Research & Information Fluency
The student acquires, analyzes, evaluates and manages content from digital sources.
Searching
We all search Google when we are looking for information, but often a Google search brings up too many resources, or resources that are unrelated to what students are really looking for, or are at a reading level that is too high for young readers.
It is important to let students know that there are other ways to obtain credible, reliable academic information.
It is important to let students know that there are other ways to obtain credible, reliable academic information.
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TexQuest provides access to subscription based resources like magazines, newspapers and other online journal articles to participating schools. These databases are similar to what students will be expected to use in college. TexQuest is subsidized by the state and is made available to districts at a deeply discounted price. Talk with your campus librarian to see if your school has access to the TexQuest resources.
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Sweet Search is a free search engine specifically designed for students. The websites have been reviewed to guarantee students will find accurate, reliable, academic-focused information.
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InstaGrok is a research tool that has some interactive and note taking features to make researching more streamlined and fun for students. The basic features are free, and teachers can upgrade to a classroom account for additional capabilities.
Curating and Managing
Once students have found web links to great information, they will want to save them somewhere so they can easily find them later. And sometimes it's just more efficient for teachers to pre-select web links that directly support instructional goals. These tools will help teachers and students organize and share information.
Pinterest provides an attractive way to bookmark or curate favorite online information. Teacher boards might include articles, strategies, lesson ideas, student resources, writing prompts, infographics, etc. Students can pin and classify their links in similar ways. Pinterest is not an education specific tool, and may not be appropriate for younger users. Educlipper (below) is a good alternative.
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Educlipper is often referred to as the Pinterest of education. Teachers are able to create and monitor student accounts, and it has an excellent sharing feature. Check out this example of a Life Cycle of a Frog educlipper board.
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Pearltrees is a tool for saving, organizing and sharing web links and other digital media. Check out this Pearl Trees page with links about Digital Citizenship.
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Livebinders allow you to organize websites, videos or documents (including Google Docs) onto tabs within virtual binders. The tab system makes the binders easy to navigate.
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Symbaloo allows users to organize websites in a visually appealing way. Symbaloo webmixes can be organized by topic and shared with other users. Check out this Symbaloo webmix about Technology Tools for EDU.
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Blendspace is a great place to collect and organize websites and other resources into one "lesson" to share with students. There is also a built in quiz feature to check for understanding.
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