Google Goggles & Google Search

Bring the information from the web to real life...

One of the most underused apps on most Apple devices the Google Mobile Search app. This app not only lets you search the web but let's you search by voice. My wife and I often have contests to see who can Google the fastest. She on her laptop and me on my iPad. We'll be watching an episode of NCIS and she'll ask "How old is Marc Harmon?" Then the race is on. Thanks to this little app I don't have to keyboard anything, I speak "How old is Marc Harmon?" 9 times out of 10 it understands me perfectly...which is more than I can say for my beautiful wife :)

All kidding aside, this app has gotten some upgrades that I have to write about. For about a year, Google has had an Android app called "Google Goggles". Goggles searches the web for you based

on images. You take a picture with the app, Google compares it to similar images on the web and gives you a Google search based on your picture. WHAM! you are instantly taken to links with limitless information on that item. The Google Goggles app has now been fully integrated with the Apple IOS Google Mobile Search App.

But perhaps the best part is that the app doesn't just scan images. It also scans barcodes & QR codes.

Here is my experiment with the Google Mobile app from my iPad:

1. Select the camera 2. Take the picture 3. Choose the site you want to look at.

QR codes:

1. Scan your QR code 2. Go to the site of video linked in the code.

The QR code above comes from a book trailer project by our librarian.

According to Google's info on this feature you scan any of the things below.

This type of app is what geeks call "Augmented reality", basically you bring the limitless information of the web and mix it with reality. It's a fantastic new technology and our students can do so much with it...if we let them.

With our students being allowed to bring their own devices to the classroom next year. Stay tuned for many tech projects based on these apps and QR codes.

To recap the apps are:

Android: Google Goggles

IOS: Google Mobile search

Interactive Library displays w/ QR codes...

QR codes are everywhere.

Every Library uses posters, book displays, etc, to advertise & promote various books that are in the library. These displays are wonderful!... but what if you could add digital media or interactivity to the display?

Enter QR codes. These codes, that are showing up all over the place, can be the little tool that makes your book display into an attraction. QR codes are like visual hyperlinks that can take most mobile devices with a camera & an internet connection to any web address, text file, or phone number.

Here's how:

1. The Librarian finds or creates:

• A blog post inviting students to leave comments, discussions, or reviews about a book.
• YouTube book trailer about a book
• Amazon or Barnes & Noble reviews
• The Author's website/blog

2. The librarian generates the QR code that will take students to the site.

3. The librarian builds the display with an image of the QR code somewhere in the mix.

4. Students become active participants in a community of readers.

It may require the librarian to explain how it works to a few key students. But with a little encouragement and word of mouth it could become an attraction in your library.

How we came up with idea.

On Tuesday I blogged about an Interactive Story Project the other day that a GT ILA teacherand I came up with. Then I read about a word wall that a teacher had created with QR codes to help her students learn vocabulary. Today, while brainstorming with my librarian(you can see her blog here) we came up with this great idea for using QR codes in the library. In short...Collaboration!

Interactive story project...

You may not be familiar with QR codes, but if you aren't you will be soon. QR codes are the new bar code for the 21st century. They can be scanned by any smartphone or iPod touch with a camera. When scanned the code will take you to a place on the web or to a document or whatever info you have designated. Anyone can create one. The apps that scan them are almost always free.

Yesterday I had the chance to sit and jam with one of my GT teachers, Vawterila. Last time we did this we came up with our UStream Debate Project. Yesterday we took it to whole new level using an existing lesson, webtools, & QR codes. GT teachers and technology department have been learning more and more about project based learning and this lesson fits in great.

So here is the general idea...

Objective: 1. Students will write a story. 2. Students will create rich media and interactive, web-based activities to go along with the story. 3. Students will embed QR codes into the story to enable the interactive activities.

1. The story part of this project could be a collaborative effort using any number of cloud computing resources. (In our case our students would you Google Docs)

2. The added media and interactive activities could be anything the students choose. In fact, I'd be inclined to leave this open for the kids to choose their own tools. But here are just a few ideas:

• YouTube video
• Google Maps (my maps, guided tour)
• A blog or threaded discussion
• A VoiceThread
• Any webtool

3. Students could use any QR code generator found on the web. They would then take each code and paste it into the document at the appropriate place.

The final product would be a story that any class could read while using a smartphone or iPod touch. They would scan the codes as they read and participate in the activities as they go along.

To take this lesson a step further students could be assigned or given the choice of one of the 3 different elements of the project. The Google model of 20% time could be used to give students opportunities to dabble in the other elements from time to time.

This project has great potential. If you decide to give it a try please share your results. We would love to be able to see other classes final products.