This latest version of Google Earth brings me back to WOW! Improved 3D buildings, sun and sky enhancements, street view, embed support for the Mac and more. Just watch and then download.

I like the way this video combines Street View and humor. This is the kind of storytelling that works so well on the web. Short, funny and the remixing of familiar tools and themes.

Technorati Tags: streetview, davidjakes

So I decided to take them on a tour, using some interactive maps and showed them the power of networks, open API (don’t worry I didn’t actually use that term) and personalized learning.

At 9:17 local time I sent out a tweet looking for help. In 2 hours we managed to talk with 10 different people from mostly North America, save for Jeff Utecht who was in Malaysia at a conference.  We got to have a brief chat with each one, found out a little bit about them and even asked one or two intelligent questions.   Using Community Walk (as you can see my community is not walkable) we created placemarks and I added some video snapshots as well.

Here’s the map we created on the fly.

Wedding map to share with guests
CommunityWalk Map – Skype Me

Kids were amazingly focused, running around the room helping each other, teacher laptop in hand right beside her students asking questions, looking like a learner herself, talking to people who help me learn. The students were customizing their maps and adding items of personal relevance and also making connections to the activities and whereabouts of the various guests.

A pretty cool morning.

Technorati Tags: avonlea, prairiesouth, jeffutecht, tinasteele, sharonpeters, barrydahl, paulhamilton, jeffboulton, jamesohagan, brianmull, susanmorgan

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Have a look in Google Earth. Or view them in Google Maps which is embedded below.  The wheels of every teacher should be turning.

[tags]googleearth,googlemaps,video,youtube,shareski[/tags]
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Bob Sprankle was good enough to record the session and post it on his website as well. While I didn’t use a traditional slideshow, I do have the notes on my wiki.

Also, David Jakes posted his SkypeCast notes.

Flickr Image courtesy of Trevor Smith:

BLC featured 600 educators from around the globe focusing on learning. That’s what the discussions in large part focused on. I was privileged to be able to spend time with the likes of Barbara Bareda, Bob Spankle, Sharon Peters, Ewan Mcintosh, Darren Kuropatwa, David Jakes, Joyce Valenza, Will Richardson, Trevor Smith, Chris Lehmann and Christian Long. These folks all represent passionate thinkers and educators who at almost every turn will speak about making learning better for kids. While they worry and lament about bad teaching and schools, they truly are excited about the possibilities.

Here are a few highlights:

• Bob Sprankle…Podcasting with a Purpose…you don’t miss a chance to hear arguably one of the founding fathers of educational podcasting. Bob and Tony Vincent likely represent the finest example of how to use this powerful tool with kids.
• Darren Kuropatwa…Darren and I have done a fair bit together so hearing him present live wasn’t really a new experience. Spending time outside the sessions is where he really shines. Smart, articulate, Darren is determined to make school and learning authentic and engaging for his students.
• Joyce Valenza….if you’re a teacher librarian, you ought to pay attention to what she says. She spent some time with me explaining her concerns with the lack of use of the “invisible web”. Lots for me to ponder.
• Chris Lehmann and Christian Long…Chris Sessums called them the “wonder twins”. Talking with Christian for a couple of hours on Thursday forced me to take a nap. High energy and deep thoughts. He’s headed back to the classroom this fall. All I can say to his students is BUCKLE UP! Chris Lehmann is a principal who’s got it right. My favorite line of Chris’ after he told us about a teacher who was complaining about something, Chris said, “Yeah, but you get to teach!”
• Trevor Smith…I convinced Trevor he needed to come to BLC back in spring and I’m hoping he’s glad he did. Trevor and I work together and he’s got some great plans. Trevor’s been moving forward with things for a while now and I sense things are beginning to get clearer. Not any easier but clearer. Trevor and I were able to touch base a few times and we’re both excited about some of our upcoming initiatives. Watch for good things from his school.
• Will Richardson….I had met Will before and Will has been gracious to support my work in the past but I challenged Will to continue to push the envelope. I did attend his session where he broke form a traditional presentation and challenged the audience to look beyond the tools and coolness of Web 2.0 to what was really important: connecting learners, ideas to fully develop the concept of lifelong learning. I hope Will continues to make people a bit more uncomfortable. We also had our talk about the optimum number of feeds you need to read. I was right
• David Jakes…is grounded. He knows what he believes about learning and isn’t afraid to tell you. He’s calls it like he sees it when it comes to artificial, fluffy student work and offers ideas about how to make learning authentic and meaningful. You also get the sense that he’d do whatever it takes to help kids learn. You have to love Jakes.
• Ewan Mcintosh…Will Richardson called him rock star. He pretty much is. I just love the way in which he crystallizes complex ideas and makes them simple or least I’m able to ponder them a bit more. See Will’s example about his photography lesson. Ewan and I had a great conversation about the lack of myths in North American education. I hope he blogs about it if he hasn’t already. I certainly think that our curriculum and education systems are much more closely tied than that of US.
• Being able to present ideas about Google Earth was important especially after all the hype about Second Life. Google Earth is to me the more critical tool for kids and teachers to focus on. Being able to discuss the implications of learning and developing location-based learning will be a valuable skill for our kids: See Pool Guy Story.

