Leading and Creating Google VR tours in the Classroom

Leading a Tour

Google Expeditions

The addition of a set of new iPods and a pack of google cardboard to the arsenal of tech at our school was purchased with a specific goal in mind: leading virtual reality tours in the classroom. The Foreign Language Department has received a Grant to purchase the devices, and the next step towards their application in the classroom is to discover how to use them. Luckily for us, Google has, yet again, come through with a versatile and fairly intuitive platform to host classroom tours. This program is called Google Expeditions.

How to Use it

Google Expeditions is an app designed for mobile phones and iPods that allows individuals to become the "guide" of a virtual tour to connect to other "explorers". This dynamic due can traverse the world without leaving the room. From This app, explorers can be lead through a multitude of premade tours created by Google. Once the app is opened, and the user selects to be a guide or explorer, the tour can begin. The guide can search for a specific tour or just browse the options recommended by the app. Once a tour is decided on, its as easy as tapping it to begin. At this point the guide has options to show students "points of interest" in the area through the menu they are given, or move on to other areas in the tour. The tour even gives guides a selection of questions about the area and small tidbits about the region or objects.

Creating a Tour

It is worth noting that, although the tour creator exists, it is not yet possible to make custom tours specifically for the Expeditions app (that function is planned to be released later this year); however, that doesn't mean that creating tours won't be an invaluable tool in customizing the classroom experience once google releases it. Creating a tour starts at the Google Tour Creator tool. Once the user starts to create a tour, they can add pieces just like the premade options in the app like custom scenes, points of interest, and images. The creation starts by simply selecting an area on google maps and finding one of their nearby 3D images (or add one of your own if you have any). Once you find the perfect area, you can add it as a new scene in the tour. From here, points of interest and images can be added (using the sidebar) to direct students however the teacher wants.

Creating new tours is the perfect way for teachers to guide specialized tours that pertain to the lesson at hand. Even if Google provides plenty of premade options,  nothing can quite compare to a tour tailored for a specific lesson. Once the full tool is released, the power for students in the languages to experience the countries that they learn about. It will be a helpful tool to connect the concepts that students study to the real world.