Latest education updates from around the world
3 Key Tips tips for Working with Images
A picture says more than a thousand words is the saying. And that is a strong tool when competing for someone’s attention. Online, specifically on social media, catching the viewer’s attention is more important than ever before.
1. Crop your photos perfectly for social media
When you are posting something on any […]
10 Best Irish Movies to watch on St. Patrick’s Day
St. Patrick’s Day is a great time to celebrate Ireland and all things Irish, including the country’s rich cinematic history! From romantic dramas to uplifting stories of courage and resilience, there are plenty of great movies out there that will help you get in the spirit of St. Patrick’s Day. Here are 10 of the best Irish films to watch on St. Patrick’s Day.
Best St. Patrick’s Day Books for Kids20 Best St. Patrick’s Day Activities for Kids10 Popular Irish Songs for St. Patrick’s Day
1. […]
1759 Art Lesson Plans
The playroom in our house has lots of Crayola products in it because my daughters love to make pictures to hang on our refrigerator and cards to give to friends and family. And like most kids they don’t always remember to put their boxes of crayons and markers away. While picking up one of their Crayola boxes last night I was reminded of Crayola’s huge collection of lesson plans.
Crayola’s lesson plan library contains 1759 free lesson plans. There are lesson plans for every grade from pre-K through 12th grade. As you might expect, […]
Meta Quest Gets Unreal Engine 5 Support Minus Two Headlining Features
Meta is transitioning its support from Unreal Engine 4 to Unreal Engine 5.1 for apps built for the Quest platform. Two of the engine’s headlining features aren’t designed for mobile though, so it’s doubtful we we’ll ever see them on Quest.
In a dev blog post announcing the news, Meta says developers who choose to work with Epic’s game engine should start thinking about using UE5 for their Quest apps. The company isn’t advising devs to upgrade to UE5 if in the middle of a project though; apps based on UE4 can still be distributed to the […]
Annotate Videos With Text and Pictures
Timelinely is a neat tool for annotating videos that you find on YouTube to share with your students.
10 Popular Irish Songs for St. Patrick’s Day
St. Patrick’s Day is a time to celebrate Irish culture and heritage, and Irish music is an important part of that tradition. In this post, I provide you with 10 popular songs for St.Patrick’s Day.
Here are 10 popular songs for St. Patrick’s Day
1. The Cranberries – Linger
The Cranberries’ […]
20 Best St. Patrick’s Day Activities for Kids
St.Patrick’s day is a great time to celebrate with family and friends. St.Patrick’s day is celebrated on March 17. Traditionally, green is the color worn to celebrate this day. There are many fun activities that can be enjoyed by the whole family.
1. Scavenger hunt
Kids always enjoy scavenger hunt games. For this St. Patrick’s day, hide green items items around the […]
5 Lessons For Teachers From Ted Lasso
Hopefully, Ted Lasso is not all that you get, but the optimistic soccer coach does model some good behavior for teachers.
AI Tools are Coming to Google Workspace Tools
It was only a matter of time until Google made a big announcement regarding artificial intelligence in their productivity tools. That announcement came today.
All of the details about Google’s implementation of AI in Google Workspace can be read here. The short version is that new AI features will be added to Google Docs and Gmail throughout the course of this year. Those new features will be used to generate suggestions for rewriting selected sections of your Google Docs and selected sections of messages that you compose in Gmail.
Other AI features […]
PSVR 2’s First Top Download Chart Sees ‘Kayak VR’ & ‘Pavlov’ Outperform ‘Horizon Call of the Mountain’
PlayStation VR 2 launched late last month alongside more than 40 titles, which included games entirely new to the platform as well existing games from other platforms and upgraded PSVR titles. The headset’s first monthly top download chart has revealed a big shift in which games are taking an early lead in the headset’s growing library.
Taking the top spot across the US & Canada, the EU and Japan is Kayak VR: Mirage, a kayak racing sim initially released on SteamVR headsets in 2022 by Amsterdam-based indie studio Better Than Life.
In it, players race across lush, photorealistic environments […]
ZEISS Takes Majority Stake in AR/VR Optics Creator Tooz Technologies
ZEISS, the German optical systems manufacturer, announced it’s acquired majority share of the joint venture Tooz Technologies, an AR/VR optics creator founded by Zeiss and Deutsche Telekom in 2018.
Zeiss and Deutsche Telekom previously had an even 50% stake in Tooz, which has functioned as a sort of AR optics skunkworks for the companies. Zeiss is now sole owner of the startup.
Zeiss says Tooz will continue to exist independently as it focuses on serial production and visual correction in its imaging systems, further calling Tooz its “AR/VR competence center.”
