Fresh Takes 4 Teachers
Free Webinar – Three Steps to Encourage Technology Integration
Next Monday at 4pm ET I’m hosting a free webinar for tech coaches, instructional coaches, tech directors, and anyone else who is responsible for helping
What’s the Difference Between a Caucus and a Primary
When I turned on the news this morning I was greeted with the news that the results of the Iowa caucuses would be delayed. That
PayGrade – A Classroom Economy Simulation You Can Use All Year
PayGrade is a great program that at its core teaches students money management lessons, but can be used for much more than that. In fact,
The 2020 Practical Ed Tech Summer Camp Registration is Open
Every summer except one since 2013 I’ve hosted the Practical Ed Tech Summer Camp here in Maine. Last year I moved it to a new
Word Webs – Quickly Create Webs of Related Words
Word Webs is a free site that generates connected webs based on the words you enter and select. Generate a web simply head to the
Inflation Calculator – Show Students Changes in the Value of Money
When I was a kid a 3 Musketeers bar cost 30 cents at my favorite shop, North End Pharmacy. The last time that I saw
Designing & Sending Certificates With Google Slides and Forms
At the end of every professional development course that I teach I offer an option to get a certificate of completion. The certificate is designed
The Practical Ed Tech Podcast – Episode 31
In this week’s episode of the Practical Ed Tech Podcast I shared some exciting personal and professional news, shared some updates on two of the
The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts
Good evening from Maine where it was a good day for being outside skiing and playing. It was a great way to spend the first
New Unsplash for Education Collections – Library of Congress, NYPL, NOAA, and More
Unsplash is one of my top recommendations for places to find images that are in the public domain. Last August Unsplash introduced collections intended for
Think Like a Coder – My Freshmen Love These Videos!
Think Like a Coder is a series that TED-Ed started publishing last September. They’re cartoons that present a riddle or puzzle that is solved by
A Great Set of Videos for Teaching Networking and Computer Hardware Concepts
As some of you know, I took over a computer science program at my local vocational/ technical high school this year. It has been fun
Gmail, Screencasts, and Summer Plans – The Month in Review
The first month of 2020 is at its end. I hope the first month of the year has gone well for you. Did you make
Two Ways to Make Progress Trackers With Google Sheets
In my previous post I mentioned that Google Sheets can be used for all kinds of interesting things. It can also be used for practical
How to Make Timelines With Google Sheets
There was a time when I didn’t like working with Google Sheets. That changed about ten years ago after a chat with Kern Kelley who
Three Interesting Ways to Use Google Slides Besides Making Presentations
Google Slides was once a bare-bones alternative to PowerPoint and Keynote. I can still remember when the option to add a video was big news.
It’s Not You, It’s Me – How to Check If a Website is Working Correctly
Yesterday morning Charles asked me via Twitter about a site I had previously mentioned for checking whether or not a website is up or down.
Quickly Create & Share Transcripts of YouTube Videos
VidReader was one of my favorite new tools in 2019. It’s a tool that makes it easy to create an interactive transcript of any YouTube
Cotton and the Life Cycle of a Tee Shirt
Last week TED-Ed published a new lesson titled Why Is Cotton In Everything? The lesson begins with an explanation of why cotton was used by the
19,000+ Teachers Get Their Ed Tech Tips This Way
At about this time six years ago I created the Practical Ed Tech Tip of the Week newsletter as a way to provide a summary
How to Remove Image Backgrounds in PowerPoint
A few weeks ago I published Three Ways to Remove Image Backgrounds With Just a Click or Two. I got a handful of Tweets and
How to Search for Open-Access Datasets
Last spring I had a chance to see Dan Russell give a presentation of a new Google search tool called Dataset Search. It spent 2019
The Practical Ed Tech Podcast – Episode 30 – New Game Templates and More
I usually publish The Practical Ed Tech Podcast on Friday or Saturday, but this weekend I got a little sidetracked by a couple of other
Three Neat Things You Can Do With Google Sheets
Earlier this week my friend Beth asked me for some tutorials on Google Forms for beginners. As a follow up to that I’ve selected three
The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts
Good morning from Maine where it’s nearly forty degrees warmer than last week. It almost felt like March weather when I went out with my
Book Creator Adds New Accessibility Features
Book Creator is a tool that I have been using and recommending for years for making multimedia ebooks. You can use it as an iPad
How to Embed Google Calendar Into Blogger, WordPress, and Google Sites
Last week I got a couple of questions about an old video of mine in which I demonstrated embedding Google Calendar into Blogger. Google Calendar
Quickly Create Collaborative Maps With Ethermap
Google’s My Maps tool is great for students to use to collaborate on the creation of custom maps. The problem with it is that students
Three Google Forms Tutorials for Beginners
Last night my friend Beth emailed me to ask if I had any tutorials for beginning Google Forms users. My answer was, “I sure do!”
