Moving at the Speed of Creativity

In preparing for week 4 of the Wednesday night class I’m teaching this term on Google Earth at our church, I discovered the website and Google Earth layer Panoramio. Panoramio is one of three layers which come with Google Earth under the top category “Geographic Web.”

Photographs are submitted by Panoramio’s users to be included in Google Earth as geo-tagged blue dots. In Google Earth, users can click a dot and view embedded photos which are located at approximately the location on earth where they were taken.

The current wait for a new photo to be approved in Panoramio is approximately one month. We had a question tonight in class about whether or not anyone could post any photo to Panoramio. The answer appears to be yes, anyone can submit a photograph, but there is not a guarantee that every submitted photo will be approved and actually show up in GE. The Panoramio acceptance policy provides more details about why photos are or are not selected for inclusion.

Another notable geographic resource we explored this evening was a collection of 23 three dimensional buildings created for Ancient Rome. These have been created by various individuals using Google SketchUp, and are examples of Geo-referenced models included in Google’s 3D Warehouse.

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panoramio, geography, google, earth, googleearth

My 10 year old son and I are continuing to play the free online strategy game Travian, and the game on our server has moved into its final stages. To win the game, members of an alliance must first conquer a village from the Natars tribe which contains the plans for a Wonder of the World (WOW) and then build that Wonder of the World to level 100. Members of our alliance have conquered five Natars villages and are now racing to build our WOWs up to win the endgame.

To calculate which of our WOW villages are closest to my villages for resupply, I used the free Travian World Analyzer (which my son taught me about, of course) to map my own villages. Travian uses an x - y grid coordinate plane, and my villages (along with most of the players in our alliance) are located in the southeast quadrant. After creating this graph, I made a screensnap of it with Skitch and then added my own points to it for our WOW villages. In this way, I was able to determine which WOW villages I can resupply with resources fastest as well as alliance “feeder villages” close to the WOW villages. Mainly our villages need wheat to feed the thousands of troops we have sent to them as reinforcements.

Even though I am very familiar with coordinate grid graphing, it was VERY helpful to me to see this visual representation of both my own village locations and those of my alliance’s WOW villages. It was quite nice and handy to use a website tool to create this initial map and then add my own data points to. This experience reinforces the value of graphing and visually representing information rather than simply viewing it in a textual format. This value is not just expressed in a theoretical or conceptual way, the knowledge gained from this graphing activity is ACTIONABLE. As a result of the information and knowledge I gained by remixing this data and creating this graph, I am now able to contribute more constructively to the WOW village building activities of our alliance.

I love the way playing Travian has provided my son and I ongoing opportunities to use and practice mathematics skills. I wrote about this a bit in May in the post “Fun learning math while conquering a foreign village.” For more background, see our podcast discussions about Travian from March 2008 and December 2007. I AM looking forward to the game on our server winding down and ending, and I don’t think I’ll be playing “another round” on a different Travian server, but this experience has certainly been filled with learning on multiple fronts for both my son and I as well as fun!

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travian, game, gaming, math, mathematics, learning, graph, graphing, coordinate, plane

These are my notes from Jane Zanetis’ presentation at MODLA 2008 titled, “Beyond the Virtual Fieldtrip and the Collaborative Project…KC3: A National Challenge.” MY THOUGHTS AND REFLECTIONS ARE IN ALL CAPS. I am recording this session with permission and will post it later here as a podcast. This is a GREAT project and exactly the type of interactive collaborations we need more students and teachers doing!

The official session description was:

The KC3 Project is a national project designed to empower students to direct their own learning. This standards based project seeks to tap into the creative nature of students as they look at their own communities with new eyes and explore ways to share their findings with others using videoconferencing and other technologies. In its first year, the KC3 students developed an informational program geared toward a specific audience educating them on their topic. Each project team used the CILC Program Posting Format as they developed their content program. Topics submitted by teams from across the U.S. included: Astronauts and Limestone; Lawrence County Indiana History; Texas Black Gold: Oil; Fire Ants: The Real Ant Bully; The Haunted Mansion by the Bay; The Underground Railroad and the Ohio River; Low Bridge: Clinton’s Big Ditch; Wind Power; Linear Relationships in the Texas State Capitol; William Joel Bryan and His Legacy; Hawaiian Food and Diet: Past and Present; The Origins and Culture of Hula Participants. This session will provide video clips of the winning teams’ virtual fieldtrips. This project is a clear demonstration of Constructivist pedagogy. The Project is in its first year and will expand to include elementary teams as well as teams outside the United States.

