This Handout Reviews the Following Topics:
Uses and Genres of Search Engines
Tools and Resources off Campus
Innovation and Experimentation with Existing Internet Tools and Resources
Other Resources/Handouts Like This One
This handout comprises one of the many parts of Andy Jones' Computer Aided Instruction Site: http://cai.ucdavis.edu
If you have any questions, about any CAI topics that I do or do not cover here, please write me at aojones@ucdavis.edu
A Few Thoughts on Information Literacy
Has Possession been replaced by Access? Find a quick review of the recent thinking on Information Literacy at
The LEAD Project
According to surveys conducted as part of the Learning Environment Architecture Development (LEAD) Project, the following represent the needs of U.C. Davis Instructors working with instructional technology:
Search Engines, Meta-Search Engines, Directories, and Specialized Search Engines
Start with "Searchenginewatch.com" at http://searchenginewatch.com/
Searchenginewatch lists and reviews search engines, suggests which search engines cover the largest percentage of web pages available (and if size matters), and offers statistical data on just about every element of searching. The information here can be overwhelming, but its "First Time Visitors" link explains the organization of the whole. Start here for helpful tutorials on "search engine math" and "power searching for everyone."
Next, visit "Allsearchengines.com" at http://www.allsearchengines.com/
This site offers links to all the major search engines, including
www.google.com (Google continues to be the best search engine available; it is fast, powerful, uncluttered, and not as commercial as others)
to meta-search engines, such as
and to directories, such as
www.dmoz.org (The Open Directory Project)
http://dmoz.org/Computers/Internet/WWW/Searching_the_Web/Search_Engines/
See the Google Directory at http://directory.google.com/
The first, searchedu.com, allows users to consult solely educationally-hosted web pages (or solely government sites or only databases of online books), as well as to access dictionaries, encyclopediae, and thesauri:
Oingo.Com allows for meaning-based searches. It's the best of the new breed of search engines that, according to a recent U.S. News and World Report article, try to read your mind:
While AllExperts.Com presents a host of specialists willing to answer questions on any topic, at no cost:
The Argus Clearinghouse of Information is a directory which offers a "selective collection of topical guides":
The Search Engine Colossus offers a collection of Academic Search Engines:
The most impressive of these, I think, is the Librarians' Index to the Internet:
Finally, my favorite new meta-search engine either searches 700 search engines in "real time" (i.e. immediately), or it allows you to limit your findings to resources in a particular field, such as current news or encyclopediae. Try it.
Recently I have been made aware of a meta-search engine that, according to its creator, "allows users to build their own search page from a categorized list of search engines."
Databases Available to the U.C. Davis Community
Start with the Shields Library Page to get an idea of the U.C. Davis Library's holdings:
The Complete list of databases available to UCD instructors and students is available at
This list is broken down into disciplines by our various libraries’ reference departments:
My favorite of all these is Lexis-Nexis, where one finds hundreds of thousands of full-text articles under the "Academic Universe" heading:
Investigate the University of California’s "California Digital Library" at
and the U.C. Berkeley Digital Library at
Tools and Resources on Campus
When I need help with technical or theoretical questions about teaching with technology, I look first to The Arbor, which exists primarily to provide support to U.C.D. instructors using instructional technology. http://arbor.ucdavis.edu/
At the "Resources" link, the Arbor staff have written and organized a large collection of definitions, explanations, and autotutorials. For instance, Maureen Coulson explains web page design: http://arbor.ucdavis.edu/resources/internet/ADA/usability.html.
If you want quick access to information on computer accounts, computer labs, the faculty modem pool, email, class listservs, newsgroups, etc., then visit the Faculty Technology Guide. At this site you'll find answers, or people who can provide the answers, to most technology and teaching-related questions that you encounter during this week-long workshop:
As you may know, The Teaching Resources Center provides a central access point for IET Information and advice:
When you visit the TRC site, visit the "Using Technology in Teaching" page:
Visit the "Training" site at IET , where you will find information about self-paced training, instructor-led training, and helpful reference materials:
Finally, you might be interested in the page of links that I've collected for my "English for Educators" class that I teach every summer. (And I'd be glad to add especially helpful links that you find in your travels.)
http://cai.ucdavis.edu/caihandouts/104dlinks.html
Tools and Resources Off Campus
Every major academic discipline has a "portal" somewhere, that is, a collection or directory of resources specific to that discipline that interested parties visit to begin any investigation of web-based resources.
