Fresh Tech for Teachers
NASA Selfies – Put Yourself in Space and Learn a Bit About It
NASA Selfies is a fun and free app for “taking a selfie in space.” What it really does is just put your face into the
Story Spheres – Create Audio Tours of Immersive Imagery
Story Spheres is a free tool for adding audio to 360 degree images that you own or have the rights to re-use (Creative Commons licensed
Spacecraft AR – Explore NASA Spacecraft With Augmented Reality
Spacecraft AR is a free iPad and Android app offered by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The app enables students to learn about various NASA spacecraft
Five Overlooked Features of Google Forms Quizzes
Google Forms has been my go-to tool for making quizzes and surveys for at least a decade. Over the years Google has added lots of
The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts
Good morning from Maine where it is already hot and the sun has only been up for an hour. My daughters have been enjoying their
Explore the Royal Academy of Arts in Google’s Arts & Culture Apps
Google’s Arts & Culture site and corresponding apps make it possible for students of all ages to virtually explore thousands of fascinating landmarks and works
Short Lessons About the Longest Day of the Year
It is going to be over 90F here in Maine today. That temperature will make it feel like summer a few days before the summer
A Great Set of Microsoft Teams Tutorials
I published a bunch of videos about using Google Meet and Zoom this spring. That’s because those are the tools that I use the most
5 Things Students Can Do in Google Earth Without Google Accounts
Google Earth has many handy little features that your students can use even if they don’t have Google accounts. Without a Google account your students
ICYMI – Two Ed Tech Guys Take Questions & Share Cool Stuff
Every Friday this spring I joined Rushton Hurley for a series of webinars simply titled Two Ed Tech Guys Take Questions and Share Cool Stuff.
Sodaphonic – A Quick and Easy Way to Create MP3s
Sodaphonic is a free online audio recording and editing tool. It’s easy to use and can be used without creating an account on the site.
From the Archive – A Webinar on Copyright for Teachers
Twice today I hosted webinars in which the topic of copyright in the classroom came up. Since the webinars weren’t specifically about copyright, I referred
Five Tools for Creating Storyboards to Plan Videos and Presentations
Creating a storyboard is an excellent way to outline and plan videos, presentations, and written stories. In the old days this was done with paper
How to Create Your First Google Sites & 5 Ways to Customize It
Summer is here (in the northern hemisphere) and after a break from school you might start thinking about next year and what you need to
The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts
Good morning from Maine where the sun is shining and the air has that perfect early summer feel to it. It’s going to be a
How to Create an Approved Senders List in Gmail
Have you ever signed up for a webinar like this one and then wondered why you never got any information about how to join the
Webinar Recording & Slides – A Framework for Using Educational Technology
Yesterday afternoon I hosted a free webinar titled A Framework for Using Educational Technology. The recording of yesterday’s live webinar is now available to view
Canva Now Has a Desktop App for Windows and Mac
Canva is a tool that I use almost daily for everything from creating YouTube thumbnails to designing full presentations like the one that I’m giving
The National Zoo’s Activities You Can Do at Home
My daughters are currently obsessed with a book titled On the Loose in Washington D.C. It’s a book created in the “Where’s Waldo” style, but
Three Free iPad Apps for Learning Programming Basics
An iPad isn’t the ideal device for practicing coding and programming principles. I prefer to have students use a full-size Windows or Mac computer as
Five Tools for Telling Stories With Maps
One of my favorite alternatives to traditional book report assignments is having students create multimedia maps based on books they’ve read. Google Lit Trips first
Sharing vs. Publishing Google Docs
I have published more than 1,000 tutorials on my YouTube channel over the last ten years. Some of those videos feature older versions of tools
Three Free Webinars You Can Join This Week
If you’re looking for some new ideas to try with your classes next fall or you’re looking for answers to ed tech questions, consider joining
How to Create an Online Game of Connect Four
Twice this weekend I had readers email me to ask about creating an online Connect Four game for students to play to review key vocabulary
A Few Basic Settings to Know When Uploading to YouTube
This past semester I created and uploaded to YouTube more videos for students than I ever have before. Based on the number of questions that
Create Virtual Class Pictures With Pixton EDU
