ICT News!

For staff and students of DBIS

September 2009
Vol. 05 No. 01

What are the best search engines? By Wendy Boswell, About.com

Do you have a general search question that can be asked with a few key words?:
Google is always a safe bet for most search queries, and most of the time your search will
be successful on the very first page of search results. Yahoo is also a great choice, and
finds a lot of stuff that Google does not necessarily pick up.
Do you need an answer quickly and don’t want to search for it?:
There are some search engines out there that are able to answer factual questions, among
these are Answers.com, BrainBoost, Factbites, and Ask Jeeves. You can also learn more
about searching the Web more efficiently with my free email class, Web Search 101 -
Search More of the Web.
Would you like to search with more than one search engine at once?:
Search engines that combine results from multiple search engines are called metasearch
engines. Good examples of metasearch engines are SurfWax, Ixquick, Search.com and
Mamma. For even more metasearch search engines.
Do you need help in narrowing or broadening your search?:
There are quite a few search engines that will help you do this with clustered results or
search suggestions. Some of these include Clusty, WiseNut, AOL Search, and Teoma, in
addition to Gigablast, AllTheWeb and SurfWax.
Would you like to see a screenshot preview of search results?:
This is always a fun (and convenient) option; it’s nice to see a quick thumbnail of your
search results before you actually go there. Some search engines that provide screenshot
previews include Exalead, TalkDigger, Kartoo, ZapMeta, and Search.com.
Do you need academic or research oriented results?:
There are lots of great search engines that deal primarily in academic and research
oriented results. Included among there are Scirus, Yahoo Reference, National Geographic
Map Machine, MagPortal, CompletePlanet, FirstGov, and EducationWorld.
Do you need to find images, photos, clipart?:
Images on the Web are easy to find, especially with targeted image search engines such Voice on telephone to a man seated at his computer.
as Picsearch, Ditto, and of course, Google has some fantastic image search capabilities.
You can also check out my list of Image Search Engines-Directories-Collections, or Clip
Art-Buttons-Graphics- Icons-Images on the Web.
Are you looking for multimedia? Sounds, movies, music?:
“Thank you for calling the tech suport line. If
There’s so much multimedia on the Web that your main problem will be finding enough your computer becomes obsolete whilst you’re
time to look at it all. Here are a few places you can use to search for sounds, movies, and holding, press 1 to reach our sales department”.
music on the Web: Loomia, Torrent Typhoon, The Internet Movie Database, SingingFish,
and Podscope. For even more multimedia search engines and sites, read more...
Do you need to find a blog? How about an online community?:
Finding someone with similar interests on the Web via a blog or online community is

ICT
simple. Use LjSeek, Technorati, and Daypop to search for blogs; find people with ZoomInfo,
Pretrieve, or Zabasearch, and search for discussion groups and message boards with
BoardTracker. Read more about Blog Search Engines, and more ways that you can find
people online.
What is the best search engine for my needs?:
There are a LOT of great search engines out there, and you’re sure to find at least one (or If you are working on several
two, or three) that will fit your unique search needs. Here are a few more resources that documents at once, you can save
can help you in your search for the best search engine:

Top
them all without closing Word in
The Ultimate Search Engine List: All-purpose search engines, visual search engines, the process. Just hold down Shift
people search engines...you’ll find all these and more in this list of search engines, a a n d c l i c k o n t h e Fi l e m e n u. Yo u w i l l
comprehensive guide to the best search engines on the Web. see a new option Save All. There is
Top 10 Ways to Find Multimedia on the Web: Use these search engines to find some also an option to Close All if you
great audio files, BitTorrent files, free movie downloads, movie trailers, and all kinds of want to do so without closing Word.
multimedia.
Word shortcut keys
100 Search Engines in 100 Days: One hundred of the best search engines out there today.

