Google Tour Creator

The Google Tour Creator tool is similar to ThingLink in that you are combining the concept of creating a hyperlink but doing it within a 360 degree image that you can view in VR. In fact, you could also look at it as an interactive slide show in VR where you can string together scenes while narrating overtop, or embedding text, photos, links and more. You can essentially guide where someone is looking while in your tour. IMPORTANT NOTE Google is going to be phasing out this platform so while it will work until late June 2021, it will no longer be accessible after that. Google will be incorporating this platform into Google Arts and Culture, as well as building in similar functionality within Google Earth.

There is also a ton of pre-existing content created and shared by other users so it is a great resource for just experiencing guided tours that already exist, before creating your own. You can also upload your tour to Google Expeditions where you (or others) can view it in virtual reality.

March 16, 2020

Google Expeditions

The content for both VR and AR has grown exponentially in the past year, and Google Expeditions is a fantastic resource for students and teachers to gain a broader perspective about a range of topics. For teachers in a classroom, it is very easy to control all student iPads at once while guiding a tour. But even in the absence of a classroom experience, students can independently take advantage of this platform in a variety of ways. You can print off AR “markers” which act as a trigger to show a model in augmented reality, or simply move your device around a specified area until the model appears. For VR, you don’t actually need a VR headset to explore in a meaningful way. The VR content (which is a larger catalog than AR currently) can be viewed by moving your device (tablet or phone) around and exploring the content as if it is all around you.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Google will be phasing out Expeditions and it will no longer be active as of June 2021. It is worth taking advantage of this platform while it exists though, and after it ceases to exist, check out Google Arts and Culture where many of the tours enjoyed in Expeditions will transfer over.

Students don’t need to be just “consumers” of the content either. You can create your own VR tour in Google Tour Creator (or see that entry on this site to learn more) and upload it into Google Expeditions to view. Using the screen record feature on the computer, tablet, or phone, students can also record their voice while giving a tour of what they have learned or detailing features of an AR model while it appears projected right there in the room with them. There are lots of possibilities for app smashing (combining tech platforms) with this tool.

March 16, 2020

Google Earth (in AR/VR)

While Google Earth has been around for a while now, the recent updates are really eye-popping. The possibilities with which you can use Google Tour Builder alone make it a very powerful tool in teaching social studies and geography. New 360 degree images also allow for the incorporation of virtual reality experiences for students. **Note that after Google Tour Builder is phased out in June 2021, many of the features will begin to adjoin the Google Earth platform.

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February 5, 2019

Google Arts & Culture (AR and VR)

You may not have even been aware that Google has an Arts and Culture division that has a ton of content for classes to explore. From using VR headsets to tour the Louvre, or delving into the culture of a particular country through art and architecture, this resource is worth checking out. Google will also be pouring even more of its attention into this platform as it phases out Expeditions and Tour Creator, in favor of a single, all encompassing platform.

February 5, 2019

JigSpace AR

This is an app that can be used alongside a lesson to help students visualize information. There are a number of similar apps out there that are rapidly adding content, though some are better than others and many will pester you with add-ons to purchase. JigSpace is a solid option however because it has quality content for free. Most of the topics center on science and history, but you could certainly apply some of the content to other subject areas. Students could also record themselves explaining a model that they are looking at in AR, therefore allowing them to interact with the content more than just as a “consumer”.

February 5, 2019

Virtual Reality in Middle School

VR has long been considered an extension of the video game industry and the assumption is that it is purely entertainment (or worse, excess screentime strapped to your face). However, the educational ramifications of putting students into space, geographically anywhere on the planet including in the oceans, in the midst of a battle fought long ago etc… are pretty powerful. Even as a short intro to a larger lesson, VR is a fantastic way to engage students and give them a more visceral learning experience to complement other more traditional components of teaching a unit.

We currently have VR headsets for 6 students at a time and can take advantage of apps like Discovery VR and Google Expeditions to instantly take students anywhere.

Additionally, we have a top of the line virtual reality headset and equipment that lives in the tech training room. Although only one student at a time can actually navigate with the headset, classmates can watch on the big screen while they await their turn working on another “learning station”.

February 4, 2019

Augmented Reality

Augmented Reality is perhaps even more powerful than VR in an education setting because every student can have the same experience at the same time. It can easily be added into an existing lesson and be experienced concurrently with class lecture, group work, research, and more.

Imagine frog dissection without the smell! Students can look at the human body and dive into layers of a cell. If you have a topic you teach, there is an augmented reality visual experience you can draw on to reinforce learning. There are also numerous ways for students to take advantage of existing material, add to it, and incorporate it into their own project to showcase their learning.