I never went to camp as a kid and my wife suggested this was the closest I’ve ever come to that feeling when camp ends. I don’t know if that’s true, but lest you think this is a post about my sappy experience, think again. It’s about the power of face to face learning combined with great online tools; People and ideas connecting to form the basis of social learning. Each is an important ingredient. All of these people are committed to help kids and not just the ones they get paid to help. Almost all of them have worked with teachers I associate with and work for and have given hours of their time to make learning better for others. They do it because I ask them. That’s how they roll.

There was nothing at this conference that rocked my world in terms of new technologies or even new ideas. Most of these have been roaming around my brain for a while. Some were pretty solid, others needed tightening and still others need some loosening. Both of this was accomplished. The conversation that Darren and I had with Christian really focused on some key questions. Christian asked, “What if all the technology was suddenly taken away?” What have we learned from all this and how do we sustain and develop the connections and beliefs about learning? Hmmmm…..

At one point someone said, “We’ve got to stop talking about all this, and start doing something about it”. I can’t believe I’m saying this but I can’t wait for summer to end.

Flickr Photoset.

[tags]blc07,alannovember,boston,conference[/tags]

I came across this site via my del.icio.us feed thanks to Quentin.  (If you don’t already have a del.icio.us network you subscribe to, go do that now).

This is some type of  mashup that does embed youtube videos but at present, it’s not open for others to add their own content. If I knew something about API’s I may be able to take advantage myself. I does appear that the inclusion of video is not far off. Maybe it’s already there and Tim Lauer just hasn’t blogged about it yet…I doubt it.

[tags]googleearth,googlemaps,video,mashup,timlauer,quentindsouza,del.icio.us,blc2007,blc[/tags]

Just now I found out that Google Maps now offers online mashups that are incredibly easy to create.  Made this map in about a minute and easily embedded flickr images.

I’ve decided to offer some sessoins in our division for teachings interested in developing content and learning opportunities for students. I truly believe every teacher needs to be able to use this either to use existing files and resources or create their own. I’m considering 3 half days over 3 weeks to help teachers develop this for a variety of classroom purposes.

In addition, I’ll be presenting at Alan November’s Building Learning Communities this summer in Boston. Although my session is called, “Moving beyond the WoW factor…” that’s going to be tough. I’ve been using it since its inception and I still am awed.

I scheduled my flights to insure I was able to spend a full day in San Francisco. So Saturday was my day to enjoy the city by the bay.

Being a small town boy and never having been to San Fran, I wanted to make sure I was prepared for the day and get the most out my time. So early preparations began with many tours using Google Earth.  I created a folder of all the major sites that included, transportation, hotels, sights, geocaches and more. Next I downloaded the BART schedule to my Palm® TX so I knew exactly when and where to catch the train. I also downloaded several geocaches into my device as well as a tourism application for San Francisco.

