Virtual Reality is not just for video games, it is making it’s way into the classroom and creating awesome opportunities for students and teachers. A VR tool that I found could be really interesting in the classroom is Google Expeditions. It is now found in the “Arts & Culture Expeditions” tab after they removed the original site in 2021. This tool gives students the chance to take virtual field trips to places all over the world that many people never get to visit. I think this can give students an appreciation for the rest of the world and not just their home country.

What Is It?

Expeditions is a virtual reality platform created google to give anyone a chance to get an in depth looks at monumental places all over the globe. You can get a detailed virtual experience at any famous landmark or monument you ever wanted to see.

How Does It tie Into Global Collaboration

The way I saw this tool fitting into Global Collaboration in the classroom was through discussion boards that students from all over the world can discuss the virtual trips. I think it would be awesome for classes to join together and visit somewhere near each other. Then they can enter a discussion post and have talks about what they felt when seeing the other classes country. I think this would help kids gain an appreciation for people all over the world and open their eyes to life outside of their home or country.

Another way that classes could engage with this tool would be by joining together to take a virtual field trip something like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. They could discuss the engineering that goes behind the building and the history behind why it is leaning. Being able to take the field trips with one or more classes s helps kids engage with other students and really take in the experience.

The research of this Virtual Reality tool and others has opened my eyes to the benefits in education that it has. It is more than a cool gadget, it is the future of learning and I am excited to see what VR education has in store for us.

I had the chance to explore “We Virtual Learning Center” recently and found that its tools could be super beneficial in my future classroom setting. While checking out the website I found some awesome sources to share that can teach kids valuable life lessons.

Social Emotional Learning Tools

This immediately stood out to me because it dives into teaching kids how to understand their feelings and deal with stress. It also speaks on feeling empathy for others, which I found relevant because I’m writing a paper in my other class that looks at how social media has affected us and how feel for others during tragedies. These are skills that students will take with them into adulthood and can benefit them in ways they may never know. This website had lesson plans at the click of a button that any teacher could use. I think it could be beneficial to do a lesson revolving around feelings and stress once a week or a month so students could feel safe in the classroom to handle these thoughts.

Take Action Resources

This was the second feature that caught my eye. It focuses more on hands-on learning which I find easier. Students look at problems in their community or the world that they can tackle to try and solve. Similar to the Global Goals Project in this Web Tools class, it gives students and opportunity to be changemakers and feel like what they do matters. An example would be learning how to organize a food drive or a beach cleanup. These are projects that can spark career interest for students and I think it’s a really awesome part of this website.

When assigned to research accessibility tools I went straight to the our school’s website link to tools we are able to use. It is called the “Accessibility Toolbox”, here is a list of some that I found interesting and a little bit about the tools themself.

1) Rocketbook Beacons

This tool is simple but really useful as it gives you the ability to transform a whiteboard into a smartboard. What I mean by that is it allows students to take pictures of whiteboard notes written by a professor and get it straight to their computer. This is a really helpful tool for people who struggle to keep up with writing notes and following along at the same time. Especially when a teacher is creating diverse graphs on the board that may be hard to translate onto paper without some artistic skills. All in all this is a great tool that everyone should be aware of!

2) Glean

Glean is another awesome tool for note-taking. It records lectures, meetings, a study group session, anything you can think of it will record and highlight key points and allow you to annotate as well. This is a great option for students who prefer to just listen rather than try to take notes at the same time. I think being able to revisit the topics that you were able to listen to in class is an awesome form of studying and can be really beneficial.

3) C-Pen Reader

The C-Pen Reader is a device used to read text aloud, and is able to in English, French, and Spanish. This can be ideal for students who struggle with dyslexia or just find reading difficult. Helping students focus on the material and not stress on the reading. This device is handheld and can easily be used in a classroom setting. I found this really interesting and know people who really could have benefitted from this tool.

4) Read&Write

Read&Write is a toolbar that helps students with writing, reading, and proofreading. It is available to students at no cost which is rare as many websites require you to create an account and try a monthly subscription. This tool can provide definitions to words that students find tricky. Basically, it is a reading and writing assistant at the tip of your fingers. Very useful!

5) JAWS (Job Access With Speech)

This tool is a screen recorder for those who are visually impaired. It translates on-screen text into speech or Braille, allowing students to navigate their screens without having to actually see their screens. JAWS offers visually impaired students the ability to do any research or work with ease. I found this one the most interesting for sure!

6) Dolphin Easy Reader

Dolphin Easy Reader is very similar to the previous ones I listed with a combination of all the features. It’s target audience is people who stuggle with impaired vision from dyslexia to blindness. It offers a library of books and material that can be tailored to ones needs. This app can make reading content more enjoyable keep them encouraged to keep learning.