Jan has worked for Tandberg for the last 3 years. Prior to this she wrote a book on videoconferencing collaborations, helped start the Vanderbilt Virtual Schools project

The evolution of Video Applications in Distance Education
1- distance classes
2- accessing content providers (this like Jim and Tim’s preso last session)
3- collaborative student projects
4- content creation in the classroom

this is a pyramid, more people are doing the things at the top than the things at the bottom
- purpose of this session is to bring you up the pyramid

CILC is great resource to access over 150 videoconferencing content providers

we are turning the technology over to the kids
- asking them to use the tools and create a project
- constructivist learning is going on

we see a blend of these different things going on now with video in classrooms
- interactive distance learning continuum: a blend of the 4 uses stated above

as people become more comfortable with the technology

A Texas Tale
- Tommy Beardon in Texas
- Tommy tending to his cotton crop
- Tommy has had his students create the “Cotton Plant: Many Uses” virtual field trip
- geared toward middle school students
- addresses history, science, math
- students do 4 or 5 of these every month

A challenge from a Legend: story from Alan November
- took the idea from Alan November to create the KC3 project: Kids Creating Community Content

The nuts and bolts of this project
- marketing
- website (with CILC)
- Pre-Production
- Showtime
- Evaluation
- Awards

Schools had 3 months to put together their projects
- then sent out an “all call” via the AT&T Videoconferencing listserv and the CILC’s listserv
- within 24 hours, we had over 150 teachers saying they wanted to receive and participate
- we were streaming and capturing all of this too
- had participants with their own bridges and content servers

Schools from Hawaii to New Jersey were sharing content

developed a rubric which was utilized by educator-raters to determine winners of the content

1st Place: “The Mound Builders: They Myth, The Legend, A Tale of Historic Treasures”
- teacher: Tammy Parks, Howe, Oklahoma

2nd Place: Fire Ants: The Real Ant Bully
- teacher: Deborah Birdsong, Stamford, TX

3rd Place: The Fascinating World of Aquaculture
- Lynne Sueoka, Honolulu, Hawaii

Winning teacher will be at BLC
- 1st - 3rd place winners

What worked well in this project:
1- clear and concise program requirements
2- small teams: 3-6 students per team
3- ease of scheduling videoconferences and technology support with Lance and Mike
4- projects aligned with school subject matter and standards
5- incoprorated 21st century student outcomes: information ,media, and technology skills, authentic audience

Limitations and possible needed changes:
1- perhaps make two categories: middle school (6-8) and a high school (9-12)
2- would love to add international students and add that element of cross-cultural exchange
3- provide helps/tips on using/incorporating various technologies

Outcomes
- hands down it was the student ownership and excitement of sharing with a group in another geographic area
- students repeatedly said that they learned the contnt at a much deeper level because they wanted to be prepared for questions from the remote audiences
- relationships formed which are leading to additional plans for more projects this year

Questions: Ask -
- jan [dot] zanetis [at] tandberg [dot] com
- mcougan [at] cilc [at] org
- bmattocks [at] cilc [dot] org

KC3 website: http://kc3.cilc.org

Permissions:
- we didn’t think about this on the front end
- I just share these videos now except during PD sessions

Technorati Tags:
kc3, videoconferencing, collaboration, cilc, video, tandberg, modla, modla08, modla2008

These are my notes from Tim Gore and Jim Sturm’s presentation at MODLA 2008 titled “RoundTrips: Interactive Video Conferencing from Anywhere.” I am recording this session with their permission and will post it subsequently as a podcast here. MY THOUGHTS AND REFLECTIONS ARE IN ALL CAPS. Their website is roundtrips.org.

The official conference program description for this session was:

The project directors of RoundTrips, two teachers from the School District of Clayton, describe the wide curricular variety of their videoconferencing programs and show how their portable satellite transmitter and videoconferencing/webcasting studio helps students explore a wide range of topics as they connect live to people and places across the country. Distance education, in a live format, has usually been regulated to an inside wired environment. However, we know that much of what occurs of interest for students and teachers in real time happens where wires don’t exist. Because of satellite technology, wires no longer limit us. The goal of RoundTrips is to extend classroom curriculum for students and teachers to places they could not normally go and on that journey to create an interactive environment coupled with sound educational pedagogy. The presentation will include both demonstration and discussion. Demonstrations will focus on how teachers with video conferencing equipment or web access can take advantage of the wide range of RoundTrips adventures. Examples of these adventures from science to social studies and arts to literature can be found on the project’s website at http://www.roundtrips.org. Featured discussion topics will focus on the educational value, creative use, and best practices of video conferencing. Brainstorming and discussion will also consider participants’ interest in curricular applications utilizing the satellite transmitter and other non-satellite RoundTrips offerings.

