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/Helpcenter/How does the twillo search work?

How does the twillo search work?

In the twillo environment, you have access to two different OER search options:

The OERSI search via twillo
Search the OER index with materials from twillo and other OER portals – accessible without login.

The twillo internal search
Search exclusively for materials on twillo – only available in the logged-in area.

On the OER search page, you can specifically search for open educational resources from various OER portals (e.g. twillo, ORCA, ZOERR, ...).

OER search results page: Overview with search field at the top, filter button on the left, and several material cards from different sources below.

If you are logged in, you can also access the OERSI search via the Advanced Search tab in the area selection.

Side menu in the twillo OER portal opened, with the option 'Advanced Search' highlighted in red.

In the search results, materials published on twillo are marked below the preview image with the small twillo icon (two circles connected by a vertical line). Materials from other sources are identified by the OERSI logo (several dots connected into a network).

When you hover your cursor over a search result card, you can scroll through the metadata of the respective material. Individual OER materials can be opened by double-clicking on the preview image or by selecting the Go to material button.

Material cards: Red highlights indicate the icons in the upper left corner that identify the source of the content.

On the left-hand side, various filters are available to refine your search. You can limit the search results to a specific subject area (based on the higher education subject classifications of Destatis), a specific license (e.g. Creative Commons, MIT), and a specific material type (e.g. video, presentation, script). You can also search specifically for materials created by a certain author or at a certain institution. In addition, the language of the material can be filtered. Finally, the Source filter allows you to determine whether only OER from a specific platform (e.g. twillo, TIB AV-Portal, ZOERR) should be displayed.

Filter function: Red highlight emphasizes the 'Open filters' button next to the number of results.

Filter area: Red highlight shows the filter sidebar on the left with categories such as 'Subject area', 'License', 'Material type', and additional filter options.

Below the search results, you will find collections in which users have grouped OER published on twillo according to thematic or didactic aspects. The Show more button takes you to an overview of all collections on twillo.

Targeted searching for a collection is currently only possible via the twillo internal search. However, materials included in collections are displayed in the OERSI search results.
You can find all information about collections in our FAQ What are collections and how do I use them?.

The search function within twillo is only available after logging in. If you use the search bar in your workspace, materials published on twillo that match your search term will be displayed. Using the gear icon, you can choose which information should be shown on the result cards. By clicking the Filename option, you can adjust the sorting of the results. For more advanced filter options, please use the OERSI search described above.

Workspace view in the twillo OER portal with highlighted search bar and highlighted sorting option by filename.

What the twillo Internal Search Is Used For

You may now wonder why this distinction exists. Quite simply, many functions offered by twillo (e.g. creating collections or variants) only work with materials that are directly stored in or linked within the portal. Whenever you use one of these functions, the system relies on the twillo internal search to display the materials.

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