Latest education updates from around the world
‘Horizon Call of the Mountain’ Review – A Visual Feast That Takes VR Climbing to New Heights
With Horizon Call of the Mountain, Sony is hoping to have an exclusive big-budget VR game to entice players to the new PSVR 2. Does the title succeed? Read on to find out.
Horizon Call of the Mountain Details:
Available On: PSVR 2
Release Date: February 22nd, 2023
Price: $60
Developer: Geurilla Games & Firesprite
Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment
Editor’s Note: The clips in this review that were captured from PSVR 2 do not look correctly saturated due to incorrect HDR downmixing on our part. Rest assured, the world of Horizon Call of the Mountain is quite vibrant!
Gameplay
The first thing you should know about Horizon Call […]
PSVR 2 Team Shooter ‘Firewall Ultra’ Confirmed for 2023 Release, New Character Revealed
Firewall Ultra, the team shooter exclusive to PSVR 2, doesn’t have a release date yet, however developers First Contact Entertainment confirmed with Road to VR it’s indeed releasing sometime this year. In the meantime, the studio has revealed a new character to its lineup of Contractors.
Firewall Ultra is the upcoming sequel to the well-recieved squad-based shooter Firewall Zero Hour, which launched on the original PSVR in 2018. While we were hoping to hear news of the sequel’s actual release date, it appears we’ll have to wait a little longer, as the studio announced it’s confirmed for 2023 release.
We didn’t […]
Three Good Tools for Recording Brainstorming Sessions
Earlier this week on Practical Ed Tech I published an article about using the Nominal Group Technique for classroom brainstorming sessions. What follows is an excerpt from that article.
Post-it Mobile Apps
The Post-it mobile apps for Android and iOS let you […]
Want to Retain IT Staff? Start with Stay Interviews
Stay interviews provide an opportunity for staff to feel heard and appreciated
Writing With Emojis
Yesterday I wrote about Tony Vincent’s new page of free Shapegrams. As I mentioned in that post, Tony has always had great ideas for using clever graphics in the classroom. In fact, five years ago Tony Tweeted a slick graphic that convinced me to pay more attention to the clever used of emojis.
In the graphic seen here Tony created a game in which students have to decipher school terms based on the emojis displayed. If you want to do a similar thing, you could do […]
15 Great Preschool Learning Websites
Are you looking for preschool learning websites to help your little one learn and develop? The list below has you covered. It features a selection of 15 great preschool learning websites that offer fun and educational activities for kids of all ages. From interactive games and puzzles to videos and step-by-step guides, kids will enjoy their learning while having fun!
1. Starfall
Starfall is a great kids website where you can access a wide variety of educational preschool materials including interactive activities, games, […]
Free Shapegrams from Tony Vincent!
I’ve known Tony Vincent for at least a dozen years. In all that time he’s always had awesome graphics on his website and in his presentations. So when he recently reached out to tell me about his new page of free Shapegrams, I knew I had to share it with all of you.
Shapegrams are digital drawings creating by using the drawing tools, shapes, and fill tools available in Google Slides and Google Drawings. On his free Shapegrams page Tony offers directions and templates for making a house, […]
Three Tools for Building Your Own Online Games That Aren’t Kahoot-like
Earlier today I fielded a question from a reader who was looking for some suggestions for tools he could use to create some online games for his students to play. Specifically, he was looking for some alternatives to the typical suggestions of Kahoot, Quizizz, and Gimkit. There are a lot of options that I could have shared, but there were three that immediately came to my mind.
TinyTap is an app and website that I’ve been using and recommending since its initial launch nearly a decade ago. On the TinyTap platform you can create […]
‘The Light Brigade’ Review – The Gun-toting Spiritual Successor to ‘In Death’
The Light Brigade is a roguelike shooter that I would mostly describe as a spiritual successor to In Death: Unchained, the critically acclaimed bowshooter from Sólfar Studios and Superbright. While at times a little less visually polished than In Death, the game’s variety of upgrades and array of WWII-era weaponry gives it a definite Wolfenstein bend that fans of the shooter genre will instantly be able to click into.
Available On: SteamVR, PSVR 2 & PSVR, Quest 2
Release Date: February 22nd, 2023
Price: $25
Developer: Funktronic Labs
Reviewed On: Quest 2 (native), Quest 2 via PC Link
Gameplay
There’s a definite […]
Everything You Need to Know to Successfully Transition to Standards-Based Grading
At this recent Tech & Learning webinar, educators shared everything you need to know about standards- or mastery-based grading.
