Latest education updates from around the world
‘Escape Simulator’ is Bringing Its 8-player Co-op Escape Rooms to VR
Pine Studios, the team behind the Escape Simulator franchise, announced an upcoming VR port of the studio’s hit escape rooms.
Called Escape Simulator VR, the game is slated to bring both solo and online co-op, the latter of which supports up to eight players. Pine Studios says however two to three players is the best number for its swath of escape rooms, with is said to include 25 original rooms made in collaboration with real-world escape room designers.
Here’s how Pine Studios describes it:
Following the unprecedented success of the original version Escape Simulator VR was rebuilt from the ground up to be a […]
Sustaining 1-2-1 Programs By Selling School Devices
Peter Robinson, Technology Director at Auburn School Department, explains how his district makes its 1-2-1 program sustainable by selling devices before any are worthless.
ClassPoint: Easily Create Interactive PowerPoints
PowerPoint presentations are a staple in classrooms around the world; however, they can often be one-sided and disengaging. That’s where ClassPoint comes in! ClassPoint is an add-on tool for PowerPoint that transforms presentations into interactive and engaging experiences for both teachers and students. With a variety of teaching tools and features, ClassPoint helps teachers present more clearly and gets students engaged, involved, and actively learning.
How Does ClassPoint Create Interactive PowerPoints?
ClassPoint is a student engagement tool that adds an array of teaching tools to PowerPoint, making PowerPoint a much more desirable tool […]
Canva Magic Write: A Great AI Writing Tool for Teachers and Students
As an EdTech blogger and educator, I have always found immense joy in bringing you the latest advancements from the intersecting worlds of education and technology. Today, we journey together into the burgeoning world of educational AI. My aim? To help you harness the power of these innovations, not just to augment your teaching techniques but also to bolster your professional growth.
Today, I am thrilled to introduce you to a groundbreaking tool, Magic Write, from the creators of the well-loved design platform – Canva. Fusing the power of AI with […]
10 Best Online Resume Builders
As you step into the professional world, one document that will precede you everywhere is your resume. It’s your professional story; it tells potential employers about your skills, experiences, and the unique value you bring.
Crafting a compelling and professional resume can sometimes feel like a daunting task. However, it’s an essential step in setting the stage for your career trajectory. To aid you in this process, I have compiled a list of some of the best online resume builder to try out.
Before we dive in the list, let’s first discuss some of the […]
How to Use AI to Create Formative Assessments
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A day ago I published a big list of AI tools and resources for teachers. This morning I tried another AI tool that is worth noting. That tool is the new AI-powered assessment generator that is now built into Formative.
Formative’s new AI-powered assessment generator is currently a beta product that anyone with an active Formative account (free or paid) can use. To use it you do need to opt into “early release” features in your Formative account settings.
With the AI option enabled in Formative you can create an assessment by […]
1,001 American Novels Mapped
1,001 Novels: A Library of America is an ESRI story map developed by Susan Straight. The story map features short reviews of 1,000 American novels. Each novel is geolocated on a map of the United States. The story map is divided into geographic regions. You can also view the entire map at once.
Susan is an author and a Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing at UC Riverside. Before you jump to the map I encourage you to read her introduction to the story map. She tells a lovely […]
My Two Most Popular Courses This Year
Summer is here (in the northern hemisphere) and that means there is or soon will be time for drinking your morning coffee in your favorite mug instead of a travel mug on the way to school. There’s time for soaking up some sun. And there’s time for taking that professional development course you’ve been thinking about doing.
I currently offer four professional development courses that you can complete this summer. (Two more to be announced next week). Two of them have been far and away more popular than the others during the 2022-23 school […]
What is Runway and How Can It Be Used for Teaching? Tips & Tricks
Runway is an AI-powered image and video generator that can help you get creative with ease.
Three New Padlet Slideshow Features
Back in February Padlet introduced a new feature that enables you to quickly turn a collection of notes on a Padlet wall into a slideshow. Recently, Padlet added three new features to its slideshow function.
Applications for Education
The Padlet slideshow option could be very handy when you’re trying to review with your whole class the […]
Swords, Airplanes, and Cartoons – A Big Collection of Free Sound Effects
The Internet Archive’s USC Optical Sound Effects Library is a collection of hundreds of sound effect recordings created for Hollywood studios in the beginning in the 1930’s through the 1980’s. The recordings were donated to USC and have now been digitized for playback and download on the Internet Archive.
The Internet Archive’s USC Optical Sound Effects Library has three collections within it. The Gold and Red Libraries are comprised of sound effects created in the 1930’s and 1940’s. The Sunset Editorial Library has sound effect recordings made from the 1930’s through […]
How Statewide Efforts Drive Math Achievement
South Carolina educators talk about how state resources and technology have helped their math instruction.
Hands-on: Apple Vision Pro isn’t for Gaming, But it Does Everything Else Better
While Apple’s new Vision Pro headset isn’t going to satisfy the existing base of consumer VR users, it’s mastering the rest of the basics better than anyone else.
