Set Sail With Technology Week 3

This week I explored iGoogle, Google Earth and Google Maps. With the time that I spent looking at and playing with these programs, I thought of many ways to use each one in the classroom.

iGoogle

By using iGoogle, a homepage can be set up that gives students easy access to information such as the weather, the date and time, the calendar, and news, just to name a few. The teacher can easily add bookmarks for recommended sites for students for quick access. The classroom blog can also be linked to this homepage that would give students and parents quick look into the happenings of the classroom. There are endless gadgets that can be added as desired for maps, blogs, Wikipedia, as well as many others.

Google Earth

Google Earth seems to have endless possibilities in the classroom. Hopefully I can take the time to really learn to use this program and use it as fully as I can. Google Earth uses satellites and zoom into any location on the planet. Students can explore anywhere on Earth. There are capabilities to create virtual tours. These can also be shared with others. With Google Earth, students can measure distances, see different types of landforms, see the effects of natural disasters such as hurricanes.

Google Maps

As with the other programs, Google Maps can be used in many ways in the classroom. The one way I think I would use Google Maps the most would be in virtual field trips. Google maps can also give students a chance to practice reading maps and improving navigational skills in a more concrete, real-life situation.

These three programs could really enhance lessons in the classroom. As I've stated before, my only concern is the technology set up that we currently have in place in my school, would not support these types of programs completely.