The recent inclusion of two new articles in the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative's (ELI's) 7 Things You Should Know About series - one on Google Earth and the other on YouTube - reminded me how wonderfully useful this site can be for accessing quick, non-techie explanations of emerging instructional technologies in higher education.
Each of the two page freely downloadable PDFs follows a template that offers you a scenario for use of the tool or technology as well as why it is significant for teaching and learning in faculty-friendly prose.
For example, in the Google Earth entry in the series, you learn that geology faculty are using Google Earth to "take students - virtually - to an area being studied and show them the topography and surrounding areas, quickly zooming out and flying to other locations." Liberal arts faculty aare showing "locations of current events ...or tours of historical locations."
The scenario offered in the article describes a U.S. History student using Google Earth to augment his paper and to use in his presentation on a critical decision made during the Lewis and Clark expedition. For more ideas on using Google Earth for teaching and learning, check out Google Earth for Educators at http://www.google.com/educators/p_earth.html
