Latest education updates from around the world
Popular Teenage Texting Abbreviations
One of the intriguing linguistic phenomenon associated with teen’s use of social media and texting is the creation of a wholly new lexicon for communication. This lexicon is grounded in brevity and draws heavily on slang vernacular.
City Guesser- Learn Geography through Virtual Video Tours
What is Geoguessr and How to Use It to Explore the World?
The benefits of using Geoguessr with students in school
Here Are Some of The Best Geography Games and Quizzes
The geographical diversity of our world is just amazing. Each spot in our planet is in and of itself a geographical wonder and the more we learn about the geography of our world the more appreciative of our diversity we become. That said, geography learning is notoriously known for being boring. It does not have to be like that at all!One way to make geography learning fun and engaging is through the use of interactive games and quizzes.
The Five Most Interesting VR Haptic Technologies I’ve Seen in the Last Five Years
Next to sight and sound, haptics are one of the lowest hanging fruits for creating immersion in VR. But beyond the rumble we have in today’s VR controllers there’s lots of other immersive haptic tech yet to be widely adopted.
Over the years I’ve had the fortune to see a wide range of VR haptic solutions ranging from the ‘amazing but impractical’ to the ‘simple and somehow unadopted’. Here’s a look at the five most interesting haptic demos that have stuck with me in the last five years.
A Joystick that Pushes Back
While it might […]
Qualcomm Says Multiple Snapdragon XR2+ Devices Will be Announced by Year’s End
Semiconductor giant Qualcomm says its latest XR chipset, the Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 1, will find its way into multiple virtual and mixed reality (MR) headsets by the end of 2022.
We know of at least two headset that already feature Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon XR chipset: the recently launched Meta Quest Pro and Lenovo ThinkReality VRX, both of which are VR standalones capable of augmented reality interactions thanks to color passthrough cameras (aka ‘mixed reality’).
Announced on October 11th alongside Quest Pro, Snapdragon XR2+ boasts better heat dissipation, providing it the ability for 50% higher sustained power […]
Using Virtual Reality for Career Training
The Boys & Girls Clubs of Indiana have had success using virtual reality simulations to teach students about career opportunities.
A Webinar (or Workshop) and an eBook for Your School
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Last December I published the first edition of 50 Tech Tuesday Tips. When I did that I made the offer of hosting a free webinar for any school or group that purchases ten or more copies. So far I’ve had a handful of people take me up on that offer. That offer is still good and I’d be happy to host a webinar for your school. And now I’m going to extend the offer a bit further.
The End of Daylight Saving Time is Near…for this year
This coming Saturday night is the end of Daylight Saving Time for this year in North America. I’m excited to turn the clocks back one hour because it means the sunrise will be earlier in the day. As someone who gets up at 5am or earlier every day and lives in a northern latitude, I welcome the change as I’ll see the sun an hour earlier. And as the dad of two little kids I welcome the time change in autumn because it means there’s a chance my kids will sleep in and I’ll get some […]
Best Teacher Approved Flashcard Apps
In this post, I share with you this collection of some of the best apps for creating flashcards on iPad, iPhone, and Android. Students can use them to help with memorizing vocabulary, preparing for a test, learning a new language, review study materials, practice recall and rote learning, drill practice problems before exam day, and more.
10 Fast Fingers- Engaging Games to Improve Your Typing
Keybr Review- Tests to Improve Typing Practice and Speed
What is Keybr?
What is touch typing?
Candy, Pizza, and Games – The Month in Review
Good evening from Maine where the sun has set on the month of October and my daughters have finally fallen asleep after the excitement of trick o’ treating. As I do at the end of every month, I’ve taken a few minutes to look at the analytics for Free Technology for Teachers for the month to see what was popular with all of you. Take a look at the list and see if there is something interesting that you missed during the month.
What is NaNoWriMo and How Can It Be Used to Teach Writing?
November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and there are plenty of ways to have your class participate and learn in the process.
Co-op ‘Ghostbusters’ VR Game ‘Rise of the Ghost Lord’ Coming to Quest 2 & PSVR 2 in 2023
First revealed at the Quest Gaming Showcase back in April as Ghostbusters VR, Sony Pictures Virtual Reality and nDreams today unveiled the name of their upcoming four-player co-op: Ghostbusters: Rise of the Ghost Lord. The game is slated to arrive on Quest 2 and PSVR 2 sometime next year.
Update (October 31st, 2022): SPVR today unveiled the name and some artwork (seen above) of its upcoming VR game, Ghostbuster: Rise of the Ghost Lord.
Sony says the game includes a new cast of characters running their own ghost-busting headquarters in San Francisco. The game is set to take players to places […]
Best 3D Printers For Education
The best 3D printers for education can help transform a classroom — and minds too.
‘ForeVR Bowl’ Studio Raises $10M to Expand Catalogue of ‘Wii Sports’ Style VR Games
ForeVR Games, the VR studio behind Quest 2 titles such as ForeVR Bowl (2021) and ForeVR Darts (2021), announced a $10 million Series A funding round, something it’s using to further the creation of Wii Sports-style VR games.
The Series A round was led by Lobby Capital, and features participation by existing investors, including Bessemer Venture Partners and Galaxy Interactive.
Completing its first seed round back in December 2020, ForeVR also attracted investments by Twitch CEO Emmett Shear, Twitch co-founder Justin Kan, and Zynga founders Mark Pincus and Justin Waldron. Its most recent round brings ForeVR’s […]
How One District’s Mental Health Program is Saving Millions & Helping Students
Randolph Township Schools in New Jersey has increased its mental health supports and saved money in the process.
Virtual Learning: 3 Strategies for Student Success
A virtual learning environment should include three key components to be successful
The Difference Between Stocks and Bonds
Last week I finished reading Liar’s Poker written by Michael Lewis. The book is partly about his experience as a bond salesman at Salomon Brothers in the 1980’s and partly about expansion of the bond market itself during the 1980’s. The parts about how the bond market evolved to compete with the stock market in the minds of traders in the 1980’s were the most fascinating parts of the book for me. I was telling a neighbor about the book over the weekend and she mentioned that she didn’t know what the difference […]
What is Botsify and How Can It Be Used to Teach? Tips & Tricks
Botsify is an educational chatbot that aims to help both teachers and students
Best Form Builders for Teachers
Forms are versatile tools that allow you to collect various types of data. As teachers and educators, we fall back on forms to gather feedback, create polls and surveys, design quizzes, administer questionnaires, and many more. There are several online form builders to use to create your form and the list below features my favourite titles out there.
These are all simple and easy to use form builders. No technical or coding knowledge is required. In fact, you can set up and create professional looking forms in minutes. While the list is created with teachers and educators in mind, […]
Free QR Code Generators for Teachers and Students
Best QR Code Scanners for Teachers and Students
Free Webinar This Tuesday – Two Ed Tech Guys Take Questions
This coming Tuesday, November 1st at 8pm ET/ 5pm PT Rushton Hurley and I will be hosting the second episode of our third season of Two EdTech Guys Take Questions and Share Cool Stuff. Just like the title says we take questions, answer questions, and share some cool stuff that we’ve found around the web. We’d love to have you join us for this fun and free half-hour webinar. You can register here to join us live.
If you have a question for us, send it to me at richardbyrne (at) freetech4teachers.com or just join […]