7) Dragon NatruallySpeaking

This awesome tool allows students to speak right into their devices and the tool types whatever they say. This is a great option for students with physical disabilities that may make typing or writing difficult. I think this tool is really awesome and encourages productivity enabling students to hone in on ideas and not waste time worrying about editing. There are lots of tools you can use to polish your writing after using a tool like Dragon NaturallySpeaking.

World War 1 HyperDoc

Teaching important events in history such as wars is one of the most vital lessons taught in basic schooling in order to ensure history does not repeat itself. However, it is not the simplest subject to teach when it comes to keeping kids engaged to connect dots along a timeline. A HyperDoc lesson plan such as this one is a great way to teach kids the important history of our society. I had a history teacher as a sophmore in highschool who used google docs very similar to the one I chose and I found it really easy to follow along and notetake.

What Is in this HyperDoc?

This slideshow includes a detailed slides with engaging questions, statements, and images revolving around the whole war from beginning to end. I like how it clearly states the Central Powers and Allied Powers on slide 4. Obviously, it is very important to ensure that students have a solid foundation on which sides which. I find that when I don’t have a solid foundation on what is what in a history lesson, it makes following the rest of topic much more difficult. I also enjoyed the “Thinking Slide” on slide 7. This offers a break in the lecture for students to ask an important question on isolationism in the U.S, would it work? I think asking questions throughout a lesson to keep the class involved is key to making sure students understand the material. All in all I think this is a great Hyperdoc that I would recommend to anyone teaching this topic.

Reese Evert

For my virtual field trip I chose the San Diego Zoo. This was an easy decision for me as I had visited when I was really young, but I have a pretty hazy memory fo what it was like. The zoo offers live video cams of the animals in their shelters which I found super interesting. This makes it easy for anyone to enjoy the zoo without having to travel and spends lots of money to do so.

Live Cameras

The live cameras are offered for a variety of animals and provide a high quality image of the animal’s habitat. I was lucky enough to catch some animals live on camera while they tended to their daily needs of life.

Some Cameras Offered

• Baboon Cam
• Polar Bear Cam
• Penguin Cam
• Hippo Cam
• Ape Cam
• Tiger Cam
• Platypus Cam

All of these awesome creatures are free to watch on the live cams offered and are really interesting to see in real time. Here are some images I took while watching…

Above is the “ape” camera in action as this guy swings through ropes like tarzan.

Safari Park Camera

Above is the elephants in their sanctuary as they eat their lunch out of those boxes you see. I actually sat and watched this one for a few minutes and it was super interesting to see how the elephants interact with on another. This is located in the Safari park which also offers a Giraffe, Red Panda, Owl, cameras and many more. Really interesting to be ale to see what these animals look like on live feed that originate from across the world.

Why Take This Virtual Field Trip

This Virtual Field Trip is the perfect happy meduim for anyone who is curious about these animals but doesn’t have the luxury of being able to see them in person. So, whether you are teaching a class or just simply curious about the animals you can check out what they are doing in real time whenever you please. An awesome outlet to explore your curioisty or educate students, I highly recomend.

By: Reese Evert

The “Microsoft Translator” tool is something I found extremely interesting in this chapter. It dives into an experience of an educator In Kent School District in Washington, USA named Becky who brought this tool into her district, and it was game changing. This district has over 140 languages practiced which sounds crazy to me. However, with the help of Microsoft Translator Becky was able to make it much easier for family’s speaking native languages to engage in school discussions and the school website. Instead of having to copy and paste everything into google translate which is very exhausting. Becky states that students are able to “translate on the fly,” making day to day life much easier.

More than Education

I myself thought of this tool as something that would be awesome for traveling. I travel a lot and have been to south America more than once and the language barrier is something I always have to try and get through. In fact, I am leaving for Nicaragua in a few days, and I think I’m going to use Microsoft Translator on this trip to help me communicate. Not only can this tool help me communicate, but it can help me learn the language so don’t have to speak broken Spanish and type everything into google translate. This tool would be able to remove the awkward moments of language barrier and create it into a learning experience not only in the classroom, but in life.

The tool I chose was University of Pennsylvania’s “Teaching Beyond 9/11” tool, September 11th Curriculum | Penn GSE (upenn.edu). This resource was chosen because University of Pennsylvania is an Ivy League school that sponsors outstanding research, education, medicine and museums.

The tool is useful because it contains valid information about the sources of Islamophobia and history prior to 9/11 as well as the actions taken afterward.

My criticism of this tool is that it says it is good for upper-level high school and college students, but I would say it would be more appropriate for college students because there are not specific instructions included regarding how to specifically utilize these resources. A teacher would need to create support materials on their own.

The information is useful, but teacher created assignments are necessary to utilize the information.