February 4, 2019

CommonLit

CommonLit is another alternative (also 100% free) to reading comprehension building, similar to ReadWorks. Educators can sign up for a free account and either choose to have students also create accounts or not. There is a huge catalog of reading passages for all different comprehension levels, as well as built-in extension activities for student enrichment. Many of the topics found overlap with our own curriculum throughout both lower school and middle school.

October 24, 2018

ReadWorks

ReadWorks is another option for teachers looking to boost reading comprehension. This is a completely free site and teachers can use the large collection of fiction and nonfiction to curate lessons that accommodate all different reading levels. It has comprehension pieces built right in, as well as vocabulary building tabs. Within the same passage, teachers can also toggle between two different choices that adjust the reading level, while delivering the same content.

October 24, 2018

Newsela

Newsela is a great option if you are looking for student-friendly, up to date news articles. Teachers and/or students can create an account using their school email accounts. The free version has plenty of content that is worthwhile, though if your grade level or department is interested in a premium membership, there are options for managing multiple students at a time.

There are also comprehension check lessons built into each article. Given the importance of teaching students to vet quality news and information, Newsela could be a good place to check out and use as examples from their lessons that are geared towards this very topic. You can adjust reading levels for younger students, and filter by topic, opinion, etc…

October 23, 2018

Explain Everything

Explain Everything is another resource that is both an app and a site. We have a school account so if you are interested in taking advantage of features not offered on the app (available on all library iPads) we can help you to get logged on.

Explain everything has been around for a while and it keeps getting stronger with constant updates and new features. It is similar to other platforms like Educreations where you can create interactive lessons, presentations, or “how-to’s”, but it is even a little more robust than the other options whose advantages are simplicity of use for younger students.

September 19, 2018

Rewordify

Rewordify is a great option for differentiating reading content so that different students get the same information while being delivered at their level. It is completely free and there are different avenues for use depending on what you are looking for. If you create a free account, you can take advantage of the more advanced features, but even just visiting the site allows you to plug in text and have it convert it to an easier reading level. For this reason, it can be as useful to younger students as it can older students.

September 19, 2018

123apps: Free safe editing tools

This site has a great collection of tools for audio and video editing. Because so many other editors out there can be a bit sketchy, this is worth having in your back pocket to ensure quick, safe, and easy editing when working on a project.

September 19, 2018

DoInk

DoInk is actually two separate apps. One is for animation and the other is for creating green screen content. They can be used interchangeably though and you can really get creative with app smashing here to create virtually anything you can imagine.

Here are a couple of examples of projects that have used DoInk as a primary tool for their creation:

September 19, 2018

Book Creator: Online

Book Creator has been a familiar resource for a few years now, but constant updates to the program have now really begun to unleash possibilities. The online platform allows our students to really tap into the ease with which they can create e-books and organize them on a digital bookshelf. It could even be a viable alternative to websites for housing and publishing their research projects.

Book Creator has also added a major update this Fall; the ability to embed content from

embedding-a-youtube-video-in-book-creator-ipad — Embed from other sites and apps with a click of a button!

other sites and applications!

Explore some samples of ways our students have used Book Creator below!

Forces and Motion

Click to read this book, made with Book Creator

https://read.bookcreator.com

3rd Grade Porquois Anthology

Click to read this book, made with Book Creator

https://read.bookcreator.com

September 17, 2018

designer.io (Formerly Gravit)

designer.io is the multifaceted vector designing and graphics program that has evolved from its earlier version known as Gravit. It is one of the more commonly used design tools in our EurekaLab because it communicates well with multiple “making tools”.

There are tons of tutorial videos online such as those found on their official youtube channel below:

August 28, 2018

Google Drawings

I would include Google Drawings in the “swiss army knife of digital resources”. On its own, it is easy enough to create stand alone projects, though it is most powerful when it is incorporated into other aspects of a larger project. Because of its consistencies with other Google publishing platforms, it is extremely easy for students to use independently. It is also beneficial to have students be able to share their work as they would with any other Google doc, make a copy of a template teachers could send out, or whatever else you can think of with using a digital canvas.

Below is one example of how teachers used Google Drawings to create a map that they had student partners duplicate and complete.

August 27, 2018

Google Arts & Culture

You may not have even been aware that Google has an Arts and Culture division that has a ton of content for classes to explore. From using our VR headsets to tour the Louvre, or delving into the culture of a particular country through art and architecture, this resource is worth checking out.

