The Googlization of the research process, is a construct that describes a very real phenomenon that is heavily impacting how we all are engaging in the learning process. The is fact that the Google search process has infiltrated almost every aspect of our daily lives, including our school systems. We also must contend with issues relating to access, and relationships between commercialization and its impact on the knowledge communicated via online media.
It is important to not just identify how ‘Googlization’ has already impacted our learning and research processes, but also identify how we could, and should use it to inform the ways we teach our students the learning process in the future.
The research process itself is comprised of:
- selecting your topics,
- accessing the appropriate resources and critically evaluating them,
- processing that information with the help of others, and
- transferring your findings into some kind of final presentation.
It is important for students to learn cognitive processes that are at play when conducting research and reflect on learning and build metacognition. It is those processes that allow students to learn about the way they learn, and use that knowledge to inform future practice. But how can we do this in a way that matches the Googlization of the Research Process?
‘Googlization’, provides immediacy to accessing information, and has potential for more intuitive and streamlined access to appropriate resources in the future. With that in mind, the research process itself does not necessarily need to change, but I do believe that it does need to become more intuitive and streamlined to match our age of “Googlization’.
Often, students map out this research process with pencils and paper, and await non-immediate feedback to proceed.
Perhaps the research process can be intuitively linked into a program that enables the intuitive and streamlined organization of topics, resources, critical evaluation and processing, right inside Google itself, and easy access by the teacher in any location) … but I digress … Something even more intuitive than this may very well be available one day in the near future, when everyone is able to have regular access to their own devices.
The reality is that 21st Century Technologies are now a part of our everyday culture. With everything we do, we have access to these technologies right at our fingertips including our cell-phones, tablets, eReaders, home monitoring systems, and Web 2.0 programs including Social Media programs. There is also an increase in the digitization of our print resources in our classrooms and libraries.
We cannot deny the fact that the ‘Googlization’ is changing the way many students, educators do ‘business’. We also still know that we as educators must teach students the associated learning skills, help them map out the process, and transfer the learning process and learning skills to other aspects of school and the real world.
However, this Googlization of learning still exists, and will only continue to permeate our education system.
How should we harness this power of being able to find the ‘immediate’ answer, with our Research and learning processes?
Deborah McCallum
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© Deborah McCallum and Big Ideas in Education, 2012. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Deborah McCallum and Big Ideas in Education with appropriate and specific direction to the original content