One portal which covers many of the topics important to instructional technology, is Michael L. Hall’s "Teaching with Electronic Technology" page at the University of Maryland. I bookmark and visit this site because it is comprehensive and updated often. Take the time to explore some of the links here:
Another is "Instructional Technology Connections" at the University of Colorado at Denver:
The best way to find the major portals in your discipline is to enter the most relevant keywords in the Google search engine, paying special attention to which sites appear first. In the Humanities, we usually start with Alan Liu’s famous and monstrous site, The Voice of the Shuttle:
You might also want to investigate Camera Obscura's meta-index of academic and scholarly resources. It takes a while to load:
Finally, to see how other professors in your discipline have presented materials via course web pages, visit The World Lecture Hall at
http://www.utexas.edu/world/lecture/
Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators at http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/
Check especially her guide for History and Social Studies topics at http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/
The History Central Catalogue at http://www.ukans.edu/history/VL/
The History Place (with great visuals, timelines) at http://www.historyplace.com/
The History Buff's Home Page (good on American History) at http://www.discovery.com/guides/history/historybuff/historybuff.html
I found all these sites at http://directory.google.com/Top/Society/History/Education/
Another good one, presented by the Librarians' Index to the Internet (at http://lii.org/) is http://lii.org/search?title=History&query=History&subsearch=History&searchtype=subject
Innovation and Experimentation with Existing Internet Tools and Resources
First, make sure that you are aware of all the Instructional Technology tools are available to you as a classroom leader. To do this, visit
Consider creative ways to use the many tools available to you. Automated Class Mailing Lists allow instructors to expand students’ understanding of office hours and class discussion. Compelling students to offer substantive responses to questions raised during a class lecture may make up for unavailable discussion time. To see how I required Internet-based participation in a Literary Theory class that I taught last fall, see
One commercial equivalent of an Automated Class Mailing List is a Yahoo Group. Investigate this resource at
Yahoo Groups are particularly good for students working on collaborative projects, partly because students use existing Internet tools without necessarily involving you as the instructor. To see examples of collaborative assignments for a Gender, Literature and Sexuality course that I taught last summer, see
You can see the draft of another collaborative assignment that I will assign to this summer's "English for Educators" class:
Finally, forcing students to participate in the information-gathering process will allow students to use their web skills, which are often more practiced and honed than our own, to add to the class discussion, or to keep their instructor updated on newly-discovered resources in your discipline.
Other Resources/Handouts Like This One
A great place to start is this web presentation titled "Finding Quality Information on the Web"; it lists all the important sites that explain web searching (as I have started to do here):
This tutorial on finding information on the web, created by hardworking librarians at U.C. Berkeley, is perfect for beginners:
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/FindInfo.html
My favorite tutorial is this one on "Second Generation Searching on the Web":
A bit about me and my work
Again, if you have questions in the future, feel free to e-mail me at aojones@ucdavis.edu, or see what new handouts and resources I have added to my Computer-Aided Instruction site, at http://cai.ucdavis.edu.
A few of the most helpful pages on the CAI Site include
The page of Links (at http://cai.ucdavis.edu/links.html)
The Projects Page (at http://cai.ucdavis.edu/caiprojects.html)
This summer I'm working on an Internet Writing Project for UCD students, and, with a colleague, an Online AP Course for the University of California College Prep Initiative. If you look these over, you'll see that they have more potential than substance, though both will be finished by the end of the summer.
You might want also to visit the site of my radio show:
"Dr. Andy's Poetry and Technology Hour" can be found at http://www.culturelover.com. And on KDVS Wednesdays from 5-6.