Latest education updates from around the world
5 Ways Technology is Being Used in Phys Ed
Personalized learning means different things to different educators, finds a new survey, but that may not be a bad thing.
The Differences Between England, Great Britain, United Kingdom, and the Commonwealth Explained
Queen Elizabeth II died yesterday. The news broke after most on the east coast of the U.S. were out of school for the day. If you find your students asking questions about about her passing, the monarchy, or Great Britain in general, here are some videos that you might find helpful.
The Washington Post published a short video that uses a lot of archival pictures and newsreels to tell the story of her 70 year reign.
The Washington Post also published a two minute compilation of how the news of Queen Elizabeth […]
A New Kind of Flashcard – Flexcards!
I started this week by sharing my favorite alternative to Quizlet. To end the school week I have a new kind of flashcard to share with you as an alternative to Quizlet. That new kind of flashcard is called Flexcards by Flippity.
Flexcards are multimedia flashcards that can have up to ten sides. You can display videos, pictures, links, and text on your Flexcards. For example, in this demo you’ll see that the Flexcards for ten countries of the world include the capital of those […]
10 Great Guitar Learning Apps for Both iPad and Android
The Need for USB Workflows in a Classroom
USB Can Transform Classrooms & Simplify ProAV Spaces.
8 Great Piano Learning Apps for iPhone and iPad
ICYMI – Webinar Recording – Two Ed Tech Guys Take Questions
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A couple of nights ago Rushton Hurley and I resumed our Two Ed Tech Guys Take Questions series. We were joined by a handful of fine folks and even more people were registered to join us. If you missed our live broadcast, you can now watch the recording and find all of the associated links right here on Next Vista for Learning. The recording is also available to view here on Rushton’s YouTube channel and as embedded below.
C-SPAN StudentCam is Back for Its 19th School Year!
Every year C-SPAN hosts the StudentCam video contest for middle school and high school students in the United States. This year’s version of the contest was announced yesterday. The theme of this year’s contest is “If you were a newly elected member of Congress, which issue would be your first priority and why?”
The StudentCam contest is open to students in sixth through twelfth grade. There is a category for middle school (grades 6-8) and high school (grades 9-12). Students can submit individual work or work in teams of up to three members. All videos must be […]
Quiet Quitting in Education
The term quiet quitting has spread across social media recently. The concept has important implications for education, say school leaders.
Sporcle Offers Tons of Free Online Trivia Games and Quizzes
Varjo Raises $40M Series D Funding to Expand Cloud-based XR Platform
Varjo, maker of high-end enterprise XR headsets, this week announced it has raised a $40 million Series D investment to continue building its Varjo Reality Cloud software and deliver a “true-to-life industrial metaverse.”
Varjo makes some of the highest-end enterprise XR headsets on the market, along with unique software solutions, claiming recently that one quarter of Fortune 100 companies have used used its tech.
This week the company announced it has raised $40 million in a Series D investment. Participants in the round include returning investors EQT Ventures, Atomico, Volvo Car Tech Fund, and Lifeline Ventures, and new investors […]
Great Resources for Family Phys Ed Week
As I’ve mentioned in previous blog posts, I’m a big fan of OPEN Phys ED because they offer great lesson plans and other resources for getting kids active in more than just the traditional gym class activities that you and I did in school decades ago. OPEN Phys Ed seems to emphasize giving kids ways to develop fun exercise habits for life. To that end, OPEN Phys Ed recently published some new resources for Family PE Week 2022.
Family PE Week is October 3rd through 7th this year. […]
Code.org vs. Blackbird Code – Which One Should You Use?
In the last month I’ve replied to a few Tweets from people asking for my opinion about whether they should use Code.org or Blackbird to help them teach their students how to code. As you might expect, there isn’t a one-size-fits all answer to that question. In this post I’ll share my experience using both in my classroom (9th grade Intro to Programming). Hopefully, my experiences will help you decide which is best for your students.
Code.org CS Principles
Code.org’s CS Principles is a very scripted curriculum that […]
HTC Launches Aftermarket Face & Eye-trackers for Vive Focus 3
HTC today announced it’s releasing both facial and eye-tracking units for its Vive Focus 3 standalone VR headset.
The company says its new trackers will offer “more natural and immersive VR experiences, new options for enterprises to measure user responses, and even more accessible interaction methods such as gaze control.”