Disclosure: Pixton EDU is currently an advertiser on FreeTech4Teachers.com As the school year winds down those of us who still have classes in June may
Acoustic Atlas – Sounds of the Wild West
Acoustic Atlas is a Montana State University Library project that features an ArcGIS Storymap. The Acoustic Atlas storymap is an audio and visual tour of Montana’s
The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts
Good morning from Maine where the sun is shining and my lawn is taller than it should it be. Before I head out to deal
Milanote Offers Nice Templates for Creating Multimedia Storyboards
Milanote is a neat tool that I like to think of as being part storyboarding tool, part bookmarking tool, and part task management tool. For
Easy Ways to Remove Image Backgrounds
This morning I answered an email from someone who had watched my video about using PowerPoint to remove image backgrounds and wanted to know if
Five Things You Should Know About Using Video in Google Slides
Google Slides has some handy little settings that you can use when adding videos into your presentations. Things like specifying the start and end time
About the Circles and Ovals in My Videos
A bunch of times this week I’ve received emails and Facebook comments about the oval shape that I have started using when overlaying my webcam
Two Free Webinars Today and Tomorrow
Every week Rushton Hurley at Next Vista for Learning hosts free webinars for teachers, parents, and principals. Yesterday, he hosted Preparing for Next School Year-
Try Your Hand at Bird Identification With the Audubon Bird App
We have a bunch of bird feeders hanging outside of house. My daughters love seeing the various birds that visit our feeders. I particularly enjoy
Five Things You Should Know About Using Audio in Google Slides
Late last year Google added support for using audio in Google Slides. Since then a few changes have been made to how it works. Over
Two New Google Docs Features in G Suite for Education
Back in February Google added Smart Compose and Autocorrect as new features in Google Docs. However, those features were only available in Google Docs in
Three Ways to Make Short Audio Recordings – No Accounts Required
Since late last year when Google finally added native support for audio in Google Slides I’ve fielded a steady stream of questions from readers looking
5 Ways to Edit Images in Google Slides
A decade+ ago when I started using Google Slides it was a rather bare bones alternative to PowerPoint. That is no longer the case. Today,
How to Collaborate on a YouTube Channel
Like many other schools, this spring my school held our awards ceremonies virtually. A colleague and I managed the distribution of the recordings of those
The Month in Review – The Most Popular Posts
It’s the end of May and sure was a month I’ll remember for a while for a few reasons. First, we had snow on the
How to Make Whiteboard Videos on Your Chromebook – Updated
About two months ago I published a post featuring three ways to make a whiteboard video on a Chromebook. Since then I’ve created a couple
Three Webinar Recordings You Can Watch Right Now
In May I hosted or co-hosted a handful of free webinars. The recordings of some them are now available to watch at your leisure. Those
The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts
Good morning from Maine where the sun is shining and it’s going to be a great day for bike rides, dog walks, and playing outside
AudioMass – A Free, Registration-free Audio Editor
AudioMass is a new online audio editing tool that I recently learned about on Product Hunt. AudioMass doesn’t require any registration in order to use
Return to Sender – Interactive Map of Postcards from WWI
Return to Sender provides an interesting way for students to find and read postcards sent to and from soldiers during World War I. Return to
How to Create Whiteboard Videos With Zoom
One of the things that I often mention in my webinars and workshops is the idea of getting to know an instructional technology tool well
Great Sets of Primary Source Documents for U.S. History Lessons
The Digital Public Library of America is a great place to find all kinds of neat digitized historical artifacts. I recently went down a rabbit
How to Create Whiteboard Videos in Seesaw
Seesaw is my go-to tool for making digital portfolios. I like it because it’s a versatile platform that can be used for more than just
Five Screencastify Settings You Should Know How to Use
Screencastify is an excellent tool for creating instructional videos on your Chromebook, Mac, or Windows computer. You can use it to create a screencast video
Why Should You Read Moby Dick – A New TED-Ed Lesson
A couple of years ago TED-Ed started producing a series of video lessons titled Why Should You Read… The videos in the series feature classic
Google Has Introduced a New Sharing Option in Shared Drives
Shared Drives in G Suite for Education are great for distributing things like staff handbooks, templates for permission slips, and media assets like pictures from
