When it comes to finding the “right” resource at the “right” time, finding the “right” search engine for your educational needs is of key importance. As their recent white paper on search points out, ccLearn states:

The hurdle for those who seek educational resources on the Internet is not a lack of materials, but the difficulty of discovery of appropriate and desired materials. The tool often used to discover these resources is a search engine… Most popular search engines use an index of the text and links found on pages to return results. This works extremely well for most searches for general information. However, educators are often interested in specific types of materials or materials that have certain attributes, such as the types of audiences for which the materials were designed, the amount of time it takes to apply a lesson, or different state-education standards that the materials are designed to meet. Searches for materials with these attributes are often suboptimal.

Luckily, the folks at ccLearn are trying to perfect search tools so that educators can find resources for their classrooms in a snap. Their search engine prototype DiscoverEd combines full text search with a more structured data approach (see white paper for details) in order to help you find what you need at the time you need it! In addition, they have limited the number of resources included as to ensure search results bring up quality resources. So far the search engine includes resources from a small subset of open education resources including:

• Connexions
• National Science Digital Library
• OER Commons
• OpenCourseWare Consortium institutions (e.g., MIT, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, the Open University UK, etc)

Finally, when the search results populate, users can quickly find key information such:

• Subject
• Curator (i.e. which organization or content aggregator does the resource come from)
• Education Level
• Language
• Copyright License

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