Latest education updates from around the world

2022 Was a Plateau Year for VR, Here’s What to Expect in 2023

By |January 16, 2023|

The end of 2022 marks more than a decade since the Oculus Kickstarter sparked the modern era of VR. While the space has undoubtedly grown tremendously since then, 2022 felt largely like a plateau year, with Meta standing unchallenged as the dominant player in the space—while progressing disjointedly in too many directions at once. But with new headsets, promising new content, and a looming heavyweight positioned to challenge Meta all on the horizon, 2023 could big a much bigger year for the VR space.

The 2022 Plateau

2022 wasn’t a bad year for VR by any means, but for the […]

Best Infographic Creation Tools for Teachers

By |January 16, 2023|

Infographics are visual representation of data. Infographics can help communicate your ideas in a clear and concise format. You can leverage the communicative strength of infographics to boost your students understanding and increase their engagement. 


There are several tools that allow you to easily create and share infographics. No graphic design or coding skills required. Below are some of the best infographic making tools I recommend for any beginner or even advanced user.


These tools are simple and easy to use. You can simply select a pre-designed template, customize and add your own […]

TypingClub- Learn Touch Typing Through Interactive Games

By |January 16, 2023|

TypingClub is a web-based platform that helps you learn touch typing through a wide variety of lessons and  interactive games. TypingClub also provides a school edition which allows you to create classes, access standards-aligned typing lessons, and monitor students learning progress.  

If you are not a teacher, you can use the individual edition of TypingClub. Simply sign up using a valid email address and a password and start taking lessons.  TypingClub offers numerous lessons which you can access from the lesson plans catalog. 

Lessons are provided in numerous languages including French, Arabic, Bulgarian, Chinese, German, Hungarian, Italian, and many more. […]

10 Great Typing Games for Kids

By |January 16, 2023|

Looking for some fun typing games for kids (as well as adults)? The collection below has you covered. In it I feature what I think are some of the best online typing games to use with your kids to help them improve their typing skills and become fast typists. 



1. Typing Rocket

Typing Rocket is a fun game by ABCya that teaches you to type by blasting off into space. Pop the rockets by typing the letters that appear on them. The more you play the game the harder it gets. 

Dozens of PowerPoint Tips & Tricks

By |January 15, 2023|

On Saturday I shared my playlist of Google Slides tutorials. This morning I have a PowerPoint tips playlist to share with you. Over the years I haven’t made nearly as many PowerPoint tutorial videos as I have Google Slides tutorial videos. That said, my PowerPoint tips playlist still includes more than two dozen tutorials. 

Some of the highlights from the playlist are featured below. 

Create a storyboard template in PowerPoint

How to Remove Image Backgrounds in PowerPoint

How to Add […]

The Four Levels of Reading Explained

By |January 15, 2023|

The purpose of this post is to talk to you about the four levels of reading as conceptualized by Mortimer Adler and Charles Van Doren in their classic work How to Read a Book . The book was first published in 1940 and since then several editions have been released.

In How to Read A Book, Van Doren and Mortimer talked about four main levels of reading: elementary reading, inspectional reading, analytical reading, and syntopical reading. Note here that the authors deliberately call them levels and not ‘types’ or ‘kinds’.
According to Mortimer […]

7 Great YouTube Channels for Social Studies

By |January 15, 2023|

Looking for some good social studies YouTube channels to use in your instruction? The collection below has you covered. It features channels that offers educational video content covering major areas of social studies including economics, history, geography, civics, as well as sociology. I invite you to check them out and share with us on our social media websites if you have other suggestions to add to the list.



1. CrashCourse 

CrashCourse is an amazing educational YouTube channels that offers educational video content covering a wide range of topics from biology to history. […]

20 Excellent Math YouTube Channels

By |January 15, 2023|

How about teaching math through videos? The YouTube channels below are some of the best math channels to help your students and young learners explore  the world of Math and develop mathematical thinking. These channels provide a wide variety of  videos, tutorials and animated courses covering different mathematical concepts from algebra to geometry. 





