Terry's Tech Tips

Today we are highlighting the great work Esther Winkler-Au (along with sidekick Agatha Wozniak) have done using the new Google My Maps tool with students.    Check out a student created work from Esther's course: Instructions to Students Click here for map   Esther's World Cultures class studies the world, so Esther used the Google My Maps tool over the course of the year to create an entire course map.  For each region studied, she assigned: pins to identify physical features of the region  pins to identify points of interest for every region  Pins for physical features included photos and an interesting researched fact about the location.   Point of interest pins included photos and a 100 word description of why students thought the point of interest was important.  Sometimes, the class decided what the points of interest should be, sometimes students chose the points of interest themselves....

Why use digital maps? “Ten years ago, Apple put a map in our pocket. Fast forward to now and almost everyone has a digital map in their pocket. Pilots now fly with iPads, ship captains now navigate with GPS and digital maps. Truck drivers now drive via digital maps and GPS location. So basically every professional that needs to use maps is using digital maps. I’m not saying we need to stop teaching how to read a paper map…but really…that should be a small percentage of the mapping work a student does.” - Jeff Utecht Being a digital map reader is a necessary skill for most of us - it allows us to explore and discover the world in multi-media.  Becoming a digital map creator makes for endless possibilities - build a marker and add text, photos, video, show a route, show what you know, make connections, or ask questions! Below is an excellent example using Google My Maps (newly introduced by Google this year) to tell a compelling digital story about the UnderGround Railro...