Google Tour Creator

The Google Tour Creator tool is similar to ThingLink in that you are combining the concept of creating a hyperlink but doing it within a 360 degree image that you can view in VR. In fact, you could also look at it as an interactive slide show in VR where you can string together scenes while narrating overtop, or embedding text, photos, links and more. You can essentially guide where someone is looking while in your tour. IMPORTANT NOTE Google is going to be phasing out this platform so while it will work until late June 2021, it will no longer be accessible after that. Google will be incorporating this platform into Google Arts and Culture, as well as building in similar functionality within Google Earth.

There is also a ton of pre-existing content created and shared by other users so it is a great resource for just experiencing guided tours that already exist, before creating your own. You can also upload your tour to Google Expeditions where you (or others) can view it in virtual reality.

March 16, 2020

Google Expeditions

The content for both VR and AR has grown exponentially in the past year, and Google Expeditions is a fantastic resource for students and teachers to gain a broader perspective about a range of topics. For teachers in a classroom, it is very easy to control all student iPads at once while guiding a tour. But even in the absence of a classroom experience, students can independently take advantage of this platform in a variety of ways. You can print off AR “markers” which act as a trigger to show a model in augmented reality, or simply move your device around a specified area until the model appears. For VR, you don’t actually need a VR headset to explore in a meaningful way. The VR content (which is a larger catalog than AR currently) can be viewed by moving your device (tablet or phone) around and exploring the content as if it is all around you.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Google will be phasing out Expeditions and it will no longer be active as of June 2021. It is worth taking advantage of this platform while it exists though, and after it ceases to exist, check out Google Arts and Culture where many of the tours enjoyed in Expeditions will transfer over.

Students don’t need to be just “consumers” of the content either. You can create your own VR tour in Google Tour Creator (or see that entry on this site to learn more) and upload it into Google Expeditions to view. Using the screen record feature on the computer, tablet, or phone, students can also record their voice while giving a tour of what they have learned or detailing features of an AR model while it appears projected right there in the room with them. There are lots of possibilities for app smashing (combining tech platforms) with this tool.

March 16, 2020

Newsela

Newsela is a great option if you are looking for student-friendly, up to date news articles. Teachers and/or students can create an account using their school email accounts. The free version has plenty of content that is worthwhile, though if your grade level or department is interested in a premium membership, there are options for managing multiple students at a time.

There are also comprehension check lessons built into each article. Given the importance of teaching students to vet quality news and information, Newsela could be a good place to check out and use as examples from their lessons that are geared towards this very topic. You can adjust reading levels for younger students, and filter by topic, opinion, etc…

October 23, 2018

Padlet is still one of the more dynamic resources you will find today for teachers and students. We have a school subscription to the EDU version so your options for using it are not limited (though the free version is very strong). Padlet basically exists as a digital bulletin board that an entire class can access and collaborate together on at the same time. The most recent updated versions allow you to embed video, documents directly from Google Drive, audio, text, and and more. You can customize backgrounds, sort posts in a variety of ways, and can easily clone existing Padlets so many people can personalize their notes. As a note-taking tool, it is a fantastic option and you can customize fonts and features as you would in any other digital document. Students as young as third grade have had success using it, though obviously the older the grade level, the broader the possibilities. Check out some of our own student and teacher examples below!

CLICK HERE to see how 3rd grade student group used Padlet for taking notes:

CLICK HERE to explore a 4th grade note-taking Padlet

CLICK HERE to explore how 3rd grade teachers have used Padlet to present a lesson:

August 27, 2018

Listenwise

Listenwise is a site that contains resources for teachers to pair with recent topics covered on NPR programming. While it offers a school subscription, it also provides free resources that work on their own as a nice complement to SEL, current events, government, or civics curriculum.

August 25, 2018

Civil War Today

The Civil War Today app has been around for about 8 years now but it continues to improve with each new updated version it puts out. If there is interest, we can put it on all Library iPads depending on desired use. It basically provides a daily interactive front page newspaper of events occurring on that day during the Civil War. Used as either as a quick warm-up activity, or as the foundation of an entire unit or curriculum, Civil War Today remains a solid resource for our students.

