Latest education updates from around the world
WeVideo and Vimeo Offer Great Tips for Recording and Editing Videos
Thanks to mobile devices and wealth of video editing tools we can all be video producers today. But creating a good video requires more than just having access to the tools of production. Creating good videos begins with some basic steps like holding your phone or camera the right way and knowing when to zoom with a lens or zoom with your feet.
In this short video WeVideo offers three key tips for shooting better videos.
The Vimeo Video School offers more than five dozen videos about creating better videos. Two of […]
The Season Finale of Two EdTech Guys Take Questions
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In case you missed it, yesterday afternoon Rushton Hurley and I hosted the season finale of Two EdTech Guys Take Questions and Share Cool Stuff! This was the second full school of hosting these free webinars. If you’re so inclined, you can go back and watch all of the episodes here on the Next Vista for Learning website. Or if you just want to watch yesterday’s episode you can do so right here.
All of the links and resources we mentioned in the webinar can be seen in
3 Ways You & Your Students Can Use Microproductivity
Practicing microproductivity by breaking large tasks down into smaller, easier-to-complete ones, can save time and help educators and students tackle daunting projects
How Robots Connect Students, Families, and Educators
In Idaho, placing robots in libraries is a playful, hands-on strategy to introduce families to key foundational concepts that create strong learning supports for young children
What is Mood Meter and How to Use It to Boost Kids Emotional Intelligence?
Mood Meter is a tool from Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence that helps students (and everyone else) boost their emotional intelligence (EQ) through developing self-awareness and…
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How to Create an Online Course With Three Simple Tools
Summer is coming (in the northern hemisphere) and for many of us that means spending some time participating in professional development activities as a leader, learner, or both. If you find yourself trying to create some online professional development courses for the summer, I have a new video just for you.
In this video I demonstrate how to create an online professional development course by using Google Classroom, Screencastify, and EdPuzzle. In the video I show how to use Screencastify to record and build interactive […]
A Good Place to Find Old Maps Online
Old Maps Online is an online map that you can browse and search to find historical maps to view online, to download, and to print. You can search the map by entering a location or you can just pan and zoom around the world to find historical maps. In the video embedded below I demonstrate how to use Old Maps Online.
Applications for Education
The maps that you and your students find could be used as overlays in the Google Earth layers. You might also use the maps […]
Meta CEO Teases Project Cambria’s Color Passthrough in New Video
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg talked a bit about the company’s upcoming high-end VR headset Project Cambria today and what it can do. The headset is still basically under wraps, however Zuckerberg showed off a bit of the experience of using the device, giving us a good look at Cambria’s color passthrough function, which allows it do some pretty convincing augmented reality tasks.
Zuckerberg released a video on his Facebook profile today where he sat down with Jesse Schell, founder and CEO of pioneering VR studio Schell Games.
Schell Games is currently developing what Zuckerberg described as a “hypothetical follow-up […]
First S
CS First is a great way to get started with teaching students computer science even if you as the teacher do not have experience with coding or computer science. First s … science! It is critical thinking.
The post First S appeared first on Teacher Tech.
How To Setup Virtual Reality Or Augmented Reality In Schools For Free
Want virtual reality or augmented reality? Here’s how to get it free
CodeCombat Helps Students Learn Coding Through Role Playing Game Adventures
CodeCombat is a learning website that offers role-playing game adventures and gamified lessons to help students of all ages and skill levels learn coding and computer science from the basics up to…
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Meta Releases UE4 Graphics Demo to Show What Quest 2 Can Do with Expert Optimization
In an effort to help PC VR developers bring their content to Quest 2, Meta has ported Showdown, an old UE4 VR graphics showcase, to the headset as a case study in optimization best practices.
Showdown is a UE4 PC VR demo originally made by Epic Games back in 2014 to show off high-fidelity VR graphics running at 90Hz on a GTX 980 GPU at a 1,080 × 1,200 (1.3MP) per-eye resolution.
Eight years later, you can now run Showdown on Quest 2 at 90Hz on the headset’s Snapdragon XR2 chip at 1,832 × 1,920 (3.5MP) per-eye resolution.
Meta ported the short demo […]
Understanding Perspectives in Primary Sources – A New National Archives Resource
Once they understood the difference between a primary and secondary source, helping students understand the context, meaning, and purpose of primary source documents was one of the things that I enjoyed the most when I taught U.S. History. To that end, I often used resources from the National Archives Daily Document RSS feed to spark conversations in my classroom. The National Archives recently published a new guide to help students understand perspectives in primary sources.
