What happened at Google I/O 2017?

May 17, 2017 was the opening session of Google I/O, an annual developers conference organized by Google. This is one of the signature public events that Google organizes annually and usually contains some important new products and features that are planned in the next 12 months.

During the 2016 I/O conference we learned about Google Home, Android Apps for Chromebooks, and Google's VR initiatives. You can ready my review of the 2016 conference here.

I watched the 120 minute opening keynote during which Google shared their vision and plans for the next 12 months. Honestly, a lot of it is super nerdy and over my head (the word "petaflop" was used multiple times; and people cheered ).

You can watch the entire 2 hour keynote here, or you can read my summary below. = )

As an educator, I am primarily interested in the features, products, and services that will impact teachers and students in the coming year. My summary focuses on those elements of the keynote.

Machine Learning:

Google continues to work really hard on artificial intelligence / machine learning. Google CEO Sundar Pichai believes we are moving from a "mobile first" world to an "AI first world." Google's work in machine learning is already impacting you on a daily basis:

• Facial recognition in Google Photos
• Smart reply in Inbox
• Better search results
• Ability to spot and stop spam and phishing attacks
• Google Assistant
• Better voice recognition

Google also announced a few new features powered by machine learning:

• Smart reply is coming to all Gmail users
• Google Lens can understand visual imagery and location
• Google Assistant is now available for iPhones

With Google Lens, your smartphone camera won’t just see what you see, but will also understand what you see to help you take action. #io17 pic.twitter.com/viOmWFjqk1

— Google (@Google) May 17, 2017

Classroom implications for machine learning: accessing information is becoming easier and easier; even when you don't know what to search for. In the very near future, students will be able to snap a picture or ask a verbal question to find what they need. Finding information is no longer a challenge. Teaching them what to do with that information is the critical skill we need to focus on.

Chromebooks

Interestingly, the only mention of Chromebooks came during the portion of the keynote dedicated to Android. The blending of ChromeOS and Android continues to be a top priority for Google. There are other sessions during I/O that will hopefully yield information about the future of ChromeOS.

Google did mention that Chromebooks now comprise 60% of classroom devices. That's up from 53% earlier this year.

2017 Google I/O Keynote

Virtual Reality: 

Google has devoted a lot of resources to virtual reality. Specifically, the development of Daydream, Google's VR platform. This year Google quietly included augmented reality into their VR segment. They announced a cool new capability called VPS (Visual Positioning Service). VPS is very similar to GPS in that it helps identify your location. But while GPS uses satellites to triangulate your position on a map within a few feet, VPS uses visual elements in your surroundings to triangulate your position to within a few centimeters.

This ability opens up some really cool possibilities for Augmented Reality (AR). Watch Clay Bavor, Google's VP of VR and AR explain:

Later on in Clay's presentation he also shared an update on Google Expeditions, the VR kit for schools. Over 2 million expeditions have been taken in classrooms around the world. Starting in 2017, Google Expeditions will also support Augmented Reality tours. Take a look:


Expeditions AR is not yet available to the public. You can register your school as a "Pioneer School" here.

While Google I/O 2017 didn't reveal any major new features or services for the classroom, it provided a glimpse at Google continued efforts to organize the worlds information. Machine Learning and Augmented / Virtual reality are top priorities. These technologies will certainly trickle down to the classroom and impact how we teach and the skills that we need to prepare our students with in order for them to be successful. 

Getting Expeditions to run on your School Network

Google Expeditions is a cool way to take your class on a virtual field trip. It's kind of like a 21st century version of the Magic School Bus...and YOU get to be Ms. Frizzle!

One thing that Ms. Frizzle never had to deal with was WiFi connectivity issues. Her bus always started and never stalled. 

Behind the scenes, Google Expeditions is a pretty involved technology. It requires a very specific environment to work correctly. If you have tried to use Expeditions on your school wifi network, you may have been frustrated because it didn't work.

I have personally had quite a few struggles getting Expeditions to work reliably during my various conference workshops and school visits. Nothing is worse than building up anticipation and excitement about a tool only to have it fail miserably. = (

Here is what I have learned about running an expedition successfully. 

