Where Would You Like to Go Today? Exploring Google’s Mapping Tools to Promote Creation in the Classroom

One of the things I enjoy about summers as an educator is that we have a little more time to seek out new learning. For me this takes many different forms. I usually read some new books over the summer, I often take a class or two, and I attend a few conferences or workshops. I also enjoy the opportunity to facilitate sessions at conferences or workshops. Not only does this help me feel that I am contributing to the learning of others, but I always gain new knowledge and some tips and tricks from participants as well.

In the last few weeks I've had several opportunities to facilitate professional learning sessions for educators. I helped lead two workshops designed to assist teachers as they move toward implementation of Iowa's new Social Studies Standards and I've been a part of two different conferences. At each of these conferences I helped facilitate sessions on using Google's mapping tools to promote student creation in the classroom. This is a perfect fit for my interests and my dual roles as an Instructional Technology Consultant and a Social Studies Consultant. As an added bonus, my co-presenter for both of these sessions was my wife. We've both been in education for 20 years and we've presented at many conferences and professional learning sessions, but until now we had never presented together.

Our goal was to present a session to demonstrate uses of Google My Maps, Tour Builder, and Tour Creator with a focus on creation over consumption. Map skills are important for students, but we wanted to demonstrate how we can move beyond map quizzes and simple recall to get students more involved in their learning. These tools can help build mental maps as students emphasize location, place, analysis, and stories in their use of maps. We chose to focus on these Google tools because of their simplicity and due to the fact that most districts in Iowa utilize Google's G Suite for Education. We also took advantage of the immersive capabilities of Tour Creator by importing tours into Google Expeditions and viewing them with virtual reality goggles.

Our first session was at the Heart of Innovation Summer Summit. This event involved about 100 area educators and was meant to provide a free learning opportunity through Heartland AEA as well as serving as a kick-off for those who choose to take part in our webinar series and learning tracks that will be available throughout the 2019-2020 school year. This event, the process of putting it together, and our planning for a year of learning deserve more than a quick mention, so I'll plan another post to offer more explanation.

Our second session was at the Best Practices in Social Studies Institute. This is a free, two-day event hosted by Iowa's Department of Education to provide an opportunity for social studies professional learning connected to best practices with a focus on helping teachers move toward implementation of Iowa's new Social Studies Standards.

Both sessions were well attended and seemed to go very smoothly. We heard many positive comments from those in attendance and conference reflection surveys mentioned our sessions as a positive experience. We made a few tweaks between the two sessions to allow for more exploration of tools by participants and more focus on instructional uses of the mapping tools.

The slides presentation we used to facilitate these sessions is included below.

I would love to hear feedback on  our presentation as well as other ideas for using Google My Maps, Tour Builder, and Tour Creator in the classroom. Please leave comments below or connect with me on Twitter to share your thoughts on our presentation, these tools, and summer learning.

TIC-Tac-Tech -- Sharing Tech Integration Ideas at TIC Sessions

Part of my role as an Instructional Technology Consultant involves helping organize events that promote the effective integration of technology. One of the ways our agency achieves this goal is through Technology Integration and Collaboration (TIC) events. We hold nine of these sessions per year with each one focused on specific grade-levels or subject areas. The purpose of TIC sessions is to allow area teachers to share their efforts to effectively integrate technology into instruction. Attendees are able to learn from presenters while collaborating with teachers from their grade-level/subject area who share an interest in increasing the use of technology in their classes. These free events generally include 3-4 presentations that can be viewed in person (which we recommend because this allows for more collaborative learning), virtually, or by viewing recordings on YouTube.
 
Because of my background in social studies, I often take on the task of helping organize the Social Studies TIC session. This year I was excited to have 6 area teachers present 4 sessions highlighting some of their successes integrating technology into their social studies classes.
 
Our first presenters, Alicen Morley and Jill Thieben, shared some of their experiences integrating Google Cardboard and virtual reality tools into social studies. Alicen teaches social studies and Jill is an English teacher and Technology Coach at Boone High School. Alicen and Jill's slides are accessible here and their presentation is viewable below.

Our second presenter, Leslie Wiles, shared a number of different resources for social studies teachers as she discussed her journey from analog to digital in the classroom. Leslie is a middle school social studies teacher at West Central Valley Middle School. Leslie's presentation slides can be seen here and a video of her session is included below.

Our third presentation featured Victoria Westerly and Heather Dutrey from Interstate 35 Schools. Victoria teaches middle school social studies and Heather is an instructional coach. Victoria and Heather shared their experiences with Google Classroom. Their slides are linked here and their presentation can be seen below.

This year's TIC session concluded with a presentation by Kevin Neal and Diane Van Wyk. Kevin and Diane are high school social studies teachers at West Des Moines Valley High School. Diane and Kevin included a discussion of Quizalize, Quizziz, Quizlet, and other formative assessment tools. Kevin and Diane's presentation is included below.

I always enjoy TIC sessions. These events provide a great opportunity to learn about ways teachers are using technology in their classrooms and it is a great opportunity to collaborate with other grade-level/subject area teachers. I especially enjoy our Social Studies TIC sessions as they provide me another opportunity to stay involved with social studies.