Have you ever Googled yourself?  Anyone familiar with the world’s biggest search engine has probably succumbed to the temptation at some point.  Google is renowned for finding information — a lot of information, and fast.  I remember the first time I used Google to conduct research for a university assignment and the resulting aneurism when confronted with the millions of matches to my particular topic.  Needless to say, it took me some time to sift through all those matches to my query. In time, I learnt how to search a bit more effectively.
Google is probably the most extensively used search engine that most teachers currently utilize in one way or another, but have you ever considered using it for the dozens of other applications and features it offers for educational and e-learning purposes?

A quick exploration of these features reveals a wealth of educational benefits.

• Google Maps can quickly and easily chart a journey between two destinations, complete with ETA.
• Google Alerts can tip you off when fresh news breaks by sending you an email with the details.
• Google Images can provide you with literally millions of stimulus pictures to inspire class discussions.
• Google Reader allows you to follow the latest up-to-date trends and information in education or on any topic you choose.
• Google Docs allows you to create, share, edit and collaborate with other users of your choosing on word-processing, spreadsheets etc online.

In addition to these, there are plenty of other products for you to test out and consider for you and your classroom (there isn’t enough space in this post to list them all!)

Google is the “swiss army knife” for any educator working within the digital age.  You could almost “live off Google alone”, given the sheer scope of options this website offers and the symbiotic relationship a lot of these applications share with learning.
Be sure to know your obligations as far as copyright is concerned, especially if you think it acceptable to start copying unreferenced images or text into your presentations (it’s actually illegal!).  Use Google effectively, reference the websites you learn from and vast amounts of information, images, videos, articles and resources will be under your command.  Use your power wisely.

If you would like to learn more about using google in your classroom click here for your free guide.

Here is a video by Common Craft that explains how to use a search engine like google more effectively.

If you already use google or any of it’s many applications in your day to day work as an educator, why not leave us a comment below and tell us how you use it?