We do live streaming of all videoconferences and also archive them

The last 3 years of our teaching life was quite different from the 20+
Our classroom became the Lewis and Clark Trail
- grant from the National Park Service
- got the satellite transmitter as a result of that grant

In the course of those years we did 130 programs

we had never done videoconferencing in a classroom environment before deciding to do this project
- originally we
- Bob Dixon at Ohio State was building these mobile trailers (fall of 2003)
- Aug 31, 2003 was our first program, we received our equipment on Aug 25, 2003

lesson: don’t tell people the date when you REALLY need things, tell them at least a week in advance

our trailer
- at optimal speeds, our trailer is 512 up, 1.5 MB down
- the satellite company, Tacheon, has been great for 4 years but now they are oversubscribing and starting to cache

transmitter lets us videoconference and webstream from anywhere
- our idea is that kids should really be able to go places that bring the curriculum to live, LIFE
- story of a project they just did in the badlands
- mules had to pull the transmitter the final mile to the dig where archeologists were excavating part of a t-rex skeleton

Jim talked about programs being authentic, I (Tim) also see them as ripe for disaster
- after all this is LIVE TV!

story of deer camp
- lessons all about inquiry, scientific method, etc.
- deer were supposed to be tranquilized
- ended up wrestling a deer who wasn’t responding to

situation taught the students how experiments don’t always work, things can go wrong
- you have to think on your feet
- students learned a lot about scientific inquiry

Univ of Missouri Ag Dept got an NSF grant to create a solid-state mobile web cam to mount it on a deer, to have a live deer cam

We seek funding from other sources in addition to the Clayton school district
- because of that funding we get to provide these programs free
- we are scheduled for many trips in 2008-2008
- we also schedule trips that are requested by teachers, in Clayton but also in other locations

One of the coolest things about our job now is cold calling people and see
- 9 out 10 times the people we are talking with have never done videoconferencing before

can buy the trailer we have for about $48,000
- has its own build-in, quiet generater
- can go 60 hours or so
- 8 hours of battery built-in
- has big switch to plug in multiple computers
- came with wireless links, can transmit several thousand feet

$400-$500 per month is being charged by Tacheon now for the satellite connectivity
- easily gets to $5000 per year

once we are up and running from a particular location

we limit to no more than 3 or 4 remote sites
- 4 is pushing it

We started wtih 75 minute shows and 6 schools per session
- we realized 75 minutes was way too long
- 6 schools was too long

Our timeframe is 60 min at max
- sometimes 30
- only 1 or 2 schools is best, they really get to be interactive
- you get to see those inter

We provide prep materials for every program we do
- basic info about the program and the setting
- many times those materials come from the hosting organization
- we also think as teachers, what do I want to have as a teacher before my kids do this activity

example: hydroelectric dam where the turbans had been pulled out
- kids in the classroom had been making their own engines with coils, generators
- kids had really developed good background knowledge with their hands-on projects which pre-ceeded the videoconference

MOREnet does the bridging for these videoconferences

Have worked with CSD and their own channel, HECtv, haven’t done live broadcast
- TV stations have Polycom units and signal runs out the composite video signals and audio into their systems
- in St Louis metro region all our programs run live on tv, so students and teachers can either watch on TV and email in questions

Used Marratech in the past with a live chatroom for some programs
- Marratech works very well through school district firewalls
- client side software is free, point to point is free
- Marratech has worked well with us

some of programs work where kids come ready to present about a topic (we’re sharing research about topic X and then learn more things about experts about that)
- we also request that if kids have advance questions that have popped into their minds based on background materials, email those to us with the name of the child you’d like us to prompt to ask that question
- that works well for questions
- we also have spontaneous questions, as moderator I have to keep that balanced
- we keep a rotation, same order of schools
- sometimes do 2 questions per school in the rotation
- on the student side, it works well if the teacher sets up a place for the students to go

we send advance materials discussing protocols
- there is a lag
- we say some things to buy some time

we realized: stop thinking about this as being the “be all end all” on this topic
- this may be a starting activity, a culminating activity, an enrichment activity
- hopefully there will be more learning that continues after the session
- there needs to be a strong sense of organization from the agenda perspective for the classroom teacher (obviously event schedule modifications happen)

Archived past sessions are available online

The moderator does have a wireless earpiece
- inexpensive, camcorder mic stuff
- lets moderator

we have evaluations after each program
- we tend to get much more evaluations back than other people report getting
- teacher and student evals (both are equally important)

what do kids like best?
- fascinating that they can do the experience
- to talk to someone in another area is great
- lots of comments about interactivity with REAL people, REAL experts who are in the know
- the opportunity to share what they have done (as students) is also very engaging

structure of each program vary based on content

example this year for Constitution day
- kids get materials
- very discussion and Q&A orientation

