5 Tips for Teaching With Google Expeditions





Are you new to Google Expeditions? Are you excited and ready to take your students' learning experience to another level, but need some help in getting started? If so, read below for 5 quick tips for teaching with Google Expeditions!

Tip 1: Know What's Available in Google Expeditions. 

Before launching an Expedition with your students take a look through this Google sheet that lists over 900 VR Expeditions to see what's available. The Expeditions are organized by topic, name of the Expedition, the panorama titles (which are the list of scenes included), the location of the Expedition along with a brief description. Here, you might even find a lesson plan that goes along with the Expedition and you have the option to share your own lesson to the TES website too! Finally, some of the listed Expeditions include a link that allows you to preview the Expedition on Poly. Needless to say, this list is a great starting point as you plan your lessons to make strong relevant connections to your curriculum.




Tip 2: Read Through The Script Beforehand. 

It's always a good idea to read through the script ahead of time to see if the information covered is relevant to your learning objectives. If not, you can plan ahead and script something that better fits your needs. Other times, the script is perfect but may be written at a higher level than your students are ready for. On these occasions, I paraphrase the content to make it understandable to the grade level I am working with. Another benefit of Google Expeditions is that leveled questions are provided in the script! These are offered in beginner, intermediate and advanced levels. But again, there have been times where I come up with my own questions to better target our specific learning objectives. 


Tip 3: Teach Your Students How to Troubleshoot. 

Expeditions is a great way to amplify your teaching and student learning, but there may be a time or two when a device loses connection from the tour. Instead of stopping the lesson to troubleshoot, it's wise to initially invest a few extra minutes teaching your students a few things to try to get themselves back on. It is definitely worth the extra five or ten minutes you invest in showing your students how to navigate to and from the Wi-Fi settings to make sure they are on the right network. Once they know how to do this, you will find that you will be able to continue through your lesson while they quickly rejoin the tour on their own. Another option would be to assign a few students in the class a "tech support" role to assist you with these instances. Some students are very technologically advanced and enjoy helping others!

Tip 4: Give Students Time to Enjoy the Scenes! 

When you first launch an Expedition students are in awe of what they see! It is only natural for them to want to turn every which way to see what is all around them. I quickly learned that I needed to plan a minute or two at the beginning of each scene for this important time. Always give students a few moments to take a look around so they can absorb the setting they will soon explore. I personally feel students are more prepared to listen and learn after having these few first moments.


Tip 5: Pause the Expedition to Re-gain Students' Attention. 

You will quickly find that students LOVE Google Expeditions! They will ooooh and ahhhh for minutes on end. Getting students excited about learning is one of the best parts of using Expeditions. As mentioned in Tip #4, you will definitely want to give students time to visually explore the scene and soak up all the images. However, once you are ready to engage your students in dialogue either for discussion or questions you will want to pause the expedition to get their focus back on you. When you pause the expedition the tour is suspended which means they can no longer see the scene. Now you have their undivided attention. At this point, I have my students place their Goggles down and focus on me. Now students are ready to respond to critical questions as you check for understanding or engage in discussions that allow students to communicate their newly acquired information. I recommend that you always cover these expectations every time before going on a virtual trip. Before launching the Expedition let students know you will give them a few moments to look around and that when you pause the trip they should put the Goggles down and focus on you. 
These are just a few of the tips I've learned to use to get the most out of teaching with Google Expeditions. Using this wonderful tool has really elevated our students' learning and is definitely something to integrate into your curriculum. If you've used Google Expeditions before, what are some tips that have worked for you? Feel free to share in the comments below.

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