[00:00:00] Shanna Martin: Thanks for listening to the Tech Tools for Teachers podcast, where each week we talk about a free. Piece a two of technology that you can use in your classroom. I’m your host, Shanna Martin. I’m a middle school teacher, technology and instructional coach for my district,
[00:00:31] Fuzz Martin: and I’m a producer and husband, fuzz Martin.
[00:00:33] Fuzz Martin: And today we’ll be taking you on a guided tour of educational technology and it will be talking tour ception. It’ll be what? Talking tour ception, you know, like inception, but Oh, we’re taking a talking tour. Of talking tour.
[00:00:50] Shanna Martin: Oh,
[00:00:50] Fuzz Martin: Google talking tours.
[00:00:52] Shanna Martin: Yeah.
[00:00:54] Fuzz Martin: Ah, more like,
[00:00:56] Shanna Martin: we’re good. It’s
[00:00:58] Fuzz Martin: great.
[00:00:59] Shanna Martin: Welcome of episode two 10.
[00:01:02] Fuzz Martin: Poor pun day.
[00:01:04] Shanna Martin: It’s fine. Um, AI was not producing good pun today. I need, yeah, I need, I
[00:01:08] Fuzz Martin: needed some AI help for the pun today, and,
[00:01:11] Shanna Martin: and it wasn’t helping, but maybe, maybe it will help you with today’s tool.
[00:01:16] Fuzz Martin: Great. I’m looking forward to it,
[00:01:17] Shanna Martin: right?
[00:01:18] Fuzz Martin: Yes.
[00:01:18] Shanna Martin: Okay,
[00:01:19] Fuzz Martin: cool. Let’s talk. Awesome. Let’s talk about Google
[00:01:22] Shanna Martin: Arts and Culture Talking tours.
[00:01:24] Shanna Martin: Yeah, so it’s Google Talking Tours you can find in Google Arts and Culture, but honestly, if you just Google talking tours by Google,
[00:01:31] Fuzz Martin: if you Google Google tours, Google
[00:01:32] Shanna Martin: talking tours, um,
[00:01:35] Fuzz Martin: more inception.
[00:01:36] Shanna Martin: Yeah, it’s a very cool like AI audio experiment and. I know we do like a lot of different, like virtual tours and things like this, but you know, they keep improving and there’s just like cool things to check out.
[00:01:50] Shanna Martin: So some highlights that I think of Google Talking Tours, there are, I mean it can be used in any classroom. It is using ai. So that’s my little disclaimer per usual. If you’re using ai, obviously you should be aware of what it’s gonna say ’cause it is a talking tour. Sure. And just be aware it’s AI that’s creating it, but it’s a super cool way to learn about new places.
[00:02:12] Shanna Martin: It has, you can like spark student interest for research projects or different places around the world. And I kind of highlight the different things. It’s not just significant places. We’ll talk about what else is in it. Um, you can learn about all kinds of parts, all like all over the world. It would be a fun thing to do for individuals like students, individuals, if you have some kids that need more engagement, um, and they’re drawn into.
[00:02:37] Shanna Martin: Like learning about stuff, but they’re more audio learners. This would be a great choice for them. Um, kids that like to explore, if you wanna like push some kids that need a little. Like they’ve done everything in class or they crank through it really fast. Mm-hmm. It would be kind of a cool thing to investigate.
[00:02:52] Shanna Martin: Uh, you could investigate as a whole class and choose a place. And again, you know, pick and choose your place ahead of time, depending on the ages of your students. It can be for anyone. You also don’t have to be an educator to have fun with these talking tours, so anybody can engage in some virtual tours.
[00:03:05] Shanna Martin: I think about too, um, people who aren’t necessarily able to travel, whether it may. Be health reasons or it may be, um, you know, they’re not allowed to get on a plane and explore the world because of different things or they don’t want to. This would be a cool way to just learn about stuff. Sure. And I think that that’s kind of fun.
[00:03:22] Shanna Martin: I know my parents are not that old and they love to travel, but, um, they love to learn about new things and it’d be a cool way to do that. And also it’s a great way to learn about new places and kind of investigate them. So it’s just a very cool, cool site to explore. Yeah.
[00:03:37] Fuzz Martin: Sure.
[00:03:38] Shanna Martin: And I think you’re already like places.
[00:03:39] Shanna Martin: You’re already in places, aren’t you? Okay. All my,
[00:03:41] Fuzz Martin: I’m so into the, I’m right now. I’m at the Liberty Memorial.
