instaGrok!
instaGrok? instaWhat???
This is my favorite new search engine tool for the classroom. A search engine that graphically displays the data AND creates an automatic journal for students. Nice. Yes, the classroom component is $35, but there is also the free component, too. I would like to say I stumbled upon it with one of my many forays into educational technology...but I didn't. My boss sent a group of us an email asking if we had seen it. I had not. Within seconds I was hooked, as it is so multi-sensory and engaging. Perfect for an ADD instructional technologist with a short attention span.
So what is this thing? How do I use it? Pretty dang simple. The website is
www.instagrok.com Although a registration is not required, it is free (and keeps your stuff). The search bar asks me politely, "What would you like to learn about?" Hawaii is one of my island homes, so I did a search for Hawaii...
It then works on it...the process called, "Grokking"...
...and Voila!
On the right there are a series of descriptions (let's blow that up a bit to see it better). Notice the targeted advertisement for Hawaii, too. Hey, it is the free section of the site...people gots bills, right? Pay the cash and get rid of it ;)
This is more of the traditional search engine display, but still organized in a very easy to use format. Key facts are listed, but so are websites, videos, images, etc. What I really like about instaGrok is the graphic search feature.
The big yellow ball is Hawaii...the little yellow balls are the main points that came up under Hawaii. Surfing. Each ball is manipulable and can be dragged around the screen. They are also clickable, too. I like surfing, so I clicked on the yellow surfing ball...
BAM! New key facts, and the graph splits off into into a new subset. Now I can use the pin tool to add websites, key facts, videos, etc to my graph.
That can get overwhelming pretty quick (only images are on this image). Now how I can pull all this information together and make sense of it? The Journal! The second tab at the top takes me into an online word processor that has automatically added everything I pinned.
I can move things around, add my own information, and when I am finished can email to myself, print it, even add to social media. With the classroom account, students can send direct to Edmodo, as well. WOW!
Very cool stuff...and was all way faster than what it took you to read this far (which hopefully wasn't long either). I would really recommend giving this a try. No, it is not for the "in-depth, serious, find obscure information on the web"person, but it is great for students learning to research. I like to use it when presenting information to colleagues, as well. Can just send a instaGrok link. The company founders, Kirill Kireyev and Andrew Bender are great guys and very responsive to suggestions on how to improve instaGrok for the classroom. Check out their intro video...
...and some cool user created instaGroks;
Nano Technology
Black Death (Bubonic Plague)
Google Glass
Let me (and
them) know what you think! Follow instaGrok on
Twitter, too
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