Fine Arts / Artists at work
- students will be interacting with artists who are actually creating

We use Azden mics like you use with a camcorder, have a 16 channel mixer we put our inputs into

we have 280 feet of cable to the trailer (used to be 300′)

work with Truman library

Have 100′ of S video cable to roam with at events
- our wireless connectivity options didn’t work as well, so we stay wired when roaming at events

Have done multiple shows in Monroeville, Alabama where “To Kill a Mockingbird” was set, program is “Of Monroeville and Mockingbirds”
- Greatest part of our videoconferences was the people who grew up with Harper Lee and told about stories of her growing up

Can mail you a DVD

record now to DV tape because of high quality, we didn’t like the quality of the compressed recorded video

other units are in
- ESC10 Abilene TX
- Broward, FL
- Bering Straits, Alaska

We had a phenomenal experience just connecting 3rd graders in Clayton, Missouri, to 3rd graders in Kenya

Most audiences have been grades 4-8
- nature of the school day for middle school and elementary is more conducive for this
- high school bell schedules are not as conducive for programs like this

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modla, modla08, modla2008, lewisandclark, video, videoconferencing, webcast, fieldtrip, virtual, virtualfieldtrip

These are my notes from the NECC 2008 presentation “Where in the World is… GeoRSS for the Classroom” on July 2, 2008 by Shannon White, University of South Florida with Luis Perez.

A website for workshop resources is available: http://georss.pbwiki.com
- a PDF of session slides is also available

RSS feeds defined
- most people use a program to create RSS feed text files now

you need an aggregator of some kind to subscribe to RSS feeds

GeoRSS standards
- simple
- the basic one we will focus on
2- GML (geography markup language

more info on www.georss.org

You can display information as a point, line, polygon, boundary box with GeoRSS

GEoRSS Support
- Google Maps (Read)
- ACME GeoRSS Reader (Read)
- Flickr (Images)
- Windows Live Maps (Creator)
- Platial (Creator)
- Mapufacture (Aggregator)
- Twitter application has the GeoRSS in it

Activity
- Take the following RSS feed and paste it into Google Maps
- http://myweb.usf.edu/~lfperez/tewin.xml

One of the things we do at the Florida
- we have 90 GB of clipart, photographs, lots of things

USGS Earthquake website is showing current earthquake activity by coordinates

TripTracker is:

…a social travel mapping service designed to help you organize and store memories of your travels and create eye-catching presentations of your trips. TripTracker helps travelers share the tales of where they have been, what they have seen and what they have experienced, either with friends and family, or with the entire traveling world.

You can use this site to follow Alaskan dogsled teams
- follow scientists in the Amazon or other places, they build this into their grants

I AM THINKING THIS WOULD BE FANTASTIC WHEN YOU HAVE TEACHERS AND/OR STUDENTS ON FIELD TRIPS, TO TRACK PROGRESS AND ACTIVITIES

There is really not anything written out there on GeoRSS for the classroom right now, so putting this presentation together was tough
- it is so early on, there is so much potential here…

To geo-tag photos in Flickr, from your account on the top tab click YOU and them MAPS. Find a location and then drag and drop your photos onto the desired location.

Example of a Flickr Map to Explore: San Antonio downtown area on Yahoo Maps / Flickr

Google docs has a new new gadget that will map addresses directly

http://platial.com/
Platial.com - Who and What’s Nearby
Make maps of unique places on Platial.com, a socially networked mapping platform which makes it easy to find, create, share, and publish maps and places.

Panoramio - Photos of the World
Photo-sharing community. Discover the world through satellite photos

Lots of possibilities are here, esp for getting students out of the classroom

Florida Center for Instructional Technology (where Shannon White and Luis Perez work)

Flash Earth
Explore satellite and aerial imagery of the Earth from multiple sources inside a single, zoomable Flash-based interface.

Technorati Tags:
n08s452, necc, necc2008, necc08, geography, georss, rss, geo, map, mapping, education, learning

Steven Kimmi from Salina, Kansas, is looking for others who have “storm stories” to share, and has created a VoiceThread for this purpose:

Isn’t the collaborative world in which we live absolutely amazing?! Living as we do now in Oklahoma, I’ve become VERY aware (especially this spring) of how many storm and tornado stories there are in our state. I grew up in Kansas, where there were tornados and bad storms as well, but this spring has seemed particularly bad for severe weather. Steven has come up with a great idea with this VoiceThread.

