Thing 13: Virtual Reality

I was super excited about this assignment. I have been working hard to design meaningful and authentic learning opportunities at the lower grade levels. I had learned about Google Street View 360 App at a conference (Innovation Summit in Boston) in the Fall and since then I have been storing it in my brain and not quite sure where it could fit meaningfully into the curriculum. Through curriculum discussions on our schools social studies committee, I began to make connections with areas of the second grade curriculum where we could meaningfully apply this tool for learning. Out of this grew a magical learning experience for our students.

The second graders have been studying communities: urban, suburban and rural. I had a vision that it would be fun to take our students on a "Magic School Bus" style learning experience. I shared my vision with the teachers of driving our school bus to each type of community, having our students take notes digitally (in Book Creator) on the "have's and have nots" in each community. They would do this on their iPads (we are a 1-to-1 school). In addition, students would capture a 360 image using Google Street View in each community and publish those images to Google Maps.  Since we would be using Book Creator to gather our information we would also add our images to Book Creator with a link to Google Maps. In the end students would synthesize their notes, comparing each community (part of the standards) and decide which type of community they would like to most live in and why.

The field trip was amazing! It was engaging, authentic and meaningful. I spent a class period prior to the field trip teaching students how to capture 360 views. Almost everyone was able to capture their photos with no trouble at all. We did have two students out of the entire grade whose cameras on their iPads weren't working. I was never able to figure out why, but other than that it was SIMPLE, SIMPLE, SIMPLE. We did not have internet connection on our field trip so we were not able to post to Google Maps right away.

When we returned from the field trip I spent one class period working with the entire 2nd grade to discuss the "why" behind capturing the 360 images and publishing them. Students were eager to share how their images could help others. Students shared that people could use their images to:

• see what the different places looked like. 
• decide if it is a place they would be interested in visiting.
• determine if they are at the right location, if they were supposed to visit the location and had never been their before.

sample student work
 (each image is a clickable link to their 360 image in Google Maps)

During the same class period where we discussed the why, I also taught the students how to publish and search their images to Google Maps, and add them to Book Creator. After presenting to the students, I spent a follow up class period working with each classroom individually to apply the skills that I had taught. This was a fail forward kind of experience for me.

When working with the first class, I quickly realized that this is not a direct instruction kind of lesson. Trying to keep all the students on the same step at the same time was nearly impossible and took away the exploration of the app and the resiliency we are trying develop with the students. Due to the inconsistent layout of the App on each device it was also challenge to give whole group instruction because not everyones App, or steps within the App were the same. After reflecting, I decided that with the second class I would pull students in small groups. In their groups I would show them what the ultimate goal is, but share with them that we all won't be able to take the same path to get there, because the app is different for each of us. Once the students began working I asked guiding questions to fuel students thoughts as they troubleshot through the process. This was a much more successful approach and arguable a richer experience because we not only developed digital skills we also developed critical thinking skills.

Steps to creating 360 Street Views and publishing them to Google Maps and Book Creator (These may vary per app):

Creating & Publishing Image in App

• Access the 360 Street View App. 
• Click the camera Icon.
• Capture photo using camera. 
• Align the orange circles with the white circles in the view finder and rotate in a circle. Don't forget that once you have gone in a complete circle to point the camera up and then down to get photos from above and below. 
• Once you are finished capturing images, click the checkmark and wait while it stitches images together. 
• When your photo is ready an orange bar will appear allowing the picture to be published to Google Maps. 
• Select the location of your picture by typing in the location. 
• Your image will be published. 

Adding image to Book Creator

• Under the Explore tab in Google Street View search and select your image.
• Share your image by tapping the share icon. 
• Choose to share it with Book Creator- if Book Creator is not an option, select "more" and allow for it share with Book Creator. 
• By sharing with Book Creator the image will automatically be sent to the app.
• To add your image to your page, select the "+" sign, under all of the different options for adding there is a choice at the very bottom right of the toolbar to import shared items- select that option. Here you will find your image.
• Tap on your image to insert it. This will not be a 360 image, just a panoramic image. 
• When under the share import icon in Book Creator, you are provided with a web embed code for your picture. This is a great tool, but it will not send your reader directly to your image. In order to get a direct link to your image you will need to get the URL directly for your image. 
• To get the link for the image. Go to Explore in Google Street View App- search the location or name of your image that your published. Once you have found your image, select it and push the share icon. Under your options for sharing, select copy link. 
• To create a link to your image in Book Creator, select your image (the blue box will appear around it when it is selected. 
• Push the icon with the letter "i" inside a circle. Under the hyperlink box, paste the URL.
• To view put your book in play mode and tap on the image.