Whether you are teaching in class or remotely, these videos resources will definitely help you amp up your math instruction. Check them out and share with us if you have other suggestions to add to the list.

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Google Sites Easily Build Websites for Your Classes

By |January 15, 2023|

Since its introduction over a decade ago, Google Sites has developed into a powerful site-building platform, ideal for us in education. Several new features and services have been added including the ability to buy a custom domain name for your Google site.  

From my own experience working on WordPress and Google Sites, I can comfortably state that the latter is way better for those who are less tech savvy. Technical problems (glitches) are inevitable when you use WordPress especially when you buy your custom domain and choose a hosting provider. 




The purpose of today’s post […]

9 Tips Every Teacher should Know about Google Scholar

By |January 15, 2023|

Google Scholar is definitely a great academic search engine for research students and academics. Besides searching for academic literature such as journal articles, peer-reviewed papers, books, reports…etc, Google Scholar also enables you to create your personal library where you can save and organize your materials. And if you are an author, you can use its metrics to learn about who cites your search and where it was cited. 


In today’s post, I am sharing with those of you who are new to Google Scholar some of the basic tips to help you make the best […]

Here is How to Search for PPT Presentations

By |January 15, 2023|

If you are looking for PPT search engines here are two options to consider. Keep in mind that there are no real quality search engines that are entirely dedicated to PowerPoint presentations. I mean quality search engines  because you will find some out there but not worth mentioning here.  I tried many platforms and I landed the two options below. 

1. How to use Google to search for PowerPoint presentation? 

The first option and the one that I prefer is using Google Search  engine. Several people disregard this handy feature in Google that allows you to narrow down […]

This Is How to Do A Reverse Image Search on Google

By |January 15, 2023|

Google Image is a powerful search engine that is just as important as Google search engine. Yet, many teachers and educators overlook this service.  If you have never tried Google Image before you definitely are missing out.

One of the really useful features I like the most in Google Image search is the reverse image search which allows you to search for similar images.  This can be a very helpful tool in your teaching. For instance, use reverse image to search for sources of images students use in their assignments to make sure they are copyright free and […]

Forms, Games, and Images – The Week in Review

By |January 14, 2023|

Good morning from Maine where the sun is rising on what should be a nice winter day. It’s nice to see the sun after a couple of days of clouds, snow, and a bit of rain. We’re headed out to take and teach ski lessons this weekend. I hope that you also have something fun scheduled for the weekend. 

This week I started my first course of the new year. I have more scheduled for later this year. Subscribe to my Practical Ed Tech newsletter to be notified when my next course opens for […]

Dozens of Google Slides Tutorials

By |January 14, 2023|

Earlier this week after publishing An Important Tip for Using Image Search in Google Slides it occurred to me that I should probably start to organize all of the Google Slides tutorials that I’d made over the years. As I started to search through my YouTube channel I discovered that I’ve made more than eighty Google Slides video tutorials over the years. Some of them are a bit outdated now, the rest are still relevant. All of the relevant ones are now organized into one playlist

In my playlist of Google Slides tutorials […]

The 9 Qualities of A Good Teacher

By |January 14, 2023|

I come from a family of teachers. Three of my sisters are teachers (including my twin sister) and my two younger brothers are teachers as well. I often think that teaching has come to me and not the other way around. And since September 2003 the first time I stepped into a classroom as a teacher, a lot of things have changed in the field and a whole new set of skills have come to the fore. Web technologies are now part and parcel of the teaching pedagogy and since the pandemic they have even […]

Free Online Book Libraries for Kids

By |January 14, 2023|

Below is collection of some of the best platforms where you can access free eBooks for kids and young learners. From storybooks to comics and interactive games, these online libraries offer a wide variety of resources to help kids improve their reading skills while enjoying the act of reading.  For audiobook libraries check out this collection of the  best places where you can access free eBooks and audiobooks

Image by Oberholster Venita from Pixabay 

1- Epic library

Epic library features  a growing collection of interactive […]

Which Creative Commons Licence Should I Use?

