Google is something I have used for a huge chunk of my life, both in a personal and school context. I would say I am very familiar with google, though I wouldn't say I am an expert. I am pretty advanced with technology and how to run Google, but prior to this lesson, there was a lot of Google apps that I had no idea existed. I already knew about Google Maps, as I use that tool pretty often. It is one of my favourites, because it is so easy to use and informative. It not only can show you directions and distances, but you can also go to locations and it will give you a blurb telling about the place, and showing photos. It combines Google Search, Maps, and Images into one, which I think is really useful in the classroom so students don't have to have several pages open just to find information about one place. It is very easy to use, and informative. It also can be a way for students to learn about other countries and cultures throughout the world, as they can observe different monuments and locations in different places from the comfort of the classroom. I also already knew about Google Translate prior to this lesson as well. I think it is a genius tool, as it is not only able to translate 133 languages by text, but it can also listen to your voice to translate as well. You can also upload photos that have text in another language to be translated. I like Google Translate because I think it is so useful and easy to use. I have been able to understand a lot of things that otherwise I wouldn't have understood without this app. In the classroom, it can allow students to learn about other languages and understand their vocabulary. With time, it can even help students learn another language. It can also be extremely useful if you have a student in your classroom that doesn't speak your language. It can allow for communication between the student and you or their peers, which means they can still have the opportunity to learn within the classroom. Those two are some of my favourite Google tools, but I also knew about Google Lens, which lets you search Google by taking a picture of what you want to know more about.
Though I already thought I knew a lot about Google, there was some tools in this lesson that I was unfamiliar with, that I now have learnt lots about. One of these tools was Google Arts and Culture. It is a tool used for culture exploration, showcasing a variety of cultures from around the world through images, games, and tours of museums. This stood out to me because I found it so easy to use, and extremely engaging! I could have spent the entire class just exploring this program, as there is so much to do and learn! It also stood out to me because of how useful it would be in the classroom, as it is so engaging. I know for me, learning about history or artwork was often boring in the way it was presented to me, but I know if I got to learn using Google Arts and Culture, I would have enjoyed it and the information would have stuck with me. Not only is it engaging, but I think it's very useful for students to get a first hand experience of art and culture through their virtual museum tours. Instead of having to pay thousands of dollars to take your students across the world to visit museums, they now can explore at their own pace from the classroom. Another tool that I learnt a lot about was Coggle, which is a program where you can create and collaborate through mind maps. It is a substitution for the traditional paper mind maps, and adds the ability to collaborate and share your mind maps. Through brainstorming with my group members, we came up with a lot of ways that Coggle could be used in the classroom. It can be used for essay outline planning, with the addition that students could put links to sources or images, when traditionally they couldn't do that on paper. It could also be used for note taking and connecting ideas, and it also makes collaborating very easy. For teachers, it can also be used for instruction, and displaying key ideas of lessons so students can clearly understand how things are connected.
Overall, I think Google is an extremely useful tool for teachers and their students. There are so many tools to explore that have so many great uses. Using Google tools in the classroom can help open up your students' minds to things that wouldn't have been possible without the invention of this technology. Take advantage of it!
Image Credit: Freebie Supply
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