Google Forms to collect a URL

This past week my reading group read a fictional story about some students taking a field trip to Niagara Falls.  On Friday we had finished the story and had a little extra time, so here is what we did.  I think you'll find this really cool.



We decided to go on a Virtual Field Trip which would be planned by our reading group.  Each student searched the Internet for a place to take us on our Virtual Field trip.  They read a little about their special place and then found an image to send to me via a Google Form.  

Once I received their URL in the Google Form Spreadsheet, I copied and pasted the URL address into a Web 2.0 tool called Voicethread. 






The students then went to Voicethread to record some information about their special place.  They could record with their webcam, with an audio recording or with text.  It is quite interesting to find that my students do not like to record themselves using their webcams.  They much prefer the text or audio.


Here is the Voicethread of our Virtual Field Trip.











I found that using a Google Form to have students turn in an assignment has been very useful.  I highly recommend giving it a try.