Tip
Most of us spend more time using
Top Ten Book Search Engines: Whether you’re looking for a rare book, a used book, an
audio book, or a comic book, chances are you can find it on the Web using one of these Microsoft Word than any other
excellent book search engines. Office application, so make use of
o u r h a n d y g u i d e t o W o r d ’s s h o r t c u t
Search Engines for Kids: If you have children, or are a child yourself, then this list of keys and cut down the time you
search engines and other sites just for kids is for you. spend hunting for what you want
Google Cheat Sheet: You’ll find that using these Google Search Shortcuts will greatly cut a m o n g t h e m a n y m e n u s a n d toolbars.
down on your Google search time, as well as make your Google searches more effective Ctrl+C Copy
and more efficient. Ctrl+V Paste
Ctrl+ Z Undo
Ctrl+ S Save

KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK Ctrl+ P Print

Ctrl+B Make selected text bold
ICT Suport continues this year with the Monday ‘Drop In’ Ctrl+U Underline selected text
sessions and regular Wednesday Professional Development. Ctrl+I Make selected text italic
Ben Loran is leading the charge to help teachers embed ICT Ctrl+L Align selection or paragraph to the left of the
screen
in to their teaching and leanring and will be setting up a blog
on edublogs in the near future. Ctrl+E Align selection or paragraph to the centre of the
screen
Ctrl+M Indent paragraph or selection
Don’t forget to check the ICT blog ...Check out ... Ctrl+1 Single-space all the lines in selection
Ctrl+2 Double-space all the lines in selection
http://dcmatdbis.posterous.com/ Ctrl+Del Delete the word to the right of the cursor
Ctrl+Backspace Delete the word to the left of the cursor
for updates from Ben, Sheila and myself;
F7 Run a spelling and grammar check
Shift+F7 Use the Thesaurus
Literacy : Using ICT to support learning
There are may benefits to using ICT
to teach literacy. It allows the teacher
to produce and modify resources
quickly and easily. It allows access to a
wide range of information in different
formats. The students can engage
directly with the area of literacy they
are focusing on.
Teachers can use different drafts to
assess how work is progressing and
what input is needed. Some software
is able to assess the children’s work
and provide useful information. Using
a large screen or overhead projector
the teacher can focus the student’s
attention on different aspects of the
text.
The number of activities and
resources is vast. Teachers need to
be able to make judgements about
when and why they should use ICT.
It is not always appropriate. It should
be only used if it allows the teacher
or students to do something they
would not otherwise have been able
to do, or if it improves the teaching or
learning.
Recent guidelines indicate that ICT
should be used to support learning
in specific subjects as well as being
a subject in its own right. This has
implications for management of time
and resources.
Why do we use ICT in teaching?
Speed and Automatic functions - using
ICT allows teachers to demonstrate,
explore or explain work effectively; it
allows routine tasks to be completed
and repeated quickly.
Capacity and Range - Teachers and
students can gain access to a wide
range of information; they can use CD
ROMs, the Internet, they can contact
experts outside the classroom, the
school and the community, this also
covers the wide range of ways in
which ICT can be used to present
information.
Provisonality - This function allows
work to be changed easily; saving
work at different stages allows a
record to be kept.
Interactivity - This allows students to
explore areas which would otherwise
not be available to them; they can
Using ICT to teach students with emotional and behavioural
The following examples show how
teachers have used ICT to teach
students with emotional and
behavioural difficulties (EBD).
Example one
In a mixed secondary school,a group
was set up comprising girls who were
causing concern. Their issues included
low self-esteem, lack of motivation,
and being withdrawn and introverted.
Seven out of the ten girls were
Bangladeshi, two were West African
and one was English.
A specialist teacher from the behaviour
support team worked with them
individually and as a group to address
communicate with others and present
information effectively in different
ways and for different audiences.
They can get responses and feedback
quickly.
With regards to Literacy this means:
Students can engage with text in
ways not possible with paper based
materials.
Students can experience the
interrelated nature of different areas
of language - speaking and listening,
writing and reading.
Students can focus on the contents at
different levels - word, sentence and
text level.
The development of reading and
