Google News turns 10 years old today so this anniversary inspired me to share how I use this tool in my daily practice. We all know that web 1.0 was a time long ago when we had to go out and work hard to find information - Scouring search engines and individual news sites until we found what we were looking for. For me, one of the greatest advantages of web 2.0 has been that I can put in a little up front effort and tools like Google News and Reader will bring me what I like. It is the real life edition of the Harry Potter newspaper. I typically will use Reader to subscribe to blog posts and Google News for official news but the combination can make anyone a power consumer.
Transferring this idea to the classroom, it is easy to see how educators can have custom news consistently delivered for discussion starters, fact checking, special news pieces on content, etc. I always referred to one of these articles or videos to gather ideas for a class discussion that started every class. Often the topic was technology-based but sometimes one of these tools brought me news so compelling (but off content) that I started with it to simply engage the class to learn something new. Content didn't matter to me if I could help learners become global citizens. I would also design connected projects where students would tailor their own news feeds as part of the 20% projects that I frequently presented. I'll often hear from former students that this was the activity they remember most from my classes. So I thought I'd take some time today to build a quick video of how to customize Google News and share some other resources. I hope it adds value to your classroom as it did mine.
More About Google News
Personalization Basics - Google News
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