High Techpectations

iSummit 2009 - Nashville

I'm in Nashville through Saturday at iSummit, a conference for private and charter school educators at schools with 1 to 1 laptop deployments. I'm really excited to be here as it's my first time visiting Tennessee!

Below are my presos which I've posted in Slideshare. Please feel free to contribute to my Google Maps/Earth teacher meme project and to join our group in Diigo where I will be bookmarking relevant links. Also, consider joining the Google in Education group as well.

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Google Earth Community: Teacher Meme

Link: Google Earth Community: Teacher Meme.

We've had another addition to the Google Earth Teacher Meme. Thank you, Lori Roe, for your contribution. It's truly lovely!

It's never too late to join in this ongoing project. Follow the directions from the above link and send me your .kmz files at your convenience!

Google Earth Meme Update

There's a new entry to the Google Earth Teacher Meme. Thanks to Marilyn DiPasquale for her .kmz file. Marilyn asked me how to created this file and put it in the Google Earth Community, so I'm copying and pasting the instructions I sent to her via email. To participate in this particular project, click on the aforementioned Googel Earth Teacher Meme link and you will see instructions. To create your own collection of .kmz files, follow the instructions below.

1) Make sure you register with the Google Earth Community site.

2) In Google Earth, each participant saves their .kmz file by going to File>Save>Save Place As> and then they browse to the place on their computer where they are going to save their file. This way they have a copy.

3) Then, they send this to me as an attachment or in GE, they go to File>Email>Placemark and send me the file that way.

4) Once I received the files, I made a folder in Google Earth (Add>Folder), selected it and saved it to My Places (File>Save>Save to My Places). I made folders in the same manner within this folder for each person participating.

5) I then opened the .kmz files from the emails sent to me and I selected those, moved them to their respective folders, and saved the entire enclosing folder again by going to File>Save Place As. I noted where I saved that .kmz file.

6) I then went to the Google Earth Community web site, found a forum that looks appropriate for posting my project, and I made a post describing the project. It's fairly self-explanatory; the first step was to create a new topic in a forum. The forum I chose was Education>Educators.

7) After creating my new topic post and entering relevant info, I clicked the continue button at the bottom of the page, and on the next page, there is a place for uploading files. This is where I uploaded the saved .kmz file and then I clicked the button that says ok, submit.  Note that it's helpful to save your post to your favorites within the Google Earth Community so that you can find it easily again.

8) To make additions, I open my .kmz file in Google earth, make additions in the manner described in Step 5, save again, and then visit my post in the Google Earth Community. There is an edit button on the post, and I go through and reupload my new edited .kmz file. There is a link that says to view it in Google Earth and one to view it in Google Maps. I usually look at the Google Maps one to make sure I uploaded files correctly.

UPDATED: Google Earth Community: Teacher Meme

Link: Google Earth Community: Teacher Meme.

We've had another addition to the Google Earth teacher meme! Thank you, Cindy Lane, for sending in your file. It's not too late for others to join in, so pass the information on.

January 31 Teacher Meme Update!

Link: Google Earth Community: Teacher Meme.

Another update to the Google Earth Teacher meme! Click on the above link, and select View in Google Maps for a quick peek!

Google Earth Teacher Meme Update!

We've had two new additions to our Google Earth file. Check it out here in the Google Earth community.  If you'd like to join in on this project, please read the directions at this aforementioned site. I've tweaked the instructions a bit! This is an ongoing project, so it's never too late to participate.

Thanks to everyone who has made a contribution so far!

Google Earth Community: Teacher Meme Update # 3

Link: Google Earth Community: Teacher Meme.

Our meme is growing! Send me your contributions!

Friday 5: Google Earth

Happy New Year, Everyone!

I just looked through my group archives, and I can’t believe I have never compiled a Friday 5 devoted to Google Earth. It is such an amazing application, and once you’ve experienced it, I think you’ll agree that it has great implications for enhancing teaching and learning.

A couple of projects have occupied me during the last couple of weeks. I’ve been playing with Google Earth and I have even started collaborative projects using Google Earth files. Inspired by a fellow Apple Distinguished Educator who collected holiday greetings in audio format and podcasted them for the ADE group, Ken Tuley and I came up with the idea of posting New Year’s resolutions from around the world using Google Earth. Several ADEs created a file of a Google Earth place mark indicating where they currently live or work, and put New Year’s resolutions into the description field of the place mark. Files were emailed to me and I compiled them, simply by dragging and dropping .kmz files into a folder. I then emailed the main file back to all participants. It was great fun to “fly” around the world, seeing people’s homes and gathering inspiration from various New Year’s resolutions.

I’ve started another similar project, and this one is geared for all teachers and students. Participants again will create a place mark indicating their home, workplace, or other special location. In the description field, they are supposed to write a paragraph or two about their favorite teacher and/or learning experience. I’ll collect these files via email, and put them into one file that will be posted on my blog and in the Google Earth Community. Follow the link below if you’d like to participate… detailed directions are included.

Have a great weekend,

Lucy Gray
elemenous@gmail.com

THE BASICS

1)    Google Earth
http://earth.google.com/

Download the free software here.

2)    Google Earth – Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Earth

A little background info on GE.

3)    Google Earth Community: Teacher Meme
http://tinyurl.com/yfnfux

This is the link to my current project. Join the fun!

4)    The Good Earth
http://www.edutopia.org/1661

Read about how teachers are using Google Earth in this Edutopia article.

NEXT STEPS

5)   Google Earth Education Community
http://edweb.tusd.k12.az.us/dherring/ge/googleearth.htm

6)   Juicy Geography’s Google Earth for Teachers
http://www.juicygeography.co.uk/googleearth.htm

5)    Tom Barrett’s Classroom Google Earth Wiki
http://classroomgoogleearth.wikispaces.com/

Lots of great resources can be found here and if you feel inspired, you can add your school’s location to a collection of files from other schools.

