Two great teachers using technology to attract and lure students to learning. Take a look:
Take a look at my friend Cricket's blog (see my comments here). She has created a wonderful program to help teach Art using Sketchfu. She was already a talented artist, but with Sketchfu she is enabling and inspiring her high school students to create, explore and design. And I can't wait to see what they develop.
Another brave teaching buddy is John Parsons. He developed a writing assignment using Go Animate (see my comments here). This is one of my kid's favorites programs to use, and without it summer writing projects would have been a battle. Just watch John's video and you can see ow simple it is to set up, work with and share using the program online. There are plenty of avatars to choose from and so much to say!
Relevant and Innovative Learning Scenario
Kari Haugeto
Brief Overview: Travel is always more fun when shared. But we usually wait until after the experience. With Google Maps our family created our travel plans, researched our destinations, invited friends and family to make recommendations and then used the map as a geographic scrapbook of our adventure. We hope the Map will continue to grow as other visit the same areas we traveled building on our experiences. You can do this too, whether before, after or during your next venture. This Google Maps clinic will provide you with the tools to do this and much more.
1. Target Audience- Families with young children that travel for education and pleasure, looking to involve their children in more of the process and presentation of their adventure.
2. Materials– You will need these items to participate:
• Computer
• Internet connection
• Web browser
• Google account
• Google Earth app
• A trip to document
3. Objectives– At the end of this scenario the learners will be able to:
• Create and design personalized maps using Google Maps
• Choose and import images, documents and movies related to your subject to the map
• Demonstrate that you can share them with the world or a private audience and open them up for collaboration with remote users
• Demonstrate that you can add images, video and/or written content to another person’s map
• Integrate your map with Google earth
• Export your data into other applications that use Google Earth and Google Maps
4. Procedure–
• Ask students about places they have been, are planning to visit and where they go all the time.
• Type an address or business name into the Google maps search bar to show how search works
• Show how navigate, to zoom in and out of the map.
• Also show how to switch from Views (Satellite to Earth to Map) and the Features menu
• As a group decide the theme of map for the class.
• Each student should choose a place or trip they will map themselves. Based on their subject have them create a title and description for their map.
• The map will include at least five markers, so have them list five spots to mark as well.
• Show students how to create a personal map in Google maps and have them follow along.
• Make sure they make the map publically available.
• Show the students the marker menu and how to create windows. Next add the 5 markers. They should choose icons when appropriate.
• Show the students how to upload images, how to insert video and images into windows
• Have the students use the line tool to show path from one point to another. Also show them how to mark an area. Depending on their map theme they may not need to use these tools but they important to know.
• Next show students how to use the features menu. Spend time of the webcams, images, videos and wiki.
• Give the students time to find images or movies and write content for their markers.
• Show students how to invite collaborators. Have them allow everyone to edit this map but email invitations to all class members and you.
• Find a link to another Google map
• Show students how adding markers, images, video, windows and features is the same as in their own map.
• Show them how to leave comments on another person’s map.
• Then show how they can do the same thing to help update the maps on Google.
• Have the students visit 5 other maps from the class and leave comments or post markers with content.
• Have students email friends or family to invite them to comment or leave markers as well.
5. Web 2.0 Tool– Google Maps (http://maps.google.com/) and Google Earth give a unique visual perspective of our planet, allow us to document everything from the mundane morning school run to a detailed scrapbook-style journal of our travel and includes collaborative features allowing us to develop maps together and share them with just family and friends or the world.
6. Social Participation/Social Learning– Even though we’re making personal maps, we are also learning how to share the maps with others and how to add to other people’s maps.
• As a class choose the subject theme for all our maps
• Create a publicly available map
• Invite others to view and collaborate in the building of the map
• Go to other people’s maps and add content
7. Making Connections– What we are doing is taking an experience the learner has already enjoyed or is planning and having them make geographic connections by placing items on the map. When organizing these items in the map they will also review their experiences, recall events and possibly find other facts about the area they had visited or plan to visit. It also puts everything in a format that allows them to share their experiences with others and have others with similar experiences to include theirs.
8. Create/Produce – In the end each learner will have created a map based on the chosen theme that includes information provided by classmates. They can then share this with friends or the world allowing the project to continue to grow.
9. Assessment –See Rubric for Google Maps Clinic here.
10. Reflection – Reflection is an integral part of this exercise. The student will be called upon to recall their experiences and share them with others. But we are also interested in ways to improve the program and better match the interests of the learner. Therefore learners will be asked to complete a Google Form. The form will ask them to explain the value of the exercise to them, describe how they might have performed this task in the past, list other ways they might use the same tools and list specific programs they are familiar with that perform similar functions. There will also be a text area where they can make suggestions.