Drawings, Templates, and Deer – The Week in Review
Good morning from Maine where we’re recovering from the destruction of our tulip garden at the hooves and teeth of some whitetail deer. We’ll be spending part of the day working on the gardens including planting some marigolds and other plants that are reported to be deer repellents (we’ll see).
These […]
Two Webinars Coming Up This Week
The sun is shining, summer is so close, but there’s still time to learn some new things to try in your classroom before the end of the school year. This week I’m hosting or co-hosting two opportunities to learn directly from me in live webinars. First, on Tuesday I’m hosting Blending Technology Into Outdoor Learning. Second, on Thursday I’m co-hosting Two EdTech Guys Take Questions and Share Cool Stuff.
In Tuesday’s webinar I’ll teach you five ways that you can develop engaging activities for your students to complete as part of […]
Create Location-based Reminders in Google Keep
Other than the Chrome web browser, Google Keep is the app that I use more than any other on my Pixel 5 phone (a phone I like, but don’t love). I use it for bookmarking websites, creating to-do lists and shopping lists, and to set reminders for myself throughout the day. My favorite aspect of Google Keep is the ability to set location-based reminders.
By creating location-based reminders for myself I can be reminded of things that I need to do when I get to specific place. For example, I use it […]
How to Create Your Own Virtual Reality Tours
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about and gave a video demonstration of how to lead students on virtual reality tours with Expeditions Pro. In that video I mentioned that Expeditions Pro can also be used to create your own virtual reality tours. This morning I recorded a video about how do that. Watch my new video to learn how you can create your own virtual reality tours with Expeditions Pro.
There are a few things to note from this video before you try creating your own […]
Three Tools for Quickly & Easily Creating End-of-Year Slideshow Videos
In my weekly newsletter I mentioned that a sure sign that the end of the school year is near always lands in my inbox as an uptick in the number of questions I get about saving and moving files. Another sign that the end of the school year is near is an increase in questions like this one that just landed in my inbox,
I have taken a lot of pictures this year. I would like to put them into a slideshow with music for my students for the last day of school. […]
Another Easy Way to Create End-of-Year Slideshow Videos
Yesterday I shared three quick and easy ways to create end-of-year slideshow videos. Shortly after I hit publish on that blog post I realized that there was another great option that I’ve been overlooking for a few years. That option is built right into Google Photos.
How to Create and Send Personalized Certificates in Google Workspace
As we get close to the end of the school year you may find yourself needing to create and distribute certificates to students. These could be for recognition of any number of things from honor roll to volunteer work. It used to be that giving certificates for these occasions required buying ream of pre-printed certificates from a catalog and then manually writing students’ names on them. Today, there are some easy ways to create customized and personalized certificates. In fact, you can do that with the Google Workspace tools you may already be using on a […]
Living Wage vs. Minimum Wage
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Last night I was reading a discussion on FlyerTalk that got into the question of whether or not tipping should be an expectation of hotel housekeeping staff. That discussion veered off into a bigger question of minimum wage versus livable wage. That discussion reminded me of two resources that I’ve highlighted in the past to help students understand why minimum wage and livable wage are almost never the same thing.
The Living Wage Calculator is a great resource hosted by MIT. The Living Wage Calculator displays the current […]
LingQ- Learn A New Language By Reading and listening to Stories
LingQ is a language learning platform that helps you learn a new language by reading and listening to stories in the target language. LingQ’s library offers a wide variety of learning…
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SplashLearn – More Than Just Fun Math and ELA Practice
When an email about SplashLearn splash landed in my inbox last week I didn’t give it much thought because I get dozens of pitches every morning and because at first glance I thought it was just another rote practice app. It turns out that I was wrong about it just being a rote practice app.
At its core SplashLearn is a service that provides a free and ad-free environment in which students can practice their math and ELA skills. Students can use it in the web browsers on their computers or […]
Reading Plus Offers Helpful Resources for Struggling Readers
Reading Plus is a reading intervention program that helps students grades 3-12 enhance their reading comprehension, vocabulary, and silent reading fluency through individualized instruction….
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Free Social Studies Resources for Teachers and Students
Updated in April, 2022
Social Studies content is in a constant flux because the world is dynamic with important events taking place on a daily basis. Unless social studies content reflects this…
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