Pixilart- A Great Web Tool for Creating and Sharing Artwork
Lumen5 – Quickly Turn Your Writing Into Videos
ChatGPT might be the first thing you think of when you read AI today, but there have been plenty of other AI tools before it. One such tool is Lumen5. Lumen5 is a tool that will produce a video for you based upon your written work.
To create a video with Lumen5 you can enter the URL of your published work or submit the text of an article you’ve written. Lumen5 will then select highlights from your writing to feature in a video. The video will always begin with the title of your […]
PSVR 2 is Getting a Version of Sega Dreamcast Classic ‘Cosmic Smash’ This Year
Sega’s futuristic block-breaker, which you might remember from its launch on Dreamcast in 2001 or in arcades throughout Europe and Japan, is being reimagined for PSVR 2 with C-Smash VRS.
The game is bringing an immersive twist to Cosmic Smash’s low gravity squash-meets-blockbreaker gameplay, including single player, co-op, and 1v1 multiplayer modes—that’s what the ‘VRS’ stands for, both virtual reality and versus.
Besides bringing the futuristic racket sport to VR, C-Smash VRS is also set to rekindle some long dormant memories with its thumping OST, which seems to be inspired by the original’s ambient techno score; new tracks are being composed by […]
Fanschool Lesson Plan
This Fanschool lesson plan can help teachers implement the tool into their instruction
Three Self-paced Courses You Can Start Today!
Throughout the year I host a variety of live Practical Ed Tech webinars. Many of you have joined me for them this year and in prior school years. But my timing of those webinars doesn’t work for a lot of you. That’s why I also offer some self-paced courses over on Practical Ed Tech. Here’s a quick overview of the three self-paced courses that I’m currently offering.
This five-part course teaches you everything you need to know to create and teach with your own animated explanations. In the course you’ll learn […]
How to Search Within Desktop and Mobile Pages
How to search within documents, web pages, and spreadsheets is one of the first things that I teach to students at the start of a new semester or new school year (for year-long courses). It’s a simple thing that can lead to more efficient use of time spent on research. Over the weekend a reader emailed me for clarification on how her students could search within web pages on their tablets and phones. I recorded this short video to demonstrate how that is done.
Two Ways to Use Pictures in Formative Assessment
When I taught a computer repair class for high school students there were two ways that I consistently used pictures and diagrams in formative assessment.
Formative Assessment With Images on Formative
Every week I would have students answer questions based on a diagram that I upload to Formative.com. I like using Formative.com for this purpose because I can add multiple questions to the same diagram. Students know exactly which part of the diagram each question is referring to because the questions appears when they click the diagram.
Students Documenting Processes With Pictures
One of the first hands-on activities […]
VR Veteran Studio Behind ‘Bigscreen’ Unveils Thin & Light PC VR Headset ‘Beyond’
The team behind social VR viewing app Bigscreen today unveiled a thin and light PC VR headset that not only promises a few intriguing enthusiast-grade specs, but also a custom-made fit based on a 3D scan of your face. In short, it’s a big first for the VR veterans, who are responsible for one of the most beloved VR content viewing platforms.
Called Bigscreen Beyond, the $999 headset presents an interesting set of features which are squarely aimed at PC VR enthusiasts: dual OLED microdisplays offering 2,560 × 2,560 per-eye resolution, pancake optics, and 6DOF SteamVR tracking […]
30 Great Valentine’s Day Quotes
Valentine’s Day is a day to express and celebrate love. Whether it’s for your family, friends, or significant other, words of love and affection can bring joy during this special occasion. In a previous post I shared a collection of some of the best movies to watch on Valentine’s Day. In this post, I bring you a selection of 30 inspiring Valentine’s Day quotes to share with your loved ones.
What is Ubermix? The School-Centric Operating System Explained by Its Developer
Edtech leader Jim Klein developed Ubermix to create an affordable way to provide students with robust computing power.
What is Google Bard? The ChatGPT Competitor Explained for Educators
With Google Bard, an AI text-generator and search assistant, Google hopes to match the popularity of ChatGPT
For The Love of Learning
Instilling a love of learning in our students can pay many long-term dividends
Concise Explanations of DNS & IP
One of the things that quickly became clear when I started teaching an introduction to computer science course for high school freshmen was that while they are happy to use the Internet, they don’t really understand how the Internet works. I suppose the same can be said for lots of adults too. The Domain Name Systems is the most important or at least most frequently used part of how people use the Internet today. PowerCert Videos, has a good video that explains how a DNS server works. I used this video in my […]
Tech & Learning’s Best of 2022 Higher Education
Our picks for top higher education technology
Tech & Learning’s Best of 2022 Primary Education (Grades K-8)
Our picks for top education technology, grades K-8