If you’re looking for student project ideas or want to solicit participation in a student project, as Steven has, consider doing so on one or more of the following free websites:

• CILC Collaboration Center
• ePals Projects
• Classroom 2.0

Are there other places you particularly like as an educator for finding collaborative projects or soliciting others to participate in a project with you?

Technorati Tags:
storm, tornado, voicethread, story

I’m sitting in a session at the TTT conference listening to Glenn Wiebe discuss Google Tools including Google Docs, and now Google Earth. These are a few of my notes…

We are exploring, looking, and playing… Glenn is letting me record and share his session later as a podcast, so these are not complete notes! We first did a “Crack the Code” activity. In groups we were given a worksheet with latitude and longitude coordinates, and the number of letters for the city or town which corresponded to that location. We were then to write down the first letter of that city, and repeat for the rest of the coordinates. Our scenario was: “The thieves who broke into the Royal Geographic Society left behind this code. (as a bonus clue, we’ve added the number of letters in each city’s name.) First letters from each place-name read. Spell out the town and come with speed.”

Google Earth empowers learners to extend their spatial thinking beyond two dimensions- typically teachers and students think of maps as 2D documents we put on the wall and copy onto worksheets- with the layers you can turn on and off, and the navigational possibilities of Google Earth, learners are invited to explore and experience geography in three dimensions in powerful ways.

National Geographic Xpeditions has great geography activities. These are not necessarily tied directly to Google Earth, but Google Earth can be used as the map tool / interface to explore and complete these activities

Alexander (my 10 year old) has been exploring Google Sky within Google Earth during this workshop- once you are in Google Sky, to go back to Google Earth you can select the VIEW menu and SWITCH TO EARTH

Google Earth Gallery includes tons of tours which other people have created and you can utilize individually or with students

Google Earth Hacks has great links to Google Earth too

Social Studies Central has great Economics, Geography & Government Resources

I THINK IT WOULD BE GREAT TO OFFER A WEEK LONG TEACHER ACADEMY ON JUST GOOGLE EARTH: DOING ACTIVITIES AND LESSONS IN GOOGLE EARTH WITH EACH OTHER, HAVING FUN, etc.

Do a Google Search for “google earth” “lesson plans” “lewis and clark”Do an advanced Google search for file types: kml or kmz

BibMe is a free bibliography maker

It’s official! My 10 year old son and I have joined the ranks of geocachers worldwide! According to the current WikiPedia article for geocaching:

Geocaching is an outdoor treasure-hunting game in which the participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers (called “geocaches” or “caches”) anywhere in the world. A typical cache is a small waterproof container containing a logbook and “treasure,” usually toys or trinkets of little value. Today, well over 650,000 geocaches are registered on various websites devoted to the pastime. Geocaches are currently placed in over 100 countries around the world and on all seven continents, including Antarctica.

Treasure hunting is an exciting activity for a kid of any age, and geocaching not only captures that excitement but also combines it with cutting edge GPS technology as well as a good excuse to get outdoors and do some hiking. What fun!

I have known about geocaching for quite awhile and thought it would be fun to try as well as experience with my own kids. Last week’s presentation in Richardson, Texas, by Barbara Wilson of Allen ISD was my personal geocaching “tipping point,” however, and today at long last I purchased the tool which is empowering my geocaching aspirations: the Garmin eTrex Legend HCx. I ended up finding it at our local WalMart for just under $250 with tax. This is not a “low-end” base level GPS unit. It certainly IS possible to successfully go geocaching with a unit costing less than $100, but the one we purchased IS Macintosh compatible (with a USB connection and Mac software available directly from the manufacturer) and supports different features that I think we’d soon want if we bought a low-end unit.

Last summer at NECC in Atlanta, I interviewed Dr. Paul Clark of the University of Nebraska - Omaha about geocaching. Paul is not only a phenomenal expert on educational technology topics relating to cartography and mapping, but also an EXCEPTIONALLY enthusiastic geocacher. As an Eagle Scout and Scoutmaster, Paul has been “caching” for several years now. He is, in fact, leading an “extreme geocaching” activity at a cub scout camp near Omaha this summer. On Friday when I needed a recommendation for a good but reasonably priced GPS unit with Macintosh compatibility, Paul was the first person I called. The Garmin eTrex Legend HCx was his top recommendation. He currently has a set of about 16 GPS units for student and teacher use, and is obtaining grant funds for more units. If Paul says this is the best unit to start with, I needed to hear no more! So far, we have been thrilled with the unit’s performance and ease of use:

