Fresh Tech for Teachers
How to Use Videos in Microsoft Forms Quizzes
Microsoft Forms has improved a lot over the last few years. In fact, there are some things about it that I prefer over Google Forms.
Hybrid Instruction, Boxes, and Tires – The Week in Review
Good morning from Maine where the sun is rising and it’s going to be a nice spring day. That doesn’t mean we don’t still have
Webinar Recording – Two Ed Tech Guys Take Questions and Share Cool Stuff – Episode 34
On Thursday afternoon Rushton Hurley from Next Vista for Learning and I co-hosted the 34th episode of Two Ed Tech Guys Take Questions and Share
Two New Google Workspace Features for Students – Including Saving Google Forms in Progress!
This week Google announced two new Google Workspaces for Education features that are sure to be beneficial to students. Both of the new features are
Five Jamboard Features You Should Know How to Use
In the last year Jamboard has become one of my favorite tools for online and hybrid instruction. I often use it in place of Zoom’s
My Most Popular Tutorials in March
As I mentioned in today’s episode of Two Ed Tech Guys Take Questions and Share Cool Stuff, my YouTube channel now has nearly 35,000 subscribers
Free Webinar – Intro to Teaching History With Technology
As announced just a few moments ago during Two Ed Tech Guys Take Questions and Share Cool Stuff, next week I’m hosting a free webinar
Five Ways to Get Students to be More Active in Remote Learning
This is a guest post from Hali Larkins (@HaliLarkins), communications intern at The Learning Accelerator and Master’s student at Columbia Teachers’ College. In remote environments,
Games, Transcripts, and Copyright – The Month in Review
Good evening from Maine where it was a beautiful day for bike ride after school. Jumping on my bicycle after school on a sunny spring
A Fun and Educational Use of Cardboard Boxes
Instructables is a site that I’ve written about a couple of times during the last year. I love to visit the site for inspiration for
A Great Series of Videos for Those Who Have I.T. Career Questions
A couple of weeks ago I asked for help from my Twitter followers as I planned to help my students create resumes. Many of you
Three Areas That Can Help Teachers Improve Hybrid Learning for All Students
This is a guest post from Hali Larkins (@HaliLarkins), communications intern at The Learning Accelerator and Master’s student at Columbia Teachers’ College. Across the country,
Free Webinar This Thursday – Two Ed Tech Guys Take Questions & Share Cool Stuff
Every other Thursday Rushton Hurley from Next Vista for Learning and I host a free webinar called Two Ed Tech Guys Take Questions and Share Cool Stuff. The
Record and Send Voice Notes in Gmail
A couple of months ago I started dabbling with a Chrome extension called Mote that lets me add voice notes directly into Google Classroom, Slides,
Three Ways Teachers Can Improve Remote Learning
This is a guest post from Hali Larkins (@HaliLarkins), communications intern at The Learning Accelerator and Master’s student at Columbia Teachers’ College. Right now, many
A New Citation Generator from ClassTools
Russel Tarr at ClassTools.net has developed another handy tool for students. This time he’s made a citation generator. The ClassTools Citation Generator will create a
Copyright, Transcripts, and Worms – The Week in Review
Good morning from Maine where it feels like spring! All week we had unseasonably warm weather. We even had a thunderstorm yesterday. All that warm
Google Meet Transcripts Automatically Saved as New Google Docs
For Google Meet users one of the easiest ways to improve the accessibility of your live online instruction is to enable captions during your meetings.
