results page with other engines on their neighbor's computers. It took no time at all to incorporate this little bit of technology and caused me to once again focus on the fact that technology doesn't always have to take hours of prep and teaching to get the point across. The students are so much more adept at changing "lanes" and trying something new. This willingness to attempt the new and unknown on their part is also a good model for teachers that are "stuck" in a mold - not necessarily afraid to attempt new things and making mistakes, but maybe very comfortable with the way things are working... (if it ain't broke, don't fix it!)

This mentality and openness on the part of my students in all classes makes me more inclined to include some online collaboration. I really like GoogleDocs because it works for me but in researching other options, I'm intrigued by WriteWith. It includes setting a deadline for the collaborators and allows the writers to compare the original document with the revisions made. I think that in teaching any content area, we are all responsible for teaching writing and editing skills and I believe that using an online collaboration tool like WriteWith can be an effective method. Not only can a group or pair of students work together and work on peer editing, but a teacher can also collaborate with students in this more productive way instead of with the red pen to the final paper that's turned in.