Journal # 1
Power of the Mashup
Combining Essential Learning with New Technology Tools by Suzie Boss and Jane Krauss
Learning & Leading with Technology, August 2007

Jerome Burg was a teacher for 34 years and left the classroom last year to helps other teachers integrate technology in the curriculum at Granada High School in Livermore, California. Burg created and designed Google Lit Traps to increase global interest in literary road trips. The interactive web based application allows users to search the internet using satellite imagery, maps, and other three dimensional images. Burg has created custom files for students to virtually travel with a literary character using Google Earth to explore the story in more detail. A Mashup is a web application combining data from more than one source into a single integrated tool. Teachers can use Mashups to perform eight essential learning functions. Burg plotted the travels of Candide and discovered numerous possibilities for adding information that students would discover while plotting out a story on a Google Earth file.

David Fagg, an Australian History Teacher, at Eaglehawk Secondary College created a mashup of technology with the MP3. He created the iHistory Podcast Project to describe the work and reveal the students feelings about their learning experience.

How will Google Lit Trips enhance the students experience of literary masterpieces?

Google Lit Trips enables students to research locations or events and helps their perception of a piece of literature. Place marks enable students to access information embedded in the file. Students are able to view video clips, links to online references, music recordings, photographs and other media and receive a more multidimensional learning experience. Google Earth enables students to learn how to use the tools and create their own KMZ file (which is a zipped KML file), using the place mark features of Google Earth to enhance their learning experience. They can number or color code place marks to a map, creating more questions about why those locations were important to them and their interpretation of the story.

How can students use the iHistory Podcast in the classroom?

Students could be given a project to investigate. Students could combine their fieldwork with podcasting. Students would have the opportunity to use their multimedia knowledge to create podcasts and would be very motivated about using their MP3 players with their peers.