Latest education updates from around the world
Scratch Lesson Plan
This Scratch lesson plan is designed to provide educators with a lesson idea for integrating Scratch into their instruction
SpacesEDU Updates iPad App
Spaces is a digital portfolio tool that I’ve covered since the beginning of 2021 when it launched with a great feature called Asynchronous Breakout Rooms. Since then it has grown to include better reporting features and “best of” showcase features. The latest update comes in the form of an updated iPad app.
The updated app is designed for students. The previous version was focused on teacher use. The updated Spaces EDU app includes single sign-in, summary statements, and a compatibility with landscape and portrait mode.
Create […]
Tips for Managing Google Drive Folders
A couple of mornings ago a reader asked me to help her figure out how a Google Doc she didn’t remember sharing was accessed by a colleague. After ruling out that her account had been compromised I discovered that the document in question was part of a shared Google Drive folder. The document was created while she was in the shared folder and therefore it was automatically shared with everyone who had access to the folder.
Monday’s experience prompted me to record a few short videos to explain some settings and share some tips for managing Google […]
Babbel App- An Effective Way to Learn New Languages
Babbel is a language learning app that enables you to learn a wide variety of languages including English,Danish, German, French, Swedish, Italian, Portuguese, among others. Babbel is a available for the web and as a mobile app for Android and iOS. I have been experimenting with Babbel for some time now and I find it a powerful alternative to Duolingo. I used to teach EFL (English as Foreign Language) back when the Internet was still in its infancy and I wish Babbel was around at the time. It would have saved me so […]
The Weeknd ‘Beat Saber’ Music Pack Launches Today, Tracklist Revealed
Popular block-slashing rhythm game Beat Saber (2018) is getting a new music pack today featuring pop sensation The Weeknd.
Arriving hot on the heels of Beat Saber’s Lizzo Music Pack is a new 10-track music pack from Canadian pop artist The Weeknd, which launches today ahead of his ‘After Hours Til Dawn’ tour taking place later this month at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.
First, here’s a look at the track list:
Blinding Lights
Can’t Feel My Face
How Do I Make You Love Me?
I Feel It Coming (feat. Daft Punk)
Pray For Me (with Kendrick Lamar)
Sacrifice
Save Your […]
Best Free Veterans Day Lessons & Activities
Plan your Veterans Day classroom activities and lessons with quizzes, videos, primary sources, and more
Turtle Beach Expands into VR Accessories with Quest 2 Charging Dock for Headset & Controllers
Turtle Beach, the gaming headphone and accessories maker, is bringing out its own Quest 2 charging dock that should keep your headset and controllers always ready for action.
The device, called the Turtle Beach Fuel Compact VR Charging Station, provides power and storage for Meta Quest 2 and Touch controllers by replacing a few bits and bobs on your stock device.
Rechargeable batteries pair with replacement magnetic battery doors on both Touch controllers, letting you dock and charge both controllers without having to manually replace batteries ever again—or at least for a really long time. Turtle Beach says its batteries […]
When Students Use Social Media As A Source
Use of social media as a research tool among students continues to increase
CollegeLab – A Tool to Help Students Find Colleges They May Like
A long time ago when I was a high school student trying to decide where I should go to college the process was a rudimentary one. I flipped through the U.S. News and World Report’s giant book of college rankings, looked for ones that I thought I could possibly get into (my GPA was not the best), and the ones that I could possibly afford. Then I went to the college fair at my high school and looked at the pictures of the campuses to finalize my application decisions. In the end, I didn’t end up […]
A Small Collection of Resources for Teaching and Learning About Veterans Day
This Friday is Veterans Day. If you find yourself looking for some quick lessons to review with your students, here’s a small collection for you.
DOGO News- A Good Social Studies Website for Kids and Students
DOGO News is a good news website for students. It offers kids friendly news stories covering current events in the world. Each article in DOGO News comes with a number of interesting features to help kids and students develop their reading comprehension, vocabulary, listening, and critical thinking skills.
Best News Websites and Sources for Students
News reading is an important literacy practice that helps students not only improve their reading and literacy skills but also develop their global awareness and intercultural competencies preparing them to become responsible global citizens.
