What surprised me most about this week's assignment was how long it took me to complete the "search strategies" quiz! Was it me? Or did anyone else have a hard time finding the answers? I found myself trying to "google" the answers! Perhaps this was the point? In addition, I spent too much time going back and forth between pages-searching, copying, pasting, etc. Uggh. I'll admit it, I'm stuck in the StoneAge-give me a paper and pencil test, please!
However, during this experience, I can't believe how much I learned about searching. For example, I almost screamed when I discovered the advanced features such as the minus sign(-) to exclude words during a search-genious! The CommonCraft videos are awesome, I could become addicted to those. How about a CommonCraft video to review the French Revolution? I'll have to do a "search" for that in the future...when I haven't reached my maximum capacity for searching!
All in all, this experience was a positive one. I think that investing time to become an "expert searcher" could pay off in the long run. I know that I've logged many hours searching for items that I could have found in a fraction of the time. My students would benefit greatly from learning some of the advanced search techniques--become more efficient searchers. Finally, teaching students to be critical of websites is key. I'm going to use that lesson with my students in the near future.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
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I had the same frustrating experience as you doing the quiz! I, too, had to Google a couple of the answers (irony?), and by the end I was quite frustrated. I definitely feel like such a "student" desperately trying to keep up and provide the correct answers. Oh well...I did learn quite a bit.
ReplyDeleteI, too, experienced major frustration doing the quiz. I had to Google a couple of the answers (irony?). I felt like a "student" while doing the whole thing, a bit confused, trying to keep up, wanting to know the right answer. Oh well....also learning a lot.
ReplyDeleteHi, Andrea. I printed out each lesson, put it in a notebook with section dividers, then was able to do the quiz. I'm stuck in the paper mode, too. I think that particular quiz had lots of small details that needed looking up.
ReplyDeleteAndrea,
ReplyDeleteI am glad that I wasn't the only one. I was very frustrated as well, toggling back and forth. I will use Jane McCabe's technique of printing out the pages so that I can do the quiz.
Andrea,
ReplyDeleteYou hit it right on the head here. Long and frustrating. Like you, I resorted to Googling to get answers to some of the questions. As you say, perhaps that was the point. I guess being a life-long learner has its ups and downs :).