Google v. Delicious

I am doing an experiment comparing the results from a Google search and a Delicious search for the same term, “common core standards”.  The results from the two searches were much more similar than I thought they would be.  Here are the screen shots from each search, cropped but not very professionally (Incidentally, this was the hardest part of this post!):

I couldn’t fit all the Delicious results onto one page without making the text microscopic, so I took two screenshots.  My laptop does not like the light blue text on the Delicious page.  I hope you can read them, and I've summarized the results below just in case you can't.

I noticed that there are three states whose Common Core websites appear on the first page of Google results. They are Illinois, Washington, and New York. There is also an article from the Washington Post, a Wikipedia article, and a website for a company that produces Common Core curriculum for purchase.  The Delicious results have four listings that are basically all from the Common Core website itself.  Some reference specific parts of the site or pdf files on the parent site.  There is also a blog listing news about resources being developed for the Common Core, a website for a company that specializes in leadership through change, the Lexile website, a site sponsored by the New York State Education Department, and another that is designed especially for New York state teachers.  A final listing is for the Surveys of Enacted Curriculum website through the state of Wisconsin’s education department.    

It seems that the Delicious results might contain more practical, hands-on results that would lead to resources for actually implementing the Common Core State Standards in the classroom.  That is what I would have expected since Delicious results are created by users who care enough about the sites to list them on their own Delicious registry.  I like that I can see how many people have listed a resource previously because it gives me an idea about how relevant that site might be.  Tags are also helpful as a preview of what topics will be addressed on the listed sites.  Neither site provides much information about the dates on which information was posted on the sites in its results other than for news articles in which the publication date usually appears in the Google results.

I think that my use of these two search tools in the future will depend on what I am looking for. If I want to access a specific site but don’t know the URL or just want general information on a topic, Google will probably still be my choice.  If I want to know what teachers are bookmarking on a particular curriculum subject, for example, I would go to Delicious.  Delicious seems to me to be a kind of review service for websites.  I wouldn’t necessarily assume that a posting on Delicious is an endorsement of a site, but it would indicate to me that someone thought the site was worthy of a look.  

Thoughts on Flickr and Creative Commons

I don't know if I really feel qualified to say whether Flickr does "enough" to promote the use of Creative Commons licensing.  I found it very easy to use the licensing feature when I uploaded my first photos.  I did follow the getting started steps pretty closely both in Flickr and in our class materials.  I had read the information in our textbooks about Creative Commons licensing, and seeing the choices on Flickr made it seem much more comprehensible to me.  I am sure that many people don't pay attention to the licensing options, but that is a "buyer beware" situation in my opinion.  If you are going to post pictures to a site like Flickr, you need to be completely aware and informed about what might happen to those pictures and how you can control that.  I think that some people genuinely want to contribute to the Web 2.0 atmosphere of Flickr by sharing their images in various settings.  I have decided that pictures of scenery, buildings, etc. can be shared, but I won't make public images of family and friends.  I would not want to find out that someone had used a picture of a friend, student, or family member for a purpose of which I would not approve.  Now that my photos are also appearing on my blog through the gadgets I've used recently, I am going to be even more vigilant about the settings I apply to the pictures I upload to Flickr.  Caveat emptor....let the buyer (user, in this case) beware.

Snow Day Fun 2011

Snow Day Fun 2011, a set on Flickr.

Embedding a Flickr photo

I just keep feeling like I need to yell, "I did it!" every time I manage to complete a task for this class.  I am not a tech newbie, but I am learning so many new things.  I embedded this photo of Gwendolyn's square snowman by copying and pasting the HTML code from the "Share" section of this photo's page from my Flickr photostream.  It was easy to do now that I am so much more comfortable with the language on sites like Flickr and what all that HTML business means.

The advantage I can see for posting from Flickr to my blog is that clicking on the picture in the blog post takes me back to my Flickr photostream.  I could go on to view my other photos, add tags, etc.  I'm not sure if someone else could do that or not, but it is handy for me.  I will try accessing my blog as someone else and see what happens.

When I post a picture to my blog by uploading it directly, the picture stands alone.  Clicking on the image gives me a few choices about size, etc. but it doesn't link to anything else.  This could be good if I don't want to be able to navigate to my Flickr account through the image.

Podcasting

This week our lessons have been about podcasting.  I have been using Audacity in my AP classroom, but I learned a lot more about it this week.  I feel much more confident about my ability to produce something that I can really use with it in the future.  I can also direct my students to use it correctly to get the result I have been wanting.  I'm now thinking about how I can combine blogging and podcasting to have the students review each other's speaking samples as well as writing.

I am also finding new uses for other tools that we are learning about such as wikis.  I just hope I can find the time and energy to actually utilize everything I'm learning!  I want to set up collaborative spaces for teachers throughout our district and within my department for sharing lesson plans and resources.

I am not happy with the fact that it feels like I am often doing my Tech homework at the last minute.  I haven't really come down to the wire with anything this semester, but it just seems that the weekends are my best times to really concentrate on the work for this class.  I think that I work better when I know I will have a "chunk" of time to devote to something rather than just a few minutes here or there.  I AM getting everything finished, and more importantly, I am learning so much and actually using what I am learning.  This is exactly how I hoped I would feel about graduate school when I decided to begin my master's after almost 20 years of teaching.