Google Advanced Training

UNIT 7: Teach Beyond the Four Walls of Your Classroom

This training unit provided by Google uses four lessons to cover these six objectives:

1. How you can open your classroom with Google Hangouts and Hangouts On Air

2. Best practices to make your Hangouts successful

3. How to use Google Maps to take virtual field trips

4. What the Google Cultural Institute is and how to use it in class

5. What Google Lit Trips are and how you can use them to inspire your students

6. How you can set up a virtual world in Google Earth to enhance instruction

Lesson One: Use Google Hangouts to Connect to the World (objectives 1&2)

1. How you can open your classroom with Google Hangouts and Hangouts On Air

Google Hangouts is a good platform for your class to bring in an expert speaker without
the need of them actually being present in the classroom. You can use Hangouts Video
rather than YouTube if you dont want the presentation to go beyond your classroom.

Expanding your classroom to incorporate other classes is made possible through the
Connected Classrooms option. Video calls between the classes are live, and kept private
within the multi-classroom environment.

2. Best practices to make your Hangouts successful

Following a simple checklist will help ensure a successful Google Hangouts experience:

Check that your guest, connecting class, or audience fully understand how to
connect.

Perform a test before the live event.

Make sure the location is optimal, and appropriate, for the event.

Make a rough outline of the flow of the Hangout.

Review policies with your administration about guest speakers and media
permissions.

Lesson Two: Use Maps to Create Exciting Virtual Field Trips (objectives 3&4)
 3. How to use Google Maps to take virtual field trips

Google maps can be used to enhance any curriculum through virtual tours. Students can
build the maps while discovering places that align with what theyre learning, or the
teachers can create a virtual tour for the students to follow. Locations of stories and
events are more exciting when students can see actual imagery, and distances.

4. What the Google Cultural Institute is and how to use it in class

Googles Cultural Institute is a set of projects aimed to make the greatest cultural
artifacts in the world accessible to all. It is comprised of the Art Project, Historical
Moments, and World Wonders.

Virtual field trips of history, art, and more can be built using the Google Cultural
Institute. Something that wasnt mentioned in the lesson was the importance of
preservation of these historical artifacts. By making these cultural artifacts available to
the world, Google is doing a great service.

Lesson Three: Create a World to Explore with Students (objectives 5&6)

5. What Google Lit Trips are and how you can use them to inspire your students

6. How you can set up a virtual world in Google Earth to enhance instruction

The training focused mainly on how Google Earth could enhance literature. Students can
visit the places in the book, and get a realistic visual of the story. I believe Google Earth
could be used to enhance any historical story. In science, we are always discussing
historical events and stories of premier scientists. Google Earth could be used to tell their
stories as well.

Lesson Four: Giving Your Students the World with Google Expeditions

Lesson four doesnt fit any of the six objectives specifically; it is mostly about enhancing
instruction through virtual reality. Of course, this was the most exciting! Google
cardboard is introduced as a cost effective way to introduce VR in the classroom. I am
especially interested in applying this technology in Astronomy. The ability for students to
fly through space in a VR world would go a long way in helping them understand the
concepts and ideas of the cosmos.