Following the advice of Barbara Wilson, I had visited the geocaching.com website last week and located a few caches near our house we could try and locate first. After bringing our unit home, our first step was installing the Garmin Communicator software. The software CD which came with the unit was Windows-only, so we downloaded the latest version (Garmin Communicator Plugin) to my wife’s Macbook and then restarted the Safari web browser. Using a standard USB cable (which came with the Garmin unit) the computer immediately recognized our GPS device:

With the software installed on our Macbook, we logged into geocaching.com and located the two nearby caches we wanted to try and find first. Since the Garmin Communicator Plugin was installed, when we chose to view the available caches in our area via Google Maps, we saw a convenient link was provided to send the details and coordinates of each cache directly to our Garmin unit:

After both units were loaded, we were ready to roll! I did bring my iPhone along, however, since I thought we might want or need to look up the caches again “in the field” to check coordinates and read the tips. From a geocaching “purist” perspective, it is NOT kosher to read many details and log notes about caches you are trying to find. Since these were our first caches to find, however, and “Finding your first Geocache” on geocaching.com advised us to use the hints our first trip out, we sought out and used all the assistance we could find!

Using the Quickstart guide which came with our Garmin unit and just exploring around with the buttons, Alexander figured out how to locate the geocaches we had loaded onto the unit from geocaching.com. He accidentally, however, clicked and dragged the location of the caches on our GPS unit. As a result, we were a little “off” and confused when we tried to find our first cache. The coordinates we followed led us to a field away from any fences, trees, or logical hiding places. As a result, I looked up the cache coordinates on my iPhone again and Alexander was able to manually correct the coordinates in our Garmin GPS unit. So… lesson #1 from today’s initial GPS outing was: Be careful to not to accidentally move geocaching locations you transfer over from your computer! If possible, have access (via a smartphone or a piece of paper) to the actual coordinates of the geocaches you are trying to locate.

This “mistake” actually was a great teachable moment, since it gave us a chance to discuss the longitude and latitude coordinates, and learn how manually enter them on our Garmin GPS unit. It was very easy to do, Alexander figured out how to do it quickly. We ended up needing to “fix” the coordinates on our 2nd geocache as well, since Alexander had accidentally moved it on our unit as well, but this was not difficult or time consuming to do.

Our Garmin GPS unit has a specific “geocaching” mode. When we were looking for the cache, it showed our distance from the cache location (first in miles and later in feet as we got closer) as well as the direction we needed to go. The Garmin eTrex Legend HCx has a built-in electronic compass, which is not only cool but VERY handy. It also told us our speed (whether we were walking or riding in the car) and our estimated time of arrival at our destination based on our current speed. After we found our first cache, we selected “found” on our GPS unit and were then able to immediately select the next saved geocache which was stored in the unit’s memory. We were off again to find our second cache!

All in all, this was a fun and exciting first afternoon of geocaching experiences! We signed the logbooks in both caches, and left a small treasure (inexpensive plastic lizards we bought at WalMart) in each one. I also logged back into my account on geocaching.com and “logged our visit” to each one, since we found both successfully. Whether or not you find the geocache you are looking for you can “log a visit,” and users can also report “maintenance needed” if desired. One of the logbooks in one of the geocaches we found today was a little damp, so we reported that via the geocaching.com website. A plastic bag would probably fix that situation!

Later this summer we’ll be taking a camping vacation to New Mexico, and we’re hoping to do a LOT more geocaching on the trip! We’re taking several other trips this summer too, however, and I’m thinking that whenever I travel somewhere new it will be fun to see what geocaches are available to find! It is also going to be fun at some point to create our own geocaches! (See the “Guide to Hiding a Geocache” for tips on this topic.) I’m also interested in creating our own family geocoins, and then tracking those as they travel (hopefully) around the world. We also discussed what a fun birthday party activity geocaching could be. Possibilities abound!

Technorati Tags:
geocache, geocaching, garmin, gps, explore, fun, learning, hiking, hike, geography, oklahoma

This podcast is a presentation by Barbara Wilson of Allen ISD at the ESC10 Technology Conference in Richardson, Texas, on May 15, 2008. Barbara provides an overview of the history of geocaching, explains to to get started geocaching with basic equipment and the website geocaching.com, and explores different classroom lesson possiblities for geocaching.

 

 Podcast251: Geocaching in the Classroom by Barbara Wilson [36:49m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (433)

Show Notes:

1. My text notes from Barbara’s presentation
2. Geocaching.com

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Technorati Tags: geocache, geocaching, geography, fun, learning, education, classroom

Presentation by Barbara Wilson of Allen ISD at the ESC10 technology conference in Richardson, Texas, today. Her session description was: “Geocaching is a fun activity for students that involves searching for hidden treasures, deciphering clues, and learning to use the Global Positioning System (GPS). Incorporating geocaching in your lessons will create a fun activity which will appeal to your students.” I am recording this session with audio and will subsequently post this to the web. These are my notes, my thoughts and reflections are in ALL CAPS.

