As Hyperdocs become increasingly popular, consider using maps as a rich alternative. Maps can be a great way to tell a story, make history and culture interactive, and travel without leaving the classroom.
I've been a long-time fan of Google Earth and it's capabilities. While it is a powerful demonstration tool for students, it can be very time-consuming to learn the nuances of Google Earth in order to record and share tours. Enter Google's Tour Builder and My Maps.
Google's Tour Builder is a great way to share where you've been and what you've seen and learned on your journey. It enables you to pin locations, add text, images, and video, and easily share your tour. These capabilities lend themselves to a lot of educational uses--create and take tours of historical events, geographic features, world cultures, the election trail, biographies, literary settings, and more.
To use Tour Builder in 3D, you do need to download the Google Earth browser plug-in and be logged into your Google Account. If the plug-in is not available on your device, Tour Builder automatically defaults to 2D mode. Tour Builder is intuitive and has great built-in directions and prompts, so it is easy for students and teachers to build their own. Each location you add is given a place marker that can hold text and up to 25 images and videos that are displayed as a gallery. The tours remain private until you choose to share them with others.
One advantage of using Tour Builder is the ability to upload your own photos and videos without having to host elsewhere on the web.
Tour Builder Resources:
Google's My Maps provides another option for students to create interactive maps. My Maps appears in your list of Google Drive Apps and has the same sharing features and options as other Google Apps. Similar to Tour Builder, My Maps will allow users to attach images and videos to locations. Unfortunately, My Maps does not currently allow you to upload your own photos and videos unless you make them available on the web and/or YouTube.
Add layers to allow users to easily filter information on your map. For instance, if students were researching a country, one layer could be geographic features, another could be cultural sites, etc. My example district map allows viewers to filter district elementary, secondary, and office locations. My Maps also has a measuring tool (distance and area) and the ability to develop routes based on transportation modes (walking, bicycling, or driving).
My Maps Resources:
Take these interactive maps to the next level by having kids create and embed their own videos using WeVideo or Screencastify.
Want even more ideas about how to use Google Maps in the classroom? Check out Kurt Wismer's Geo 4 Edu site for ideas, examples, and tutorials.
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