Comments on: Let’s All Blame Google

By: ken

ken — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 15:16:09 +0000

Don't forget about good ole' Google Scholar!

By: Shannon

Shannon — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 14:00:56 +0000

You hit on a great point about using Google. Teachers need to actually, wait for it, TEACH students how to use search engines. I was in a class of high school seniors that knew how to use Google but not how to distinguish a good article from a bad one. Great point

PS- Love your blog. You give me, an intern teacher just learning the ropes, some helpful ideas to think about.

By: Bill Ferriter

Bill Ferriter — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 21:21:33 +0000

Graham wrote:
Again, Google’s potential benefit is totally determined by the pedagogy employed in its use

Well said, Graham….Pedagogy remains king again, huh?

What’s interesting is how slowly pedagogy changes—-and how unresponsive educators are to changing their pedagogy.

Do you think there need to be more levers to drive change in pedagogy? What steps can “we,” meaning a society of people interested in seeing success in education, take to see the quality of teaching and learning experiences improve in classrooms?

Until that challenge is resolved, methinks we’re screwed!

Bill

By: Graham Wegner

Graham Wegner — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 11:11:29 +0000

I agree with you definitely WRT your last sentence. We do our students a great disservice if we do not actively teach them how to use any search engine effectively. Without doing that, it would be like tossing a kid a set of car keys and saying, “Get yourself from Point A to B” without any guidance, any prerequisite skills or tuition.

By: Hannah Davis

Hannah Davis — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 22:31:05 +0000

I can definitely see where this person is coming from. I agree with you too. If I ever need to know or find out something my first response is usually…Google! I always say “you can find absolutely anything on Google.” Sometimes that can be a bad thing though. We all know our world is not perfect and the internet is most definitely not perfect. I think it is important for students to know how to use Google properly.

By: warrick

warrick — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 20:16:58 +0000

It’s funny how some educators can get all upset that this amazing resource is available to students and somehow wish we all had to rely on textbooks again.

Of course googling isn’t learning, but rote-learning, factual recall of the names of the rivers of Australia or the early explorers, wasn’t learning either.

I was at a conference workshop recently where we were given a reading from the ATLANTIC: ‘Is Google Making us Stupid’ (link below) The response to that contention in the group I was in was almost entirely generational; nostalgic yearning for the good ol’ days from the older teachers, rejection of that thesis from the younger ones.

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200807/google