The leader/trainer should track student progress through the exercises and keep a log of the questions that arise during discussions and in emails before and afterwards. This log will be helpful in expanding any descriptions or improving tutorials. If possible, note student enthusiasm for different aspects of the program and at the end cross-reference these with the reflection. The end result should be a log with a reflective abstract heading and bullet points for improvements and additions.
I am amazed by the interest my kids have shown in building our map. You can probably tell from my posts that we do a lot of stuff together. But this is a project the kids keep asking for.
Google Earth is my kids favorite map view.
I hope we'll be able to use the movie-making feature in Google Earth. Of course that is outside the range of this RILS but it is one of the things I think will be added sooner rather than later.
The last few days we have played with adding video, images and written content to our markers. We've also played with the marker avatars. Currently it is mostly airplanes, ships and hiking tours. Once we arrive we'll add our own video, etc.
In the mean time, we have been playing with the wiki, traffic, pictures, videos and webcam features. I do not recommend having them all selected at the same time.
There are a lot of features available
in Google Maps.
One item I am having difficulty locating is the time stamp. This is a very important addition to the map because it will give a timeline of events. Ideally we will be able to create a video with an animated map that follow this trip.
Also we aren’t sure if we should just keep updating this map as we continue to travel or if we should just overlay the maps at the end of the year.
The map is open to the public for edits and I am hoping we’ll have some takers soon. I also have some people lined up for my RILS once we get on the ship.
Our friends sent so many emails and comments about their experiences in Spain and Italy that we decided to open up our My Places Google map for recommendations from followers.
Our use is unique in that we are using it to preplan and research our destinations and will fill in the details during our trip.
As you can see we’ve already placed markers for each of our ports of call and where we’ll be starting off in Florida. Our preplanning is using the map to find articles on Wikipedia about each spot we visit as well as to view pictures and video of the area.
We’ve already learned so much.
And, as I mentioned, while we’re traveling we’ll fill in these markers with stories, descriptions, pictures and video from our trip. But we’re also interested in other people’s impressions, stories, favorite hangouts, pictures and video from their travels in this area.
So, if you’ve been or always wanted to go, won’t you click here to join us in filling out the map? If you’re not sure how, here’s a link to a slightly dated tutorial. We can learn so much when we compare experiences and give an area new perspective.
If you have trouble or just want to share online or have links to your own articles, do not hesitate to add them in the comments below, leave comments on the map page or shoot off an email to me.
This is just a quickie to let you know about a little app I am enjoying which works with my Gmail.
It is called Rapportive and if you haven't tried it out, I suggest you do. It links information about the email senders from your contacts in Linked-in, Twitter and Facebook. So when you open emails they look like this:
See that amazing column all the way to the right?!
You can even see their latest posts to the social networks. As someone who gets a lot of emails, I am liking this a lot. Cements the name with the face.
Can you believe there are just three more weeks before the kids go back to school?! At least here in Florida.
I tried to go the extra mile to match the kids needs to a good camp. My daughter is at her old school, where she can be with friends - and she loves it. I had my son Iden enrolled in three different performance camps and Karate - and he loved it!
But Aren, that was another story. He loves science, so I put him in Aerospace camp, Super Science camp and Rocket Camp. He went to a writing camp and Karate too.
This specialized camp is on the other side of Orlando in Windermere and worth every minute of the drive.
At the start of camp the kids were broken into groups based on common interests. They are shown some techniques in Final Cut Pro film editor and the Celtx scripting tool. They talk through some story ideas. By the afternoon the cameras come out.
And kids pick this stuff up quick.
By the end of the week Aren will have co-written three scripts, acted in three movies, filmed and directed one movie and co-edited two movies.
You'd think that would be enough, but as soon as he gets home he wants to work on other films. The following was filmed after camp at home with the iPad2 and edited in iMovie. I only helped by showing him how to use iStockPhoto.com for stock audio.
I was so happy to have this link sent to me by my cousin's better half via Facebook. It is a rare speech given by my uncle. He is very passionate about the environment and human rights. He and my late aunt had used a similar farm in Alabama to help homeless folks. And yeah he's a little hippie-ish. So was my aunt.
Needless to say, now that he is almost retired, he is no less passionate about life. And he's not afraid to discuss it. Professors!
I hope I can be as passionate about the earth, my family and my land.
You should see his kids! Just as into it, every one. Very humbling.
