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The New Face of Research In Schools
Overview of Dan Russell’s Presentation
I recently had the opportunity to listen to Dan Russell (Google’s Uber Tech Lead for Search Quality & User Happiness) talk about how search technology has (or at least should have) evolved our ability to find and access information.
In addition to having access to Google’s enormous repository of data, he has also drawn from his own research both in a lab setting and with his massive open online course (MOOC), he was able to obtain some very critical insights on a number of fronts; some we likely have suspected all along while others may come as a shock to us.
What I found most interesting however was how these two realms overlap. Namely, one of Russell’s conclusions was that despite how much information is readily available on the internet and how well designed the delivery of content may be, most people learn and retain information best when learned from their friends and from stories.
For anyone who has studied human development or has an adolescent at home, this probably comes as no surprise. What was surprising, however, was that despite this, most people do NOT learn the skills and knowledge many of us assume they would or should.
The example he gave for this was the use of the “Find” feature (⌘+F or CONTROL+F)…
