Current Version: 0.9 Beta 'Location-Based Learning' Question and Answer
Question: What is 'Location-Based Learning'? Answer: 'Location-Based Learning' is a new concept in Educator that lets you tie activities and resources to specific locations on the Planet Earth. This is accomplished with a new feature in Educator that lets you easily insert Google Maps into ANY part of your Educator classrooms. Question: What does it look like? Answer: Below is an example of a Google Map embedded into an Educator document:
Question: Can I see how it works? Answer: 'Location-Based Learning' is turned on by course. The course instructor has to activate this feature by going to their "Toolbox" icon in a particular course and then clicking 'Location-Based Learning'.
Once the feature is turned on for a particular course, each text box in the online classroom will be equipped with an "Add Map" icon as displayed below:
Once the "Add Map" icon is clicked, a Google Maps window opens in a pop-up:
Click on the map in the spot that indicates your point of interest. You will then be able to add a caption to it. Once "OK" is clicked, the Google Map will be embedded into the active text box as shown below:
In addition to being able to insert maps into ANY Educator text box (e-mail, chat, etc.), all "resources" in Educator can be linked to a specific latitude and longitude down to the nearest meter using Google Maps. For instance, if you had a picture of a building that was part of a course lecture, you could tie an exact latitude and longitude to that resource to help learners' better grasp where on Earth that physical artifact is found:
This linking of resources to latitude and longitude using Google Maps can be accomplished with ANY type of resource in Educator (i.e. exams, worksheets, quizzes, etc.). Question: What browsers does it work with? Answer: Certain versions of Internet Explorer seem to have particular difficulty with this new feature right now and it definitely doesn't work with Internet Explorer on the Macintosh. The feature works very well with Firefox, Safari and Netscape. Other browsers have not been tested yet but since the feature is built with the Google Maps program, if a browser can't successfully use Google Maps, it won't work with this particular feature in Educator. Question: What do you have planned for 'Location-Based Learning'? Answer: Our goal is to promote the use of Latitude and Longitude, where appropriate, as a key META data field for learning objects in Educator (and other educational systems). As these resources become more easily searchable with "Learning Object Repository" technology, and as GPS on cell phones becomes as commonplace as cameras are today, we envision an exciting model evolving such that when a learner comes within a given physical distance of an artifact they have learned about during their online studies, they will be sent a friendly message on their phones or PDAs with some information about that artifact and their proximity to it.
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