Probably 90% of what consumers are using VR headsets for today is entertainment, and of that entertainment, most of it is gaming. And if you’re among those people using such headsets today, you’ll reasonably be disappointed that Apple Vision Pro lacks controllers and isn’t going to be playing top VR games anytime soon. But for everyone else, it’s a back-to-basics approach that’s laying a sturdy foundation to build upon in the […]
Teaching Your Students about Online Threats: Educator’s Guide to Cybersecurity
According to a study, 38% of teens can’t imagine life without their smartphone. Almost half are always reachable online. Children and teenagers are also the most vulnerable and unprepared when it comes to online security.
As a teacher and authority figure, you’re in an excellent position to educate students on online threats and healthy internet security habits. This guide touches on the most prevalent threats students face today. It then offers tips on making cybersecurity themes more interesting to students. Finally, it provides essential security tips you should impart to students […]
Apple to Open Locations for Devs to Test Vision Pro This Summer, SDK This Month
Ahead of the Apple Vision Pro’s release in ‘early 2024’, the company says it will open several centers in a handful of locations around the world, giving some developers a chance to test the headset before it’s released to the public.
It’s clear that developers will need time to start building Apple Vision Pro apps ahead of its launch, and it’s also clear that Apple doesn’t have heaps of headsets on hand for developers to start working with right away. In an effort to give developers the earliest possible chance to test their immersive apps, the company says it […]
Free Printable KWL Chart Templates for Teachers
You know, one of the best things about being part of this dynamic, ever-evolving field of education is that we are always discovering and experimenting with innovative teaching strategies to support our students’ learning journey. It’s this passion for pedagogical exploration that I’ve always tried to bring to you in my blog posts, and today is no exception.
Do you remember that sense of awe when you discovered a concept or tool that just seemed to ‘click’ in your classroom? How it seemed to mesh perfectly with your teaching style and your students’ learning needs? That’s the excitement I’m […]
Apple Unveils Vision Pro, Its First XR Headset
Today at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) the Cupertino tech giant unveiled its long-awaited XR headset, dubbed Vision Pro.
Similar to Meta’s Quest Pro and newly unveiled Quest 3 headset, Apple’s first mixed reality headset is capable of both virtual reality and augmented reality thanks to its color passthrough cameras, however it appears the company is focusing much more on AR tasks.
Vision Pro is priced starting at $3,500, putting it clearly in the “enthusiast” camp. Apple calls it its “most advanced personal electronics device ever.”
The headset is targeting general computing stuff such as content consumption, video chatting, […]
12 Great Father’s Days Movies
As Father’s Day is just around the corner, it’s time to think of ways we can celebrate and honor the special men in our lives. Whether you’re looking for heartfelt quotes to include in your Father’s Day card, searching for the perfect gift from our Father’s Day gift guide, planning engaging activities using our Father’s Day activities post, or hoping to share a hearty laugh with our compilation of Father’s Day jokes, we’ve got you covered.
Today, however, we’re diving […]
How to Use Comics in Your Classroom, With MakeBeliefsComix Founder Bill Zimmerman
Advice and best practices for using comics and MakeBeliefsComix to teach
How to Move Your Gmail in Bulk
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A few weeks ago I published directions on how to use Google Takeout to move your most important Google Workspaces assets out of one account to use in another. Late last week a reader asked me about just moving Gmail messages from one account to another. You can do that with Google Takeout, but there is another option that can work just as well.
You can move your Gmail messages from one account to another by forwarding them in folders. In short, put your important messages into a folder and then forward that folder […]
What is Reading Practice? The Google Play Books Feature Explained
Reading Practice provides learning opportunities for those using Google Play Books and Google Kids Space.
Teaching With Music: 5 Tips for Using it With Any Subject
Tips for teaching with music as a helpful learning tool regardless of the subject from school social worker Sherena Small
What is MyViewBoard and How Can It Be Used for Teaching? Tips & Tricks
MyViewBoard is a digital whiteboard and teaching tool that makes class interactions smarter than ever.
Turn Pictures Into Digital Map Pins
Felt.com is a digital mapping tool that launched late last year and has since impressed me with both its ease of use and its plentiful features. The latest feature added to Felt that I really like is the option to take any of your pictures and use them as placemarkers or pins on your maps.
To use a picture as a pin on Felt you simply have to upload it to your map then right-click on it to select the option to convert it to a pin. As you’ll see in
Watch Apple’s WWDC Keynote Right Here at 10AM PT
Apple’s WWDC keynote is today, and the company is heavily expected to reveal an immersive headset for the first time. Here’s where to see the action live.
Apple’s WWDC keynote will be held at 10AM PT on June 5th (your timezone here). You can catch the official livestream from Apple embedded below:
Follow for Up-to-the-minute Updates
I’ll be on-site at Apple Park for the WWDC keynote, and maybe more than that… if you want the most up-to-the-minute updates for what comes after the keynote, follow along on Twitter: @benz145.
What to Expect
We’re expecting that Apple’s WWDC keynote will first focus […]