By |January 14, 2023|

The concept of Creative Commons was introduced to help enhance creative and free exchange of scholarship and knowledge. This is all done while standing on the shoulders of giants. Instead of restricting their work with a rigid copyright license, producers use Creative Commons licences to allow others to re-use and share their work under a variety of conditions determined by the type of CC license chosen. 
In this post, I share with you this handy featuring the major types of Creative Commons licences that you can use with your students in class.  The visual is entirely based on guidelines […]

US Congress Halts Orders of Microsoft AR Combat Goggles Amid Reports of Headaches & Eyestrain

By |January 13, 2023|

In 2021, Microsoft won a United States Army defense contract worth up to $22 billion which would support the development of an Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS), a tactical AR headset for soldiers based on HoloLens 2. Now Congress has rejected the Army’s request for $400 million to buy as many as 6,900 more of the AR combat goggles this year, a Bloomberg report maintains.

The rejection cites rocky tests conducted last year. Testing was done over a three-week period ending June 18th, where the Army assessed Microsoft’s IVAS with a cadre of 70 Army […]

Education RE-solution

By |January 13, 2023|

Synonyms for the word resolution could serve as guidance for solving education problems in the year ahead

A Quick Tip for Using the Same Color in Multiple Adobe Express Projects

By |January 13, 2023|

A couple of days ago I shared a tip for duplicating colors in Canva design elements. A similar thing can be done in Adobe Express. 

When you find or create a color scheme in Adobe Express that you want to use in multiple projects, there is an easy way to make sure you get all of the shades exactly right. The way to do that is by using color hex codes instead of using the color selection tool. By using color hex codes you can be certain that you’re using the exact shade of […]

How to Use Voice Typing in Google Slides

By |January 13, 2023|

Google recently improved the voice typing function in Google Docs and Google Slides. The tools work in the same way as before, but the voice recognition and accuracy is better than it has been in the past. If you’ve never tried voice typing in Google Slides, watch this new video to see how it works. 

Video – How to Use Voice Typing in Google Slides

It’s important to note that you still have to give verbal commands to start new lines and add punctuation when voice typing in Google Slides and Google […]

Chinese New Year- What Animal Am I?

By |January 13, 2023|

Chinese New Year, also known as Lunar New Year or Spring Festival, always falls on a date between January 21 and February 20. In 2023, Chinese New Year will fall on Sunday, January 22. Besides China, several other Asian countries celebrate the Lunar New Year including Korea, Vietnam, the Philippines, as well as Asian communities all over the world.

A traditional custom associated with the Chinese calendar states that one’s personality is determined by the year they were born in. Each year in the Chinese calendar is represented by an animal known as the Chinese zodiac sign. […]

Best TED Ed Videos for Middle School Students

By |January 13, 2023|

Looking for some intellectually engaging video content for your middle school students? The list below has you covered. It features 10 great TED Ed video lessons to use with you middle school students from tips to improve critical thinking skills to learning the art of listening empathically.  


These TED video lessons come with embedded questions and prompts to help with integrating them in your classroom instruction. You can always edit the integrated questions and use your own if you want. 


1- 5 tips to improve your critical thinking – Samantha Agoos

“Every day, a sea […]

17 Best TED Ed Talks on Language Learning

By |January 13, 2023|

Language is amazingly mysterious. It has been the centre of contentious debates dating back to ancient Greek philosophers and even before. One particular topic that has stirred a lot of discussion in linguistic and non-linguistic circles is that of nature vs nurture. That is, whether language is an innate universal capacity humans are born with and are predisposed to automatically acquire or whether it is a learned competence that requires some sort of formal/informal instruction.



Proponents of the innateness hypothesis (a.k.a linguistic nativism) argue that language is acquired because, as Chomsky contended, humans […]