Google Expeditions relies on peer-to-peer device communication. That means, the teacher device talks directly to the student devices. Most "enterprise" wifi networks (schools, hotels, public spaces) block this type of communication to prevent malicious attacks (a good thing!).

Instead of messing with your school network (or convincing your IT director to do so), you can set up a dedicated wifi network just for Expeditions. I know this sounds complicated, but it's not.

You will need a spare WiFi router. Pretty much anyone will do, however the better the router, the better your experience. I had an extra Airport Extreme router at my house. That's what I use. Ask your Tech Director if they have an extra router lying around, most of them do.

Plug the router in. I recommend setting up the router with an SSID (network name) like "Expeditions" or something obvious. I also turned off password protection to make it easy for people to join the network.

Here's the weird thing- your dedicated Expeditions WiFi network does NOT need internet access. It just has to send out a WiFi signal. No need to connect it to your school, home, or office network. Just plug it in!

That's it! You will now use your dedicated, no internet, wifi network to run your Expedition. This significantly improves Expeditions performance as the only traffic on the network are Expeditions devices.

Before running your Expedition, you will need to connect to your regular network (with an internet connection) to download the Expedition(s) that you plan on using with your students.

When you are ready to run your expedition, switch to the Expedition network and make sure all of your student devices are connected to it as well. Your device will distribute the Expedition tour that you select to the student devices (pretty cool!).

Please let me know if you have any additional tips for running Expeditions successfully. Here are a few additional resources for the tech nerds: 

• Google Support Article on Expeditions setup
• Expeditions FAQ (includes a section on peer-to-peer networking)

ThingLink VR Bootcamp in Michigan!

Virtual Reality is a promising classroom tool. Being able to transport your students to a different time and place is pretty remarkable! 

Right now VR is primarily a passive activity - you just consume content. While that is okay, I much prefer technologies that allow teachers and students to create and share with one another.

ThinkLink is developing tools that can be used to CREATE a custom VR experience. Here's an example of something a Science teacher might do to teach students about biomes.

I played with the ThingLink VR editor this past summer and was impressed. I reached out to them to see if they would be willing to come to Michigan to lead an event to help get more educators involved in CREATING VR content.

ThingLink is coming to Brighton, Michigan on February 3 to lead their VR bootcamp. This full day of training will show you what ThingLink can do and how it can be used as a teaching tool. Everyone is welcome, even if you haven't used ThingLink before.

Registration is $175/person and INCLUDES a full year of the premium version of ThingLink ($129/year). We'll also give you a nice lunch and good company! 

To register, click here

Not from Michigan? ThingLink has bootcamps scheduled around the country. Here is their current schedule. You can also register to host an event! 

Getting Started with VR in your Classroom

Virtual reality (VR) is beginning to gain traction as a viable classroom learning tool. Google Cardboard, the affordable VR viewer, is leading this new area of experiential learning. 

Google Cardboard is the 20% project of Google Engineers David Coz and Damien Henry first announce at Google I/O in 2014. 

Key Features of Google Cardboard:

• Made from cardboard
• Fits any cell phone
• Works with any VR content
• Cheap ($5-20)

How Does it Work? 

VR compatible content splits your screen into stereoscopic perspective. When viewed in a viewer it becomes an immersive experience. Turn your head left, right, up, or down to look in that direction. To select something, look at it or press the button on the cardboard viewer. 

What do you Need?  

To experience virtual reality you will need three things: 

1. A compatible mobile device

Most mid-grade and higher cell phones support VR content. The iPhone, Nexus, and Galaxy devices are all VR compatible. Phones must have an accelerometer and gyroscope in order to work correctly in VR mode. Most inexpensive track phones ($100 or less) will NOT work. 

Tablets (iPad and Android) can be used to view VR content in “normal” mode. The experience is not as immersive as using a VR viewer, but is a good option to consider if you already have access to tablets.

Google has partnered with Best Buy to offer a complete classroom VR set which includes everything that you need to experience VR in the classroom. Learn more: http://goo.gl/JP92ts

2. A VR viewer

While you can view VR content without a viewer, the experience is greatly improved when viewed through a compatible cardboard viewer. There are many to chose from: 

Cardboard Viewers - Google developed the first viewer “Google Cardboard” and made the construction plans open to anyone. There are thousands of companies offering cardboard viewers. You can even make your own! These viewers are the most affordable ($5-20) but won’t last forever and may not be the best for daily class use. 