A New Option for Shortening Microsoft Forms Links
It has always been possible to shorten long Microsoft Forms URLS with third-party services like Bitly and Yellkey. Recently, Microsoft added a built-in URL shortener
A Quick Tip for Categorizing Gmail Messages
The default inbox arrangement in Gmail consists of a Primary tab, a Social tab, and a Promotions tab. Gmail generally does a pretty good job
Free Webinar on April Fools’ Day
Every other week Rushton Hurley from Next Vista for Learning and I host a free webinar called Two Ed Tech Guys Take Questions and Share
Forky – A Simple Mind Mapping Tool
I’ve tried dozens, possibly more than one hundred, mind mapping and flowchart creation tools over the last thirteen+ years of writing this blog. In fact,
5 Ideas for Using Threadit in School
This is an excerpt of my full article that I published on my other site, Practical Ed Tech. Threadit is Google’s new tool for recording
New Copyright Compliance Checks in YouTube
Last night I uploaded a new video to my YouTube channel. Everything was normal for the first few steps. I added my description, added
Two Ways to Create Videos in Your Gmail Inbox
Last week Google introduced a new video recording tool called Threadit. A Chrome extension is one aspect of what Threadit offers. With the Threadit Chrome
Record Annotated Video Presentations With PresentationTube’s Chrome Extension
PresentationTube is a non-profit that has provided a free service to teachers for many years. That service is the ability to record video presentations based
MathQuiz.io – A Simple Game to Practice Math Skills
MathQuiz.io is a new math game developed by a student. It’s a relatively simple site that presents you with a series of math problems to
ICYMI – Two Ed Tech Guys Take Questions & Share Cool Stuff – Episode 33
Every other Thursday afternoon Rushton Hurley from Next Vista for Learning and I host a half-hour webinar plainly titled Two Ed Tech Guys Take Questions
Geography, AI, and Presentations – The Week in Review
Good evening from Maine where it was a great first day of spring! I went for a bike ride outside then played outdoor bingo with
Enable Audio and Video Captions on Any Page in Chrome
This week Google rolled-out the latest update to Chrome. In the latest version there is now support for automatic captioning of audio and video on
Synth Relaunches With a Renewed Focus on Asynchronous Audio Conversations
This week Synth released an updated user interface and a renewed focus on helping teachers and students engage in asynchronous audio conversations. In this post
How to Change Your Mouse Pointer Size and Color
Earlier this week I looked at one of my students’ computers and noticed that he had made his mouse pointer red and about three times
Live Transcription in Zoom – Free for All Who Need It
About six weeks ago I published a video about how to enable automatic captions in Zoom. At the time, that feature was only available in
How to Mute Everyone in a Zoom Meeting
Are you tired of starting every Zoom meeting with five minutes of “please remember to mute yourself” as people straggle into the meeting? Are you
A Reason to Have Students Conduct Traceroutes Even if You’re Not a Computer Science Teacher
Back in November I published a video about using the ping command on a Windows computer. The reason for that was to show an easy
Oh, The Irony! – The Websites That Plagiarized My Posts About Copyright
I knew this would happen. I also know there’s not much I can do to prevent it other than file DMCA takedown notices when it
A New Look for Presenting With Google Slides
On Monday Google announced a change to the presentation menu in Google Slides. Yesterday afternoon I got to try it for the first time. The
PayGrade.io Now Offers Google SSO
PayGrade is a classroom economy simulation that you can use all year. As I wrote last year, unlike some mock economy activities PayGrade can be
Webinar Recording – Copyright & Creative Commons for K-12 Educators
Yesterday afternoon I hosted a free webinar titled Copyright & Creative Commons for K-12 Educators. The recording of the webinar is now available to view
City Guesser 2.0 – Guess City Locations from Video Clips
For years City Guesser has been a popular geography game in which players have to guess the identity and location of a city based on
Four Short Lessons About the Arrival of Spring
The snow is melting, the sun is shining a bit longer, and we’re starting to see and hear more birds around our house. Those are
Create Infinitely Recurring Zoom Meetings
Last week one of my colleagues asked me for help setting up some Zoom meetings. He needed to hold a series of meetings that were
Wordtune Helps You Tune Your Sentences
Last week I wrote about a Chrome extension called Wordtune. It’s an extension that will make suggestions on how to change and or improve the
How to Display Kahoot Questions and Answer Choices on the Same Screen
Last week Kahoot added a feature that teachers and students have been waiting years to see. That feature is the option to have game questions
Jamboard Now Offers Version History
This school year Google’s Jamboard has become one of my go-to tools for hybrid instruction. Yesterday, Google added a feature to Jamboard that I’m excited
Search, Kahoot, and Phones – The Week in Review
Good morning from Maine where after a few spring-like days winter is blowing back in with full force. After riding my bike in 60F weather
Copyright & Creative Commons for K-12 Educators – Free Webinar on Monday
Copyright is a topic that I’ve written about many times over the years. It’s a topic that I’m passionate about and I’m always happy to
How Does Artificial Intelligence Learn? – A TED-Ed Lesson I’m Using Today
Every once in a while a new video pops-up at a time that perfectly coincides with where I am in my curriculum. That just happened
New Seesaw Feature – Add Your Voice to Objects
Seesaw recently added a helpful new feature that enables you to add your voice to objects in Seesaw activities. It is different from the previous,
ICYMI – Two Ed Tech Guys Take Questions & Share Cool Stuff
Every other Thursday Rushton Hurley and I host a free webinar called Two Ed Tech Guys Take Questions & Share Cool Stuff. If you missed
A Sweet Science Project
My daughters, like almost all children, love candy! So my daughters and I are going to attempt to make our own rock candy this weekend.
