Google Lit Trips/The Connected Community

I attended the CUE conference in Palm Springs, last week. A serendipitous discovery that CUE presenter, Will Richardson of Weblogged-Ed and my long-time friend, Warren Buckleitner, (Editor of Children's Technology Revue) were living in the same town of Flemington, NJ (population: 4,200) led to a late-night conversation with Warren, who informed me that they work in the same building. What are the odds that these two guys would rock the same town!

In connecting with Warren and catching up on what was happening on both sides of the coast, I cited local educator, Jerome Burg's site, GoogleLitTrips.com as an example of how Web 2.0 tools are changing how students learn. Warren forwarded the resource to Will; Will posted it on his web blog. Mere hours later, other bloggers and blogger aggregators picked it up. Within days, Google Lit Trips went around the world. You've got to love the power of a connected community!

If you want a think-outside-the-box experience, spend some time with the Grapes of Wrath kml file at GOOGLE LIT TRIPS. Jerome has cleverly added a podcast introduction and a photo slide show that illustrates how features of Google Earth have been extended to provide unique learning experiences. Google Earth 3-D terrains are matched with real photos. Period pictures and video links within the pop-up windows embellish the journey. Pop-up windows also take on probing roles, challenging students to go deeper in their thought processes to discover why the Joad Family journey to the promised land is very much a story of America that exists today.