• Make your own cardboard viewer: http://goo.gl/8ggqYs 
• Google Cardboard on Amazon: https://goo.gl/NDePRJ 

Plastic VR Viewers - Several companies have started to make more durable plastic viewers. These are optimal for the classroom as they will withstand the wear-and-tear of student use and can be easily cleaned. Viewmaster makes one of the leading viewers which is a great classroom option. 

• Viewmaster: http://goo.gl/BEwcCv 

3. A VR App

In order to experience virtual reality, you will need access to some virtual reality content! There is a rapidly growing list of content creators who are supporting the VR platform. One way to explore is to simply visit your app store (Apple or Android) and search for “VR” or “Virtual Reality”. 

If you are using and app and you see the cardboard icon, that app supports virtual reality. Click the icon to switch into VR mode. Here are a few more popular websites that support VR content. 

• YouTube - using a laptop, perform a search and click the “filter” button. Select 360° video. 
• Facebook - Facebook is heavily promoting 360° video. Join their group to experience 360° video as it develops: https://goo.gl/WiKE0S 
• ThingLink - create your own VR content with ThingLink! Create immersive experiences for your students using the VR editor. Note: requires a ThingLink subscription. Learn more: http://demo.thinglink.com/vr-edu 

Google Expeditions

Virtual Reality is an individual experience. This makes it difficult to facilitate a whole-class experience. That is why Google developed Expeditions, a whole-class VR experience. 

Think of Google Expeditions as a 21st century version of the Magic School Bus! 

Teachers select from one of over 50 virtual field trips and launch the experience using the Expeditions App for Android and iOS. Students will be taken into a virtual world which is narrated and guided by their teacher. Expeditions can be paused to facilitate whole-class discussion and teachers can “point” to any object on the screen to easily guide students. 

Google Expeditions is free for schools. Learn more here: https://goo.gl/FPLLCZ 

13 FREE VR Apps for the Classroom

Virtual Reality (VR) has great potential for the classroom when used effectively by experienced and creative teachers. VR is also a very new and evolving technology. To help you get started with virtual reality in your classroom, a group of educators I worked with this summer put together a list of 13 FREE VR apps that are classroom appropriate.

You can view the list here: https://goo.gl/1gp5pQ

Feel free to copy and share. 

Do you have a favorite app that we left out? Please let me know by leaving a comment on this post!

3 Ways to use VR in the Classroom

Just because a technology is “cool” or “immersive” does not mean that it is well suited for the classroom. To truly have an impact on learning, classroom technology should go beyond simple engagement (i.e. “wow, this is fun!”). It must build skills or teach concepts.

Virtual reality (VR) is a new technology that has classroom potential. If you have had an opportunity to experience Occulus Rift or Google Cardboard, you know what I'm talking about - it's awesome! But is VR something that we should consider for the classroom? Can it be used as a teaching tool? I think so, and here's how:

There are three levels at which VR can be incorporated into the classroom. None of the levels are inherently better. Each one has a purpose. An effective lesson will likely include all three levels of engagement.

Note: these levels are similar to the SAMR model of technology integration. 

Observe

Students observe content and media in a passive setting. This is the simplest way to use VR in the classroom. Virtual reality is being use as a “hook” to engage students. Using VR for observation is usually a short experience followed by other forms of classwork or instruction.

VR Apps for observing: Discovery VR, nytvr, Jaunt VR, YouTube360

Explore

Exploration with VR extends simple observations by asking students to go deeper and to record observations or reflections. Explore with VR encompasses virtual field trips which may be facilitated by the teacher. Students should be expected to record their thoughts, feelings, and experience during or after their experience.

VR Apps for Exploration: Google Expeditions, Google Street View, YouVisit VR

Create

Students begin by observing, start explore, and conclude by creating original content. Created content might include original writing, video, stories, images, or new VR content.

VR Apps for Creating: ThingLink ($), Cardboard Camera, Google Tour Builder 

Do you agree with this framework? Think I left something out? Leave me a comment and let me know!