Digital Field Trips

One of the newest trends in education is the digital field trip.  Being able to transport your students to places around the state, country, and world without leaving the classroom is a great tool. While the new virtual reality technology is so exciting, not every school has the available technology.  (If you do have iPads or smartphones, check out LittlStar- it's doesn't require a viewer!)

Google Tour Builder makes it possible for teachers (and students!) to create these virtual field trips. 

It's very easy to use, but if you're interested in watching a video, check this one out!

What I like about Google Tour Builder is its simplicity.  Students can easily create a tour by signing into their Google account.  You can add photos, links, descriptions, and time frames to the different spots. 

I can see many different applications for Google Tour Builder.  English teachers could map locations in a book or different story settings from the same author.  Social studies teachers could do so many things - mapping locations of battles in a war, mapping areas that represent different land types, mapping important cities in a country...the possibilities are endless!

As a business teacher, I can see myself using Google Tour Builder to have students create virtual tours of business, virtual tours of sporting venues, or virtual tours of a person's life. I can also see using the description feature to pose questions to students to answer during the tour. 

I made a sample tour of some Kansas City sports and entertainment venues to test the tool out.  To see my tour, click here.

How can you see yourself using Google Tour Builder?