Google's Talking Tours

Thanks for listening to the Tech Tools for Teachers podcast where each week we talk about a free piece of tool 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.

And I'm our producer and husband, Fuzz Martin. And today we'll be taking you on a guided tour of educational technology and it will be Talking Tour ception.

It will be watched.

Talking Tour ception. You know, like Inception. But we're taking a talking tour of Talking tour.

Wow.

Google Talking Tours.

Yeah.

More like we're good.

It's great. Welcome. Episode 210.

Poor pun day.

It's fine. AI was not producing. Good.

Yeah. I needed some AI help for the pun today and it wasn't helping.

But maybe, maybe it will help you with today's tool.

Great. I'm looking forward to it.

Right?

Yes. Okay, cool. Let's talk. Let's talk about Google Talking Tours.

Yeah, so it's Google Talking Tours you can find on Google Arts and Culture. But honestly, if you just Google Talking Tours by Google.

If you Google Google Talking Tours.

Google Talking Tours.

More Inception.

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. 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 going to say because it is a talking tour and just be aware.It's AI that's creating it, but it's a super cool way to learn about new places. 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. You can learn about all kinds of parts 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 and they're drawn into like learning about stuff, but they're more audio learners, this would be a great choice for them. Kids that like to explore.If you want to like push some kids that need a little like they've done everything in class or they crank through it really fast, it would be kind of a cool thing to investigate. You can 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.I think about two, um, people who aren't necessarily able to travel.Whether it may be health reasons or it may be, 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. And I think that that's kind of fun.I know my parents are not that old and they love to travel, but 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, for sure.

And I think you're already like places. You're places, aren't you?

Okay, I'm so into the right now. I'm at the Liberty Memorial.

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. 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.Archaeology, 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's in subcategories, so they have famous landmarks or they have stadiums.Under nature, you can choose caves, deserts, forests, gardens, or seaworld. Archaeology, it's just specific archaeologic sites. You can choose like cultural institutions, like libraries, museums or theaters.So you can pick and choose like where you want to start. I'm guessing you're under famous landmarks.

Yes, Correct.

Okay, so I'm going to go under nature and I'm going to choose a garden.

Oh, nice.

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.

Yep.

But some places are blue and they have numbers on them because there's more than one stop within a certain place. 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.

Florence and Italy. Let's go.

Yeah. In gardens.

All right.

And I'm clicking on my little dot. Oh, cool. And then it loads the commentary.So you will notice, you'll see a picture like you would normally in Google Earth, like, if you drop it in and then there's commentary. Are you going to.

I'm going to fade the audio. Yeah, I'm going to pull up the audio. Okay.

Yeah.

Did you know that the Boboli Gardens, located in Florence, Italy, are one of the most important examples of Italian garden design?Most people don't know that the garden's layout, with its playful use of perspective and hidden grottoes, 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.

Yeah.So then what's cool is as you're walking through the gardens, because it works with, like, Google and you could, like, drop it in and you can walk through them.

Yep.

Then you can take a new. It's 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 or describing whatever it's going to talk about.

Sure. It takes a second to load the commentary before it goes. And again it's AI.

This view of the Boboli 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.

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 in the bottom right hand part of your screen, there's a little, like, blue person with their hand.

Oh, yes.

And you can ask a question. So you can type in a question like, how old is the gardens?

All right.

Yes. Anything you want to add?

How old are the gardens?

The Boboli Garden's history is long and rich. Construction began in the 16th century, evolving over centuries to become the magnificent landscape we see today.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.

So it'll give you like a little description, history, again, whatever you need to know. It's going to give you some of the background information. Now again, it's AI so you should still make sure that students are getting the information.Most of it will probably be accurate, but it's worth following up on just to make sure that if they're taking notes on it or something like that. You also have the option to mute or unmute 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 transcripts as you are like having tours and things like that.

Sure.

I'm going to go back to the list. We're going to get out of gardens and we're going to go to archeology.

Okay.

And I think it would be fun. What do we want to archeological. What do we got?

Let's see.

How about, how about we go outside of Madrid?

Okay.

Archaeological park of.

Yep. Of Recopolis.

Did you know that Recopolis, near Zorita de los Canes was a Visigothic city founded in the 6th century? Its archaeological park offers a glimpse into a fascinating, lesser known period of Spanish history.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.

And it's cool. 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 you can ask questions and engage. There's just so many different ways you could build these tours into your classroom. I backed back out again, back on the list.I guess I didn't point this out when we were talking about this before. If you go down to archaeology, okay. And there's like a map, it'll show you. It looks like a little like white.It looks like kind of like a map holding. If you click on it, it actually will give you the list of all of the archaeology sites.

So you don't have to go by dot.

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.

Sure.

So then that's an option for you to go through as well. But. But there's just so many cool places to see and Explore and 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 and done some different tours that way.But I think the archeology, the landmarks, the nature pieces just add more to it. And I have a lot of students that like to learn, like, random information about places.You know, they may not want to be discussing what I need them to discuss, but instead they'd rather I'm going to learn about some obscure place in the world that you've never heard of.Like, this would be a great way to get those kids to engage in conversation and teach the class about places because there's just so many cool things and supporting students who are like our multilingual students. And you can support, like, different kids in your classroom if they're learning different pieces. You also can share.So if you find a tour 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 going to use a different site with your students, you're able to, like, easily share information. 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 to us.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.

I'm currently in the Morgan Library and Museum in New York, and it is beautiful. I've never even, never seen this before.

Oh, very cool.

Yeah.

What types of things are you seeing?

Well, there is a huge, colorful library. I'm going to turn my computer on so you can see. Our listeners can't see, but it is, it is gorgeous.So you can see if you go to smartandwi.com and we'll take some pictures and we'll take a screenshot right now and make sure that gets up on the blog post.

Yes. And despite all the places that are kind of, like, different, there's also Niagara Falls, the Eiffel Tower.There's going to be places like the London Eye, the Coliseum. There's going to be places that people are familiar with as well.Again, like I said, if students are doing a project on something or if they want to 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. They can also do like tours of Alcatraz because there's just lots of interesting history. So check it out. Google Talking Tours.Google Talking Tours mixes AI with Google Earth.

Yeah.

And Maps. And it's all like one cool exploratory website.

Yeah. I don't know if you mentioned. Did you mention that gives transcripts for all the things that it talks about as well?

Yeah. And that one you can easily. And it's everything correct. It's not just one piece.And it talks about 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 it is an experiment still with Google, but I think it's a very cool experiment to check out.

I would love. As some of you know, I am the President of the Wisconsin 911 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.

Yeah. And learn more about the events of September 11th.

Yeah.

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 if you're not sure about using it in your classroom, your students just go check it out for your own excitement because it is really fun. It'd be really cool if you have it like to make like QR codes. Kids can scan it. Oh, yeah, learn.I mean, there's just so many ways that you could build these cool talking tours in for sure and learn more and then transcript the whole piece. Yeah, it's very cool.

Love that. You can ask good questions.

Yes, very cool. Love it. Thanks for tuning in. This has been the Tech Tools for Teachers podcast.If you ever have any questions, you can find me on Blue sky threads, Facebook, Instagram, @smartinwi.And if you want to get more information on the links to the technology discussed this episode, you can visit smartandwi.com if you'd like to support the show, please consider buying me a coffee or two. Visit buymeacoffee.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.

The ideas and opinions expressed on this podcast and the smartinwi.com website are those of the author Shanna Martin, and not a firm lawyer. Prior to using any of the technologies to 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.