[00:03:44] Shanna Martin: Okay, so let’s start with this. You go to Google Arts and Culture and click on Talking Tours or just Google Talking Tours. Okay. It uses AI and Google Earth. It’s a combo, so you can choose your topic to begin with.
[00:03:59] Shanna Martin: So if you want landmarks, little arrows across the top of the screen. Landmarks, there’s 55 locations to pick. Nature. There are 72 locations. Archeology, there are 45 locations. Cultural institutions, there are 158 locations. Okay? And then it just cycles back through. You can then choose famous landmarks. So if you go to landmarks there and subcategories, so they have famous landmarks where they have stadiums under nature.
[00:04:28] Shanna Martin: You can choose caves, deserts, forest gardens, or SeaWorld. Archeology. It’s just specific archeology, psychs you can choose like cultural institutions, like libraries, museums, or theaters. So you can pick and choose like where you wanna start. I’m guessing you’re under famous landmarks.
[00:04:47] Fuzz Martin: Yes, correct.
[00:04:48] Shanna Martin: Okay, so I’m gonna go under nature and I’m going to choose.
[00:04:54] Shanna Martin: A garden.
[00:04:55] Fuzz Martin: Oh, nice.
[00:04:55] Shanna Martin: Because I thought that would be fun. Yeah, there are. And then you can then screw, like scroll in and zoom in. So some places you’ll notice they all have like little red dots like they would in Google Earth.
[00:05:04] Fuzz Martin: Yep.
[00:05:05] Shanna Martin: But some places are blue and they have numbers on them ’cause there’s more than one stop within a certain place.
[00:05:11] Shanna Martin: So you can like zoom on in. So for gardens there are 16 locations and I am zooming in into a different part of the world. I’m gonna go into. Can’t decide. I’m gonna go into Florence, Italy. I was there a really long time ago. All right.
[00:05:29] Fuzz Martin: Florence in Italy. Let’s go. Yeah.
[00:05:31] Shanna Martin: In gardens.
[00:05:32] Fuzz Martin: All right.
[00:05:33] Shanna Martin: And I’m clicking on my little dot.
[00:05:36] Shanna Martin: Oh, cool. And then it loads the commentary. So you’ll notice, you’ll see a picture like you would normally in Google Earth, like you drop it in. And then there’s commentary. Are you gonna, I’m gonna fade up. Pull up the audio. Yeah. I’m gonna
[00:05:48] Fuzz Martin: pull up the audio.
[00:05:49] Shanna Martin: Okay. Okay.
[00:05:49] Google Talking Tours: Yeah. Did you know that the Boli gardens located in Florence, Italy are one of the most important examples of Italian garden design?
[00:05:57] Google Talking Tours: Most people don’t know that the garden’s layout with its playful use of perspective and hidden grottos influenced garden design across Europe for centuries. This specific view showcases a part of the intricate network of pathways and water features that define the gardens.
[00:06:12] Shanna Martin: Yeah. So then what’s cool is as you’re walking through the gardens, ’cause it works with like Google and you can like drop it in and you can walk through them.
[00:06:21] Fuzz Martin: Yep.
[00:06:22] Shanna Martin: Then you can take a new, like a snapshot, you push a little white button and whatever area it’s in, it will then start talking about that area. So you click the white button and then it starts describing like the statue. Describing whatever it’s gonna talk about.
[00:06:38] Fuzz Martin: Sure. Again, it takes a second to load the commentary, uh, before it goes.
[00:06:42] Fuzz Martin: And again, it’s ai.
[00:06:43] Google Talking Tours: This view of the LY Gardens Pond offers another perspective on the garden’s design. Did you know that the placement of the water features is carefully planned to create visual harmony and enhance the overall experience? The interplay of water, greenery, and sculpture is a hallmark of Italian garden design.
[00:07:01] Shanna Martin: Very good. Cool. So a couple of things that I think are cool. You could use this easily in a design class. You could use this in an art class, like there’s so many different ways you could use these pieces. Yeah. But then there’s also, on the bottom right hand part of your screen, there’s a little like blue person with their hand.
[00:07:17] Fuzz Martin: Oh, yes. And you
[00:07:18] Shanna Martin: can ask a question, so you can type in a question like, how old is the gardens?
[00:07:23] Google Talking Tours: All right. Uh, yes. Anything you wanna add?
[00:07:26] Fuzz Martin: How old are the gardens?
