Tag Archives: all things google

Improve Your Results with Google’s Advanced Power Searching MOOC

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A magnifying glass over shag carpet

At ProfHacker, we’re big fans of all things Google. We like Gmail, Google Docs, Google Calendar, and even have a soft spot for Google Hangouts, the video chat tool that includes document sharing and editing. Google does so much for us, it is sometimes hard to remember that it all started with its eponymous search tool. (Of course, Google doesn’t really do anything for us; as Amy pointed out last year when Google’s new privacy policy went into effect, we are not Google’s customers so much as its products. Siva Vaidhyanathan has a few things to say about the Googlization of Everything as well.)

Now, you might think that there’s not a lot that you need to know about searching with Google. It more or less does what you want it to: find what you’re looking for on the Internet. But then again, I’m betting that ProfHacker readers know a thing or two more about searching than the average undergrad student. The use of quotation marks, for instance, to search for a specific phrase is invaluable. And if you’ve ever come across a site with a bad internal search tool (as is the case with many universities), you might have found a lot to marvel at in the “site:” command. (In short, put your search terms and follow it with the domain you want searched, e.g., “croxall site:chronicle.com“. [Bonus tip: Set up site searches you use frequently as Text Expander snippets! --@JBJ])

It turns out that Google is pretty concerned with helping people use its tools more effectively and information literacy in general. This is why they created “Google Search Education,” which George covered in two posts last year about teaching students to search and a follow-up on the same. But starting today there’s even more to learn about searching on Google. Today, Google launches its own version of a MOOC, or massively open online course, on Advanced Power Searching. Registration is—of course—free, and according to the site, you will be able to complete the course at your own pace and on your own time. The course will be structured around particular challenges that will require Google searches. For example, this teaser video asks you to find the name of the chief engineer of the Golden Gate Bridge, the name of a traffic flow invention that he patented, the patent number, and an image of the device.

(Spoiler: Joseph Strauss, Overhead Crossing Signal, 1,967,380, and here.) By the end of the course, you should have a bevy of new skills: know how to use various search operators (including the AROUND operator, that I don’t know anything about), have the ability to filter content by Creative Commons license, set Google Alerts, and make the most of Google Trends. If you complete the different assignments in the course by February 8, you’ll receive a certificate. Woot?

If you’re still warming up to MOOCs, a subject that Douglas H. Fisher covered this past November, this Google experience might be just the opportunity to try one on for size. If you want to know more about searching but don’t think you’re ready for “advanced” power searching, you could check out last year’s course on plain ol’  ”power searching.” I’ve never had the time to participate in a MOOC before, so this is going to be my first exploration, and I hope to report back in a few weeks about what I’ve learned through my experience.

What are your favorite power searching tips? Let us know in the comments!

Lead image: Magnifying glass / Ivy Dawned / http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

All Things Google: The New Gmail Compose

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Picture of a hand holding a quill pen

We’re probably at the point here at ProfHacker where we might not have to tell you that we tend to like all things Google. So I was plenty interested when Gmail rolled out a new interface for writing a few weeks ago that makes it a lot easier to multi-task while writing emails.

In the past, composing email worked in the same way that reading them did: it took up your entire screen. The new writing environment drops a compose window in the lower-right corner of your inbox.

New compose window in Gmail

At first, you might be a bit annoyed about the smaller space for writing. And many of the formatting options that you’ve grown used to having right above the compose space in Gmail have been tucked inside different menus. Where, for instance, is the option to add bullet points? How do I CC someone? It turns out the bullets (and most of the other formatting options, including font sizes, indenting and colors) live under the “A.” The option to CC someone appears once you click on recipients.

While it might take you a while to figure out where all of your options now live, the real advantage of the new compose is that you can now move throughout Gmail while composing. Looking at different emails or conversations, running searches, even changing your Gmail settings can all be done while keeping your compose window open. This ability is worth the price of entry alone (and, of course, the price is free). In the past I’ve had to resort to opening multiple Gmail tabs to refer to multiple message threads while writing in a third or fourth window. The new compose more or less gets rid of this problem altogether. If I need a bit more space to read the email, I can minimize the window, and if I want to write while looking at other tabs, I can pop the window out.

And it turns out that all of those hidden features have actually been improved with the addition of keyboard shortcuts. Google tools already supported a number of keyboard shortcuts in Gmail, which I wrote about last year, and which you can see by simply typing “?” once you’ve turned them on. But the new compose supports many more of them. Inserting a bulleted list, for example, is as easy as “CTRL + Shift + 8″ on Windows and “Cmd + Shift + 8″ on a Mac. Adding a CC to an email is “CTRL + Shift + C” on Windows or “Cmd + Shift + C” on a Mac. Neither of these shortcuts was available in the previous compose. And since I like having keyboard shortcuts for EVERYTHING, this means I love, no, LURVE the new compose.

You can start using the new feature by clicking on “Try out the new compose experience” to the right of the Labels button at the top of the classic compose pane.

New compose option

If, however, you find that you prefer your old way of writing emails, it’s easy to switch back. Just click the small arrow in the lower-right corner, next to the trash can, and choose “switch back to old compose.”

It took a week or two for me to get used to the new version, but I’ve found the new compose features tremendously helpful in helping me plow through my email. How about you? Are you using the new compose? Let us know what you think in the comments!

Lead photo: Quill / rachaelvoorhees / CC BY-SA 2.0