August 27, 2018

Discovery Education Virtual Field Trips

Discovery’s education division has not only grown to become a leader in virtual reality content, it also provides a wealth of opportunities for distance learning for our students. There is a huge collection of free virtual field trips and both teacher and student resources.

August 27, 2018

PBS Learning Media

In addition to all the free resources for educators and students that PBS Education and Learning Media offers, they have a great database of virtual field trip opportunities, guest speakers, and a great listing of events in our area.

August 27, 2018

University of Nebraska State Museum of Natural History

University of Nebraska State Museum of Natural History offers a great curated collection of virtual field trip opportunities. The majority of opportunities listed are free, though there are some that list sessions that do cost a small fee for a particular docent or institution.

August 27, 2018

Skype In The Classroom

Microsoft offers this free online community that is filled with possible connections to experts and other classrooms from around the world. It continues to grow its collection of possible sessions and with our many spaces that have larger display options, large groups of students can “reach across the globe” to participate at once.

August 27, 2018

Padlet is still one of the more dynamic resources you will find today for teachers and students. We have a school subscription to the EDU version so your options for using it are not limited (though the free version is very strong). Padlet basically exists as a digital bulletin board that an entire class can access and collaborate together on at the same time. The most recent updated versions allow you to embed video, documents directly from Google Drive, audio, text, and and more. You can customize backgrounds, sort posts in a variety of ways, and can easily clone existing Padlets so many people can personalize their notes. As a note-taking tool, it is a fantastic option and you can customize fonts and features as you would in any other digital document. Students as young as third grade have had success using it, though obviously the older the grade level, the broader the possibilities. Check out some of our own student and teacher examples below!

CLICK HERE to see how 3rd grade student group used Padlet for taking notes:

CLICK HERE to explore a 4th grade note-taking Padlet

CLICK HERE to explore how 3rd grade teachers have used Padlet to present a lesson:

August 27, 2018

Khan Academy: Math

You are likely already plenty familiar with Khan Academy as it has already been used by our math department to provide additional tutorials for students. Along with other powerful tutorial sites, a link to this completely free resource can also be added to the sidebar of class Schoology pages or wherever math homework is assigned. While the lessons are not specifically Singapore aligned in their explanations, for our older students it allows for tutorials as an additional accompaniment to their learning.

***Side Idea*** Once students get some experience with evaluating what makes a successful video tutorial, there are a number of platforms featured on this site that we can use to curate and showcase our own student lessons.

August 27, 2018

Listenwise

Listenwise is a site that contains resources for teachers to pair with recent topics covered on NPR programming. While it offers a school subscription, it also provides free resources that work on their own as a nice complement to SEL, current events, government, or civics curriculum.

August 25, 2018

Civil War Today

The Civil War Today app has been around for about 8 years now but it continues to improve with each new updated version it puts out. If there is interest, we can put it on all Library iPads depending on desired use. It basically provides a daily interactive front page newspaper of events occurring on that day during the Civil War. Used as either as a quick warm-up activity, or as the foundation of an entire unit or curriculum, Civil War Today remains a solid resource for our students.

August 25, 2018

X-Code by Apple

X-Code is known as an integrated development environment (IDE) for macOS. It can basically be viewed as blueprints for students to develop their own app, which can even be developed and potentially sold through the app store. There are tons of tutorials and help sites built in so even those students without advanced programming experience can gradually pick it up if they are motivated learners who like an independent track that they can follow at their own pace.

August 23, 2018

Swift Playgrounds

Swift is a programming language similar to java and is developed by Apple. Swift Playgrounds is a program that teachers intermediate level student programmers how to code. It takes students step by step and is a great alternative to “Hour of Code” lessons sponsored by Code.org and others.

August 23, 2018

Basketball Virtual Playbook

This is an app that you may find useful if you coach or play basketball. It is available on all Library iPads and there are also similar apps available for soccer and lacrosse.

August 23, 2018

Virtual Reality: Art

Along with other academic areas, virtual reality has also grown to support amazing art and creation. This past August, student interns who helped build the computer that drives our top VR equipment had fun “virtual tagging” walls with spray paint design. Just like traditional art, there are lots of mediums you can work with and many options for displaying your finished work so it can be appreciated beyond just the virtual world.

August 23, 2018

Augmented Reality

August 23, 2018

Virtual Reality

Schools that have headsets, and can take advantage of apps like Discovery VR and Google Expeditions to instantly take students anywhere.