As I argued in Teaching with News, it is not only about reading news but more importantly how to read and interpret news. In other words, our students need to develop critical media literacy skills to be able to critically engage with news articles and understand global contexts.
The Creator of the Oculus Rift Built a VR Headset That Can Kill You for Real
Palmer Luckey, the creator of the original Oculus Rift headset, says he’s modified a VR headset such that it can kill the user for real. The provocative art project is inspired by the anime Sword Art Online in which players who are trapped in VR die for real if they die in the virtual world.
In the anime Sword Art Online, November 6th, 2022 is the day in which the VRMMORPG goes public, and the same day that players learn the dire circumstances of their situation. As the story goes, unbeknownst to those who joined the game, the NerveGear VR headset […]
30+ Activity Templates to Use in Google Classroom
Disclosure: BookWidgets is an advertiser on FreeTech4Teachers.com
It was around this time last year that I tried BookWidgets for the first time. I was immediately impressed by the variety of templates it offered for creating unique online learning activities for students. I was also impressed by how easy it was to use BookWidgets. Since then BookWidgets has become very popular and has added more tools for teachers.
Today, BookWidgets offers a Chrome extension and a Google Classroom add-on. With the Chrome extension and Google Classroom add-on installed you […]
‘Hello Neighbor’ VR Game Coming to All Major Headsets in Early 2023, Trailer Here
Last week, tinyBuild Games and Steel Wool Studios announced it was bringing a new VR take on viral indie hit Hello Neighbor to PSVR and PSVR 2 next year. Now the studios say they’re also bringing the game to Quest and Rift in early 2023 too.
If you haven’t played before, Hello Neighbor is a stealth horror game all about sneaking into your neighbor’s house to figure out what horrible secrets he’s hiding in the basement. The neighbor’s AI learns from your every move, so when you find a nice window to habitually climb through, you’ll probably find a bear trap there […]
‘Stranger Things’ VR Game is Coming in Late 2023 from ‘Virtual Virtual Reality’ Studio
Tender Claws, the indie studio behind Virtual Virtual Reality and The Under Presents, announced it’s working on a Stranger Things VR game. It’s slated to arrive on “major VR headsets” late next year.
Called Stranger Things VR, the horror-action game was created in collaboration with Netflix and the series writers, and lets you immerse yourself in one of the major twists from last season. There’s a spoiler you should definitely avoid in the next two paragraphs below in case you haven’t seen the latest season.
Spoiler: The game’s narrative is based on Henry Creel’s transformation into the villain, Vecna, […]
How to Lead Through Digital Communication
School leaders can demonstrate leadership through their digital communication practices
4 Ways to Encourage Girls to Code
Tips for encouraging girls to code, from Innovative Technology Director award winner, Dr. Karee McAndrews
How to Teach With Social Media
Teaching with social media can foster connection and build engagement when done correctly, research shows.
Math and Geography
Over the weekend a Tweet from Thomas Petra reminded me of a great Google Earth resource that he developed years ago. That resource is Real World Math. And though he stopped updating it a couple of years ago, there are still many Google Earth files on it that you can download to use as the basis of real world math problems. Real World Math has lesson plans divided into five categories; project-based learning, concept lessons, measurement lessons, exploratory lessons, and space lessons. The space lessons take advantage of the Moon, Mars, […]
60 Great Inspirational Teacher Quotes
Here Are Some of The Best Teaching Resources Websites
Phonto App- An Easy Way to Add Text to Photos
Phonto is a free mobile app that allows you to easily add text to photos. No login or registration and certainly no graphic design knowledge is required to create beautiful photos with text on them. Besides adding text to photos, Phonto also allows you to create logos, design avatars, edit images, and many more. Phonto is available for free download (with in-app purchases) for iPhone, iPad, and Android devices.
9 Great Books on The Impact of Technology on Learning and Cognition
Digital technology has certainly facilitated all aspects of our life and has ushered in an era of abundance. We are now more dependent on the services of digital technology to run our day to day life, do education, and connect more than any time in human history. We have all seen and felt the central place of digital technologies especially during the pandemic when suddenly we were forced to e-migrate to the cloud.
