In case you hadn’t noticed, I love all things Google! They always seem to have something cool and new that educators can use! Today’s Did You Know isn’t anything new, but in my opinion, it is not nearly as well known as it should be. I hope this post is a small step in changing that fact.
Did you know that Google lets you create a custom search engine??
Research in the age of googling can be…less than informative. With the overabundance of search results that come back with any given keyword search, it can be overwhelming. However, you want your students to learn to be effective users of search engines. Enter the Google Custom Search Engine. Now, you can add your own (hand-selected, credible and authoritative) sites and let students practice their googling skills, knowing that the results will be things they can actually use. A Custom Search Engine is a great way to scaffold students in their research skills, gradually adding more and more websites that they will be able to sift through to find what they need, teaching them to critically evaluate search results, until they’re ready to navigate the waters of the real deal.
You just need a Google account for this one.
Make sure you’re logged in, go to https://www.google.com/cse/all, and click Add.
You’ll need to have at least one site in mind to add to the search engine. (You can always go back and add/edit sites.) Add it at the top, and any others that you have in mind, and then give your search engine a name. Click Create at the bottom of the page. That’s it – you’ve created a custom search engine!
Now for the details…
Click the Custom Search words in the corner to return to the main page. From that page, you can edit any of your custom search engines, you can also get a public URL so you can share the search engine with your students.
How cool is that??
From the main page, click the title of the search engine for lots of options:
- Make any changes to the title/description
- Get a code to embed the search engine on your website
- Include images in the search
- Add/edit sites to be searched
- Change the look/feel/colors/layout
- Check statistics to see usage
As we are used to with Google, the Custom Search Engine offers lots of flexibility. The public URL stays the same, regardless of which websites you add or remove throughout its life. This would be a great opportunity to create a QR code for use with mobile devices!
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