Blog Post #10- MapFab

 This is a tool of my own interest, from Doctor Wang's Learning- Information Processing list, called MapFab. 

This tool allows students to create a map of any place in the world. Students can search any city, county, state, country, or continent. Students can also just create a world map. Students can use different features to edit and personalize their map. They can add icons to a specific location on their map and label each icon and add a description. Students can add shapes, lines, and curves to their map. In addition, students can upload geometrics. Students can add a textbox to label whatever they want. They can save and share their completed map. This is definitely a tool that allows students to create, but the technology itself does not provide an opportunity to create something that can not be done without it. Therefore, I feel it is a CA tool (creative, amplifies) according to the PICRAT framework. To see an example map I created about my hometown, click here.

This tool is not very easy to use. It is difficult to add lines and move around what you have created. It is versatile, and there is a lot that teachers can do with this tool. I want to use this tool for a get-to-know-you project, where students create an in-depth map of their hometown or favorite city. I would hang up their maps in the classroom to personalize my classroom décor to each group of students. Or teachers can use this as a research project, where students have a city or state to research, and their assignment/project is to create a map using this tool. Their submissions would be great examples of student work that teachers can hang up in the classroom on display. These are just a couple of examples of how this tool can be used. I feel inspired by this tool, but it is not the easiest to use, which is discouraging. Because I love this idea, I will be on the lookout for similar tools or resources that explain how to use this site. Therefore, I feel like it is likely I will use it for an assignment, or in some other way because I love what can be created with this tool, but the ease of use is a downfall in my eyes. 

If you want to explore creating a map with this site, click here. If you explore this site, please share with me if you found the easy of use disappointing as well.