How to Refine Google Searches by File Type & Domain

Two of the simple, but powerful Google search strategies that I often share in my workshops are searching by file type and searching by domain. Refining a search by file type and by domain can help students discover content that they might not otherwise discover through a typical Google search. In the video embedded below I demonstrate the easiest way for students to refine searches by file type and domain.

The Week in Review - Home With Max

Good evening from Maine where I'm home after a great week in North Carolina for the NCTIES 2016 conference. Many thanks to everyone who came to my presentations and workshops at the conference. It was great to see new faces and reconnect with friends I've made at NCTIES over the last five years.

I'm always thankful for the opportunity to travel and work with teachers. Likewise, I'm always happy to come home to my dog. Max and I had a great day playing in the snow and sun today. I hope that wherever you are you had a relaxing weekend day too.

Here are this week's most popular posts:
1. 5 Things We Can do to Prepare Students to Work Independently
2. Click to Spin - A Fun and Free Random Name Picker
3. Why Do Dogs Tilt Their Heads? - And Two Other Interesting Dog Lessons
4. 200+ Practical Ed Tech Tutorial Videos
5. How to Make Copies of Google Docs That Aren't Directly Shared With You
6. Quickly Dictate Notes in Multiple Languages on Dictation.io
7. CamFind - Conduct Research With the Help of Augmented Reality

Professional Development Opportunities!

There will be two Practical Ed Tech Summer Camps this year. There will be one tailored to schools that have 1:1 Chromebook programs and one for everyone else. Both Practical Ed Tech Summer Camps will be held in July. You can learn more about them here. Discounted early registration is available now. The Practical Ed Tech Summer Camp has sold out every year for the last three years.

Would you like to have me speak at your school or conference?

Click here to learn about my professional development services. 

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Practical Ed Tech is the brand through which I offer PD webinars.

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Boise State University offers a 100% online program in educational technology.

EdTechTeacher is hosting host workshops in six cities in the U.S. in the summer.

PowerPoint Playbook - Animating Numbered Lists

Last fall I featured Tom Richey's free PowerPoint and video collection for AP US History and AP European History students. Tom's YouTube channel is full of excellent tutorials for history students. In many of those videos you see Tom's face in the corner of the screen while PowerPoint slides support his points. Now Tom has started a video series about how to get the most out of PowerPoint. The first video in his new PowerPoint Playbook is about animating numbered lists. See the video below.

Travel the Iditarod Race in Google Street View

The Iditarod Sled Dog race begins today. It's one of the events that I would love to see in person some day. While I cannot get there in person this year, I can view it in Google Street View. Earlier this week Google published a new collection of Street View imagery capture along the Iditarod trail in 2015. The imagery takes viewers from the start in Anchorage, along the trail, into pit stops, and eventually to the finish line in Nome. All of the imagery can be found here.

Additional Iditarod Resources for Teachers:
For students who are interested in learning about the dogs used to pull the sleds over the 1100 mile Iditarod course, the American Kennel Club is a good place to find information about Alaskan Malamutes and Siberian Huskies. I should note that most of the dogs that run in the race aren't pure-bred dogs. I've met many mushers and one of my former colleagues is a musher (not in the Iditarod) whose teams aren't what you might expect to see when you think of sled dogs. To learn about genetics and breeding of dogs I recommend National Geographic's article How to Build a Dog.

On the Iditarod Education Portal you will many lesson plans about the race. The Iditarod Education Portal includes lessons for math, science, social studies, and language arts. Take a look at this lesson (link opens a PDF) about friction to get a sense of the kind of lesson plans that you will find through the Iditarod Education Portal.

The Scholastic Iditarod resources include some pieces on the history of the race and history of Alaska in general.