![\"Teaching](\"https:\/\/images.coachingforleaders.com\/cb:ztCJ~31fd5\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/teachinginhighered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/teachingtheliteraturesurveycourse.png\")
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As I mentioned on episode #210 with James Lang<\/a>, I wasn\u2019t expecting to enjoy reading Teaching the Literature Survey Course<\/a> as much as I was some of the other books in the West Virginia University Press Teaching and Learning in Higher Education series<\/a>. Teaching the Literature Survey Course was thought of\u00a0 as “eating my veggies”<\/em> and as part of my obligation as part of West Virginia University Press' overall sponsorship of the Teaching in Higher Ed transcripts project.<\/span><\/p>\n I couldn\u2019t have been more wrong.<\/span><\/p>\n Teaching the Literature Survey Course<\/a> addresses two key challenges, which are often characteristics of general survey courses:<\/span><\/p>\n In each of the classes I've taught in my career, I can\u2019t ever recall a time when I didn\u2019t feel at least some tension around wishing I could \u201ccover\u201d more. At the same time, my greatest desire in my teaching is that students would experience learning that would stay with them for the long haul and would be of great relevance in their lives.<\/span><\/p>\n Teaching the Literature Survey Course, Edited by Gwynn Dujardin, James M. Lang, and John A. Staunton<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n While the examples they provide are specific to literature classes, they are wide-ranging enough to have it be likely that you might find inspiration for teaching in a different discipline.<\/span><\/p>\n One area that really inspired me was involving using maps in our teaching. This is an approach I have never experimented with before, but have found myself regularly thinking about since I read Teaching the Literature Survey Course<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n Two related tools that I regularly see people reference when talking about using maps in their teaching are Google Maps<\/a> and Google Earth<\/a>. I was confused about the difference between them, but found this explanation on Quora<\/a>\u00a0that cleared it up for me:<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cGoogle Maps contains all of the navigation, lightweight mapping power and points of interest with just a small hint of satellite imagery, while Google Earth has complete 3D satellite data and just a small subset of information on places, without any point-to-point navigation.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Todd Gardiner described them as related products<\/a>. He advised that we think of them as a suite of products, like we would Microsoft Office<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n Within that suite of products is Tour Builder<\/a> (a Google Earth experiment), where you can \u201cput your story on the map.\u201d Instead of only seeing a map that was composed by others, we can add to an existing map points of interest, the way we might give someone a tour of our neighborhood.\u00a0<\/span>Google suggests that you:<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cSee how people are using Tour Builder on the site – From a nonprofit documenting its global missions<\/a>, to a teacher transforming American history<\/a>.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n While maps might at first seem primarily useful to those who teach history or other social sciences, Tom Barrett decided to use Google Maps to teach math<\/a>. While his example comes from K-12, it provides us with enough inspiration to get us started thinking\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n If you do teach history, there are plenty of sites that are great examples of ways to leverage Google maps in your teaching.<\/a> Other disciplines will find inspiration on how to: \u201cPin point a book\u2019s setting, use detective skills, measure distances\u201d and more from Jessica Sanders<\/a>. The Google Earth example categories are: history, science, space science, math, and geography<\/a>, yet Teaching the Literature Survey Course<\/a> is a perfect illustration of how to extend beyond those disciplines and into literature.<\/span><\/p>\n Doing something for one of my classes at this exact moment feels out of reach for me, until I become more familiar with the tools and what\u2019s possible. However, I was thinking that I could start small and tackle the sixth suggestion from The Thinking Stick and<\/a>\u00a0to:<\/span><\/p>\n Create a Map for My Community<\/span><\/p>\n They gave an example of creating a map for friends who were visiting China with their favorite restaurants, places to visit, etc<\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n I could see making one for our local community and getting some practice with the tools. My colleague studies homeless populations and I imagine that maps like this could be very useful for his research (even if it started solely as a means for delegating the student researcher observations).<\/span><\/p>\n It is hard for me to stop writing at this point, because I have so many more notes I am reflecting back on after having read Teaching the Literature Survey Course<\/a>. I started to think to myself that I should write ten posts about some of my take-aways, but then I thought I was getting a little ahead of myself with all of that.<\/span><\/p>\n Part of our work as educators is discovering new possibilities. But, there\u2019s also the important step of beginning to experiment and increasing our tolerance for (or perhaps even delight with):<\/span><\/p>\n\n
![\"Teaching](\"https:\/\/images.coachingforleaders.com\/cb:ztCJ~31fd5\/w:200\/h:300\/q:mauto\/f:best\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/teachinginhighered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/ttlsc.png\")
If you also find yourself feeling like you have too much to cover in a given class, or you want to find ways to have your students experience deeper learning, it is worth picking up a copy of:<\/span><\/p>\nLeveraging Maps in Your Teaching<\/span><\/h2>\n
![\"sample](\"https:\/\/images.coachingforleaders.com\/cb:ztCJ~31fd5\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/teachinginhighered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/sample-tours.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/images.coachingforleaders.com\/cb:ztCJ~31fd5\/w:1024\/h:632\/q:mauto\/f:best\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/teachinginhighered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/2018-06-14_16-18-24-2.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"personalized](\"https:\/\/images.coachingforleaders.com\/cb:ztCJ~31fd5\/w:300\/h:170\/q:mauto\/f:best\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/teachinginhighered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/personalized-book.png\")
Even book publishers are starting to make use of Google maps in their creations. We ordered The Incredible Intergalactic Journey Home<\/a> from Wonderbly<\/a> for our son a couple of years ago. When he gets to the pages of the book that mean that he\u2019s almost home, it is a picture of our neighborhood that is shown from Google maps. The book is customized much more than just the maps, but also throughout the book.<\/span><\/p>\nBut Wait, There\u2019s More<\/span><\/h2>\n
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