Charlie's blog, stardate 2/14/2021: the journey into the Google galaxy continued this week with stops on the planet Google Photos, YouTube, and Google Search Engines.

This is my first experience with Google Photos and I discovered the Google assistant and search functions. Up till now, I saw no purpose in using a cloud photo application, as I use very few images. However, the functionality of uploading images to an online location will allow me to work more efficiently from home when needed. I can also both share photos with students and have them share them with me through the application. As our district rolls ponderously towards every student having a device, the opportunities to share scientific information and findings, and evidence through an online photo application is apparent.

I have used YouTube videos more and more with our transition to remote and hybrid learning, and I have discovered that the video subscription services the district provides are woefully inadequate. Learning this week included learning basic use of the YouTube library and playlists. I learned how to upload a video to YouTube and share a video with a start time that is not the beginning of the video. YouTube has many more resources for teachers than I ever knew, including "Channels" for many topic areas and most importantly, many for science.

The use of custom Google search engines will allow me to guide my students to resources more efficiently. I have used specific websites for my students to use to do learning, and I have turned them loose into the vastness of the cyber universe. Both scenarios are less efficient than if I could gather a number of sites and have students limit their search to those sites. They have more resources than a single site can provide, and the massive number of sites on the web will not get in the way of efficient learning. Here is an example of a custom search engine for climate change. 

I had watched a Crash Course website video on reverse image searches, but I had not done them until this week's journey. Using the images.google.com site to track down the origin and context of images will make me and my students better consumers of digital information.