Features of a SharePoint 2010 Learning Platform- The power of search for learning (1 of 3)

A long running debate within our team at Twynham has taken place about the most important aspect of a SharePoint Learning Platform. Dave Coleman has always argued that search is the key attribute which makes the learning experience vastly improved within SharePoint. Although I did not agree with Dave that search was key with SharePoint 2007 it has made major steps forward in SharePoint 2010 and in many ways is now comparable with the same search experience learners will find with the Internet.

The diagram below shows a breakdown of the different types of search you can get with SharePoint 2010.

Faceted Search in SharePoint 2010

One of the biggest challenges with schools is the vast amount of information which can end up sitting on the Learning Platform. With SharePoint 2010 search results which bring up a large number of responses now come with a refinement panel which allows you to filter results by site, author, modified data and tag. You can instantly see how a teacher or student will use this to sift through information and find the most relevant resource for them. An example of the refinement panel can be seen below.

Complex keyword search

Of course you want learners to refine the search results  but perhaps more importantly you want them to be able to refine their search terms. This is now possible in SharePoint 2010 with the ability for example to use AND, NOT and OR to further specify what you are looking for. To use a History example you may choose a search of ‘Hitler AND Mussolini’ if you wanted to focus on the relationship of the two dictators.  This would likely bring up the Pact of Steel or Munich Conference where the two leaders are referenced together. You could also choose ‘Hitler NOT Mussolini’ if you wanted to look at Nazi activity unrelated to the Italian relationship. Finally if you wanted to generally search for the two dictators for research but it did not matter which one (for example if you were looking in general at fascist European leaders) you could search ‘Hitler OR Mussolini’. As Agnes Molnar showed in her recent article on EndUser SharePoint it is possible to then undertake more complex search as you can see below.