Friday, October 9, 2009

Virtual Tour: Holy Cities of Islam



I viewed and commented on...

1. Laila : The Oregon Trail
2. Beth : Number the Stars
3. Cicely : Cultural Contributions

What do I think the upsides and downsides are for implementing a virtual tour in an elementary education classroom?

I'll be honest. I think there are more upsides than downsides for implementing a virtual tour. I did my tour on the holy cities of Islam. I know I probably won't get to travel to these places and see them for myself, and probably, neither will my students. This is a great way for students to see the locations I am talking about. Where is this place relative to the rest of the world. What does it look like and sound like? How's the weather? There is so much information on Google earth. This is a multimodal representation. Students can interact with the tour and do assignments in Google Earth. What an interesting way to learn! How great that we have found a way to teach while serving the visual, audio, and textual needs of our students.

What are some of the downsides? What if I have limited resources in my classes? What if my students have limited resources at home? If that is the case, will I be able to teach like this? What if students start to play with Google Earth instead of completing the assignment as they take my tour? Technology is not always reliable and students might take advantage of my willingness to let them loose on the computer.
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3 comments:

  1. Mrs. HendersonOctober 13, 2009 at 4:15 PM

    I already love this topic, and I think that you presented it beautifully. The video clips were especially interesting and portrayed the culture nicely. I like how many different Google Earth layers you used to highlight different aspects of each site. Awesome job!

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  2. BethOctober 13, 2009 at 4:26 PM

    Mary Ann, I love this topic too! Your video clips are very interesting and I loved the image you have for Mecca. It's beautiful. You did a great job!

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  3. CicelyOctober 13, 2009 at 6:50 PM

    Mary Ann, Your picture of Mecca was gorgeous! I loved the music and that you covered an area that isn't known very well. I liked this question, "What would it mean to you if you had to make the trek to Mecca? What would you do and see when you got there? What is (the black stone)? Write down what you learned and a reaction in 4-5 sentences." I'm so excited for your mission call!!!

    Love,

    Cicely

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