What is Geocaching?

When you bring kids out hiking looking for a treasure, then there is a whole different level to the purpose and motivation
- Geocaching lets you see many trails, parks, and other things that you might not have seen or visited without a geocaching challenge

May 21, 2000, US gov’t announced they would end the intentional degradation of the worldwide GPS system
- the accuracy of GPS technology for civilians then improved tenfold!

Dave Ulmer made the first cache, hiding something in the woods
- he called in the great American GPS cache hunt, near Beaver Creek, Oregon
- he shared the waypoint of his stash on a GPS user’s forum
- rules for his game:
1- locate the cache with only the receiver
2- once found, he had prizes in the bucket, they were to take an item and leave an item, sign the logbook, and report back

Mike Teague was the first person reported to have found it

Then web developer Jeremy Irish created geocaching.com
- were 75 caches worldwide then
- now there are caches in all 50 states and in over 200 countries

Look on Google Earth for locations of geocaches in your neighborhood
Closed cache to us now is called “Where Have All The Flowers Gone?”
Search on geocaching.com for the address of ESC10

Getting started
- create an ID
- load coordinates
- get some treasures that you can swap
- go hiking!

THIS IS SO FUN! I CAN’T BELIEVE I’VE NEVER TRIED GEOCACHING BEFORE. I AM GOING TO HAVE TO GET A GPS BEFORE OUR SUMMER VACATION IN NEW MEXICO AND GIVE THIS A TRY WITH MY KIDS!

Example containers
- old ammo box
- Gatorade container covered with camouflaged duct tape
- Altoids can
- small waterproof matchbox

I have found a cache that was just the size of a nickel, that had the coordinates on the back of it

most important thing for public geocaching: be waterproof, be something that animals can’t get into easily

Cool example my family found, was inside a hollowed-out tree trunk
- another example: PVC fence pole with holes in it, and the cache was at the bottom
- had to go home and get a bucket of water, poured water in the tube and the cache floated up to the top

HOW FUN IS THAT! A REAL CHALLENGE THAT REQUIRES PROBLEM SOLVING AND CRITICAL THINKING!

There IS always a logbook
- every cache has a logbook and pen for people to sign, write the date
- sometimes the log books are very small
- you can write
- put the cache back in the same way you found it or in better shape

Example of a Shreck doll that was registered on Travel Bug
- he has a tag, and a story that goes with him

If you take the travel bug, you are supposed to report it on Geocaching.com

You also find coins that you can buy online from coinsandpins.com and geoswag.com.

Benefits of bringing geocaching into your classroom
- facilitates inquiry-based learning
- adaptable for any subject area and any grade
- improves technology skills
- innovative instruction method
- it’s fun so it increases student motivation

GPS units run from $100 to $1000 each
- this is not a 1:1 ratio situation, each student does not need a GPS
- you can have 4-6 students per GPS unit
- for a typical classroom, 10 GPS units

I have a logitech GPS unit

Garmin Gecko 101 was suggested for students by a participant because it doesn’t have a lot of bells and whistles

Also correlates to the Texas Technology TEKS

Young elementary student language arts example
- each student box has the same five events in it on cards, which have coordinates
- students are in groups of 4 or 5
- students finds the cache, chooses teh first event in the story
- students successively program in coordinates
- student groups are staggered
- students need to remember the events and put them in the right order

Older elementary students: lab safety
- create six different caches
- each one has a lab safety question in it, with true and false questions
- students proceed on to the next question using the coordinates
- can make that a little more complicated

I CAN SEE PROJECTS LIKE THIS BEING EASIER TO CREATE ONCE CELL PHONES HAVE INTEGRATED GPS FUNCTIONALITY, SO THAT WHEN YOU GET INTO A CERTAIN AREA ANOTHER “CLUE” CAN BE SHOWN. CHRIS DEDE HAS DISCUSSED THESE TYPES OF PROJECTS THAT STUDENTS AT HARVARD HAVE WORKED ON.

