Every day can be field trip day if you utilize the many Google tools to take a virtual field trip. Come learn about the Google Geo Tools as well as tips and best practices for creating virtual field trips.
I am a big fan of the whole 360° video sensation sweeping across education at the moment. I like the Google Cardboard/VR Headset idea, but we don't have very many of these in our district. What we do have are big SMARTBoards, 70 Inch Monitors, iPads, and Chromebooks. So we can still utilize the videos, but just not as immersively as the Cardboard experience.
YouTube has lots of 360° videos posted. However, just a search for 360° video can bring up some inappropriate videos as well. So don't just turn students loose. The teacher should be the one to search.
I really like the National Geographic videos. Here is a link to their playlist
Don't forget about the Google Arts and Culture website. Many Street View and some 360° views can be found in it as well.
Some people are afraid to use YouTube with students do to the recommended videos and comments section. So here are a few tips to get around that.
1. Use a tool like https://safeshare.tv/. Enter your YouTube video URL into the box and Generate a Safe View
2. Use the Insert Video option in Google Slides. Then in Present mode, the 360 Video will still work.
I attended several 30-minute webinars from Simple K-12 over the weekend. Simple K12 is usually membership based one demand lesson plans and webinars and more, but they do offer free webinars as well that anyone can sign up for.
One of the sessions I attended was “Virtual Explorations and Field Trips with Google Tools” with Jerry Swiatek. @jswiatek
He talked about Google Maps and Google Earth, but he could have spent way more than his 30 minutes on just the Google Arts and Culture site. What an amazing resource.
Art classes can zoom in to famous paintings to see brush strokes.
Make sure to check out the projects section for curated media over various topics.
Look up Historical events and figures.
Look at all of the Partner websites associated with this cultural institute site.
See content curated by place.
So much to explore on this site. I strongly urge you to take a look.