writing can be enhanced through -
simulations, E-mail, fax, the Internet,
interactive books etc.
Students can make links between
writer and audience - they are
able to adapt the presentation and
organisation of their writing to meet
the needs of different audiences. They
can prepare websites and multimedia
presentations.
There is flexibility in that the same
piece of work can be used for different
students in different ways.
Teachers can respond to different
stages in students’ writing, with some
programs summative and diagnostic
information can be provided. A saved
or printed version of the work can be
kept as a record.
ICT can support and enhance the
study of literary texts, for example by
using a split screen to look at different
texts or using grammar checks to
analyse texts.
Areas of literacy and a selection of
activities The literacy strategy can be
broken down in to several areas:
Word level
Phonics, spelling and word recognition
Use My World to sort words, match
words to pictures, word building. Use
these issues. At one group session,
the girls discussed how they were
perceived and decided that many
people did not have an accurate view
of who they were. The teacher and an
ICT adviser worked with the girls to
make ‘talking heads’ videos.
The group worked for two hours a
week for five weeks. First of all they
filmed each of them answering a series
of questions set by the group. Each
girl then used video editing software
to edit the original 40 minutes of film
down to her own four-minute video
expressing the views and opinions that
she wanted to be aired. These were
transferred onto video, and used in
programs like Animated Alphabet
and Tizzy’s Toy Box for early years.
Templates can be made with Pages/
Textease, students can build up words,
the speech facility allows students to
hear as well as see the words.
Vocabulary
Programs like My First Incredible
Amazing Dictionary can be used to
find words. Students can use word
processors with in-built dictionaries
and thesauruses to develop their
vocabulary.
Handwriting
Teachers can use programs like Words
and Pictures to demonstrate correct
letters formation. With a suitable
font word processors can be used to
produce worksheets or tracing cards.
Sentence Level
Grammatical awareness
Use programs like My World, Pages/
Textease or Clicker to sequence a
sentence, or do a cloze exercise;
students can highlight specified parts
of the passage. They can use a speech
facility to help them check their work.
Sentence construction
Students can highlight a specific part
of a prepared sentence or passage.
They can correct errors in a prepared
passage. They can use writing frames
or passages for editing.
Text Level
Reading
the group and the school to promote
discussion about identity.
Example two
The special needs department of a
secondary school set up a database in
order to identify patterns in behaviour
problems. Data recorded included the
students involved, the day, time and
place, the nature of the problem, and
the sanctions imposed.
They analysed the data in several ways
in order to establish critical factors
during the week. At a student level
they were able to examine whether
problems occurred in or between
lessons, during breaks, or at particular
Children can use Talking books e.g.
Oxford Reading Tree, Rusty Dreamer.
Comprehension
Use cloze procedures. Use Talking
books as a stimulus for other work,
My World can be used to order
passages correctly. The students can
look at stories on the Internet. They
can use the Internet or a CD ROM for
researching different topics.
Composition
Using word processors allows the
children to edit changes without it
showing on the page, they don’t need
to think about spelling or presentation
and so can focus on the content. They
can communicate by E-mail, use
Internet Relay Chat or send stories
to the Internet to enhance their
sense of audience. They can present
information in a range of ways and
use a spell checker or thesaurus.
They can create multimedia
presentations or their own talking
books.
Programs like Story Book Weaver help
students with their composition
htt p : / / w w w. n o r t h e r n g r i d . o rg /
ngflwebsite/how.htm
times in the week. For the school as a
whole they could determine whether
behaviour management needed to be
modified in particular curriculum areas
or parts of the school site. They could
also track what sanctions had been
applied and the impact that these had
had.
http://schools.becta.org.uk/index.
php?section=tl&catcode=ss_tl_inc_
ac_03&rid=1860
The views expressed in this web page on
specific products or services are not intended
to be recommendations or endorsements for
specific products by Becta but are intended
to highlight features and benefits that can be
effectively applied in a learning and teaching
environment.