Assignment 2: Virtual Learning Environment (VLE)

Google Earth Across the Curriculum

The purpose of this Virtual Learning Environment is to give educators a basic understanding of the main functions of Google Earth and some ideas for using Google Earth in the classroom.

Google Earth is a great tool for both the primary and secondary classroom. It is not limited to just the geography or earth science class, but can also be used in history, English, and mathematics among others. The scope is really just limited by the teachers knowledge and skills in using Google Earth.

Students can explore ancient city ruins; recreate the expansion of the Roman Empire; measure distances between landmarks; get directions; calculate the area of the base of the pyramids; track the movements of refugees from Sri Lanka; highlight significant places and events from a text/film; create layers showing the growth of Melbourne; use placemarks, descriptions and images to show a recent holiday trip, etc. The list is literally endless.

This VLE is basically an online ‘PD’. The target audience of this VLE are teachers. Through this VLE, I aim to show how to use the basic functions of Google Earth and give some examples of how it can be incorporated into your class.

Numerous social software programs will be used in the development of this VLE. This blog will be used to get information across, explain the task, discuss issues and respond to questions. Jing video clips will be used to show basic Earth tools – search, 3D, placemarks, creating a tour and basic navigation. Jing clips will also be used to show how to complete the task (which will be outlined in the next blog post). Google Earth 'Outreach' will be used to show some excellent examples of what can be achieved using Google Earth. A YouTube clip is embedded which gives a good introduction to the basic functions of Google Earth. Finally, there is a wealth of information about Google Earth, and I am definitely not the first educator who has thought to use it with students. This blog will link to relevant sites which offer lesson plans, webquests and class ideas.

To use this blog, follow the order of the pages in the top left corner of this blog: Home, The Basics of Google Earth, Jing Clips, A Completed Tour, and finally Google Earth Outreach Tutorials. At the bottom of each page there is a link to the the next step of the task. This link simply takes you to the next page of this blog.