Kahoot Now Displays Questions and Answers on the Same Screen – Finally!
For years teachers and students have wanted to be able to see Kahoot questions and answer choices on the same screen. This week Kahoot finally
Wordtune – A Quick Way to Get Wording Suggestions
Wordtune is a Chrome extension that provides suggestions on ways to rewrite sentences in your Google Documents, in your email (Gmail and Outlook), and in
Use WriteReader With Google Classroom
WriteReader is a good tool for elementary school students to use to create multimedia stories. I’ve featured WriteReader in about a dozen blog posts over
How to Create a Bibliography in Word
As I wrote last week, I’m jealous of today’s high school students who don’t have to rely on consulting books like The Student Writer to
How to Download Google Meet Video Call Recordings
A few months ago Google introduced the option for teachers to record Google Meet video calls in some versions Google Workspaces. If you have that
5 Features of Google Advanced Search That Students Should Know How to Use
One of last week’s most popular post was this one in which I explained how excluding words from search results helped my students get past
One of My Favorite Minute Physics Lessons
Flying is one of the things that I’ve missed a lot in the last year. I used to log more than 100,000 miles a year
A Crash Course in Google Earth & Maps
Last week I held a webinar titled 5 Google Earth & Maps Projects for Social Studies. After the webinar I realized that there was a
Why Do Our Clocks Spring Forward Next Weekend?
It’s almost that time of year when when most of us in the northern hemisphere have to move our clocks forward by one hour. I
How to Quickly Find the Sum of a Spreadsheet Column
Right now some of my students are designing their own Arduino projects. I have money for them to spend on materials, but they have to
Search, Meetings, and Hiccups – The Week in Review
Good morning from Maine where it is going to be another great weekend for playing in the snow. One of my dogs is doing that
How to Change Your Google Account Profile Image & Why You Should Change It
When your school issues you a Google Workspaces for Education account your profile picture will just be a simple letter icon featuring your initials. Many
Tracing the Evolution of Telephones – A Search Challenge for Students
Every year on March 7th the National Archives Daily Document features Alexander Graham Bell’s drawing for his telephone patent. Take a look at that drawing
Seven Free Tools That Help Students Format Bibliographies
Back when I was in high school we had to learn how to create bibliographies by working from a template that my history teacher, Mr.
27 Videos That Can Help Students Improve Their Writing
The Writer’s Workshop is a playlist of twenty-seven TED-Ed video lessons about writing. The The Writer’s Workshop contains lessons on basic topics like how to use punctuation and point of
Why My Dogs Have Email Addresses and Your Dog or Cat Should Too
People often get a kick out of learning that my dogs have their own email addresses. You can send them email at Mason or Fionn
The Wall of Birds – Hear the Calls of Birds and See Their Ranges
We’re starting to see some birds returning to feeders around our house. Before too long we’ll be waking up to the sounds of bird calls.
How to Make a Copy of a Google Doc That Isn’t Directly Shared With You
From time to time I publish charts and other digital hand-outs that I have created in Google Documents. For example, I recently shared this chart
How to Use Google Calendar to Book Zoom Meetings
This week and next week at my school we have to hold short interviews with students who want to be in our technical programs next
Free Webinar Tomorrow – Two Ed Tech Guys Take Questions & Share Cool Stuff
Tomorrow (Thursday) at 4pm ET/ 1pm PT Rushton Hurley from Next Vista for Learning and I will be hosting the next installment of our free
Two Search Refinement Tips That Helped My Students Today
The students in one of my classes are currently working on some Arduino projects of their own choosing. A few of them had the idea
Webinar Tomorrow – Google Earth & Maps Projects for Social Studies
One of the primary ways that I’ve been able to keep Free Technology for Teachers going for the last couple of years is through the
Annotations, Games, and Audio – The Month in Review
Good evening from Maine where the sun is setting on February. It turned out to be a great weekend with snow on Saturday and sunny
My Most Popular Tutorial Videos in February
My YouTube channel now has more than 34,000 subscribers. According to the analytics that YouTube provides, more than half of all of the views of
Changes, Chat, and Spring – The Week in Review
Good morning from Maine where today it’s going to snow, but tomorrow is going to sunny and will be almost spring-like. It’s going to be
Daddy, What Are Hiccups?