Image courtesy Tooz Technologies, ZEISS Group
Today, Tooz principally […]
How to Record a Google Earth Tour
The Amazing Race is the only reality game show that I’ve watched with interest for as long as it has been on television. Years ago I created a classroom game based on the same premise of the show. Last spring I updated that game with some new graphics and new challenges and then published it as a PDF on PracticalEdTech.com.
Recording a Google Earth tour is the capstone activity in Around the World With Google Earth. There are a couple of ways that students can do that. Students who are using […]
Whimsical – An AI Concept Map Generator
For the last handful of months whenever I scroll through Product Hunt and just about every other new product is an AI-powered product. Or at least they claim to be using AI. One that recently jump out to me is Whimsical.
Whimsical is a mind mapping and concept mapping tool that I first tried a couple of years ago. In addition to mind mapping and concept mapping it can also be used for creating Venn diagrams and other common charts in a collaborative environment. Now Whimsical has an […]
Lady Luck: The Challenges of Women Moving Into Education Leadership
Despite long making up more than half the education workforce, women have had a long struggle getting to the highest leadership positions
5 Ways to Spread Kindness In Your School
Inspired by local legend Fred Rogers, students in South Allegheny Schools spread kindness in their school and beyond
50 Popular Idioms for Kids (With Examples)
An idiom is a linguistic expression whose meaning is figurative. For instance, when someone says ‘cut corners’, they don’t literally mean to cut corners with a knife or scissors, which is the literal meaning or the meaning conveyed by the words per se. Instead, instead what they mean is to perform an act hastily, often without regard to quality.
Each speech community has its own of conventional idioms that they use in different meaning making situations. From my own experience as both a polyglot and a language teacher, I can attest to the difficulty of learning idioms. To this […]
15 Microsoft Forms Tutorials for Teachers
Despite the fact that I’ve been using Google Forms for as long as it has existed and that it is my default tool for creating online forms and quizzes, there are some things about Microsoft Forms that I prefer over Google Forms. One of those things is the ability to convert a Word document into a Microsoft Form. Another is the ability to create a timed quiz without having to use any external, third-party tools. Those are two of the fifteen things that are featured in my new
A New Answer to the Questions I’m Asked the Most
For many years now the question that I am asked more than any other is about the videos that appear on my YouTube channel. Specifically, people want to know how I’m highlighting my mouse pointer in my videos or how I’m creating the moving oval cut-out of my webcam. Sometimes they want to know the answer to both of those questions. Since at least 2014 the answer to has been Screencast-o-matic. Today, the question has a new answer.
Screencast-o-matic has been rebranded as ScreenPal. I used it today […]
Report: Apple’s MR Headset Could Come as Soon as This Summer
Apple’s upcoming mixed reality headset has been the subject of many reports and rumors over the past few years—that’s just the nature of the Cupertino-based black box. Now a new report from the Financial Times alleges we may see the company’s first XR device unveiled this summer.
The headset, which is still unnamed, is allegedly nearing its big unveiling, which is said to take place in June 2023, or around when the company traditionally holds its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC).
The report maintains Apple CEO Tim Cook is the principal force pushing the device’s launch forward this […]
This ‘Half-Life: Alyx’ Mod Brings a Slice of Valve-level Action
Besides making one of the most influential VR games to date, Valve also made sure Half-Life: Alyx was just as moddable as its other iconic titles. And thankfully there’s no shortage of talented modders out there who have built extended campaigns and new levels for the PC VR shooter.
One such HLA modder is Nate ‘Polygrove’ Grove, an Environment Artist and Designer at game publisher Annapurna Interactive, which is known for titles such as Outer Wilds, Stray, and What Remains of Edith Finch.
Last Friday Grove released their first solo HLA mod project, called ‘Re-Education’, something the environment artist calls a “medium-length campaign (30 […]
5 Ways Educator Pathways is Promoting DEI in San Diego County
Adina Sullivan-Marlow draws on her own experience to promote more diversity in education with Educator Pathways, a program of the San Diego County Office of Education.
What is ReadWorks and How Does It Work? Best Tips and Tricks
ReadWorks is a comprehension tool that places resources in one spot for easy teacher and student use.
Jeopardy Labs Lesson Plan
This Jeopardy Labs lesson plan is designed to help educators utilize the online digital learning platform to support teaching and learning
20 Best Learning Apps for Kids
Mobile apps have made it super easy for kids to learn in fun and engaging ways, anywhere anytime. There are tons of learning apps for kids out there and the choices can sometimes be confusing.
The Nationwide Legal DMCA Scam Returns – There’s a Lesson Here
On a few occasions last year I wrote about a scam in which someone who pretends to be an attorney from a law firm called Nationwide Legal or Arthur Davidson Legal sends an email stating that a website owner has committed a copyright violation. The recourse that they seek is a link to another website for credit for the image. All of the details of the scam can be read here, here, and here. All that to say, the scam is back!
On Friday morning I got an […]