[00:07:28] Google Talking Tours: The Boli Garden’s history is long and rich. Construction began in the 16th century, evolving over centuries to become the magnificent landscape we see today.
[00:07:37] Google Talking Tours: Its evolution reflects changing tastes and styles in garden design. Many fountains, sculptures, and grottoes were added over time, a testament to the ongoing artistic and horticultural interests of successive generations.
[00:07:51] Shanna Martin: So it’ll give you like a little, you know, description, history. Again, whatever you need to know, it’s gonna give you some of the background information.
[00:07:57] Shanna Martin: Yeah. Now again, it’s ai, so you should some, like, still make sure that as students are getting the information, most of it will probably be accurate, but it’s worth following up on, just to make sure that they’re, if they’re taking notes on it or something like that, you also have the option to mute or unmute.
[00:08:11] Shanna Martin: Okay. And you can show transcripts and that would be a great way for you to be able to check if the, if the text is correct or not. So there are, um, transcripts as you are like having tours and things like that.
[00:08:24] Fuzz Martin: Sure.
[00:08:24] Shanna Martin: I’m gonna go back to the list. Okay. We’re gonna get out of gardens. All right? And we’re gonna go to archeology.
[00:08:29] Shanna Martin: Okay. And I think it would be fun. What do we wanna ar archeological? What do we got? Um,
[00:08:36] Fuzz Martin: let’s see. How about, uh, uh.
[00:08:39] Shanna Martin: How about we go outside of Madrid?
[00:08:41] Fuzz Martin: Okay.
[00:08:42] Shanna Martin: Archeological park of,
[00:08:45] Fuzz Martin: yep. Of uh. Opis,
[00:08:49] Google Talking Tours: did you know that Opis near Zita de Los Cass was a visigothic city? Founded in the sixth century? Its archeological Park offers a glimpse into a fascinating, lesser known period of Spanish history.
[00:09:01] Google Talking Tours: Most people don’t know that Visigothic architecture blended Roman and Germanic styles resulting in unique structures. The ruins reveal intricate details of their urban planning and daily life showcasing a society at the cusp of the Middle Ages.
[00:09:16] Shanna Martin: And it’s cool. Yeah, it’s a very beautiful area. So not only did you get to like walk through the tour and then have like an audio, like telling, you can ask questions and engage.
[00:09:25] Shanna Martin: There’s just so many different ways you could build these tours into your classroom. I, back to back out again. Um, back on the list. I guess I didn’t point this out when we were talking about this before. If you go under archeology Okay. And there’s like a map, it’ll show you. It looks like a little like white.
[00:09:43] Shanna Martin: It looks like kind of like a map, like a button almost done if you click on it. Yeah. It actually will give you the list of all of the archeology sites. Oh. So you’d have to go by dot, so you don’t have to always go on the map every time. You could just go through the list if you’re looking for something specific to see if they have it.
[00:09:57] Fuzz Martin: Sure.
[00:09:58] Shanna Martin: So then that’s an option for you to go through as well. But there’s just so many cool places to see and explore and, um. Experience, whether with your students or if you wanna do this individually, there’s just, I think it’s a cool way we’ve done the museum piece before when we’re using Google Arts and Culture.
[00:10:18] Shanna Martin: Yeah. And done some different tours that way. But I think the, the archeology, the landmarks, the nature pieces, just add more to it. Mm-hmm. Um, and I have a lot of students that like to learn like random information about places. You know, they may not wanna be discussing what I need them to discuss, but instead they’d rather.
[00:10:36] Shanna Martin: I’m gonna learn about some obscure place in the world that you’ve never heard of, right? Like this would be a great way to get those kids to engage in conversation and teach the class about places. Um, ’cause there’s just so many cool things and supporting students who are like our multilingual students.
[00:10:54] Shanna Martin: Um, and you can support like different kids in your classroom if they’re learning different pieces. You also can share. So if you find it to where you really like, you can share it on social media or email and things like that. So you can drop that into Google Classroom. Or if you’re gonna use, um, a different site with your students, you’re able to like easily share information.
[00:11:12] Shanna Martin: So if you want everybody in the same place at the same time, you could do that as well. So it’s through Google Arts and Culture, it is talking tours. Um, and there’s other stadiums in there, which I think is pretty cool. And so there’s some in the United States, but there’s some all over the world as well.
[00:11:27] Fuzz Martin: I’m currently in the, uh, Morgan Library and museum in New York, and it is beautiful. I’ve never even, uh. Never seen this before.
