Latest education updates from around the world
Best Free Trigonometry Calculators
The purpose of this post is to share with you this collection of some very good trigonometry calculators that you and your students can use to ‘calculate trigonometric angle functions (sin, cos, tan, sec, csc, tan) in either degrees or radians’. All of these calculators are simple and easy to use.
‘Attack on Titan VR’ Game Announced from ‘Little Witch Academia VR’ Developer
Attack on Titan is one of those IPs that people have long asked to see in VR… and now they’ll finally get their wish. Today it was announced that UNIVRS is developing the first official Attack on Titan VR game for home headsets, Attack on Titan VR: Unbreakable.
Announced today during Upload VR’s 2022 Winter Showcase, Attack on Titan VR: Unbreakable is in development and set for a release in Summer 2023 on Quest 2. Developer Univrs, the studio most recently behind Little Witch Academia: VR Broom Racing, released a teaser for the project which unfortunately doesn’t give us any clue at […]
Anticipated PC VR Title ‘Vertigo 2’ Gets Early 2023 Release Date & New Gameplay Trailer
Vertigo 2 has been on our radar thanks to its slick unique world and slick-looking weaponry. While we still have a little longer to wait before we’ll get to play it, today the studio announced an early 2023 release alongside a fresh look at gameplay.
Vertigo 2 has been anticipated ever since the original Vertigo (2016) and its refinement Vertigo Remastered (2020) brought rich physics-driven weapons and interactions to PC VR headsets. Developer Zach Tsiakalis-Brown has been giving glimpses of the sequel over the last two years, but only now has he set a release date for March 30th, 2023.
Vertigo 2 […]
A Few New Search Tools from Google
Those of you who use Chrome as your primary web browser on your computer or phone, that’s 75% of all readers of FreeTech4Teachers.com according to my Google Analytics account, may notice a few new search tools the next time you update your browser.
Yesterday afternoon Google announced new search shortcuts for the Chrome address bar. These new shortcuts let you quickly search your tabs, bookmarks, and history. To do this you simply type “@tabs” or “@bookmarks” or “@history” followed by your search term to search within your tabs, bookmarks, or Chrome browser history.
The other […]
‘Hubris’ Review – Visually Stunning VR Shooter That Just Misses the Mark
Hubris should be what we’ve all been waiting for, a visually well-realized VR native that transports you to otherworldly biomes, replete with shooting, jumping, climbing, swimming, and even some basic crafting mechanics. On paper it certainly checks many of the sci-fi shooting and adventuring blocks, but look past the flashy visuals and apparent feature set and you’re left with a fairly mediocre VR shooter that just isn’t clever enough out of the gate to be truly engaging.
Available On: Steam, coming to PSVR 2 & Quest 2 in 2023
Release Date: December 7th, 2022
Price: $40
Developer: Cyborn B.V.
Reviewed On: Quest […]
Free AI Writing Tools Can Write Essays in Minutes. What Does That Mean for Teachers?
AI writing tools are widely available and getting better every day. Your students may already be using them.
Free Winter-themed Physical Education Lesson Plans
As I wrote at the start of this school year, OPEN Phys Ed is the resource that would be at the top of my bookmarks if I was a physical education teacher. One of the many things that I appreciate about OPEN Phys Ed is that there is an emphasis on lesson plans and games that can engage children of all ages and athleticism. I also appreciate that OPEN provides free lesson plans and activity templates for all seasons of the year. As a case in point, OPEN recently published a new collection […]
A Handful of Resources for Computer Science Education Week
This week is Computer Science Education Week. I’ve long thought that every student should have some experience with computer science. After all, computer science is what powers so much of what kids do in their daily lives today. I was introduced to some computer science concepts when I was in elementary school in the 1980’s through the use of Logo and that experience is still beneficial to me today.
Picture This App- Easily Identify Plants, Trees, and Flowers
Picture This app does not only identify plants and flowers but offers a wide variety […]
Tech & Learning Celebrates the 2022 Winners & Finalists of the Innovative Leader Awards at New Event
Tech & Learning’s “Innovative District Leader Summit” at the Liberty Science Center outside New York City brought together the nation’s most innovative district leaders to plan the school of the future
Interactive Math & Science Simulations for Online and Offline Use
PhET is one of my favorite resources for math and science teachers. In fact, it’s included as one of my Best of the Web picks for 2022. One of the many things that I like about PhET math and science simulations is that you can use them with or without an internet connection. That’s something I recently mentioned to a former colleague and friend who had reached out to me for some help. To help him out I recorded this short video about how to use PhET simulations without an […]
Streamlining classroom media with the AMX Jetpack
How new technology offers high-quality video, audio and more
How to Build a Classroom of Community and Belongingness When Teaching Virtually
The last few years have changed all of our lives—and education is no different. While most traditional classrooms have gone back to teaching in person, it’s clear that virtual teaching methods will continue to have a big role to play.
