Explain VR Virtual Zoo is a free iPhone app that is designed to work with Google Cardboard. The free app features ten animals in virtual reality. Some of the animals featured in the app include giraffes, elephants, tigers, and bears. Each animal appears individually and students can see them move in virtual reality. Audio in the app provides students with some basic information about each animal. Applications for Education Explain VR Virtual Zoo could provide students with a fun way to learn about animals that they might not see without otherwise going to a zoo. The audio information in the app isn't terribly detailed so the app is probably best for elementary school students. This post originally appeared on Free Technology for Teachers if you see it elsewhere, it has been used without permission.              Related StoriesSTEM in 30 - A Smithsonian Webcast for Middle School StudentsHaiku Deck Releases a New iPhone App for Creating PresentationsNearly 100 TED-Ed Lessons About Nature 

The AP exam for US History is just a week away now. Tom Richey has put together a great page of resources for students who are reviewing for that exam. Tom's AP US History review page includes short strategy guides for each part of the exam. Those guides include PDFs and videos with strategy hints. Students in need of specific content area review will find plenty of videos. The videos are organized by period according to the AP exam structure. The videos on Tom Richey's AP US History review page are produced by Tom as well as others including Keith Hughes, Daniel Jocz, and Timothy Betts who all have large followings of their own on YouTube. This post originally appeared on Free Technology for Teachers if you see it elsewhere, it has been used without permission.              Related StoriesPowerPoint Playbook - Animating Numbered ListsNearly 100 TED-Ed Lessons About Nature10 Educational Resources About the American Revolution 

On Friday afternoon I gave a presentation to a great group of educators from the greater Chicago area. Twice as many people registered as came to the event so I'm guessing there are some folks who would like to see the slides from my talk. Those slides are embedded below. This post originally appeared on Free Technology for Teachers if you see it elsewhere, it has been used without permission.              Related StoriesHaiku Deck Releases a New iPhone App for Creating PresentationsHow to Enable Google Drive Desktop NotificationsHow to Add Word Art to Google Slides 

It's the end of the month and it feels like I was writing about Google Apps daily in April. I checked, I wasn't, but there were a lot of useful updates to Google Apps products this month. Here are the updates that are of interest to teachers and students. 1. Google Play podcasts. You can now publish your podcast on Google Play. The process is actually rather straight-forward. 2. New filtering options for YouTube within Google Apps domains. 3. Google Calendar now suggests mutually convenient meeting times for your group. 4. You can now create and track goals in Google Calendar. 5. Google Calendar's web app now includes task reminders. 6. Google Classroom now includes a polling function. 7. Outlook users will be pleased to know that the Google Drive plug-in for Microsoft Office now supports Outlook. 8. The Mac & PC Google Drive desktop apps now allow you to choose which folders you want to sync. 9. Google Drive now lets you choose which files you want to sync for offline access. 10. Google Keep for Chrome & Android now let you bookmark websites, add notes to your bookmarks, share bookmarks, and set reminders for sharing. Watch my latest video overview of the Google Keep for Chrome extension. 11. Desktop notifications are now a feature of Google Drive's web app. The notifications will tell you when someone shares a file and or requests a file. Watch my video to learn how to enable this feature. Learn how to put all of these features and more to good use in your classroom in my online course Getting Going With GAFE. You can earn three graduate credits in the course.  This post originally appeared on Free Technology for Teachers if you see it elsewhere, it has been used without permission.              Related StoriesHow to Enable Google Drive Desktop NotificationsHow to Add Word Art to Google SlidesNow You Can Choose Which Google Drive Files Are Synced for Offline Access 

Good morning from the temporary Byrne Instructional Media, LLC headquarters at O'Hare International Airport. I'm currently waiting for my flight home after a great afternoon yesterday with people who came to the networking event hosted by Otus. Thank you to everyone that came out to hear me speak. Getting to meet passionate educators all over the world and share stories is the best thing about maintaining this blog. Those opportunities wouldn't happen without all of you who follow and share my posts. Thank you! Here are this week's most popular posts: 1. My Three Favorite Classroom Timer Tools 2. Telling Stories With Storyboards - Webinar Recording 3. How to Add Word Art to Google Slides 4. Four Tools for Creating Screencasts on Chromebooks - A Comparison 5. STEM in 30 - A Smithsonian Webcast for Middle School Students 6. Four Ways to Explore the News Through Maps 7. Resources for Reviewing for AP US History Exam Spring and Summer PD Opportunities With MeDiscounted early registration for the Practical Ed Tech Summer Camps is available through the end of the day. If coming to Maine isn't an option for you, take a look at the online workshops I'm hosting throughout the spring and summer.Would you like to have me speak at your school or conference?Click here to learn about my professional development services.  Please visit the official advertisers that help keep this blog going.Practical Ed Tech is the brand through which I offer PD webinars.BoomWriter provides a fantastic tool for creating writing lessons. FreshGrade is a great online digital portfolio tool.  Storyboard That is my go-to tool for creating storyboards and cartoon stories.Discovery Education & Wilkes University offer online courses for earning Master's degrees in Instructional Media.PrepFactory offers a great place for students to prepare for SAT and ACT tests.FrontRow offers adaptive online ELA and Math practice activities.  Teach n Go is a comprehensive platform for teaching online courses. The University of Maryland Baltimore County offers graduate programs for teachers.Boise State University offers a 100% online program in educational technology.EdTechTeacher is hosting host workshops in six cities in the U.S. in the summer. This post originally appeared on Free Technology for Teachers if you see it elsewhere, it has been used without permission.              Related Stories11 Google Apps Updates You Might Have Missed This MonthHow to Enable Google Drive Desktop NotificationsHow to Add Word Art to Google Slides 

