Virtual reality is all the rage right now. With the inexpensive/free options made available recently, teachers are looking for cost effective ways to build this into lessons in the classroom. Google Cardboard has made this quite affordable. Mattel has made it affordable, and durable.
Document cameras are useful. As a teacher, they are great for displaying a book, student work, etc. The only drawback has been that you must have the camera in close proximity to your computer…. Not anymore.
Google Classroom has been steadily improving since it’s release almost two years ago. What started out as a solid, but still pretty basic way to deliver/manage content with students is growing into a powerhouse. The best part, what Google does with it is based in large part on what we, as educators, want and need.
Google has had the ‘Ask a Question’ feature for a while now… and that feature just got better. Continue reading
Everyone knows that there are times that are best to publish blog posts. You can look at your own blog stats/analytics and figure out when the best time of day is to post. The issue arises when the best time to post is when you can’t really post. The solution is an extremely simple one.
Use the Force… that is exactly what I wanted to do when I got my hands on the Myo Gesture Control Armband by Thalmic Labs. Use the Force, I did. I admit, I was a bit skeptical of this when I saw the promo material, as most people would be. Continue reading
Teachers like goodies. We like things that make our jobs not only easier, but more effective. Projectors are becoming more the norm in classrooms rather than the exception. Teachers are finding ways to best make use of this wonderful tool.
At a recent EdTech conference (MECA in Mississippi) I was able to obtain the Ziggi HD Plus document camera. To be honest, I wondered just how effective this tool would be, as it was priced at around $100. Talking to Alex, at the Ipevo booth, he promised that this camera had great resolution. I decided I would take this little guy for a spin. Continue reading
Ask a public school administrator about a cost effective way to try to go 1:1 in a school, and the odds are a good many of them will say to buy Chromebooks. We had the privilege of being asked to come to a school to pioneer paperless classrooms. We were always known as those teachers who were out there, dancing around the room, doing whatever we could to keep kids engaged. We were also known as those who were always looking for new ways to engage students. To us, this sounded perfect. Continue reading
So, a few months ago I stumbled upon Fakebook. Fakebook is a tool put out by classtools.net that allows students to create what looks a lot like a Facebook page.
I used this while the class read The Ranger’s Apprentice: The Ruins of Gorlan by John Flanagan. I assigned one of the three major characters to each student, and they were tasked with creating a Fakebook page for their assigned character. Continue reading
Video. Kids love clips. They can be a great way to hook students when starting a lesson. They are great for reinforcing lessons after you have taught it. They are all over YouTube and the internet. But…
As you have undoubtedly figured out, Google Chrome is incredibly flexible and powerful, especially when paired with the right extensions. The quest for going paperless appears daunting at first. Many teachers are reluctant, as they don’t know how to get good resources for their paperless classrooms. At first, it was a task to gather resources, and make it usable in a classroom setting. Not any longer. DocentEDU has made this task relatively painless, and for that, we thank them. After a brief discussion on Twitter last night with someone who has never heard of DocentEDU, I decided it was time to share the greatness of it.