The units are priced at $100 for the Facial Tracker and $250 for the Eye Tracker, however that’s pretty much a drop in the bucket in comparison to Vive Focus 3’s business-oriented price of $1,300.
The new Vive Focus 3 Facial Tracker captures expressions through […]
Add-on the Fun with BookWidgets
Add-on the fun in Google Classroom with BookWidgets. Easy to use for any teacher and student. Use the new Add-on to add directly to Google Classroom or add BookWidgets using the Chrome extension or sharing link.
The post Add-on the Fun with BookWidgets appeared first on Teacher Tech.
What is Plagiarism Checker X and How Can It Be Used to Teach? Tips & Tricks
Plagiarism Checker X is a powerful tool to stop cheating on digital work.
VR Vet Phaser Lock Announces Co-op Dino Hunting Game ‘Primal Hunt’
Phaser Lock Interactive, the VR studio behind Final Assault (2019) and Twisted Arrow (2017), announced an upcoming co-op dinosaur hunting game that pits you against a Jurassic Park’s worth of the mighty beasts—even Tyrannosaurus Rex.
Called Primal Hunt, the cross-platform co-op game gives you a variety of armor and weapons as you track down and fight the deadliest creatures to have ever walked the Earth.
The game, which is inspired by the Turok series and TV show Westworld, is slated to land on Meta Quest 2, HTC Vive Focus, and Pico headsets sometime in early 2023.
The studio also released a short teaser video (below […]
Slido- Make Interactive Presentations Using Polls, Quizzes and Surveys
Interactive Digital Whiteboards are Great Tools to Enhance Your Teaching
Best Apps to Remotely Access your PC from iPad or Mobile Device
1. Chrome Remote Desktop
‘Firewall Zero Hour’ Sequel Announced for PSVR 2, Trailer Here
First Contact Entertainment, the studio behind Firewall Zero Hour (2018), announced it’s bringing the “next evolution” of its hit squad-based shooter to PSVR 2, calling it Firewall Ultra.
The studio says in a PS blogpost Firewall Ultra will be “the next evolution in the Firewall franchise,” saying the game will incorporate all of the new features the PSVR 2 has to offer, which includes PSVR 2’s built-in eye tracking to let you swap weapons and bring up HUD indicators.
The studio says it’s overhauled character models and maps, and included new areas and textures too. First Contact also promises new […]
Meta Connect Dev Conference to Be Held Virtually on October 11th
Meta today announced that its next installment of Connect, the company’s annual XR developer conference, is again going digital this year. The event, which promises to share updates and looks into the “near and far future” of Meta, will be held on October 11th, 2022.
Like last year’s all-digital Connect, this year’s dev conference will include livestreaming keynotes and developer sessions, which the company says will be available on the Reality Labs Facebook page. And it’s all being boiled down into one day.
There’s no schedule out yet, however the company says its one-day virtual event will explore “the building […]
Meta Acquires Berlin-based Haptic Tech Startup Lofelt
Meta has acquired Lofelt, a Berlin-based startup developing advanced haptic technologies for VR and other devices. According to The Wall Street Journal, the acquisition took place earlier this summer, however the deal came to light only just last week.
“Lofelt is now embarking on a new adventure, and we will sunset our products on July 7th, 2022,” the company writes on its webpage. That’s how the company broke the news a few weeks ago that it was winding down its products, albeit without any publicly available reason at the time.
WSJ reports there’s still no […]
A Free STEM Toolkit for Librarians
Last week while looking for directions for a soda pop experiment I refined my search to show just PDFs. When I did that I came across a PDF from the Idaho Commission for Libraries. That PDF is titled A Toolkit for Libraries Providing STEM Outreach Activities.
A Toolkit for Libraries Providing STEM Outreach Activities contains directions for ten hands-on STEM activities that can be done with elementary school students. The list of activities that you will find in the toolkit include rubber band […]
Three More Ways for Students to Create Flashcards Online
Writing yesterday’s blog post about my favorite alternative to Quizlet prompted me to look back at some other options for creating online flashcards. Should you find yourself looking for some free and easy ways for students to make online flashcards, give the following options a try.
Flippity’s flashcard template lets you create multimedia flashcards by simply entering terms into a Google Sheet. Your flashcards can include audio, video, images, and text. In this video I demonstrate how to create a set of multimedia flashcards by using Flippity’s Google Sheets template. […]