Arriving on Saturday morning at the corner of Powell St. and Market, I hoped on a cable car and headed for the Fisherman’s Wharf. I walked around a bit and decided to go after my first geocache.  I headed away from the water and was quickly walking in a residential area. I knew the cache was supposed to be in a garden so something was wrong. Pulled out my TX and connected wirelessly to someone’s router and retrieved the information. I had entered in a wrong coordinate so I changed it and was on my way. Found the cache and explored a nearby park.

Then I walked towards Pier 41 and 39 and got a cruise of the Bay. After the cruise I looked for my second cache. Smallest cache I’ve ever found. Using my map, I got the bus up to Coit Tower and later connected to Lombard Street.

When back downtown and send a few emails from Union Square. Got my train back to the hotel and the shuttle to airport.

I’ve posted before about using technology for travel, it truly did allow me to plan and enjoy my day.  I only made one mistake. My flight left at 22:15 which for some stupid reason I told myself that was 11:15pm. They had already taken my luggage off the plane but kindly put it back as I realized my error.  Can I convert my Palm handheld to recognize the 24 hour clock or do I have to figure that out on my own?

This to me typifies why connections are so critical. Is this information available online? Mostly, but having a personal tour guide was much more relevant and engaging. The awareness I now have will no doubt lead me to more interest in his city. Was it the extreme distance between us that made it so engaging? Partly, but also Jeff and I share many of the same beliefs and ideas when it comes to education. We certainly connect on many levels. After reading his blog for over a year, conversation flowed easily. Jeff, what the heck are those blue rectangles north of your school on the coast?

Learning is certainly easier with a friend.

[tags]googleearth,china,connections[/tags]

I recently got a brand new Dell Computer. It’s loaded up with a great video card and beautiful screen. (It also has red LED lights that have caused odd looks and good natured teasing during meetings).

I found some great tips on the Google Earth blog on how to take advantage of a good video card when using Google Earth. So I made the adjustments listed on the site. Basically using all the high quality settings possible since by default some of these are turned off or at a lower level.

It made quite a difference. I created this video of my drive to work. I’ve made videos before within Google Earth Pro but this looks much better. Youtube’s compression is not indicative of the real output. Which reminds me, if you’re reading this in your RSS reader you won’t see the video.

I’m sure I’ll be making more of these.

[tags]googleearth,dellxps[/tags]

The page itself actually finds shows the building locations as it builds your name.  Tim Lauer will love this.

I routinely tour a few courses on Google Earth every weekend. I did golf last week and using the measuring tool was able to track my tee shot on 18. I have a friend who tracks his jogging route, another who figured out how far it was around a slough on his farm and another who calculated the area of his acreage. These are just a few things done with the measuring tool which could be utilized even more within our classrooms.

When our school division looked at creating a standard image for our computers I requested Google Earth be on it. Beside the legitimate issue about bandwidth (which we really haven’t addressed)someone mentioned the they thought of Google Earth as a toy. It is a great deal of fun no doubt. There are constantly new hacks and ideas for using it. But as far as being only a toy, not a chance. Bringing context to stories, world events and history is critical for understanding. If we want students to learn about life in context, Google Earth is the best tool for learning about place….and the length of your tee shots.

I liked the title of his session: Smart Stories Smart Locations. The word “stories” and “conversations” may well have been the most used words at the conference which is fine by me. John not only showcased the amazing power and features of Google Earth but laid out an invitation to use it to tell stories. It might not seem like a natural fit but it really does have that potential. John continually pointed out the ability to discover tools and features not listed in any manual and that much of the potential of Google Earth is yet to be discovered but will be discovered by those willing to hack.

Today I discovered a video podcast by the School of Geography in Southampton University. They have already produced 9 episodes which are great little tutorials on using Google Earth. You can subscribe to it through itunes.

Technorati Tag: FETC2006