August 25, 2018

Augmented Reality

Augmented Reality is perhaps even more powerful than VR in an education setting because every student can have the same experience at the same time. It can easily be added into an existing lesson and be experienced concurrently with class lecture, group work, research, and more.

Imagine frog dissection without the smell! Students can look at the human body and dive into layers of a cell. If you have a topic you teach, there is an augmented reality visual experience you can draw on to reinforce learning. There are also numerous ways for students to take advantage of existing material, add to it, and incorporate it into their own project to showcase their learning.

August 23, 2018

Virtual Reality

VR has long been considered an extension of the video game industry and the assumption is that it is purely entertainment (or worse, excess screentime strapped to your face). However, the educational ramifications of putting students into space, geographically anywhere on the planet including in the oceans, in the midst of a battle fought long ago etc… are pretty powerful. Even as a short intro to a larger lesson, VR is a fantastic way to engage students and give them a more visceral learning experience to complement other more traditional components of teaching a unit.

Schools that have headsets, and can take advantage of apps like Discovery VR and Google Expeditions to instantly take students anywhere.

Additionally, we have a top of the line virtual reality headset and equipment that lives in the tech training room. Although only one student at a time can actually navigate with the headset, classmates can watch on the big screen while they await their turn working on another “learning station”.

August 23, 2018

Apple CLIPS

CLIPS is a relatively new app (also a site) that was released late last year. It is a FANTASTIC alternative to iMovie, especially for our lower school students as it allows for an engaging, visual project but can be condensed into a one-off lesson. It is simple in its layout and can be used in a variety of ways. From narrating and animating a story or poem, to labeling parts of the ecosystem, to breaking down the cause and effect of a moment in history, it is all very easy and engaging for our students. It can also be a powerful tool for our youngest learners because of its ability to show the words you speak in “real time”. The possibilities for students to be able to narrate and illustrate their own books with words that fly out on the screen in any style they choose is really exciting. Clips is available on all school iPads (including the Library if students would like to check one out for a project).

Check out a student-created example below!

August 21, 2018 0

Google Sites: Middle School

Google Sites is one of many options for easy, template-based website creation. Various grade levels and subject areas have used it in a variety of ways. It embeds content directly from student Google Drives with ease, though is also designed to add content from anywhere in seconds. It is a great option for sharing student work with extended families who live across the world.

CLICK HERE to check out how Middle Schoolers have used it to house their projects.

August 20, 2018 0

KAHOOT

Chances are, you are already familiar with Kahoot and are actively using it with your class for fun review sessions. If you are unfamiliar, it is a quiz making platform that has an interactive student/teacher interface. There are many ways to personalize it beyond its surface features. It is also worth noting that it is available on all library iPads as an app, which can be useful in groups or as a more mobile option when reviewing for a test.

Click HERE for a video overview

August 16, 2018 0

Teaching Tolerance

You are likely already familiar with this fantastic resource but may not have visited their website. There are tons of updated resources that pair well with teaching literature or social studies.

August 16, 2018 0

Smithsonian Learning Lab

This is an interactive resource that allows students to access a giant catalog of sources and images directly from the Smithsonian’s collection.

Check out a video HERE to learn more!

August 16, 2018 0

POWTOON

Powtoon is an interactive presentation format that is vastly more engaging that google slides or powerpoint. The free version still has enough features to allow it to be more visually appealing and engaging than traditional presentations.

August 16, 2018 0

EMAZE

Emaze is a super visually appealing platform for creating presentations. Because it contains such a robust catalog of templates and tools, it probably is more powerful in older grades. However, it can be made simple for those who are more comfortable sticking with the basics. For those who wish to pursue extended enrichment opportunities, they can dive into a deep well of features.

August 16, 2018 0

Adobe Spark

Adobe Spark has been a popular free program for creating multimedia presentations for a while now. There is a “video” version and a more text-heavy “pages” version. Watch the video below to get a sense of the options available, even just in the free version.

