Google alerts allow a user to set alerts that identify topics specified by the user and return a list of what is found on a periodic basis. Alerts let the user know when new content fitting designated search terms appear.
The video that appears here provides an introduction to Google Alerts. Perhaps this is a resource you or your students may find useful.
I have ad-enabled videos on YouTube. These videos are mostly tutorials I have created to accompany my “tech for teachers” books. Instructional videos do not generate the millions of views sometimes associated with the popular entertainment videos, but I have already felt that those offering instructional content should have the potential for a return on the time they invest. Ad revenue from online resources in comparison to the return from books is miniscule so my interest is mostly in the process rather than the few dollars I receive.
So, I make a couple of dollars a month from my YouTube views. A month or so ago, I noticed that the frequency of views had increased but pennies were being accumulated. I thought perhaps I had been placed on super secret probation or something. I then came across an explanation that Google had changed its policy on YouTube video income and a producer must accumulate 10,000 views before the ads would return income.
For educators, hoping to generate revenue by offering instructional videos this information may explain what might be a source of confusion.
This from the American Psychological Association web site (Susan Nolan) – a comment on identifying fake news in the classroom. I do like the “think like a scientist approach” and I have always tried to encourage the students I work with to carefully consider the methodology responsible for findings (you tend not to assume there are outright fabrications in the content we ask students to review) and identify what unstated influences may have been present.
BTW – CRAAP is an acronym the author encourages to encourage attention to possible sources of bias.
PEW just released new data on adult book readers. The data are focused specifically on books and relates reading frequency to several demographic variables (income, education, age). Twenty-six percent of adults admit to reading no part of a book in the past year. Younger, better educated, and more affluent adults are more likely readers. The % of adults who have read an ebook is surprisingly small (28%) with better educated adults more likely to use this format.
The study ignores many related issues and makes little attempt to explain reasons for reading or not reading. It is unclear whether nonreaders consume information in other ways to make up for less reading.
I found it interesting that reading content related to work drops off quickly, but reading to understand current events does not.
WOW in the World is a new NPR podcast for young learners. The series will focus on STEM topics. This is the first NPR program for elementary and middle school learners.
“Free is good” (Bethany Ray) – a recent Edutopia article – provides a nice explanation of OER (open educational resources) for the novice. The explanation argues the benefits of OER in contrast to commercial materials and suggests OER provides educators a way to find resources for individual student needs. Of course, the challenge with OER is finding the resources and the article does a nice job of identifying repositories that can be searched.
A brief plug for my own work – I argue that online content and learning resources are not the same thing (see series beginning with this post). Layering services (examples are explained in the series) enable educators to function as instructional designers and add components to information rich content to guide and support student learning.
