Tech Thursday: Oolone (Website)

Technology Thursday is a weekly linky dedicated to all things technology related. Share reviews of websites or apps you've tried, tech tips that make your {teaching or personal} life easier, and helpful tutorials. Our hope is that this linky provides a place for teachers to share and learn new ways to use technology and engage students!

Be a rule follower!

Rule #1: You must include the image above and a link to our linky somewhere in your blog post.

Rule #2: Follow the Rule of Three...visit the two blogs who link up before you and the one immediately after you and leave some love on their pages!

Rule #3: This linky is not intended for product promotion. You may include products you've created in your posts, but they should not be the sole focus of the post. {Exception...freebies...because everybody loves a good freebie!}

This Week's Tech Tip:

I have discovered a website that I am excited about using in my classroom this coming year. Introducing Oolone; a visual search engine that could be very useful for many of our students. What sets it apart from our "go to" search engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc.) is that after a student types in what they are searching for, the results come up in the form of images, instead of text. Here is an example:

As you can see, I was looking for information on the Revolutionary War. What is then displayed in the results are screen shots of the websites that have information on that topic. The small arrows on the left and right allow you to flip through the pages for more websites. This website allows you to get a preview of a website without actually clicking on the link and leaving the search engine. 

Oolone could be a very useful search engine for ESL students, students in lower grades, students with special needs, or visual learners. Students are able to get an overview of the website as opposed to being confronted with confusing text. 

There are a couple of filters that can be applied to obtain more specific information. In addition, there is an adult filter that can be used to keep unwanted content from popping up; this is a feature that is vital in our classrooms. 

I know that I will be using this in my classroom next year! The past couple of days I have been using Oolone for my own personal use and I really like it! It speeds things up when I am looking for information and right away I know if I would like to click on a website based on the screen shot. I am excited to introduce this new search engine to my students!

I hope you have found this Technology Thursday tip useful and I look forward to all of the new things I will be learning from you! Don't forget to link up anything tech-related!

Also, Kristen is hosting a postcard exchange for elementary classes. This is a fun way to learn about the rest of our country! There's only one class per state, so sign up fast! You can sign up here: www.SignUpGenius.com/go/10C094EABAC23ABFB6-elementary

An InLinkz Link-up