ESRI’s Second Annual “Teachers Teaching Teachers GIS” (or T3G) Institute began Sunday evening. In addition to potentially the most experienced training staff ever assembled for a “GIS for education” event, we have educators from across North America who are already doing GIS, already experienced teaching with technology, and already providing professional development for educators. After this week of intense integration, they will head home and help others learn why and how to use GIS in education.
Part of our activities will engage the new ArcGIS.com, through ArcGIS Desktop, ArcGIS Explorer, ArcGIS Explorer Online, and the ArcGIS.com Web Viewer. It’s a world of opportunity! We’ll start the day Monday with an exposure to some news stories through ArcGIS Explorer Online. You can too, just by going to ArcGIS.com, doing a search for “geonews”, and opening in ArcGIS Explorer Online the item titled “GeoNews AGXOL_1 T3G”. (The item has been “shared with everyone”, so anyone can open it and play it without needing to sign in.) In just a few minutes, one of the staff and I built a presentation similar to what teachers — AND STUDENTS!! — could put together, with glimpses of four recent news stories. With just a bit of geographic context, we can talk in class about these news items and help students see information differently, helping them understand the significance of events near and far.
Educators in all subjects and grades levels can do this. Nothing to download, once the Silverlight plugin is installed. Create a map or series of maps, create a presentation, save it, post it, share it. It’s that simple, and exceedingly powerful. Getting kids to do this will help them invest in their own learning. Getting them to teach, support, and critique each other will allow the teacher to focus instruction on fewer students at a time.
GeoNews via ArcGIS.com … try it!
- Charlie Fitzpatrick, Co-Manager, ESRI Schools Program
