Course creation is tremendously rewarding and actually quite fun.  Courses we create at IT4Educators always have the characteristics of being professionally engaging to us and relevant to best practice in teaching and learning.

The course I am working on right now is a Google Search course.  Ryan already offers a Google Integration course which is a terrific survey course  allowing exploration of a myriad of Google tools.  My new course will be specifically related to all (or most) of the Google search tools.

I’m not talking about your grandmother’s Google.  I’m talking about cool, relevant tools specifically designed for classroom use.

When I was in Boulder last summer at the Google Teacher Academy, I was overwhelmed with new learning regarding all that is Google.  What really hit home for me was Google Custom Search, a solution I’ve been longing for.  Google Custom Search is a great tool for directed, intentional, safe web searches for students.

With Google Custom Search you can give your students authentic search experiences in a safe environment.  You determine the sites that students are searching, and you can also scaffold student learning by adding key word suggestions to the search page.

Google Custom Search is one of many Google search tools you will integrate into teaching and learning with the new course.

Watch for it to appear in our IT4Educators course listings in May or June.  Also coming soon, is a Google Docs course developed by Ryan.