Why “think” all by yourself? – SCN Encourager 5/14/2014

Think with Google.

I’m not kidding.

My bicycle has more gears in working order (aka “less rust”) than my brain does.

Apparently, I don’t use either one as much as I should.

So when I received a note about Google’s free “Insights” link I perked up.

With Google’s capacity to monitor all of our searches (yours, mine, all of God’s children and then some) and then synthesize them into a fairly understandable presentation, I thought I might be able to set aside my worries over a lack of a “4th gear.”

Why not coast and let Google do all of the peddling for me?

This particular Google service is a thought-provoker, but you control the topics you’d like to explore… and you get an analysis, not just snippets and lists you still need to poke and click your way through.

One of the feature articles revealed what today’s young new parents are googling.

While I might have suspected that the majority of their searches are on mobile devices, I never would’ve guessed that their “school choice” planning begins during the months of pregnancy, even before the baby arrives.

Another article compiled a few new facts and observations about 21st century learning. (Okay, new to me, anyway…so this article may actually have been written in 1926 and Google’s just getting around to posting it.)

What struck me was Duke Professor Cathy Davidson’s contention that the brains of our students (and hopefully our own as well) are adapting to the speed of digital learning in astounding ways.

This will ultimately cause traditional concepts like “before” and “after” to become more blurred and fuzzy, as tomorrow’s teams of learners collaborate on what’s relevant and critical in the “now.”

Too philosophical for you?

It is for me. (Totally grinding my “three gears” to a halt.)

Fortunately, Think with Google provides a sandbox to play in.

 

 

Hallelujah! Finally a learning tool I grew up with!

Tom Page, SCN       Join us on Facebook!