Virtual Field Trips, Making Banners, and IFTTT Recipes... in Education Today

Some interesting ideas I discovered recently about virtual field trips, making banners, and IFTTT recipes...

School Bus / Marobl (Pixabay) / CC0 1.0

Ten of the Best Virtual Field Trips
http://www.eschoolnews.com/2013/04/07/ten-of-the-best-virtual-field-trips/
by Meris Stansbury
http://www.eschoolnews.com/author/mstansbury/
April 7, 2013

These virtual field trips cover a variety of topics.

• Learn about the Arctic.
• Maintain a travel journal as you choose which of a list of countries to visit.
• Use Google Earth to travel with literary characters.
• Learn how Hershey's makes their delicious chocolates.
• Explore the Louvre... including some rooms closed to the public.
• Climb Mt. Everest.
• Tour the Museum of Natural History.
• View panoramas around the world.
• Visit the moon or Mars or the White House.

Virtual field trips save time and money.
Add the fact that they are interesting, fun, and engage our students.
If you have not used virtual field trips recently, you may want to check this article for some very good ideas.

YouTube Banner / Jo Schiffbauer / CC BY 2.0

How to Make a Banner
http://www.picmonkey.com/blog/make-a-banner/
by PicMonkey Staff

I use PicMonkey to edit my photos.
I also create collages and simple cover pages with it.
This article shares ideas for using PicMonkey to make banners.
When might you want to create a banner?
How about...

• Facebook cover?
• YouTube banner?
• Twitter header?
• Instructions for student projects?

The instructions include:

• backgrounds (plain or patterned)
• overlaps for graphics text design and tips, and
• suggestions for "standing out from the crowd."

Check out their examples... then try making your own banner!

IF... THEN... / Jo Schiffbauer / CC BY 2.0

11 Great IFTTT Recipes for Tracking NASA News, Photos and Space Exploration
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2982819/web-apps/11-great-ifttt-recipes-for-tracking-nasa-news-photos-and-space-exploration.html#tk.nl_pcwbest
and
5 Handy IFTTT Recipes for Gmail Users
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2955339/web-apps/5-handy-ifttt-recipes-for-gmail-users.html
both by Liane Cassavoy
http://www.pcworld.com/author/Liane-Cassavoy/

Have you have tried IFTTT yet? IFTTT automatically makes connections between apps that would take you several steps to accomplish manually.

You may want to check these IFTTT recipes:

• Track the International Space Station.
• Have NASA's image of the day sent to you automatically.
• Find the cell phone you misplaced in your home.
• Save Gmail attachments automatically.
• And more...

Have some fun with IFTTT. :)

Teaching Mathematics (Free Online Assessment Tool and 3 Act Tasks), Content Chunking in eLearning, and a Virtual Tour through a Cave... in Education Today

If you are interested in these topics--virtual tours, teaching mathematics, and/or content chunking--then you may find useful ideas in these posts.

Hang En Cave 6 / Hugh Derr / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Take a Virtual Journey through Vietnam's Massive Son Doong Cave
http://www.theverge.com/2015/5/30/8691739/son-doong-cave-vietnam-tour
May 30, 2015

Lizzie Plaugic
http://www.theverge.com/users/lizzieplaugic

National Geographic created a virtual tour of the Son Doong cave, one of the world's largest caves. This cave is so large that clouds can form inside it.

The tour uses text, a site map, sound, zoom, and sharing. You can manipulate the 360-degree image to explore inside the cave. Be sure to also click on the link to the video shot inside the cave by a drone.

Math Wordle Bulletin Board / Enokson / CC BY-NC 2.0

Tap into Teen Minds
https://tapintoteenminds.com/knowledgehooks-free-gameshow-assessment-tool/
May 30, 2015

Kyle Pearce
https://tapintoteenminds.com/about-me/

Check Out @Knowledgehook’s FREE Gameshow Assessment Tool!
A Free Gamified Clicker Tool With Ready-Made Content!

