Latest education updates from around the world
Meta Studio Ready at Dawn Working on “new, exciting projects,” No Plans for ‘Lone Echo’ or ‘Echo Combat’ on Quest
Ready at Dawn, the Meta-owned studio behind Lone Echo affirmed today that it has largely moved on from its prior PC titles and has begun work on “new, exciting projects”.
Ready at Dawn is the studio behind one of PC VR’s most immersive games: Lone Echo (2017), and its popular multiplayer spinoff, Echo VR. Following the release of those two titles, the studio was eventually acquired by Meta in 2020, and then finally launched Lone Echo II on PC in late 2021.
Between those two points, Ready at Dawn brought its multiplayer spinoff, Echo VR, to Quest, where it has remained a popular social game on the […]
Soundtrap Lesson Plans for Teachers
Survios is Developing a Single-player ‘Aliens’ Game for VR, PC & Consoles
VR veteran studio Survios and 20th Century Games are partnering to develop an Aliens franchise game for VR, PC and console.
The single-player, action horror game is untitled for now, however it’s said to feature an original storyline, set between the Alien and Aliens films, where a “battle hardened veteran has a vendetta against the Xenomorphs.”
From that description it doesn’t sound like we’ll be hiding much in closets and skulking around corridors à la Alien: Isolation, one of the earliest non-VR games to include a VR mode that actually worked really well—but you never know.
Besides the fact that it’s […]
‘Beat Saber’ Adds 80 New One-saber Maps for New Challenges and More Accessibility
Beat Saber has a few maps that let you play with one-handed, but now the studio has released a bunch of new one-saber beatmaps across Normal, Expert, and Expert+ difficulty levels.
The update, which is now available for all supported headsets, includes 87 one-saber maps which are spread across 29 songs from previously released OSTs and paid Music Packs.
Previously, one-handed songs were notability very difficult, however now the included ‘Normal’ difficulty mode should not only help first-time users ease into the new playing style, but also give newcomers who only play one-handed a better starting point.
Here’s the full list of songs, […]
The State of the Digital Divide
Despite progress closing the digital divide, millions of students remain on the wrong side of it. Advocates say the solution is more funding that includes digital knowledge education.
A Short Lesson About Concussions
Yesterday morning I had the Tour de France playing in the background while working in my office. I looked up from my laptop when I heard the commentators mention Greg LeMond followed by highlights of the 1986 stage to Alpe d’Huez. One of the things that struck me from those highlights was the lack of helmets. I remember riding my bike as a kid without a helmet, but today I won’t go ten feet on my bike without one. One of the reasons for that change is what we know about brain injuries […]
A Founder’s Day Search Lesson – A Classic from my Archives
Tomorrow I am spending the day helping at one our local Founder’s Day events. Our Founder’s Day is in celebration of Hannibal Hamlin. Hamlin was one of Abraham Lincoln’s Vice Presidents. The picture in this blog post is of his house. If you have followed my blog for a long time and or participated in one of my past workshops, you’ve probably seen this picture before. I use the picture as part of search challenge activity for students.
The challenge that I’ve created based on this picture is as follows:
This house was owned by […]
6 Great Free Digital Art Makers
Pixilart
SmartMusic- Music Learning Website for Teachers and Students
25 Upcoming VR Games We Can’t Wait to Play in 2022
We’re looking forward to plenty more games this year, as newcomers and trusted names in VR development alike are prepping to release bigger and better VR experiences.
Here we look at our most anticipated titles that are scheduled to release in 2022. We’ve ordered games according to their confirmed release dates, then the rash of titles sporting the ever-nebulous ‘coming in 2022’ release window, and then games that we have our eyes on (TBA). We update this article regularly, so make sure to check back for updated info.
Red Matter 2
Platform: Quest 2, PC VR
Developer: Vertical Robot
Release date: August […]
DIY Maps of Bird Migration Patterns
Over the last handful of years I’ve become more and more fascinated with birds. I think that’s due in part to my daughters’ enjoyment of watching the many interesting birds that come to the feeders around our house. We’ve even taken to naming some of the birds that visit the feeders. For example, Hans is the name my oldest daughter gave to one of the rose-breasted grosbeaks that visits our kitchen window every evening.
It’s our fascination with birds that caused me to investigate the eBird Status and Trends map earlier this week. eBird’s […]
Digital Math Manipulatives with Mathigon
Digital Math Manipulatives are free and easy. Check out how to provide students with the digital tools they need to explore mathematical concepts.
The post Digital Math Manipulatives with Mathigon appeared first on Teacher Tech.
How to Change Map Styles in Google Earth – And Why
The web version of Google Earth has improved a lot since its launch five years ago. One of those improvements is found in the number of ways that you can customize the map style displayed when you are viewing and creating projects in Google Earth.
