Getting Serious About Searching
One of the nice features of the new board's website is the ability to search the site for a given keyword. No more looking around aimlessly looking for whatever it is that you want.
The GEC Computers in the Classroom site has always had a couple of search engines available by filling in a form and then submitting it.
But, did you know that you you can do a Google Search and limit it to ANY site on the internet that you want? It's very easy to do.
Just head to Google and before you enter your search terms type "site:xxxx.xxx" where xxxx.xxx is the only site that you want Google to search. So, if I want to search only the GECDSB website for the term "webquest", I would enter "site:gecdsb.on.ca webquest". Google performs the search and only returns links that are from the GECDSB website.
This is very handy if you know your search term and that you only want results from the one site instead of the entire Internet.
That's slick, but is there more? Sure. If you're using the Firefox browser (who doesn't these days?) and you're constantly searching a particular site for things, why not add that site to the Firefox search list by creating a custom search plugin?
Paul Stamatiou illustrated this on his website. It's a matter of generating a little code and saving it to the appropriate spot on your computer. A search plugin for GECDSB would look like this:
<search
name="GECDSB Site Search"
method="GET"
action="http://www.google.com/search"
queryCharset="utf-8">
<input name="q" user>
<input name="sitesearch" value="gecdsb.on.ca">
</search>
Save this file as "GECDSB.SRC" and save it in C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\searchplugins\ and you've got a new search engine. Want a graphic to appear in the menu? Create a 16x16 px PNG file called GECDSB.PNG and save it in the same place. Now, I can search our new website in a flash! I did the same thing for the OSAPAC website. My search list has two new entries.
That's quite a bit more functional. But, there's yet another thing. Suppose that, instead of searching just one site, you have a few websites that you search on a regular basis.
Google has a new feature that lets you create your own Custom Search Engine. They're calling it Google Co-op. Creating your own custom search engine is easy. Go to http://www.google.com/coop/ and follow the prompts to create your own.
I created one that I called the "Custom Educational Technology Search Page". The URL is kind of grisly so follow the link above. Type a search term and you'll get results from web pages that I search regularly when I look for stuff dealing with educational technology. Not only do you have the power of a custom search engine and you can custom the looks and appearance, but you can invite people to add their own sites to the list. I would encourage you to go to the site and add your own favourite links that you use when you search for educational technology.
Custom Educational Technology Search Page
Finally, Google Coop will give you the code to put the search engine right on your website. This Custom Search is now featured on the GEC Computers in the Classroom home page.
Where are we headed with this? Everywhere! Add a custom search engine to your school webpage. Doing a research project on eclipses? Add a custom search engine and have student choose the pages that you wish to get their results.
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