Pearce explores this free online assessment tool that can be used as a game show with questions already prepared... or with questions that you have customized. He shares screen shots and pros and cons of this product that is in beta production. Using your own questions is one of the pros; the fact that only Canadian provinces are listed at this point is one of the cons. He believes this product has much potential.

I tried playing the game both as a teacher and as a student. It was easy--as a teacher--to modify the questions. It was fun--as a student--to play on my smartphone. In the classroom you can project the questions and possible answers for all to see. Students can play as long as they have access to a web browser.

This assessment tool is promoted for reviewing mathematics. However, I agree with Kyle Pearce. There is very good potential here for other subjects as well.


Also... while you are visiting Kyle Pearce's blog, be sure to check out the 3 Act Math Tasks at https://tapintoteenminds.com/3act-math/. Scroll to the bottom of the page to access more than 100 3 Act Math Tasks and related resources. (For more information, see a previous post I wrote about 3 Act Math Tasks (http://teachinginadigitalworld.blogspot.com/2014/09/3-act-tasks-in-classroom.html).)
 
These resources are enough to make me wish I were teaching mathematics again!

Chunking / Phil and Jo Schiffbauer / CC BY 2.0

6 Advantages of Content Chunking in E-learning -- An Infographic
http://blog.commlabindia.com/elearning-design/advantages-of-elearning-content-chunking-infographic
May 29, 2015

Chinthakunta Krishna
http://blog.commlabindia.com/author/krishnac/

Krishna explains what content chunking is and then presents an infographic to list the importance of using it in elearning (or online learning). Is an infographic necessary to list six items? No. But, it is a good visual tool if you are sharing the idea with others... and I think it's a good reminder to myself to take advantage of chunking when I'm creating online courses.

Finding New Virtual Field Trips Resources

A trip to a sunny climate would certainly be fun during this very cold and snowy winter. Maybe I need to look for a trip to Sarasota or Santa Fe. Instead I'm updating my virtual field trips resources for an upcoming workshop.

Preschool Veggie Picking Field Trip / Grace Family / CC BY 2.0

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Here are some virtual field trips resources I found at Scoop.it!

Scooped by April...
10 Wonderful Virtual Field Trips for Your Students
http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2013/04/10-wonderful-virtual-field-trips-for.html
Note: these virtual field trips truly are wonderful... I spent entirely too much time exploring them because they are so interesting!

• Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History... explore on your own or take a tour

• Arctic Tour... are you ready to explore via dog-sledding?

• Moon Tour... 3D models, 360-degree photos, TV footage, landing site tours narrated by Apollo astronauts... using Moon in Google Earth

• Google Art Project... imagine an art museum with images from museums around the world and with tools to help you learn about art and art history... explore, take a tour, view art in detail, build your own gallery, share

• Planet in Action... tools that take your exploration and use of Google Earth to new levels

• World Wonders Project... explore and/or tour wonders of the ancient world and the modern world

• Eternal Egypt... tour and/or explore ancient Egypt with virtual environments, 3D views, 360-degree views, animations, webcams, and zoomable pictures

• A Virtual Tour of Museums and Exhibits... visit more than 300 tours created with text, pictures, sound, and/or videos

• Digital Field Trip to the Rainforest... this site sells their education products including some virtual field trips... however some free resources and demos are available

• Virtual Field Trips... a list of many virtual field trips

While at the Educational Technology and Mobile Learning site I followed a link about using Google Hangouts on Air to facilitate virtual field trips. 
Google+ Connected Classrooms Brings the World into Your Class
http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2013/11/google-connected-classrooms-brings.html
This virtual field trip uses Google Hangouts On Air (live video conferences). Note: you can watch past field trips and/or participate in upcoming field trips such as the following ones:

• virtual tour of a facility

• discussion with an expert

• demonstration of museum artifacts

• collaborative activity with another classroom elsewhere in the world

• student activities

• sessions that permit students to pose questions to the live participants

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At LiveBinders I was intrigued with virtual field trips resources that include instructions for using Skype, podcasts, and Google Earth.

