Maker Journal #4 – Speaker Call - Google Expeditions with Eric Lawson

For my fourth Maker Journal, I chose one of our guest speaker calls, Google Expeditions with Eric Lawson on October 2, 2017 from 3:30-4:30. Eric Lawson is the Director of Technology and Libraries for York, Maine School Department.

My goal with selecting this technology is to update my toolbox with more modern tool sets and to consider as part of the Maker Journal how this tackles one of the four course questions; “How might we design learning to embrace principles of computational thinking?”

Overview

Eric Lawson started the program for York, Maine School Department by signing up for the Expedition Pioneer Program. The program offered by Google begins with sending an expedition team to the selected school with the purpose of providing a Google Expeditions Kit and expertise to jump start the schools' program. The great news for schools who want to explore the program is there is no charge once you are accepted in the program.

Eric Lawson indicated that the York school received two kits of 30 at their initial start. They extended the concept by having the teachers provide a lesson plan that was than inter-weaved into google expeditions. Their goal was to ‘fuse it into the curriculum and not make it an event’ (Lawson, Eric 2017).

Eric Lawson went on to say that there are two ways great options to get started; Google Cardboard or Google Expeditions. He recommended signing up for the Expedition Pioneer Program which also aides schools with obtaining additional grants to help fund and expand this program.

Google Cardboard

What is Google Cardboard? “Google Cardboard is a Virtual Reality (VR) tool that lets you immerse your students in both real and imaginary worlds far from your classroom.” (Yoder, Maureen 2016). Yoder goes on to describe it as “corrugated cardboard box with Velcro, two lenses and a slot for your mobile phone”, (Yoder, Maureen 2016).

The Google Cardboard Kit is the device used, it is referred to as the viewer. The image below provides an example of one such viewer:

Google – Cardboard Virtual Reality Headset

Google Cardboard advances learning using the device depicted above, content and a lesson written by the instructor. The content can either come from a GoogleCardboard app from Google Play or iTunes or the Google created Google Expeditions. This is certainly the cheapest way to get classrooms started the one pictured above can be purchased at Best Buy for $15.00, this product has great ratings. The York School additionally offers a solo mode option where a student may check out a single device to aide in researching for papers, projects and other course assignments, using their own phone with a Google Cardboard.

Google Expeditions

Google Expeditions is a teaching tool that leverages Virtual Reality (VR) technology. Virtual Reality (VR) provides an opportunity to experience real-world experiences, using illusions, in this case the illusion is in the form of a Google Expedition. VR uses computer-generated simulations in which an entire 3-D environment is rendered in the closest thing to real world. A person can then use a variety of electronic equipment to interact with the scene and control the environment.

With Google Expeditions a teacher can take their class to outer space, coral reefs, museums, foreign countries, and all without leaving the classroom!

Best Buy Image - Google Expeditions Kit

Google Expeditions Kit shown above is available at Best Buy are available in student setups for 10, 20 or 30, students. Each kit contains student devices, virtual reality viewers, chargers, teacher’s device, router, case and Geek Squad white glove service. These kits are more expensive alternatives, (30 Kit $9,499, 20 Kit $6,999 and 10 Kit $3,999). Eric provided more detail on the kits stating that the student devices allows for insert of the smart phone, the teacher’s device is an android tablet and the router was key it allows the class to run in a closed network once the application is downloaded, so filtering and network traffic is not an issue. The big benefit of Google Expeditions is that the teacher can control and guide the exploration.

At the York School, Eric indicated that they have developed a google form for teachers to complete which allows them to sign out a Google Expedition Kit. The google form has a link to the lesson plan the teacher will be using and Eric’s team preps the equipment to have the application ready to go. The teachers are also provided links to best practices and details on the expeditions that are approved by google from all over the world, 700+ were available this fall, Google Expeditions Google Sheet.

Google Expeditions Help Center

Google true to form, offers a great help center for anyone interested in getting started. The menu of options from Google in their Expeditions Help Center is provided directly below:

Within the Expeditions resources there are many expeditions available from Tes, here are a couple:

Image from Tes, Google Expedition, Natural History Museum

Google Expeditions Adaptation is a lesson that allows “students go on an expedition to The Natural History Museum and learn about organisms’ adaptations to their environment. The students discuss living and dead organisms’ biology and work alone to create their own biologically adapted animal” (rperrin12, 2017).

Image from Tes,, Google Expedition, Underwater Excursion

Google Expeditions Writing to Describe, Underwater Excursion is a lesson that allows students to “Dive through some of the greatest waters of the world. Swim with a whale shark and see the world through the eyes of a sea turtle. Through this Google Expedition your students will be prompted to create word walls and descriptions that the can use in a longer task after the expedition. Alongside their underwater explorations, students can consider the challenges that are faced by today's oceans.” (Skyel78, 2016)

Create Your Own Lessons Plans Using Google Expeditions

Of course Google thinks of everything, why not create your own Google Expedition! Google also offers a link to get you started with creating your own lesson from the Training Center Unit which than allows you to upload to the Tes site. How easy is that!

Tips for Initiating Google Expeditions VR Pilot

I ran across Laura Ascione’s article ‘8 tips for your best Google Expeditions VR pilot’, and thought it would be useful for anyone considering starting and gaining support from your organization. The following is an Infographic outlining Laura’s 8 tips:

8-Tips-for-a-Google-Expeditions-Pilot-Infographic

Overall I found the article and infographic to contain great advice and has similar themes for what our guest speaker Eric Lawson shared with us for how the York School started out.