Webinar Recording – Intro to Teaching History With Technology
Yesterday afternoon I hosted a free webinar titled Intro to Teaching History With Technology. This webinar featured my Discovery, Discussion, Demonstration framework in the context
How to Create an Audio Slideshow Video in Canva
Canva is a graphic design tool that I’ve used for years to create blog post and social media graphics. In the last year I’ve started
Ten Topics in Teaching History With Technology
This summer I’m hosting two sections of my popular Teaching History With Technology course. The first section meets every Monday afternoon in June. The second
Five Resources for Teaching and Learning About Copyright
In this week’s Practical Ed Tech Tip of the Week newsletter I shared a short guide to finding and using media for use in classroom
Four Free Webinars to Check Out This Week
As we head into summer many of us start to reflect on the last school year (it was one we’ll never forget) and what we
Updated – How to Use EDpuzzle to Create Video Lessons
In my previous post I wrote about and included a video about adding timestamps to longer videos that you post on your YouTube channel. Rather
How to Timestamp Your YouTube Videos
When you’re publishing videos that are longer than five or six minutes on your YouTube channel it can be helpful to viewers to add some
How to Search for Matching & Similar Documents Submitted in Google Classroom
Earlier this week a reader asked me if there was a way to quickly scan across all of the documents his students submit in Google
The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts
Good morning from Maine where the sun is shining and it feels like summer! It’s going to be a great weekend to ride my bike,
A Handful of Video Lessons About Memorial Day
This is Memorial Day weekend here in the United States. Monday is actually Memorial Day. Students often confuse the origin and purpose of Memorial Day
Another Whiteboard Option for Google Meet Users
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about how to use a whiteboard in Google Meet without screensharing. That method featured using a neat tool
Pixabay Offers Free Music to Use and Reuse
Pixabay is one of the resources that I frequently include in my recommendations for sources of images and video clips to use in slideshow and
Tactiq – Record the Captions in Google Meet
Tactiq is a new Google Chrome extension that lets you record the captions generated by the automatic captioning tool in Google Meet. You can use
How to Quickly Create a Slideshow With Google Photos and Slides
Earlier this week someone sent me a question on Twitter seeking information about an add-on that lets you import batches of photos into Google Slides
Five Comic and Storyboard Activities With Pixton EDU
Disclosure: Pixton EDU is currently an advertiser on FreeTech4Teachers.com Online comic creation tools like Pixton EDU make it possible for almost anyone to create great-looking
Certify’em Adds Two Helpful Features for Sending Certificates When Students Complete Google Forms Quizzes
Certify’em is a Google Forms add-on that I’ve been using and recommending for a few years. Certify’em makes it easy to automatically send certificates to
Move Items from One Google Account to Another
It’s that time of year again when some teachers will be leaving one school district for another. With that move comes the need to move
Two Free Webinars With Me That You Can Join This Week
This week, as I did last week, I’m hosting or co-hosting two live webinars. On Thursday at 3pm ET I’m hosting a thirty minute Intro
Make Mini Books and More With Help from the Library of Congress
The Library of Congress has a great collection of activities suggestions and resources for parents who are looking for educational activities they can do at
Naraview – A Good Way to Challenge Students to Make Connections Between Topics
In last week’s episode of Two Ed Tech Guys Take Questions and Share Cool Stuff Rushton shared a neat site called Naraview. Those who stayed
How to Use Kahoot in Google Classroom
This is the time of year when many of us are looking for fun ways to conduct end-of-year review sessions with our students. Playing Kahoot
How to Convert a PDF Into a Google Document
On Friday during Two Ed Tech Guys Take Questions and Share Cool Stuff someone asked if there is a tool that I would recommend for
The Week in Review – A Bunch of Turkeys
Good evening from Maine where today it finally felt like spring. At this time last week the ground was covered in fresh snow. This evening,
Ten Ways to Use Wakelet
One of the reasons that Wakelet has become popular in schools in the last couple of years is that it can be used for a
How to Share Audio and Video in Google Classroom Without YouTube or SoundCloud
Earlier this week I had a reader ask me for advice on sharing videos in Google Classroom with her students without having to use YouTube.