Virtual Field Trips 
Kathy Pryor
http://www.livebinders.com/play/play?id=229243
Her virtual field trips include Skype, podcasts, and iPad apps.

Virtual Field Trips 
Vicki Johnson
https://www.livebinders.com/play/play?id=139864
This resource includes an extensive section on Google Earth.

Many more virtual field trip resources are available in LiveBinders. I pulled out two resources that interest me. However, you may have other needs or uses than I do and, thus, choose different resources.

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Here are some virtual field trips resources I found on Symbaloo webmixes.

The first time I saw some of the excellent work of Jayme Linton was when I discovered her Symbaloo webmix for Virtual Field Trips. It is one of my favorites.
https://www.symbaloo.com/mix/virtualfieldtrips9
Even though I am searching for new virtual field trips resources I am including hers on this list in case you have not seen it yet.

Take Your Students on a Virtual Field Trip Every Day
Jayme Linton
In this article Linton recommends using virtual field trips as an alternative to regular bell work or morning work.
http://techtipsforteachersblog.blogspot.com/2013/10/take-your-students-on-virtual-field.html
Note: you may find this idea for using virtual field trips useful for your classroom.

To find additional Symbaloo virtual field trip resources go to the Symbaloo Gallery to search for virtual field trips. 

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Next I used Storify to search for discussions of virtual field trips on social media.
http://storify.com/search?q=virtual+field+trip

Storify allows you to examine the tweets, images, videos, and links about virtual field trips that appear in social media... and then choose the ones you want to use.
Pick and choose to find links for virtual field trips, advice and suggestions, new ideas!

Here's four ideas Storify found on social media for me:

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My last search for virtual field trips resources was on Twitter... well, actually, on TweetDeck.

I searched for #virtualfieldtrip and for virtual field trip.

I found Virtual Trillium Trail
Maria C. R. Harrington’s, Ph.D. 
http://www.virtualfieldtrips.com/drupal1/ 
This site looks very interesting.

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In the past I have searched for virtual field trips in Delicious and in Google using keywords. This time I used a different approach. Scoop.it!, LiveBinders, Symbaloo, Storify, and Twitter / TweetDeck serve me well for curation and communication. So, I used them to see what's new on the topic of virtual field trips.

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If you have not previously used virtual field trips, you might want to check out this lesson (http://online.howtomaster.com/training/html/itc2/itc20201/start.html) about virtual field trips. It is available on the SimpleK12 free teacher resources Symbaloo webmix (http://www.symbaloo.com/mix/simplek12?searched=true).

Investigating a Source for Virtual Field Trips

What a delightful evening! I have been exploring virtual field trips at iTunesU and apps for virtual field trips at Apple’s App Store. I recommend that you investigate some of what is available from these two sources.

Go to Virtual Field Trips at iTunesU to begin your exploration. You can also do a search for virtual field trips at the iTunes Store.

The podcasts (audio and video) in iTunesU are free, of course. Some of the apps in the App Store are free; others are not. The most expensive app I saw was $5.99. The podcasts (audio and video) at iTunesU include the categories of museums, historic sites, national parks, libraries, and performing arts. The apps include the same categories except that I did not see any libraries apps. However, when I visited the App Store I did find libraries apps, including a virtual tour of the Library of Congress.

As I explored I watched a mummy being rewrapped, heard a ranger tell some funny stories about Theodore Roosevelt, saw interesting videos of the Everglades, had access to key documents of the Civil War, and watched a fascinating interview of Andre Previn. Whether you’re thinking about a virtual field trip or simply looking for interesting, authentic resources for your classes, I think it’s worth investigating virtual field trips at iTunesU. 

Photo: WorldIslandInfo.com / CC BY 2.0
Link: Virtual Field Trips at iTunesU - https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewMultiRoom?cc=us&fcId=673318782&enlh=1.8321.832.83.8&mt=10&ls=1