Gary Cranston's List: Google

"Intrigued by Mortenson’s mission, K–12 classes are logging in to Google Earth to follow him on his trek, some while reading Listen to the Wind (Dial, 2009), a version of his story adapted for younger kids. These Google Lit Trips, as they’re called, allow students to map Mortenson’s travels, build wikis to share what they’ve learned about the countries the author has visited, and discuss his work as a virtual book group using Skype."

Find ideas for any age student and a handful of virtual tours that will not only help you instruct your students, but might even teach you something along the way.

“Earth Art” is about showing beautiful natural art from above by looking at incredibly unusual landscapes in places with extreme climate. And, because of technology, you don’t even have to leave your seat. But unlike GoogleSightseeing.com, this isn’t only for the obscurity: it’s for the art.

Google Sightseeing takes you on tour of the world as seen from satellite, using the free Google Earth program, or Google Maps in your web browser. Each weekday your guides James and Alex present new weird and wonderful sights as suggested by readers.

This may come as bad news for those who fear Google's world domination, but the fact is that the Google Apps Education Edition is a useful tool that teachers and students can employ in almost any school.
The apps -- Web-based tools for communicating, connecting, and creating content -- are free. Teachers use the Google Docs tool to plan lessons together, follow up on ideas that arise in instructional meetings, or give students just-in-time feedback.

Google Docs is an easy-to-use online word processor, spreadsheet and presentation editor that enables you and your students to create, store and share instantly and securely, and collaborate online in real time. You can create new documents from scratch or upload existing documents, spreadsheets and presentations. There's no software to download, and all your work is stored safely online and can be accessed from any computer.

Motion Chart is a free gadget in Google Spreadsheet (an online spreadsheet similar to excel). In motion chart you can convert your data-series into a Gapminder-like graph and put it on your web-page or blog. All you need is a free Google-account.