Rubrics and Originality Reports in Google Classroom
Last week Google announced that Originality Reports in Google Classroom would soon be available to all users with the limitation that you could only run
Creative Strength – A Student Video Contest
Creative Strength is the title of the latest Next Vista for Learning video contest. Like previous Next Vista contests, this one is open to students
Vortex by ClassTools – Create Your Own Sorting Game
Vortex is the latest game template published by ClassTools. Vortex lets you create an online game in which players have to sort words or phrases
How to Use Microsoft Forms to Collect Files
In this week’s Practical Ed Tech Tip of the Week I featured three ways to create online forms to collect files from students. One of
How to Create an Online Sorting Activity Using Google Sheets
Flippity is a great source of templates for making online games, flashcards, and quizzes. Recently, Flippity added a new template that makes it easy to
Video Projects for Almost Every Classroom – Deep Dive
The single most popular Practical Ed Tech webinar that I hosted last year was 5 Video Projects for Almost Every Classroom. More than 150 participated
The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts
Good morning from Maine where it’s a balmy -7F outside. My dogs went outside for about thirty seconds before coming right back to the house
A Tip for Your Colleagues Who Unnecesarily Use “Reply All”
In a presentation that I occasionally give about the evolution of educational technology I have a slide that lists classic online discussion tools. On that
The Practical Ed Tech Podcast – Episode 29 – Video & Standardized Chargers
There were a bunch of neat things related to ed tech that were released this week. And a bunch more will be out next week
The Origins of the English Language
This morning I had a student ask me “what does ‘the’ mean?” It’s was one of those classic teenager moments of trying to distract me/
How to Publish a Google Calendar Without Showing All Event Details
Yesterday, I received a question on an old YouTube video of mine in which I demonstrated how to embed a Google Calendar into Blogger. The
Chrome Media Hub – Manage Background Video and Audio
Like a lot of people, I have a habit of leaving a bunch of Chrome tabs open even if I’m not actively using them. It’s
Keeping Track of Students’ Websites
A couple of months ago I wrote about how my students are using Google Sites as digital portfolios this year. Fortunately for me, this year
Google Classroom Originality Reports Expand Next Week
Back in August Google unveiled Originality Reports as a beta product in Google Classroom. According to an email that landed in my domain administrator account
Do You Know What’s On Your Phone?
