Thing #17

Thing #17: Rollyo

Rollyover Google, and tell Ask Jeeves the news.

Ahem.

Rollyo is a site that allows you to customize a search filter by limiting the search to only the sites you select. This is a useful tool for the classroom, since despite Google's Safe Search setting and even with our school's sometimes over-zealous blocking software, it's still possible to get highly inappropriate results from Google image search. I enjoy modeling for kindergarten kids how I create PowerPoint presentations or Mimio games using Google, but I can't look for even the most innocuous pictures while they watch, on the slight chance that something unexpected will pop up.

So it's definitely a neat tool, but custom searches are probably of more use in older grade classrooms. Teachers can set search criteria and students can do their own research without being distracted by unwanted web sites, and staying away from legitimate sites that the teacher does not want them to use for research.

As I see it there are two negative aspects to consider Rollyo. One, it discourages browsing, as I discussed in the Thing #15 entry; it's often the case that we find what we were looking for when we stumble upon it, sometimes while looking for something else. Two, it requires that the teacher know what he's looking for in the first place; it presumes familiarity with a wide variety of sources, which may not be the case. It's a tool that requires advanced planning to use.

For my own use and just for this project, I created this linguistics search roll which covers six terrific sites about language and expression.