Whether it’s dealing with illness, teaching across the world, or even making sure that students don’t miss out on learning, virtual teaching remains useful for educators.
However, many of the problems that teachers had to deal with when originally shifting to the virtual classroom still persist. Particularly when teaching younger children, it can be difficult to replicate the feeling […]
Meta Shows How Quest Pro Uses Shared Point Clouds for Local Multiplayer
Meta hasn’t rolled out colocation services for the entire Quest platform yet—meaning a pair of Quest 2 headsets can’t automatically ‘see’ each other in the same physical playspace—although that’s not entirely true for its latest headset, Quest Pro.
Meta published a quick explainer video recently showing off how local multiplayer works between two Quest Pros. Here’s the gist, although you can catch the explanation in the video below as well:
To track the room and superimpose virtual imagery over your physical environment in mixed reality, Quest Pro generates point clouds which can be shared with other Quest Pros. Users can […]
How I Updated My Home Office Spaces & Technology for Teaching
When updating home offices and technology for teaching, a few small investments can pay big dividends
Confidentiality, Integrity & Availability: 4 Ways Schools Can Securely Build A CIA Triad
When building confidentiality, integrity, and availability (the CIA Triad), districts can’t overlook security
Biographies in Infographic Form
Last week while looking for a Canva template to create the copyright guide that I distributed in my Practical Ed Tech newsletter I came across an interesting template titled George Washington’s Biography. It’s a relatively simple template that students could easily modify to create a visual-heavy biography of just about anyone including themselves.
Applications for Education
Take a look at the template and you’ll notice that it’s not intended to be used to create an exhaustive biography. Instead, it could be a good template for students to use […]
Free Webinars Today and Tomorrow
Today at 8pm ET/ 5pm PT Rushton Hurley and I are hosting the last live episode of Two Ed Tech Guys Take Questions and Share Cool Stuff. After two and a half years of hosting these live webinars we’re changing formats in 2023, but we wanted to have more live session to end 2022. I hope you’ll join us! Register here.
Tomorrow at 3:30pm ET I’m hosting Best of the Web 2022. Join me for a live presentation of my favorite new and updated ed tech tools of […]
Educational Christmas Resources for Teachers and Parents
This is the time of the year when the Christmas spirit is upon us. You feel it everywhere you go and you can even sense it in the air we breathe. Christmas songs are playing everywhere and the green and red ornaments are constantly reminding us that it is a special holiday season.
Over the last couple of weeks, my entire blogging focus was on one single theme: Christmas. I compiled a wide variety of educational Christmas resources that teachers and parents (and any one else for that matter) can use to help kids and students have fun while […]
12 Great Christmas Stories
The purpose of this post is to share with you this collection featuring some of the best Christmas stories to read alon, with your kids, or with your students in class. From Dickens’ classic tale A Christmas Carol to O. Henry’s Gift of the Magi, these engrossing Christmas stories are guaranteed to keep you reading through the holiday season and beyond.
Ten Good Tools for Making Multimedia Timelines
Last week I read a Book Widgets blog post about fun ways to use timelines in your lessons. Reading that post inspired me to make a new video about making timelines with Adobe Express. It also prompted me to update my list of good tools for making multimedia timelines.
Timeline JS
Timeline JS is still my favorite tool for making multimedia timelines. Timeline JS creates a timeline based on entries made in a Google Spreadsheets template provided by Timeline JS. Your entries can include videos, images, text, and audio recordings. Take a […]
What is Phenomenon-Based Learning?
Phenomenon-based learning sparks students’ curiosity by creating science lessons that rely upon real-world phenomena.
Google for Education Identifies 3 New Education Trends
Lifelong learning, changing skill sets, and growing demand for problem-solving are all new education trends according to a report from Google for Education.
Quest Pro Update to Bring MR Passthrough Recording, Quest 2 Support for Pro Controllers
Meta’s v47 software update for the Quest platform is packed with quality-of-life features that look to improve the user experience across Quest Pro and Quest 2, offering things like better media sync, an avatar mirror, and the ability to directly gift apps from your wishlist to friends and family. More importantly, Quest Pro is finally getting mixed reality passthrough recording in v47, and unlocking Quest Pro controller support for Quest 2.
First, here’s a look at the Quest Pro specific stuff, followed by updates affecting the whole Quest platform.
Quest Pro Updates
Meta is looking to make good use of the extra […]
How to Correctly Use Google Images to Find Pictures for Your Projects
Last week a student in my Google Earth & Maps Crash Course emailed me with a question about using Google Images for a classroom project. Specifically, she wanted to know about licensing and whether or not students could use the images they found through Google Image search.
The short answer to the question of can students use the pictures they find on Google Images is that students can use some of the images, but not all of images. Figuring out which ones can be used and which one cannot be used takes a bit […]