Cellular Organelles Geocaching example
- which organelles are associated with a balloon, a paper bag, and a plastic container?
- students go and find the cache, write down what they find, and then brainstorm the connections

There are lots of other GPS uses
- calculate speed
- see how fast you are going, can measure both distance and speed
- can measure the distance of your school
- calculate how much rain would fall on your school if it rained an inch

Another way to map out caches is to use Google Earth
- if you have the way points marked on Google Earth, the print that out and go find the geocaches

Geocaching Resources
- Geocaching
www.ncwiseowl.org/impact/ncgeocache/LessonPlans.com

Book: Google Earth and GPS Classroom Activities by Jim Holland and Susan Anderson (teachers from Arlington)

Technorati Tags:
geocache, geocaching, learning, school, education

This evening I took some time to review the ClustrMaps for my blog over the course of the past month (April 2008.) ClustrMaps is a wonderful website which provides code people can insert onto their blog or other website to track (by IP address) the general locations of people who are accessing and viewing content on that particular website. As I have remarked previously, these visual representations of readership continue to absolutely astound me! The Pitcairn Islands ClustrMap Mystery continues, however. I would love to know who my reader(s) are on the Pitcairn Islands, or on the other south Pacific island which is showing up on my ClustrMap again! The April 2008 ClustrMaps show visitors to my blog from almost 25,000 different locations worldwide. This is a clear sign of the times. We’re not living in 20th century Kansas anymore.

Hello to Sue Waters in Perth! I can see your city on the ClustrMap image above! But who is making that access dot in Alice Springs?!

What I’d really love to do is arrange to travel IN PERSON to all these locations around the world, along with members of my family. Planning an international education, learning, or educational technology conference in 2008-2009? Please consider me as a possible keynote speaker and drop me a line! I was able to take my son to COSN this past March in Washington DC, but I’m sure he’d flip if at some point he could accompany me to Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, or another location which seems quite exotic to us living here in central Oklahoma!

Technorati Tags:
clustrmap, blog, readership

As I’ve stayed up this evening writing a new blog post and working to coordinate the defense of my seven Travian villages (our alliance is currently at war with a stronger alliance) I’ve been watching a very strong line of storms make its way across our state:

Since the lightning was getting pretty intense, I decided to share another impromptu Ustream broadcast from our front porch. (The video is 8.5 minutes long.)

I think we captured a few of the lightning flashes. WOW. This is a strong storm. The winds are arriving now, and the rain is just starting. Hopefully we won’t get any hail or funnels.

It’s exciting to live in tornado alley!

Technorati Tags:
oklahoma, lightning, ustream, video

I am reading Rob Bell’s book “Velvet Elvis” along with about 50 other men in our church’s Friday morning men’s group, and came across the following passage recently which resonated with me as a teacher. Rob wrote:

Tour guides are people who see depth and texture and connections where others don’t. That is why the best teachers are masters of the obvious. They see the same things that we do, but they are aware of so much more. And when they point it out, it changes the way we see everything.

I love this analogy, and think this can be a powerful way to frame and structure learning tasks for students. Don’t just tell me about your topic. Become the tour guide. Show me what I could not easily see, identify, or discern for myself. Uncover the stories underneath the surface, the details and connections which weave a tapestry of greater meaning and understanding for listeners and viewers.

When I taught a week-long course for university instructors and professors in the Dominican Republic several years ago about online learning strategies, my wife and I had a delightful opportunity to spend an entire day with the director of the university’s department of travel and tourism who led us around Santo Domingo.

I was struck at the time by what a challenging but rewarding job he had, and helped others learn to do effectively. A good tour guide has broad knowledge about the history, culture, economics, social dynamics, and other aspects of a particular place and the individuals who live there. Spending time with an excellent tour guide is a delight, not because they are simply filled with a multitude of facts, but because they have the ability to stitch and weave those details together in a larger tapestry of understanding.

Perhaps we can benefit from framing our roles as learners, whether we are formally defined as teachers or students, as “tour guides” for others? I think the demonstration of higher order thinking is a required job skill for effective tour guides.

Technorati Tags:
learning, education, theory, tour, guide, tourguide, dominicanrepublic, tourism

Well, this was some impromptu evening fun. I shared a live broadcast from our front porch this evening over Ustream.tv as a thunderstorm came in and provided a fairly dramatic light show. This 12 minute video is available as an archive on Ustream.

Don’t expect great cinematography here– I did ratchet DOWN the video quality on Ustream a bit, and in hindsight wish I had left this at full quality. Since I was using my home high speed Internet connection I think it would have been fine to leave the video setting at full quality. The audio quality was good for this entire broadcast, however, which is even more important in my view. As Kevin Honeycutt commented (who tuned in live along with five others) this video is a bit reminiscent of The Blair Witch Project! (While perhaps amusing, that comment is not really a compliment, if you’ve ever seen that film…..)

Technorati Tags:
oklahoma, thunderstorm, ustream, lightning, broadcast