When was the last time you looked at your phone? According to my site analytics there’s at least a 30% chance that the answer to
A Great Update to Screencastify
Screencastify is a tremendously popular screencast recording tool. A large part of its popularity comes from being easy to use on Chromebooks. In fact, last
Signing Into Chrome vs. Signing Into Your Google Account
Last week my friend Beth Still asked me if I had a video that showed people how to sign into Chrome and switch between Chrome
How to Upload a Podcast to SoundCloud
Yesterday, I shared an update about NPR’s 2020 Student Podcast Challenge. One of the requirements for participation in that contest is that teachers have to
A Student Podcast Contest
For the second year in a row NPR is a hosting a podcasting competition for students in fifth through twelfth grade. To enter the challenge
The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts
Good morning from Maine where we’re anticipating a winter ice storm. I’m trying to get a lot done before the inevitable power outage. One of
The Practical Ed Tech Podcast Episode #28
This evening after my toddlers went to bed I sat down to record the 28th episode of The Practical Ed Tech Podcast. This episode follows
Reverb Record – Quickly Create Voice Recordings
Reverb is a relatively new service (still in beta) that is designed to let people create short voice recordings to share with others. The concept
A Mostly Complete Guide to Classroom Blogging
Over the last couple of weeks I’ve published some lengthy blog posts about classroom blogging activities and tools for classroom blogging. Those posts were excerpts
How to Use the New Creative Commons Chrome Extension
Earlier this week Creative Commons released a new Chrome extension that enables users to find Creative Commons licensed images without having to leave the browser
Algorithms Explained by Common Craft
This week in my ninth grade computer science principles class we started talking about big data and algorithms. One of the resources that I used
Dozens of Fun, Hands-on Science Lessons
Science Snacks from Exploratorium is a great collection of hands-on science lessons for elementary school, middle school, and high school students. I’ve been recommending it
Tips on Using Voice Typing in Google Documents
A couple of weeks ago I published an article and video about accessibility settings and tools that are available in Google Documents. One of those
How to Use Branching Logic in Microsoft Forms
For teachers working in schools that use Office 365, Microsoft Forms is a great tool for creating online assessments. Branching logic is one of the
A Conversation With Tom Richey – History Teacher & YouTube Star
During winter break I caught up with my friend Tom Richey to record an episode of The Practical Ed Tech Podcast. Tom is a high
A Comparison of Multimedia Timeline Creation Tools – Updated
Making a timeline is a “classic” history class assignment. When I started my teaching career my students made timelines on big sheets of paper. Later
Biomes and Ecoregions Interactive Map
Ecoregions 2017 is an interactive map produced by Resolve for the purpose of showing the ecoregions and biomes of the world. When you visit the
The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts
Good morning from Maine where the snow that blanketed us earlier in the week is still here and will be here until April. I’m not
How to Combine Multiple Google Forms Into One
Import questions is one of the many useful, yet often overlooked functions in Google Forms. The import questions function lets you draw questions from your
The Practical Ed Tech Podcast Episode 26 – Old Decade, New Decade
This afternoon I recorded the 26th episode of The Practical Ed Tech Podcast. In this episode I shared some important news about how I’m publishing
A Comparison of 6 Blogging Services for Teachers and Students – Updated
About five years ago I assembled a series charts that compared the features of ed tech tools that served similar purposes. Some of the charts
How to Create and Publish Multimedia Collages
Now that Canva offers an education version that provides all of the pro features for free to teachers and students, there is a ton of
What Do You Want to Learn in 2020?
I posed this question on Practical Ed Tech and I’m going to pose it here too. What do you want to learn in 2020? It
Learn How to Use These 5 Time-saving Gmail Features in 2020
Some days it feels like I’m playing the world’s longest game of whack-a-mole in my inbox. If this sounds familiar to you and you’re a
FAQs About Teaching History With Technology 2020
For the new year I have updated my popular Practical Ed Tech course, Teaching History With Technology. The course begins next Wednesday. I announced the
How to Make an Interactive Graphic With Canva
One of the many neat things that you can do with Canva is create interactive infographics. In fact, you can use nearly any design template
The Twelve Most Popular Posts on Free Tech for Teachers in 2019
It’s the end of the year. For me it’s the end of my twelfth year of blogging about educational technology. Do I have twelve more
Ten Blogging Activities for Kindergarten Through High School Classrooms
Whether your students are just learning how to type or they’re aspiring journalists, there are lots of ways to use blogging as a classroom activity.
My Ten Most Watched Ed Tech Tutorial Videos in 2019
In 2019 I created and added more than one hundred new ed tech tools tutorial videos to my YouTube channel. That brought the total for
The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts
Good morning from Maine where it’s cold and dark at the moment. Fortunately, sunshine is in the forecast and we’re going to play outside in
Practical Ed Tech Podcast Episode 25 – The Last Podcast of the Decade!
