Google it! The phrase that pays. For anything unknown, it is the place to find it. Google Processes over 40,000 searches per second or 3.5 billion searches per day. That’s a lot of information at your fingertips and it one of the first places I go to find information. For example, I recently took up kayak fishing. I’d never been in a kayak before let alone fished in one. I went online and “Googled” local kayak shops. I found one nearby and went by several times to ask the owners and employees questions. I then went to my second favorite online stop, YouTube, and watched several videos about kayak fishing. After watching a few videos and talking with the owners, I thought I was ready for a guided fishing trip. I quickly discovered that there are some things you have to learn through trial and error (like how to maintain your balance and not tip over the kayak).
Professional research is no different. I search Google and YouTube for quick information about a topic. I subscribe to multiple channels on YouTube: Motor Skills Learning, Artic Kamiya, Carly Glanzman, and Jorden Weber. It’s my way of keeping up to date.
While there are obvious benefits of the internet, there are also pitfalls. Not all information on the internet is reliable or credible, and sometimes it’s hard to tell what’s real and what’s fake. With so many different outlets for social media, keeping up with all of them can also be daunting. I opened a Facebook account recently and find I am completely confused about how it works. I’ve been using Twitter for so long that managing messages, groups, and pages for Facebook is a little overwhelming. Not to mention all the people out there who want to like you. I never knew I was so popular.
But I’m a firm believer in embracing technology. My coworkers and I started a YouTube channel for sharing our lesson plans and ideas about teaching adapted physical education. Our Adapted Physical Education Channel on YouTube has 80 subscribers and over 5,000 views. We’ve also been contacted by two college professors about the channel who wanted additional information. While we’re not on the same level as the Education Channel on YouTube (which has 10 million subscribers), if we can help one teacher or one student, that’s all that matters.