What Can We Learn From Google Doodles

If you’ve used Google, you’ve seen them.  There have been hundreds of them created over the years and placed on the Google search page to honour various events and personalities.  Most recently to this posting, we’ve enjoyed a number of them to celebrate the 2012 Olympics.

Google’s own definition is:

“Doodles are the fun, surprising and sometimes spontaneous changes that are made to the Google logo to celebrate holidays, anniversaries and the lives of famous artists, pioneers and scientists.”

Read more here.

Admit it…  You’ve played them, listened to them, were inspired by them, laughed at them, …

Google’s Olympic Closing Ceremony Doodle

It’s not a totally new concept.  In education, some of our great textbooks have had little “doodles” in the side panel.  They are extraneous little snippets, related to the topic at hand, but not necessarily key to the core understanding.However, when I would get to a page in the book with this little tidbit, I would read it first.  It actually got me thinking a bit about the actual reading.  It also, I must admit, sent me off on learning tangents at too.

The goal, though, was to enhance the learning experience much as the Google Doodle enhances the search experience.

So I wonder…for those who write online curriculum and/or blended learning resources.  Could we do the same thing with a result of more engagement in the content at hand?  Certainly blogs have the ability to throw a widget or two in the sidebar.  Could we not leverage the power of this to make the learning experience more powerful?  What about student writing online?  Could they be encouraged to write more, inquire more, publish more, think more by adding their own?

Related articles

• Who’s behind Google’s doodles? (bbc.co.uk)
• Must Play Google Doodles: Hurdles, Slalom Canoe, Basketball, Soccer (valuewalk.com)
• Replay Google’s interactive Olympic doodles (ibnlive.in.com)
• Google Olympics Doodles Imaginative, Interactive (pcworld.com)
• Google hits the ravine with today’s 2012 Olympics Google Doodle (games.com)
• Google’s Last Doodle for the 2012 London Olympics (news.softpedia.com)
• Google Olympic Doodles: The Inside Story (mashable.com)
• Google makes nice save with soccer-themed Olympics Google Doodle (games.com)

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OTR Links 08/14/2012

• 5 Must-Know Tips For Deploying iPads In Your Classroom | Edudemic

  “I was chatting with an Edudemic reader this week who wanted to know a few tips and tricks about deploying iPads in his classroom this coming school year. I figured it might be helpful to share the results of this conversation with the rest of the Edudemic readers. After all, this site is all about sharing and learning together.”

  tags: tips ipads classroom

• Watercolor Techniques & Ideas for Kids – The Artful Parent

  “Here are over 50 watercolor techniques and ideas for kids and families to explore together.

  “

• Take Online Modules – For Teachers (Library of Congress)

  “On your own for professional development? Earn a certificate of completion by taking the Library’s self-paced interactive modules. Each multimedia-rich program delivers approximately one hour of staff development.”

  tags: primarysources professional development library primary sources modules teachers congress loc

• Links to Teacher-Created Groups – Google Docs

  “Links to Teacher-Created Groups”

  tags: edmodo groups

• Will Microsoft’s Police Surveillance System Violate Your Privacy?

  “The Microsoft-powered police surveillance system being installed in New York City is an impressive bit of innovation: It connects a wide variety of technology already in use by the New York Police Department in a way that gives police a powerful new tool in preventing and solving crime. “

  tags: microsoft police surveillance system privacy

• BBC News – Google’s doodles: Who’s behind them?

  “The occasional artistic “doodles” that replace the Google logo are seen by hundreds of millions of people. But who are the brains behind them? “

  tags: bbc news google behind

• Seven Ways to Use Twitter in a Classroom | Teachers use Social Media to Enhance Classroom Experience

  “Social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter are continuing their rise in popularity and there are no signs of this growth stopping soon, as is evidenced by the 42% of high school students who currently use Twitter.”

  tags: twitter education

• Watch Out: “We Know Your House” Uses Twitter to Find Out Where You Live and Then Posts It Online

  “Watch Out: “We Know Your House” Uses Twitter to Find Out Where You Live and Then Posts It Online”

  tags: googlereader Gizmodo ifttt

• iLearn Technology » Blog Archive » Evernote as an ePortfolio in a 1-to-1 iPad setting

  “At Anastasis, we use a combination of Evernote, Edu 2.0, and Edublogs to keep and share our work. Evernote has been a fantastic app for our students. Students can record text, images, and audio directly in Evernote.”

  tags: evernote education

• 25 Ways Teachers Can Use iPads in Their Classroom

  “Within Just a year and a half iPad has successed in establishing itself as a strong learning and teaching tool.This is mainly due to Apple’s ingenuity in staffing their tablet with some of the best specs and apps that are of great relevance to educators.”

  tags: ways teachers ipads classroom

• Does More Tech in the Classroom Help Kids Learn? – Yahoo! News

  “As more educational programs turn digital, teachers are finding that blending technology into the learning experience offers kids a crucial leg up in the classroom.”

  tags: tech classroom help kids yahoo news

• Creating and Using Infographics in the Elementary Classroom « Inside the classroom, outside the box!

  ““Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a different way.” By Edward de Bono”

  tags: creating infographics classroom box

• The 21st Century Principal: 5 Things Teachers (And Administrators) Can Do to Make Learning Real in Their Classrooms

  “Enough of the rhetoric and cheap talk. What does it really mean to make education and learning real in the classroom? In his essay, Prensky offers “5 Things Teachers Can Do at the Beginning of the Year to Make Education Real for Their Students.” I am going to modify that just a bit a here to capture what I think are the “5 Things Teachers Can Do to Make Learning Real in Their Classrooms.””

  tags: learning education

• 29 iPad Resources, Tutorials, and Guides Every Teacher Should Know about

  “iPad is gaining momentum in the educational sphere and might , in the near future, be integrated as a leading learning method. iPad is part of the gesture-based technology that is widely embraced by teens and which has pushed some school districts especially here in Canada and also in the States to start using the BYOD approach, for the costs of iPad and their apps is still relatively high.”

  tags: ipad resources apps tutorials ipads education howto edtech

• 26 Education-Based Infographics – From Career Opportunity Graphs to High-Tech Scholastic Stats

  “Learn how to take advantage of university degrees, potential career opportunities and high-priced education endeavors by consulting the contents of these education-based infographics. “

  tags: infographics career opportunity graphs stats

• 10 Tips How To Search Google Like A Pro! | Djuradj

  “The following Google search tips are based on my own experience and things that I actually find useful. The list is by no means comprehensive. But, I assure you that by learning and using the 10 tips below, you’ll rank up there with the best of the Google experts out there.”

  tags: tips how to search google pro

• Detroit Triangle on Google Earth

  “Most interesting as we were researching this story on the Detroit Monolith we discovered the Detroit Triangle on Google Earth. Not sure how to explain it. But the fact is that it is there somehow, not coincidentally? When we follow the path of its side it runs through Loveland and Milford Ohio near the Serpent Mound which are mentioned in the story. You can see it for yourself on Google earth we provided screen shots in the previous link. “

  tags: detroit triangle google google earth earth

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.