This afternoon I recorded my last podcast of the decade! I resisted the urge to use REM’s End of the World as bumper music for
Teaching History With Technology 2020
The primary means through which I’m able to keep this site running is through revenue from speaking engagements and sales of my Practical Ed Tech
How to Find, View, and Download Thousands of Historical Maps
There are some good historical map collections available in Google Earth. But you can also import your own historical maps into Google Earth. topoView is
My Favorite New & Updated Tools in 2019
The end of the year is just five days away so I’ve put together a short list of my favorite new and updated tools in
Burning Vocabulary – A Chrome Extension for Expanding Your Vocabulary
Burning Vocabulary is a new Chrome extension that is designed to help users learn new words while browsing the web. Users of the Burning Vocabulary
Now You Can Customize Anchor Podcast Pages
Anchor is the service that I am using and have been recommending to anyone who wants to quickly start a podcast. Anchor does all of
How to Add Alt Text to Images in Google Documents
In this week’s Practical Ed Tech newsletter I included a seven page handout containing tips and tutorials for improving the accessibility of documents, slides, websites,
Two Easy Ways to Share Google Forms Without Google Classroom
The school that I am teaching in this year draws students from multiple school districts who come to us for technical/ vocational classes, but take
How to Add & Edit Google Sites Image Carousels
One of the better features added to Google Sites in 2019 is the image carousel option. Image carousels let you display a large collection of
Word Game – A Simple Game Vocabulary Game
Word Game is a simply named simple vocabulary and trivia game that you can play in your web browser. To play the game simply go
The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts
My vacation reading list. Good morning from Maine where the ground is covered with snow and it’s going to be a great vacation week for
An Overview of Google Docs Accessibility Options
A couple of weeks ago I published an overview of tools to improve the accessibility of websites, videos, and slides. I thought that I should
The Practical Ed Tech Podcast – Episode 24 – Vacation!
I’ve just published the 24th episode of The Practical Ed Tech Podcast. People are still listening to it so I keep recording it. In this
Four Interesting Lessons About Winter Weather
When I got up to let my dogs out yesterday morning it was a brisk -10f with the windchill. When I got in my car
How to Embed Books Into Your Blog
Google Books is one of my favorite tools for research. It’s also a great place to find all kinds of free books that you can
How to Remove Backgrounds from Images With Just One Click
In the past I’ve shown you how to remove the background from an image using Remove.bg and Photo Scissors. Both of those tools are great,
Spend July in Washington DC as a C-SPAN Fellow
Every year C-SPAN hosts an educators’ conference and hosts a summer fellowship program. A friend of mine was selected for the conference a couple of
How to Create a Video With Canva
In last week’s episode of The Practical Ed Tech Podcast I mentioned that Canva has planned lots of new features. One of those new features
Dozens of Outline Maps You Can Print for Free
Even with tools like Google Earth and Google Map there is still a need for students to learn some basics of where things are in
How to Disable and Remove Chrome Extensions – And Why You Should
I try a ton of Chrome extensions every year. In fact, I try so many that I sometimes look in my Chrome settings and wonder,
The History of Comic Art
The Library of Congress currently has an exhibit on display called Comic Art – 120 Years of Panels and Pages. The exhibit is both a
Need Some Classroom Blog Ideas? Try These Edublogs Resources
For years Edublogs has hosted a list of active classroom blogs. The purpose of the list to offer a place for teachers to find examples
White Christmas Probability Map
My daughters are excited about Christmas being just nine days away. They were also a little sad that all of the snow melted over the
How to Find and Install Google Slides Add-ons
Google Slides on its own has some great features in it. For some examples see Tony Vincent’s recent webinar on how to use the drawing
How to Add a Countdown Timer to Google Slides
In the latest episode of The Practical Ed Tech Podcast I shared an idea for adding a countdown timer to Google Slides. To my knowledge
My Primary Tools for Making Tutorial Videos
I’m often asked what I use for making the tutorial videos that I publish on my YouTube channel. With the exception of a handful that