Google Tour Builder - Put Your Story on the Map


I learned about this tool at the Google Geo Teachers Institute in Mountain View, CA
My instructor was Kim Randal, @scubagirl812

I just led a PD session on how to use Tour Builder - presentation resources are HERE


Tour Builder is a fantastic digital storytelling tool that is easy for students to use. They can add locations to a map. Along with each location, they can add photos, captions, and change the icon. I can imagine so many ways to use this tool with my students. 

Tours can be private or shared, and multiple tours can be linked together in one master tour. Great for collaborative work!

I explored the tool by creating a quick tour of a summer weekend getaway trip.

Within Tour Builder, you can pin an unlimited number of locations to your map and add a total of 25 images or video per project.

When you are done creating your tour, the tour can be shared and the viewer can view the tour by clicking through the locations which are organized like a slide show.



I used MyMaps to create a novel study of By the Great Horn Spoon last school year, but I think this tool is easier to use and will help my students take this project to the next level.

Tour Builder is still BETA so expect future enhancements and improvements in the future! Currently the 3D view does not work in Chrome and is only available in certain versions of Firefox and IE. It is still fully functioning in Safari. It is rumored that this is temporary and I look forward to future upgrades to the program.

Possible application in my fourth-grade classroom:
  • Create a tour following the route of the Donner Party
  • Early CA explorers
  • "By The Great Horn Spoon" novel - follow the characters journey
  • National Park research presentation
  • "Getting to Know Me" presentation
  • Family Heritage presentation
  • Tour of the campus for new students and families
I found THIS WEBSITE which has a presentation about how to use Google Tour Builder along with ideas about how to incorporate it in the classroom.

Another great blog post about Tour builder can be found HERE.

I found another blog post HERE that breaks down the advantages of using the various Google tools for digital storytelling (ie: Maps, Earth). The advantage of using Tour Builder over Google Earth in my classroom is that it works on Chromebooks and, in my opinion, is simpler to use.




Have you used this tool? What other digital storytelling tools do you use with your students?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

CUE 2017 National Conference - Day 1

Image
I made it to Palm Springs! I have attended Fall CUE up in Napa, CA the past 2 years, but this is my first trip to the CUE National Conference. I am excited to be traveling with a team from my district to learn more about innovation and technology integration in the classroom. The more I learn, and the more I attend conferences like this, I realize that it is not about the tools, it's about the learning. Every session I attended focused on how the tool can be used to transform education, and the pedagogy behind it - not just the logistics of using the particular tool. KEYNOTE The morning started with the keynote address by Jo Boaler , Stanford Professor, and author of Mathematical Mindsets: Unleashing Students' Potential Through Creative Math, Inspiring Messages, and Innovative Teaching . The line to get into the conference room was long but well worth the wait. (Video credit:  @phillips4kids )         Jo Boaler was inspiring. I wish all the teachers at my sc
Read more

These are a Few of My Favorite (Google Chrome Extension) Things...

Image
The web browser, Google Chrome has a library of add-ons and extensions. If you have not explored these options, you can visit the Chrome Web Store  HERE In this post, I'm going to share some of my favorites!    With Bitmoji, you can create custom avatars in a variety of settings,  and with a variety of sayings or themes.   These images can be sent in text messages or emails,  or saved as a .jpg file to be inserted into other documents or files. Grammarly is a tool that provides spelling and grammar check to anything you are typing on the internet (emails, docs, blog posts, forms, etc...).  I have found it very helpful with catching mistakes and improving my writing. Nimbus Screen Shot is an add-on that is used to take screenshots.  This can be very helpful when creating tutorials for your students.   You can also annotate and draw on the screenshot that you captured.  Images can be downloaded or saved directly to your Google
Read more

CUE 2017 National Convention - Day 2

Image
KEYNOTE - George Couros  -  http://georgecouros.ca/blog/          George Couros is the author of "The Innovator's Mindset"   His passion for student learning is infectious. He talks a lot about the opportunities that technology allows as opposed to the risks.  Some of my favorite quotes shared during the presentation: "The world only cares about - and pays off on - what you can do with what you know (and it doesn't matter where you learned it.)" Thomas Friedman "Transformational leaders don't start by denying the world around them. Instead, they describe a feature they'd like to create." Seth Godin The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person who is doing it. - Chinese Proverb Social Media is like water. You can either let us drown, or teach us to swim." He shared the three things he thinks every high school student should graduate with: 1. A professional social network 2. A dig
Read more