Future for Google Expeditions

Currently the “Google Expeditions team and their collaborators are the only ones who are creating educational experiences, but they are moving towards allowing others to build their own Expeditions.” (Voices of VR Podcast, 2017). It is anticipated that the VR experiences will leverage Augmented Reality (AR) technologies in the future. Augmented Reality (AR) is the application of technology to superimpose information on digitally rendered images. Voices of VR Podcast, indicates that the advantage of AR course is students faces are not encased in the goggles and AR provides more opportunities for student collaboration and interaction. “You’re able to completely walk around virtual objects, which triggers a deeper level of embodied cognition in being able to interact and make sense of the world by moving your body.”, (Voices of VR Podcast, 2017).

I would encourage you to check out the Voices of VR Podcast, as well as, the YouTube video directly below to both provide great insight to where this technology is heading, exciting stuff!

YouTube Video, Expeditions AR – Bringing the world into the classroom

Advancing Learning

So we have looked at device, content and how to develop and integrate lessons with Google Expeditions. But what about advancing learning by having the student create their own expeditions. Janice Mak, did just that using a smart device (tablet or phone), Google Street View app and Google cardboard headset. See Janice Mak’s, description; ‘5 steps to creating a VR image’, which describes the process and her overall philosophy. In the ISTE article, Janice is referred to as an “instructional coach and teach” who “helps her students learn through an interdisciplinary and ‘learning by doing’ mindset.”

Reflection

My reflection on the guest speaker topic Google Expeditions with Eric Lawson, is I am intrigued with the idea of using Google Expeditions and providing options to students to create their own Expeditions. It is just a wonderful creative opportunity!

VR provides for more real-world experiences, using illusions, in this case the illusion is in the form of a Google Expedition, where you can visit outer space, swim with the sharks, visit the Natural History Museum and foreign countries, climb Mount Everest, all without leaving the classroom. This technology offers a great opportunity for collaboration in sharing of expeditions created by individuals around the world or through sharing one you created.

I was left thinking about the connections to Computational Thinking goals outlined in the vision document from ISTE and Computer Science for Teachers. In particular:

Formulating problems in a way that enables us to use a computer and other tools to help solve them.
Representing data through abstractions such as models and simulations; Google Expeditions.

I also gave some thought to how Google Cardboard and Good Expeditions meets several key ISTE standards by:

ISTE Standards for Students

Standard 1: Empowered Learner. Designing and developing in the classroom gives students a chance to extend beyond the traditional classroom style using emerging technology.

Standard 3: Knowledge Constructor. Using emerging technologies such as, virtual reality, google expeditions, etc., provide students the opportunity to build their knowledge and prepare students for real-world challenges in careers and college.

Standard 5: Computational Thinking. When you are challenged to create on your own by developing an expedition it involves problem solving and critical thinking. In this case the student is the agent of change and the classroom is transformed to a more student centric model.

Standard 6: Creative Communication. Developing expeditions supports using a variety of mediums to provide visual models and/or simulations (virtual reality) to share real-world experiences without leaving the classroom. The resulting expedition communicates a lesson plan and the intended creative message is published and available to others to share and learn from the experience.

Finally I am left with wondering where this technology will take us next, Eric Lawson mentioned he is often questioned as to whether this technology is sustainable, well I believe that it is and it will grow to support the demands for creativity and collaboration.

Resource(s)

rperrin12. (2017, April 4). Adaptations #GoogleExpeditions Lesson. Retrieved from https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/adaptations-googleexpeditions-lesson-11555978
Skyel78. (2016, September 19). Writing to Describe – Underwater Excursion #GoogleExpeditions, Retrieved from https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/writing-to-describe-underwater-excursion-googleexpeditions-11371876
Lesson Planning with Google Expeditions. (2016, June 24). Retrieved from https://youtu.be/owdpB6n5Z8Q
EdTech 4 BEGINNERS. (2016, September 27). Google Expeditions Tutorial. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yPjqgFZWJ4
EdTechTeacher. (2017, February 07). Google Expeditions Walk Through. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qD-P33cwpfl
LaMoreaux, P. (2017, January 18). Google Expeditions for Beginners. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/izcrdS40iV4
Voices of VR Podcast. (2017, May 27). #539: Google Expeditions is Leading Innovation in the Future of Immersive Education. Retrieved from http://voicesofvr.com/539-google-expeditions-is-leading-innovation-in-the-future-of-immersive-education/
Expeditions AR – Bringing the world into the classroom. (2017, May 17). Retrieved from https://youtu.be/-DYqlaMWTVg
Yoder, Maureen. (2015, November 27). Virtual reality in the classroom just got affordable. Retrieved from https://www.iste.org/expore/articleDetail?articleid=609
Mak, Janice. (2016, March 1). Your students can create virtual reality expeditions. Retrieved from https://www.iste.org/explore/articleDetail?articleid=683
Ascione, L. (2017, August 08). 8 tips for your best Google Expeditions VR pilot. Retrieved from https://www.eschoolnews.com/2017/08/21/tips-google-expeditions/
Google. (n.d.). [Expeditions] – List of Available Expeditions. Retrieved from https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1uwWvAzAiQDueKXkxvqF6rS84oae2AU7eD8bhxzJ9SdY/edit#gid=0
International Society of Technology in Education. (n.d.). ISTE Standards FOR STUDENTS. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/standards/for-students#startstandards

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