Create Random Story Starters With Google Sheets
There are lots of neat things that you can do with Google Sheets if you know how to get started. Getting started is often the
Two Great Sets of Historic Maps to Use and Reuse
The Library of Congress offers a collection of images that are free to use and reuse. The LOC blog recently featured a subset of that
An Easy Way to Manage Tasks in Gmail
Raise your hand if you battle this same task management problem that I battle. I read and reply to an email then forget to do
Seven Ideas for Flipgrid Activities
One of the reasons that Flipgrid became popular and continues to grow in popularity is that it can be used across grade levels. Another reason
Five FAQs About the Practical Ed Tech Virtual Summer Camp
Two weeks ago I announced the dates for the Practical Ed Tech Virtual Summer Camp. Since then registrations have been coming in every day. And
An Important Setting for Using Audio and Video in Google Slides
Last fall Google finally added an option to insert audio files into Google Slides without the need for any third-party add-ons. While it wasn’t as
How to Deploy G Suite Add-ons Across a Domain
From time to time a reader will ask me if there is a way to install a Google Docs or Google Sheets add-on for his
Classright – A Google Sheets Add-on for Bulk Management of Google Classroom
Classright is a new Google Sheets add-on for managing multiple Google Classroom classes in one place. I gave it a try this morning and found
The Geometry of Castles – A Math Lesson in Google Earth
In the web browser version of Google Earth there is a section called Voyager. Within the Voyager section you’ll find lots of pre-made tours, quizzes,
Two Free Webinars Later This Week
Later this week you’ll have the opportunity to join me in two free webinars. On Thursday at 3pm ET I’m hosting an encore of A
How to Add Background Music to Screencastify Videos
Last week I published an article about how to extract the audio from your videos. A related question that I got from a reader was
Ten Ideas for Building Virtual Tours With Google’s Tour Creator
Google’s VR Tour Creator makes it possible for anyone who has a Google account and a computer to create their own virtual reality tours to
A Webinar for Parents of Elementary School Students
Rushton Hurley runs a fantastic non-profit called Next Vista for Learning. Some of you have seen me write about it and talk about it for
The Week in Review – It’s Snowing!
Good morning from Paris Hill, Maine where it is snowing! Yes, on May 9th I woke up to snow covering everything. And the best part
Three Ways to Convert Video into Audio
Earlier this week I had a colleague ask me how she could extract the audio from a video that she had made. Some video editing
Use Whiteboards in Google Meet Without Screensharing
On Monday I published a blog post about a new online whiteboard tool called Whiteboard Fi. At the end of that post I mentioned that
Join Me and Rushton Hurley Tomorrow for Two Ed Tech Guys Take Questions and Share Cool Stuff
Every Friday at 1pm ET/ 10am PT Rushton Hurley from Next Vista for Learning and I host a free webinar called Two Ed Tech Guys
Exploring and Visualizing Data Sets
Big data and how it can be used is one of the topics that my ninth grade students are exploring this month. To that end,
Homeschool History – A Podcast Series for the Family
About eight years ago there was a BBC podcast series called A History of the World in 100 Objects. It was a good series that
How to Blur Faces and Objects in Your Videos
One of the topics that I frequently receive questions about is privacy when posting videos online. One option is to post your videos as unlisted
Loom – Create Screencasts on Your iPad
Loom is a good screencasting that I’ve written about a handful of times over the last couple of years. Amongst it’s many features, Loom offers
How to Create Complete Sentence Requirements in Google Forms
This afternoon I held an informal webinar for a small group of people who were interested in learning some G Suite tips and tricks. Response
How to Quickly Map and Connect Spreadsheet Data
Earlier today a reader emailed me with a great question about Google Maps. She wanted to map a set of addresses and then quickly determine