Anahim Lake
Nulhlooh
(lead around)
Dahooja!
Welcome!
WEEK OF APRIL 29-May 2, 2019
The purpose of the first trip was to introduce the project idea to the students, show them the tools and start brainstorming ideas for locations. The class we are working with is the Grade 4-7's. We started by projecting Google Earth up onto the big screen, and looking at our community. In doing this, we were able to point out that "peg man" couldn't land anywhere in our community! We compared this to other communities and students were able to recognize that there was not the same representation between Anahim and other more populated communities!
We then introduced the "Walk With Us" project, and dropped "Pegman" into Attawapiskat. We compared our 2 communities and saw many similarities! We explained that students in that community had noticed that they had no images of their community and so were motivated to change that.
We also visited Hopedale in Newfoundland and explored their Google Expedition. Students were excited to see the different locations and we used this as a platform to talk about what kinds of images we would add to our own expedition and what we would say.
Students viewed a sample test tour of their school I quickly created in Tour Creator, and and we added some content together to learn how to use the program. We talked about what types of image overlays we could use, and what points of interest we could add.
WEEK OF MAY 27-30, 2019
We were able to get out and do our first set of photos this week. Prior to my visit, staff and students narrowed down some of our location shoots for our first tour. Students decided to focus on some of the main locations right in town including the police station, the rodeo grounds, Donna's Restaurant and the Band store. Mr. Walsh phoned ahead and the police invited the whole class to come for a visit. We all walked together, and were met at the front office by Constable Adam and Victim Services coordinator, Terri Smith. We brought along the 360 camera as well as other phone cameras but as expected, we weren't allowed to take any images inside the detachment beyond the front entrance. We did take our first 360 image of the outside of the detachment, which will be used in our Google 360 tour. Students also prepared interview questions to ask in advance, and did an excellent job. Once we completed our interview, we were treated to a tour of the whole facility, including the jail cells, the fingerprinting room, and students got to sit in the police vehicles and run the sirens! As well, each student was gifted a care bear, courtesy of Terri Smith, who explained that many people found the bears of great comfort in times of stress! The bears are part of a fundraiser through the BC Liquor Distribution "Share a Bear" program.
Students making their way to the local RCMP Detachment. It was hot and the mosquitos were buzzing!
DAY 2:
We divided students up into teams, with each team taking on one location shoot. We focused on: The Rodeo Grounds, Donna's Restaurant and The Band Store. Students in each group were given a camera to capture still images that would be used in our tours. We also brought the 360 camera and captured our images for each location. Students also came up with questions to ask the owner of Donna's and the clerk at the band store. The students showed a lot of maturity and respect when taking pictures and conducting interviews!
Takings pictures at the rodeo grounds.
Students did a fantastic job of capturing great shots for our tour!
This this an example of the background work completed by students as they prepare their texts to accompany the Goolge tour.
Some other things we accomplished:
Students learned how to create 360 images using the Google Street View app. This gives them some flexibility to take 360 images when I am not "on scene".
As well, staff learned how to access our communal Google Drive Folder, so all images, files and resources can be shared by everyone.
We have been experimenting with the best way to record our interviews that will allow for easy access and correct format (mp3) to upload to our tours. So far the best tool we have found is an app called Voice Record Pro. It is free to use and offers lots of options for file format and sharing. We had limited success in our interviews in regards to sound quality, and it is for sure a learning curve but we hope to be able to add in voice overlays into our tours to make the content rich and relevant.
We are using Google Drive as a place to store all our resources and images. Having 1 access point that all users can share makes it easy for everyone involved in the project.
As a total bonus, 4 students got to go on an amazing hike with Mr. Walsh and George Warr, and test out how to create 360 images using the Street View app. The Kappan Lookout Trail provides an elevated view of the stark contrast between the rugged Coast Mountains to the west of Anahim Lake, and the comparatively flat expanse of the Chilcotin plateau to the east.
Click on the image and drag around to see the whole 360 image. Click HERE to View all the 360 images on Google Maps! These are the FIRST 360 IMAGES of Kappan Mountain EVER captured and shared on Google maps!!
Here is the first tour conceived and created by Anahim Lake Students! Be sure to check out all 5 scenes!