August 16, 2018 0

Quizizz

Quizizz is similar to Kahoot but with the added bonus of being able to display the quiz questions directly on all student devices. It also has a large library of premade quizzes from teachers and students all around the world.

Quizizz also has an app is on all library iPads so theoretically, a class could borrow them so they all had an iPad in front of them and their laptops could be freed up (or put away) depending on need.

August 16, 2018 0

Socrative

Socrative is in the same family of quiz creators and interactive digital learning platforms that help track student understanding in real time. You can set up classes as well so in effect it is a more formalized collection of student data than other quiz platforms like Quizlet or Kahoot.

Watch a video demo below!

August 16, 2018 0

FLIPQUIZ

FLIPQUIZ is a resource for making Jeopardy-style games. It doesn’t link you to student responses, in the same way, some of the other platforms like Kahoot or Quizlet do, but it is a good option to have on hand, particularly for students that want to use this as a component to a presented lesson.

Click HERE try out a live demo template

Click HERE for a video overview

August 15, 2018 0

FLIPGRID

Flipgrid is a popular platform for sharing and valuing individual student voice. As the teacher, you “proctor” in a sense and students submit responses to lessons, homework, discussions, chapters, videos etc…

Click HERE for a quick video overview.

August 15, 2018 0

EDpuzzle

EDpuzzle is a program that lets you easily create lessons/mini-lessons and quizzes that incorporate video clips that you and/or students can annotate. It is a solid tool for both teacher designed and student created lessons.

August 15, 2018 0

Fantasy Map Generator

This is a map making resource where students can create their own fantasy world. It is one way to incorporate coding into a project where you want students to create a utopia/distopia and establish a government or teach about the flow of a planet’s resources. However, students can also just edit within the map and options menus without coding if it makes more sense for your lesson. To take it a step further, students can first generate and re-name a map here, and then import it into another mapping program to mark up, or even beyond that, bring it into coSpaces to get a “virtual view”.

Click HERE for a few additional helpful resources you can adapt from a project some of our students used to create their own.

August 15, 2018 0

Google Tour Builder

Google Tour Builder continues to become more powerful in its ability to create interactive maps and presentations, blending a multimedia map-making platform within Google Earth. Virtual reality is at the forefront of some of the biggest additions to the latest version. NOTE: The Tour Builder platform will be discontinued and merged into Google Arts and Culture in June 2021

August 15, 2018 0

Google Earth (With New Features Including VR)

While Google Earth has been around for a while now, the recent updates are really eye-popping. The possibilities with which you can use Google Tour Builder alone make it a very powerful tool in teaching social studies and geography. New 360 degree images also allow for the incorporation of virtual reality experiences for students.

August 15, 2018 0

NewseumED

The Newseum has a really robust education branch that contains a huge volume of maps, primary sources and more. It also is a fantastic resource for teaching students about how to evaluate news and quality of information.

August 15, 2018 0

Tiki-Toki Digital Timelines

This site is a powerful way to help students gain perspective of time and space. There are multiple views that you can toggle between and many students can collaborate to create a master timeline

Click HERE to check out a timeline created by 4th graders during their study of explorers.

Screen Shot 2018-08-15 at 4.45.28 PM — 2D View

Screen Shot 2018-08-15 at 4.46.29 PM — 3D View

August 15, 2018 0

ThingLink

ThingLink is another option for independent student projects, or unit wrap-ups for students to show what they have learned. There are unlimited possibilities for using this platform either in teaching, student learning, assessment, and lesson enhancement.

Click HERE to check out how some of our middle school students used ThingLink when reading Lord of the Flies in a 7th grade English class

Click HERE to examine the picture below to see how one could embed info into an animated gif.

August 15, 2018 0

CoSpaces

CoSpaces could actually live anywhere on this menu as it is more a platform where

can create a 3-D world embedding any content they wish. One particularly powerful possibility is having students create a virtual museum, either collectively or individually.

Students wishing to code may do so as it can use drag and drop for the non-coder, block-based coding for the novice coder, and java for the advanced coder. As a cherry on top, students can explore their world, museum, etc… using a virtual reality headset.

August 7, 2018 0