Public use of Story Map

[PatrickPeterson]

I am a retired Teacher Center director and as part of my job I introduced new technology working closely with SUNYIT. New York State Archives and districts around the State.   

I  am now working with a teacher and 5th-grade students on a History project for a New York State Archives' contest. I am also working with Taughannock Falls State Park to develop a Cascade Story Map. I am trying to demonstrate to both the Archives and the New York State Department the advantages of using StoryMap with different groups.

 My specific question is do you think a public StoryMap account perhaps based upon Cascade would be suitable for 5th graders? The topic probably will be 19th Century rural schoolhouses in the Holland Patent District.  We have access to historical photos and other work so the students would mainly be putting together the Story Map.  The focus on editing existing resources and then writing headers or sidebars of information.   Our goal is to support students in researching and effectively sharing results.   

Ultimately I would like to demonstrate how the NYS Archives could effectively use Story Map for a crowd-sourcing project on the 200th Anniversary of the Erie Canal. I have worked with the Archives for 20 years and received 3 NYS awards as well as numerous grants.  

[ChadKopplin]

Patrick,

I believe it would be suitable for 5th graders, depending on the version of the Story Map that you use they could create an Excel spreadsheet and save it as a CSV file for importing to create the map, or it is straight forward enough to create it site by site manually.  This would give the kids an introduction in to a powerful technology that gives them a geographic background, spreadsheets, and writing skills.

[PatrickPeterson]

Thank you so much.

What we have is a mounted color copy of the rural school houses in the

1930's. or perhaps we could use a current map with gps. Is there any

video or description of how to use Excel with a map? I am spending a

couple hours a day looking at videos and at sample maps.

[StephenSylvia · Accepted solution]

Patrick, A public user account will work well for students who will create a limited number of story maps and create simple maps in ArcGIS Online. Most story maps are compatible with a public account; the one exception is the Story Map Crowdsource app because it requires a hosted feature service to collect contributions. Have a educational organization account on ArcGIS Online will provide some more features that you may find helpful. Besides enabling feature service use, you can also use a educational account to run spatial analysis tools, have more storage and limit sharing with just a classroom. Esri provides free organizational accounts for educational use. You can request one here: Esri | Free online mapping for your school.