Oh, The Places You'll Go

One of our Web 2.0 tools of the week was Google Maps. I have used Google Maps plenty of times before to quickly find a street address and/or location, but this week we learned how to build our own personalized Google Map. The process was quite simple. In a matter of seconds, you can place pins on a Google Map and create captions for your pins to help others understand the significance of your pins. Check out my Google Map of the places I've lived below.

Google Maps can be a very interactive tool used in an educational setting. Not only can it be used to teach geography, but it can provide a very interesting approach to teaching history as well if you choose to provide information about historical landmarks, etc. It can also be used as a great tool for icebreakers and/or introductions in a group setting. Allowing students/staff to pin their hometowns or favorite locations on a Google Map is a great way to help them get to know more about each other and begin establishing connections that can strengthen a learning and/or work environment.