Scavenger Hunt with Goose Chase

Here are my notes for another session that I attended at the Upstate Technology Conference. This was a fun and active session!

Scavenger Hunt with Goose Chase

“Looking for ways to gamify your lessons? Learn how to harness the power of the chase with Goose Chase! This application is a platform that makes setting up, executing, and monitoring a scavenger hunt easy and paperless. Students work in teams or individually to complete missions set up by the teacher. These missions can include pictures, videos, or text submissions. Teachers will learn how to create a hunt and missions as well as see examples of student work. This session will teach you how to blend together the fun of a scavenger hunt with technology that is both student and teacher friendly! This session is for any subject area and/or grade level. Technology needed for the session: a computer and mobile device.”

Presenter: Logan Wright  (Twitter: @teachwright233)

We did a sample scavenger hunt so we could see how the game is played. This really helped to experience it before I tried to make one. Plus it was a great way to meet other people I didn’t know.

Free version

·      Up to 3 Teams

·      Unlimited Missions

·      Real-Time Activity Feed

·      Automatic Scoring

·      One-Click Submission Download

·      Email Technical Support

·      Limit of 1 Live Game at a Time

Educator version

·      All Uses/Game Types Acceptable

·      Unlimited Games

·      Unlimited Classes

·      1 Live Game

·      Up to 5 teams (per team game)

Adding location and password is optional

Show results to class when finished.

Easy to add or subtract points.

User agreement – you do not need to make a student account; can play as a guest. The teacher must have an account. Age 13 and up.

If under 13:

·      They cannot use their own mobile device.

·      Must be a school-provided device.

·      Use a generic account (guest).

·      No personal info should be uploaded about that individual.

·      Make sure you have consent from a parent.

You set up the start and stop time or set it up as automatic where you pick the day and time.

My Take Away: This is a fun and exciting way to engage learners. I think it would also be a great way to assess students. Even though there may be 5 teams, I could add a challenge specific to each team member. They could redo the mission over several days and complete a different task for the team than they have already completed. It is also a great way to apply their learning to real-life situations. The best part that I like is that they have to have “evidence” in the way of a photo or video. Not only would this be fun in the classroom but also as a family activity too!

Original photo by Pat Hensley

Google Nuggets

Here are my notes from another session I attended at the Upstate Technology Conference. 

Google Nuggets

“You may be using Google Classroom, Docs, Sheets, Slides and Sites regularly, but there are a lot more free tools out there from Google than you might not be aware of. We will spend this hour exploring Google sites, programs, functions and applications you may not be familiar with and will discuss how to implement them into lessons. Bring your tech to this one!”

Presenter: Kim Wylie (Twitter: @kimwylie_MMS)

Daily challenge: http://www.agoogleaday.com/

Add-Ons – extensions on Google Chrome

Google Docs:  Add-ons link – Get Add-Ons; demonstration of add-ons

            Paint Format: https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/docs/TZPgTgTpBys;context-place=topicsearchin/docs/category$3Adocuments%7Csort:relevance%7Cspell:false 

Google Scholar - https://scholar.google.com/

Google Keep – digital notepad

Google Maps – My Maps – make your own map with points of interest

Google Earth –

Voyager – “You can tour the world and learn about other countries using Voyager. Voyager is a collection of map-based stories written by Google Earth partners that’s updated weekly. You can see Guided Stories, or tours, on topics like travel, culture, nature, and history”; Go to Google Earth, click on menu bar on left, click on Voyager.

Google Tour Builder

Google Arts & Culture – search for works of art in different ways

Teacher Center - https://teachercenter.withgoogle.com/

Be Internet Awesome: https://beinternetawesome.withgoogle.com/en “To make the most of the Internet, kids need to be prepared to make smart decisions. Be Internet Awesome teaches kids the fundamentals of digital citizenship and safety so they can explore the online world with confidence.”

Made with Code –

Quick Draw

My Take Away:

I learned about some Google Apps that I haven’t known about or really tried before. I’m excited about looking at some of these more in depth. I’m very interested in that Google Tour Builder and want to do more with this.

Original photo by Pat Hensley