This video is a visual example that this tool provided. It is a video I found through this tool. It is highlighting the discrimination towards Muslim travelers who have faced discrimination. I found this video really engaging and think a class would be able to keep their focus. It could generate a good class discussion on how it made the class feel watching it and what questions it sparked.

Video Link : Are you afraid of flying? (youtube.com)

This resource teaches a way in which people may respond to a tragedy like 9/11 and also bring context to the people who perpetrated, died, suffered and survived it. It is useful but also requires a higher reading level and willingness to investigate the many valuable resources that are found on this 9/11 educational resource.

By: Reese Evert

Reese Evert 

What is Global Collaboration?

In the 20th century global collaboration is a necessity in education. Being the generation that has the gift of advanced technology at the tip of our fingers is something we must not take for granted.  Educators all over the world have the opportunity to encourage and provide their students with the chance to interact with other students from across the globe. Giving them a fresh outlook on life and how other people view things. I think that being able to see and appreciate the way other people think is a very important skill to have in life. Instilling this skill in students at a young age could have a huge benefit on our society.

How We Can Achieve Global Collaboration?

With access to social media platforms such as X, Instagram, Facebook, etc. the ability to collaborate with people from all over the world is as easy as the click of a button. As many of you already know, teachers all over the world are taking advantage of this and sharing their teaching styles, projects, ideas, and thoughts to each other from thousands of miles away via social media. Giving teachers a breath of fresh air and getting away from the typical, old-school teaching ways. But social media is doing more than creating new teaching styles. It is spreading awareness to something like the #GlobalGoalsProject. Tackling the biggest problems we have in society such as poverty and world hunger and having students and teachers from all over the world choose a goal and share ideas on how to solve these problems. Students form groups not only in their small classroom but with others from different countries. Giving them the ability to bounce ideas off each other and come up with small or big projects to chip away at a final goal. Goals like ending world hunger are huge tasks and can’t be accomplished without the use of global collaboration.

Book/Article: A Guide for Elementary Teachers for the Classroom AI Projects

This is sponsored by International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) and General Motors. According to the book ISTE “is a nonprofit organization that works with the global education community to accelerate the use of technology to solve tough problems and inspire innovation. Our

worldwide network believes in the potential technology holds to transform teaching and learning.”

Hands-On

Using AI for Hands-On Projects In the Classroom: 

We have come a long way since I first became popular. Never did I think it would become a part of classroom activities especially at the Elementary Level. However in this article it provides examples of great AI activities that can be incorporated into the classroom to benefit student learning and show the possibilities AI has in education. The introduction to this article also counters previously held beliefs in education that the early elementary grades are too early to begin learning and implementing AI into curriculum, as children are exposed to it from and accustomed to much of what AI can do. This guide is designed not for teachers who are already experts in AI, but for those who are just incorporating it into their lessons, as well as learning about what AI is and the different kinds of AI. This is really helpful for beginner educators as well as experienced teachers who have not learned or taught about AI before. 

First, we can talk about the pros and cons of AI provided in the text. AI  does great with image and speech recognition, AI robots can interact with the environment using sensors like an animal, and also navigate maps and mazes like no other human. Now the cons being, AI has no emotion or sense of feeling so some decisions made by AI could be way different than a human’s decision in a given circumstance. However I believe you could go back and forth on the pros and cons of AI forever, but at the end of the day it is present in our everyday life and we should try to harness its power and continue to use it in education and sciences to push for the advancement of our society as a whole. 

Activities Using AI

This article dives into four different projects using AI in the classroom all of which are very interesting. Each project is divided into an overview, preparation, instructions and extensions. Educators can take use and modify some or all of the suggested activities as it fits their needs and students. The book/pamphlet also provides a glossary, and Appendices A and B which break down for the teacher what AI is, as well as how these lessons/projects are aligned with current AI educational standards. There are 4 project topics and the one that stood out to me the most is Project 4 – Navigation and AI on pages 36-44. This is a multi-disciplinary project that incorporates English-Language Arts, Mathematics and Geography. I think it also incorporates history as a comparison of how people would previously navigate where they were going prior to the navigational tools and apps we now have, and how the history of that technology has drastically improved and incorporated other real time data to be that much more accurate and effective. So there is a very practical, real life experience and application that makes this project interesting. Students are asked questions about how their family members who drive know how to get from one place to another, and how they figure out how to go somewhere new. It also incorporates suggestions to use hands on maps for students to locate and brainstorm ways to navigate around their own school buildings, and how there can be multiple correct answers at times to those questions. For younger students a culminating activity is to use a maze creating site and rules to get through the maze. Mazes, Free Printables, Easy to Hard (krazydad.com). This is just one of many hands-on projects that can stem from the use of AI. I found this one very interesting but others may find the other projects more compelling. I think AI has something to offer for each teacher and educator and this article is a great place to gather ideas from.