EdTechTeam

Global Network of Educational Technologists

Virtual Reality

Exploring and Learning with Google Expeditions

I don’t know about you, but when I was a kid, one of my favorite toys was the View-Master. I’m sure you know the one. That red toy that you put a thin cardboard disk in, pull the handle on the side, and step into a new scene with each arm pull. It was like being transported to a new world. Through the View-Master’s pictures, there was an excitement that I had for learning. Well fast forward 30+ years from my childhood, and I find myself with another View-Master, it’s name, Google Expeditions.

Back in February, I had the opportunity to host Google Expeditions at my school site. These expeditions are virtual trips that students can take to locations in and out of this world. A teacher, through the use of a tablet app, can lead students through ancient ruins, national monuments, or outer space. Exciting, right?!?!

To be honest, I wasn’t excited, I was terrified. When the kit arrived, I saw that there were so many cords and plugs. Would I be able to connect with all of the devices ? Would there be enough devices for all students? Would I break the red and white cases when trying to take the devices out to charge? All of these questions raced through my mind. As it turns out, the expeditions were a phenomenal success.

The screams of excitement, the “oooohs”, “ahhhs”, and “WOWs” of students as they looked through the Google Expeditions View-Master, was my favorite indication of success! It transported me back to my own childhood excitement. Students who don’t have an opportunity to travel to exotic places, were delighted to see and virtually interact with underwater sea creatures, “climb” Mount Everest, and explore the inside of the human body. Topics they were learning about in their textbooks, but laid static and two dimensional on a desk, were virtually brought to life.

To hold students accountable for their learning, they were instructed to work through a hyperdoc with video resources that supplemented the content of the expedition. Afterwards, students answered questions and completed a Google Form reflection log.

Here’s what I found to be the key to having a successful expedition, ditch the script. Though it gives students and teachers a great amount of background content information, your main goal shouldn’t be to read through all of the content, word for word, during the expedition. Give students time to be completely engulfed in the wonder and excitement of virtually exploring the world through Google Expeditions. It’s this natural, unabashed excitement that sparks their interest. When student interest is sparked, therein lies the flame that fuels authentic learning.

Canesha Wrathall
Elementary School
TOSA- Digital Learning Coach
Orange County, CA 

 

 

 

[themify_button bgcolor=”blue” size=”large” nofollow=”no” link=”https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/194516719X/ref=as_li_qf_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=edtechteampre-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=194516719X&linkId=6018cfe0a8680fe22b327d5ee60120eb”]Learn more with The Google Cardboard Book[/themify_button]

Going Places! The Google Cardboard Book

I received this book by Holly Clark, Sylvia Duckworth, Jeffery Heil, David Hotler, Donnie Piercey, & Lisa Thumann the other day and within two days I had scoured through it, tabbed some pages, and started formulating some ideas. This book isn’t meant to be an amazingly detailed read, it’s meant to be an amazing resourceful read full of ideas, learning opportunities, and how to improve and elevate how our students engage with our content.

I appreciated the background information on how the whole thing started as a 20% project. I was particularly interested in the information about the Google Expedition resources, which is a big interest of mine and integrating it within my school. I was intrigued by Chapter 2 and the classroom uses in multiple content areas. The chapter will really help me start a conversation with the core content area teachers to find ways to provide Google Cardboard opportunities with them. Additionally, on pages 18-19, there are some great ideas or lessons that teachers shared in the book to integrate Google Cardboard in fun and engaging ways.

One resource I found was the TES website of Google Expeditions shared lessons. Many educators who have created lessons and activities involving Google Expeditions shared their resources. I also love how it is filterable by grade level and content area. Currently there are 173 resources, but I’m sure that will be growing rapidly. I’m also a fan of Kasey Bell, she posted a 3-part series on VR and Google Cardboard, check it out on her ShakeUpLearning blog.

As we work toward getting our students to be more creators of content instead of consumers, Chapter 4 offered some excellent insights into creating pictures and videos suited for the VR arena. Along with that, Chapter 5 included excellent ways in which we can have students share their creations with the world. It really isn’t that challenging, just takes a little planning and encouraging to promote this side of what we can do with VR in the classroom.

There are so many exciting ways to integrate VR and Google Cardboard into the classroom, and we’re only in the infancy phase of it. The Google Cardboard Book will be an essential resource for me and as I work with teachers to help them provide amazing learning and exploring opportunities with their students. I’ve gathered some resources and put together a small informational website on Google Cardboard in the Classroom, feel free to check it out!

Chad Sussex has been a teacher of technology for nine years at Hinton (northwest Iowa) since 2008. He has a M.S. degree in Education in Curriculum Instruction & Design from Wayne State College. Makerspaces, technology, STEM, and all things Google are some of the driving forces for him as an educator. Chad proudly served our country in the U.S. Army with a tour of duty in Iraq in 2005. He is a Google for Education Certified Trainer, Educator Level 1 & Level 2. Feel free to follow Chad on Twitter @SussexChad and on his website, TheTechSuss.