Articles tagged "Research skills"
Weekly post #56 – ManageBac subject pages, Sites updates and the iPhone 14
ManageBac subject pages
ManageBac is working to development more community around the use of the platform. Expect to see various community focused initiatives over the coming months.
Something to check out straight way are subject pages.
Log into ManageBac → from your Home page → click on → Curriculum → Explore Subjects → then either use the search box or look through until you find the subject you are looking for.
You will find a page which includes an external newsfeed, resources from ManageBac, resources from the IB as well as additional resources suggested by the 'Subject Leader'.
Google Sites updates
There has been a recent slew of Google Sites updates. Here they are with links to the necessary explanations and support →
Embed content as a full page in new Google Sites → Site editors can now add content as a full page from the following sources: custom code, other websites, and Google apps, such as Maps and Docs.
Import existing custom themes to new Google Sites → You can now import a custom theme from one new Google Site to another.
Adjust spacing between content in Sites using new density theme setting → Site editors using new Google Sites can now adjust the spacing between the content on their site with a custom theme setting that offers Compact, Cozy, or Comfortable spacing options.
Conveniently connect site visitors with social channels in new Sites → Site editors can now insert stylized social media links into pages within their site.
Wiki2Map
Wiki2Map is a useful research tool. It takes a Wikipedia page that you give it and turns it into a mind map.
Certainly useful you helping break down a 'big' topic or idea.
Apple's iPhone 14 event
Consumer electronics → this week saw the annual Apple iPhone announcement. If you missed the hour+ long event check out this 8 minute super-cut:
Weekly post #51 - Keyboard shortcuts, charts from Forms, moderating posts in Padlet and tags and hashtag literacy
Adding a keyboard shortcut or hotkey for a Chrome Extension
I use a range of Chrome extensions to add links/articles/resources to services such as Trello, Pocket and Raindrop.
Aiming your cursor at a tiny 16-by-16 pixel Chrome extension button amidst possibly 20 others in the extension tray can feel like trying to win a carnival game with the odds firmly stacked against you.
[Source]
It is possible to assign keyboard shortcuts to Chrome extensions.
Here are the steps for adding your own personalized shortcuts for Chrome extensions.
- In the top right corner of Google Chrome, click the 3-dot expansion menu
- Expand the More Tools menu
- Click Extensions
- Click on the 'burger' in the top left hand corner of the screen and choose 'Keyboard shortcuts'
- Scroll to the extension of interest and choose a combination of keys with either “Ctrl” or “Ctrl + Shift” and any available key
The extension developer may have added shortcut functionality for more actions within the app.
Read more here → obie.ai - How to add and remove custom keyboard shortcuts and hotkeys for a Chrome Extension in 5 seconds flat [20 July 2020]
Heading charts from Google Form responses into Docs, Slides and Drawings
You can now embed linked response charts from Google Forms into a Google Doc, Google Slides presentation, or a Google Drawing. When new form responses are received, anyone with the proper permissions can refresh an embedded chart by simply clicking the "Update" button. This eliminates the need to re-copy the chart from the form.
Read more here → Google Workspace Updates - Embed linked Google Forms charts into Google Docs, Google Slides, and Google Drawings [1 March 2022]
Padlet - moderating posts
Padlet allows you to moderate all posts on padlet so they must be reviewed by the owner/teacher before they can be published.
Thinking about tags and hashtag literacy
Digital curation is a topic that really engages me at the minute. The effective organisation of all the things we find online that may (or may not) be useful in the future is a challenge and the tools available to help evolve.
Tags and Hashtag Literacy [14 February 2022], by Wesley Fryer, is worth a read to get you thinking about such things and how we should be integrating hashtags and tags into the research skills we teach.
Useful video - How to Use Wikipedia Wisely
Create a custom search engine to focus student research
Using Google to research can be too big at times!
Maybe you just want to give students a curated set of sources to search within. It is possible to create your own search engine that will only search within a certain set of sites or even sections of sites.
- Go to cse.google.com and then click on 'Sign in to Custom Search Engine'.
- Sign in with your school Google Apps for Education account [firstname.surname@ecolint.ch].
- Enter the URL of one the sites you wish to focus upon into the 'Sites to search' box.
- Repeat step 3 for each of the sites you want the students to search within.
- It is possible to include individual pages of websites, entire sites and even just sections of websites.
- Give your search engine a name and then click 'Create'.
- You now have a couple of options:
- You can get a link to visit your custom search engine's search box on its own individual webpage (this link could easily be shared with students).
- You can embed your custom search engine's search box into a webpage (of your own website, your departmental website or a section of ICT Nations - if you wish)
- It is possible to go back and edit the sites your custom search engine search uses etc.
- You can create as many custom search engines as your wish - so you could have ones for different projects or even different year groups.
Example
The following search engine could be used to focus student research upon climate change. It only searches the following: ed.ted.com, un.org/sustainabledevelopment/climate-change, climate.nasa.gov and theguardian.com/environment/climate-change. You can use the custom search engine below or at this webpage.