[00:11:34] Shanna Martin: Oh, very cool.
[00:11:35] Fuzz Martin: Yeah.
[00:11:36] Shanna Martin: What types of things are you seeing? Well,
[00:11:37] Fuzz Martin: there is a, uh, huge, colorful library. I’m gonna turn my computer on, so you can see pretty, our listeners pretty can’t see, but, uh, it is, it is gorgeous.
[00:11:47] Fuzz Martin: So you can see, if you go to a. Smart and w.com and we’ll take some picture. I’ll take a screenshot right now and make sure that gets up on the blog post. So,
[00:11:56] Shanna Martin: yes. Um, and despite all the places that are kind of like different, there’s also Niagara Falls, the Eiffel Tower. There’s gonna be, um, places like the London Eye, the Coliseum.
[00:12:06] Shanna Martin: Yeah. There’s gonna be places that people are familiar with as well. Again, like I said, if students are doing a project on something or if they wanna investigate, there’s even a whole thing at Alcatraz. You and I have been there. Um, but that’s usually a high interest topic for kids to learn about, especially if they read the book, like, Al Capone knows my shirts or something like that.
[00:12:22] Shanna Martin: They can also do like tours of Alcatraz. ’cause there’s just lots of interesting history. So check it out. Google talking tours, Google
[00:12:31] Fuzz Martin: talking tours, mixes,
[00:12:32] Shanna Martin: AI with. Google Earth.
[00:12:35] Fuzz Martin: Yeah.
[00:12:35] Shanna Martin: And maps and it’s all like one cool exploratory website.
[00:12:42] Fuzz Martin: Yeah. I don’t know if you mentioned, did you mention that uh, it gives transcripts for all the things that it talks about as well, so
[00:12:47] Shanna Martin: Yeah.
[00:12:47] Shanna Martin: Um, and that one you can easily, and it’s everything. Correct? Yeah. It’s not just. One piece and it talks about like how it works too, like understanding more what you see. So it’s like visual and it’s audio and it generates the script. So, um, it is an experiment still with Google, but I think it’s a very cool experiment to check out.
[00:13:03] Fuzz Martin: I would love as, uh, some of you know, I am the president of the Wisconsin nine 11 Memorial and I would love to be able to figure out how to do this there. ’cause I think that would be super helpful for families and such that go there.
[00:13:16] Shanna Martin: So Yeah. And learn more about,
[00:13:17] Fuzz Martin: yeah,
[00:13:17] Shanna Martin: the events of. September 11th.
[00:13:20] Fuzz Martin: Yeah.
[00:13:21] Shanna Martin: All right. Very cool. So check out talking tours by Google. Check out this Google experiment. It can be used in so many different ways. And even if you’re not sure about using in your class with new students, just go check it out for your own excitement. ’cause it is really fun. Mm-hmm. It’d be really cool if you have it, like if make like QR codes ’cause scan it, they Oh yeah.
[00:13:39] Shanna Martin: Learn. I mean there’s just so many ways that you could build these cool talking tours and For sure. And learn more and then transcript the whole piece.
[00:13:44] Fuzz Martin: Yeah.
[00:13:45] Shanna Martin: It’s very cool.
[00:13:45] Fuzz Martin: Well, that you can ask good questions.
[00:13:47] Shanna Martin: Yes. Very cool. Love it. Thanks for tuning in. This has been the Tech Tools for Teachers Podcast.
[00:13:53] Shanna Martin: If you ever have any questions, you can find me on Blue Sky Threads, blue Sky Facebook, Instagram at smartinwi. And if you wanna get more information on the links to the technology, discuss this episode, you can visit smart and wi.com. If you’d like to support the show, please consider buying me a coffee or two.
[00:14:09] Shanna Martin: Visit. Buy me a coffee.com/smartinwi or visit smartinwi.com and click on that cute little purple coffee cup. Your donations help keep the show going. New episodes coming up soon. We do have a break next week. Thanks for listening. Go educate and innovate
[00:14:23] Fuzz Martin: the ideas and opinions expressed on this podcast and the smartinwi.com website are those of the author Shanna Martin and not a for employer.
[00:14:30] Fuzz Martin: Prior to using any of the technologies discussed on this podcast, please consult with your employer regulations. This podcast offers no guarantee that these tools will work for you as described, but we sure hope they do and we will talk to you on the next episode of the Tech Tools for Teachers podcast.
[00:14:54] Fuzz Martin: Sh.
