Last week, my department chair called me a “Google Jockey” when I looked something up while conversing with him. I had never heard the term, but immediately fell in love with it. In my history classroom, I encourage students to google things that we are discussing. If they’re acting like a google jockey, they’re engaged. I know teachers who would disagree, but nothing makes me happier than when I walk around behind my students and see them on wikipedia.
Some days, I start class with a list of terms for students to google, and I recommend that they do that each day when I state our agenda. It’s my opinion that if a student is curious, they should look up what we’re discussing. If it helps them answer a question or formulate an opinion, great. If it leads them to ask me a question about it, even better. Perhaps the greatest thing about the immediate google search is that often when you stumble upon a page, it will lead you to another page with more information.
If students frequently pursue further information, they will naturally weigh how that information fits into whatever you may be doing in your life. This leads to powerful connections and these connections push creativity and innovation--two of the most important things I can teach.
While activating google to pursue knowledge is excellent, learning evolves when a student curates or distributes that information. Simply perusing the information is good, but applying, moving, or storing it for discussion and re-engagement is that much more important. As a digital student in graduate school, I frantically googled content that my professors discussed or suggested we research. And, this led me to information that I wanted to learn (and store) from the graduate classes (that ironically, would help my own classes down the road). I’d much rather go looking on my own than getting stuck with just what’s on the syllabus. After all, if I wanted to just follow the syllabus, why pay for and show up for the class at all?
Of course, those who disagree with this practice argue that it distracts the student. This is true. But, there are hundreds of things that distract students that they’ll have to get used to succeed in college and make an impact in their profession. If a “distraction” is to further research a topic we are discussion in class, that’s a win. I will admit, however, that this approach is not for every student. Some retain and apply more when they have time to let the information marinate rather than consuming more. Therefore, this practice inherently helps students figure out the kind of learners they are.