In this new video I demonstrate how to change the map styles that you see in the web version of Google Earth. The video includes customizing the display of borders, labels, landmarks, landmark types, live cloud cover, and more.
New Certify’em Tutorial – Automatically Send Certificates from Google Forms
For the last five or so years I’ve used Certify’em to automatically send certificates to students when they successfully complete a quiz in Google Forms. I also use it to issue certificates to participants in my workshops, webinars, and self-paced courses. There have been some changes to Certify’em since the last time I published a tutorial on how to use it. That’s why I recorded this new Certify’em tutorial.
In this short video I demonstrate how to create a […]
‘All On Board!’ Aims to Let You Play Any Board Game in VR, Kickstarter Now Live
The Game Kitchen, developers behind action-platformer Blasphemous (2019), launched a Kickstarter this week that promises to let you play any board game in VR.
Called All on Board!, the game presents a unique licensing structure that lets you buy full board games and play them in VR. Only one user needs to have a game license, just like playing a physical version of the game.
For now, the studio has revealed six games that backers can choose from: Nova Aetas Black Rose Wars, Escape the Dark Castle, Rallyman GT, Sword & Sorcery, Infinity Defiance, and Istanbul. There’s also another six games yet […]
What is Plotagon and How Can it Be Used to Teach? Tips & Tricks
Plotagon is a video story creation tool that makes bringing narratives to life easier than ever.
Shmoop- Study Guides and Test Prep Resources for Students
Shmoop is an educational platform that offers a wide variety of study materials to help students with their learning. These include online courses, video content, study guides, test prep guides,…
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VR Studio Releases Free Unity Development Framework for Building Rich VR Interactions
Veteran enterprise VR studio VRMADA has released a public version of its VR toolset for quickly building immersive interactions for VR within Unity. Called UltimateXR, the studio says the tool is free and open source.
Our Guest Article by VRMADA CTO Enrique Tromp remains one of my favorites to this day because of how it shows the power of rich VR interactions. The problem, however, is that building rich interactions in VR (ie: interacting naturally and enjoyably with objects in the virtual world) is a painstaking process.
But VRMADA wants to make it easier and to that end has […]
Blooklet- Enhance Classroom Engagement Using Games
Blooket is a game-based learning platform that allows teachers to create educational games to share with students. You can host live games that students can play using a generated ID or assign games…
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Minecraft: Education Edition Lesson Plan
This lesson plan is designed to provide educators with an avenue for Minecraft: Education Edition integration into their instruction
How to Restore the Windows 11 Taskbar
Last week I took some time off which included shutting down my primary work computer. When I restarted it, my Windows 11 taskbar was gone! I know I’m not the only one to experience this problem because I got an email from a reader who had the same problem. I sought a solution to this annoying problem and found it in this Guiding Tech article.
Thanks to that article I was able to solve the problem of my missing Windows 11 toolbar. In my case, the problem was solved by restarting the Windows Explorer […]
Managing Teacher Email
Managing teacher email more efficiently advice from online teaching professionals and an etiquette expert
‘GTA 5’, ‘Red Dead 2’ & ‘Mafia’ VR Mods Pulled Down After Legal Complaint From Game Publisher
Take-Two, the parent company of Rockstar Games and 2K Games, issued a DMCA notice to the creator of popular VR mods for GTA 5, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Mafia Definitive Edition. Though the modder believes they are in the clear legally speaking, they have removed the mods to comply with the notice while waiting for the company to communicate its specific complaints.
Luke Ross is a prolific VR modder who has amassed significant support for his modding work, to the tune of some $25,000 per month via Patreon. And though Ross funds his work through Patreon, the mods […]
Magic Leap 2 Starting Price Positioned Slightly Less Than HoloLens 2, Release Date Set for September
Magic Leap today announced pricing and release date details for the company’s latest AR headset, Magic Leap 2.
Magic Leap 2 Release Date and Price
Magic Leap 2 is finally set to officially launch on September 30th, 2022. The company says the headset will come in three versions priced for different groups:
Magic Leap 2 Base (for “professionals and developers”)
$3,300
One year warranty
Magic Leap 2 Developer Pro
$4,100
One year warranty
Access to developer tools, sample products, enterprise-grade features, and “monthly early releases for development and test purposes”
Magic Leap 2 Enterprise
$5,000
Two year warranty
Two years of access to enterprise features and […]
6 Best Classroom Noise Meters for Teachers
One of the effective ways to monitor and reduce noise levels in classrooms is by making noise visible. Enabling students to visualize their noise raises awareness to their sound levels and makes them…
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