My youngest daughter had hiccups twice this week. On Friday morning she asked, “what are hiccups?” Fortunately, I knew the answer. Unfortunately, I didn’t have
It’s Maple Syrup Time, Yay!
Here in Maine we’re starting to notice that the days are getting a little longer and the sun is a little higher in the sky
Build a Solar Oven – Hands-on Science Project
This week SciShow Kids released a new video about a favorite hands-on science project, building a solar oven. As you might expect, the video explains
How to Record a Video in Gmail
Sometimes it is easier to reply to an email with a video than it is to write out a reply. For example, when a colleague
Why Do We Use Filler Words? – And a Tool to Help You Eliminate Them in Presentations
TED-Ed recently published a new video that addresses the question of why we say “like” and other filler words in our conversations. The video is
Kahoot Acquired Whiteboard.fi – What Could That Mean for You?
Last spring I got quite excited about a new online whiteboard tool called Whiteboard.fi. A lot of other people did, too. This blog post that
How to Install and Manage Chrome Extensions
In this week’s Practical Ed Tech Newsletter I outlined the things that I look for when I am considering installing a new browser extension or add-on. At
How to Install Microsoft Edge Add-ons
In this week’s Practical Ed Tech Newsletter I outlined the things that I look for when I am considering installing a new browser extension or add-on. At
How to Make Sure Students Aren’t Unsupervised in Google Meet Video Calls
Google Workspace for Education users finally have a way to make sure that students aren’t hanging out in a Google Meet without a teacher. Yesterday
Add Voice Notes to Your Email With Mote
Last month I featured a new Chrome extension called Mote. Mote lets you add voice comments to Google Classroom, Slides, and Docs. As of yesterday
A Tour of Google Arts and Culture for Teachers
Last week Google introduced Learn With Google Arts and Culture. Learn With Google Arts and Culture is a collection of lesson plans, Street View imagery,
How to Install Firefox Add-ons
In this week’s Practical Ed Tech Newsletter I outlined the things that I look for when I am considering installing a new browser extension or
What’s New in G Suite for Education – It’s Not Called That Anymore!
Last week was a vacation week for my school and many others in New England. If you were on vacation or you just don’t obsessively
How to Create a Google Slides Template
A couple of weeks ago I published directions for creating and editing master slides in Google Slides. Last week I received a follow-up question regarding
Recordings, Whiteboards, and Snow – The Week in Review
Good morning from Maine where a fresh coat of snow fell last night. It’s just enough to make for good sledding and skiing, but not
Some of my Favorites – Geocaching!
This week is school vacation week here in Maine. I usually take this week off to go ice fishing on Moosehead Lake. Unfortunately, that’s not
Some of my Favorites – Create Labeling Activities in Google Drawings
This week is school vacation week here in Maine. I usually take this week off to go ice fishing on Moosehead Lake. Unfortunately, that’s not
Make Sign-in/ Sign-out Sheets With Google Forms or Microsoft Forms
This week is school vacation week here in Maine. I usually take this week off to go ice fishing on Moosehead Lake. Unfortunately, that’s not
Some of my Favorites – DIY Common Craft Videos
This week is school vacation week here in Maine. I usually take this week off to go ice fishing on Moosehead Lake. Unfortunately, that’s not
Some of my Favorites – Jamboard in Google Meet
This week is school vacation week here in Maine. I usually take this week off to go ice fishing on Moosehead Lake. Unfortunately, that’s not
Some of my Favorites – Creating Green Screen Videos
This week is school vacation week here in Maine. I usually take this week off to go ice fishing on Moosehead Lake. Unfortunately, that’s not
Some of my Favorites – Historic Maps in Google Earth
This week is school vacation week here in Maine. I usually take this week off to go ice fishing on Moosehead Lake. Unfortunately, that’s not
Some of my Favorites – Grackle Slides & Docs
This week is school vacation week here in Maine. I usually take this week off to go ice fishing on Moosehead Lake. Unfortunately, that’s not