6)    Google Earth Users Guide
http://googlearthusersguide.blogspot.com/

7)    Google Earth Wikipedia Layer
http://blog.outer-court.com/archive/2006-12-10-n72.html

This is a blog post about a relatively new feature in Google Earth.

8)    Virtual Globetrotting
http://virtualglobetrotting.com/

9)    Google Earth Blog
http://www.gearthblog.com/

Click on the links labeled GE to download the file and view in Google Earth.

10)     Google Sightseeing
http://googlesightseeing.com/

11)     Official Google Blog: The Illuminated Continent
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2005/09/illuminated-continent.html

National Geographic naturally has content viewable in Google Earth.

DEEP CUTS

12)     GeoGreeting
http://www.geogreeting.com/

Send a fun message to a friend using satellite images. Thanks to Charlene Chausis for this link!

13)     Geography 2.0: Virtual Globes: Google Earth Education Initiative
http://geography2.blogspot.com/2005/12/google-earth-education-initiative.html

Get a free copy of Google Earth Pro for your school. Follow the instructions posted in this blog.

14)     Google SketchUp
http://sketchup.google.com/

Create 3-D models in SketchUp and import them into Google Earth.  You thought Google Earth was mind blowing? Wait until you try this!

15)     Google 3D Warehouse
http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/

Store and share SketchUp files here. Check out Fred Bartel’s collection of designs for 21st Century schools:
http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/search?q=21st+century+school&btnG=Search
and his Designing with SketchUp Infowiki : http://dws.editme.com/.

Google Earth Community: Teacher Meme

Link: Google Earth Community: Teacher Meme.

We have 10 posts in our Google Earth meme. Follow the above directions and send me your files (elemenous@gmail.com).

Teacher Meme Update #2

Woo hoo! We're up to four people in the Google Earth Meme. I am discovering some nice blogs in the process, so don't forget to include an url if you so desire. Also, don't worry about having to "tag" five people or getting tagged by someone... just send me your placemark file. See my previous post for directions and take a look at the mashup version! I go back to school tomorrow and I've been thinking about how I can tie my students into this.... how about including kids with this project? What a concept!

Lucy
elemenous@gmail.com

Teacher Meme.kmz - Google Maps

Link: Teacher Meme.kmz - Google Maps.

I did it! Following Tim Lauer's simple instructions, I made a mash up! Updates will follow!

Teacher Meme Update #1

We have our first addition to the Teacher Meme project.... download this file and find out who the special mystery guest is!

Download teacher_meme.kmz.zip

I'm Starting My Own Meme!

I'm feeling left out... there's an edublogger meme thing going around and I haven't been tagged yet! Participants blog about five things others probably don't know about them and then tag five friends to carry on this meme. See Kathy Schrock's list or Andy Carvin's for examples. UPDATE: Midge felt sorry for me and tagged me, but this project is still on!

With my meme, I am going to morph this tradition a bit and do it with Google Earth! During the last week, a group of Apple Distinguished Educators have posted New Year's resolutions in Google Earth. This started after David Wallace compiled podcast holiday greetings from various ADEs.  Ken Tuley and I aggregated placemark files from Google Earth and sent the resulting .kmz file back to the ADE community. It has been fun to "fly" to everyone's locations around the world and inspiring to read their resolutions. I would post it here, but  for privacy reasons, I am not going to right now. To add to the power of this activity, Tim Lauer demonstrated for me yesterday via iChat how to make a Google Map mashup of this .kmz file and it was simply a jaw dropping moment for me. Using this proejct as inspiration, I am going to try and learn how to do that with the following activity.

Here is what I have posted in the Google Earth Community:

I am a teacher in Chicago, Illinois and am starting a Google Earth meme. This is a way to pay tribute to teachers who have made a difference in the lives of others and to share memorable learning experiences around the world. Also, I am curious about how learning happens for others and the characteristics of effective teachers.  Feel free to morph the following questions and join in if you'd like! Anyone is welcome to participate, but I'd especially like to hear from students and educators

For this project, I am choosing two questions and you can answer just one or both:

1) What has been your most memorable learning experience?
2) Who is the teacher that has influenced you the most?and why?

Here are the technical directions. Feel free to edit as you pass this on:

To create a placemark describing your most memorable teacher or learning experience:

1) Open Google Earth.
2) Fly to the address of your choice. This is the point where you will add a placemarks. It should be your work address or home address, whatever you feel comfortable with.
3) Go to the Add menu and select Add Placemark.
4) Drag the new Placemark to the exact location of your address.
5) Edit fields as necessary. Label the placemark with your name. Put your written text in the description field. Add an url to anything you think might be relevant  such as your website or blog. You can change the style and color of the placemark if you wish
6) When you are done, right click or control click on the placemark and select the email option from the file menu. Email it to me,  Lucy Gray <elemenous@gmail.com>. I will compile all the .kmz files and post the most recent updates on my blog: [url=http://lucygray.org.]http://lucygray.org.[/url]
7) OPTIONAL: Upload the .kmz file to your blog if you have one. Add a relevant tag so that it can be found in a Technorati search.  Possible tags could be meme, GoogleEarthmeme, or teachermeme.

Here is my entry:

Download teacher_meme.kmz

I am tagging 10 people to get this started as I am not sure how many people really have the time and inclination for this....you only have to tag 5 others to pass it on! Here are my victims: Craig Cunningham    Lisa Harrison    Tim Lauer    Meredith Melragon    Ken Tuley    Westley Field    Valerie Becker    Alexander Russo  Will Dix    Tim Tyson