August 23, 2018

Apple CLIPS

CLIPS is a relatively new app (also a site) that was released late last year. It is a FANTASTIC alternative to iMovie, especially for our lower school students as it allows for an engaging, visual project but can be condensed into a one-off lesson. It is simple in its layout and can be used in a variety of ways. From narrating and animating a story or poem, to labeling parts of the ecosystem, to breaking down the cause and effect of a moment in history, it is all very easy and engaging for our students. It can also be a powerful tool for our youngest learners because of its ability to show the words you speak in “real time”. The possibilities for students to be able to narrate and illustrate their own books with words that fly out on the screen in any style they choose is really exciting. Clips is available on all school iPads (including the Library if students would like to check one out for a project).

Check out a student-created example below!

August 21, 2018 0

Code.org

Code.org is a free online platform that teaches students of all ages how to code at their own comfort level. Younger students can progress through different challenges using block-based coding, similar to what they will use when working with Scratch Jr. The early lessons also let them click on the speaker icon to hear directions rather than rely on being able to read them, should they still be an emergent reader. Our oldest students will also be plenty challenged as they are given personalized lessons that suit their level of programming experience.

Screen Shot 2018-08-20 at 8.45.16 PM — Intro levels

Screen Shot 2018-08-20 at 8.40.09 PM — Beginner levels

Screen Shot 2018-08-20 at 8.40.37 PM — Intermediate levels

Screen Shot 2018-08-20 at 8.41.29 PM — Java instruction

August 20, 2018 0

PicsArt

PicsArt is a more advanced photo editor than pic collage, but simple enough for a first grader to begin to explore simple editing tools as they develop their interest in photography. It is both an app available on school iPads, as well as a site. Older students can take advantage of this photo editing tool for “app-smashing” and incorporating into broader projects.

August 20, 2018 0

Google Sites: Middle School

Google Sites is one of many options for easy, template-based website creation. Various grade levels and subject areas have used it in a variety of ways. It embeds content directly from student Google Drives with ease, though is also designed to add content from anywhere in seconds. It is a great option for sharing student work with extended families who live across the world.

CLICK HERE to check out how Middle Schoolers have used it to house their projects.

August 20, 2018 0

Google Sites: P.E.

This platform is a more general resource used by different grade levels and subject areas in a variety of ways. The P.E. department has used it as a way to house “how to” instructional videos.

CLICK HERE to check them out!

August 20, 2018 0

GuitarTuna

There are hundreds of apps that act as tuners for different stringed instruments. GuitarTuna is likely the top tuner out there and is accurate enough to ditch your other portable tuners forever.

August 19, 2018 0

Logic Pro X

This “competitor” to GarageBand (only in a sense as it is also under the Apple umbrella) is certainly a superior and more complete program for music composition and engineering, though it is not free. In addition, because it is more robust, it is also more complex as it has more offerings in the intricacy of sound production.

August 19, 2018 0

Amplitube

While this app wouldn’t replace an actual amp for playing a show, it is a quality substitute for amplifying when practicing on the go. It does cost money (and is on the pricier side for apps), but it could be worth having on an iPad in the music department, and worth mentioning to serious student musicians who may make good use out of it at home.

August 19, 2018 0

Piano Maestro

This site is a digital accompaniment to traditional piano lessons. Because it is dedicated entirely to piano instruction, it has a few advantages to other multi-instrument programs.

August 19, 2018 0

Hokusai

Hokusai is a quality recording app for student artists who play actual instruments rather than create using virtual ones. You can blend different parts of a musical piece together and because it quickly digitizes your music, you can dig in like a sound engineer would.

August 19, 2018 0

GarageBand

GarageBand is still one of the leaders in music education, primarily because students need not play an instrument to begin making music. The ease with which you can transition between other multimedia platforms (particularly iMovie) makes it a “go-to” for project-based learning, even outside of music education. While you may be familiar with earlier versions, it is worth checking in each school year to explore the ever-growing features and enhancements, most notably with how different young student musicians from around the globe can collaborate in real time.

August 19, 2018 0

Tuniversity

Apple teamed up with Pharrell Williams to create Tuniversity. It is a robust program that allows students to deconstruct popular songs, change them up, and write their own. It is powered by Garageband, but also contains an interactive digital syllabus that takes students through their coursework.

August 19, 2018 0

Yousician

Yousician is a great way to engage students in practicing their instrument, outside of lesson time. There are dozens of instruments and thousands of songs to dive into. It tracks progress and personalizes a syllabus that is constantly updating. You may also want to check out the added benefits of becoming a Yousician Distinguished Educator.

August 19, 2018 0