April came and went quickly. In fact, it went so quickly that I didn't even realize it was over until I looked at the date about an hour ago and realized we were into May. I'm a day late on my month-in-review post. Here are the most popular posts of the last month: 1. 11 Google Apps Updates You Might Have Missed 2. New Polling Feature Added to Google Classroom 3. A Short Overview of 12 Tools for Creating Flipped Lessons 4. Kahoot Adds a Team Mode 5. 5 Ideas for Using Google Sites in Your Classroom 6. Mozilla Releases an Interactive Web Literacy Map 7. My Three Favorite Classroom Timer Tools 8. Three Google Apps Updates You Might Have Missed 9. Telling Stories With Storyboards - Webinar Recording 10. Four Tools for Creating Screencasts on Chromebooks Spring and Summer PD Opportunities With MeOnly seven tickets are left for the Practical Ed Tech BYOD Camp in July. Just one ticket is available for the Practical Ed Tech Chromebook Camp in July. If coming to Maine isn't an option for you, take a look at the online workshops I'm hosting throughout the spring and summer.Would you like to have me speak at your school or conference?Click here to learn about my professional development services.  Please visit the official advertisers that help keep this blog going.Practical Ed Tech is the brand through which I offer PD webinars.BoomWriter provides a fantastic tool for creating writing lessons. FreshGrade is a great online digital portfolio tool. Storyboard That is my go-to tool for creating storyboards and cartoon stories.Discovery Education & Wilkes University offer online courses for earning Master's degrees in Instructional Media.PrepFactory offers a great place for students to prepare for SAT and ACT tests.FrontRow offers adaptive online ELA and Math practice activities.  Teach n Go is a comprehensive platform for teaching online courses.The University of Maryland Baltimore County offers graduate programs for teachers.Boise State University offers a 100% online program in educational technology.EdTechTeacher is hosting host workshops in six cities in the U.S. in the summer. This post originally appeared on Free Technology for Teachers if you see it elsewhere, it has been used without permission.              Related StoriesThe Week in Review - The Most Popular PostsThe Week in Review - TransitionsThe Month in Review - #Masonshome 

The US Environmental Protection Agency offers some nice resources for teaching about the water cycle and water treatment. Thirstin's Water Cycle takes students on an animated and narrated tour of the water cycle from water, to vapor, to clouds, to rain. Thirstin's Tour of a Water Treatment Plant takes students on a narrated tour through a typical water treatment facility found in the United States. Applications for Education Both of Thirstin's narrated tours are designed as supplementary materials to the elementary school lesson plans offered in the teacher's resources section of EPA.gov. This post originally appeared on Free Technology for Teachers if you see it elsewhere, it has been used without permission.              Related StoriesApril's Most Popular Posts on Free Technology for TeachersThe Week in Review - The Most Popular Posts11 Google Apps Updates You Might Have Missed This Month 

This is a guest post from Avra Robinson (@AvraRachel) of EdTechTeacher, an advertiser on this site. As a teacher, for years, I loathed the PDF file.  It was that file that I couldn’t edit or manage very easily.  I’d print off hard copies for my students, but when I started teaching technology, I was eager to discover a way to digitally annotate PDF files.  I wanted students to be able to highlight information in a variety of colors, underline key terms, and draw or type on a PDF file using a computer or Chromebook   Kami, formerly Notable PDF, is the streamlined, easy-to-use solution to my PDF hopes and dreams! With Kami, students can view and annotate PDF documents from within the Chrome Web Browser, so it is a perfect tool for Chromebook and laptop users.  Once annotated, the files are stored in Google Drive, which makes integration with Google Apps for Education and Google Classroom possible, too. To get started using Kami, simply install the app from the Chrome Web Store.   As the app installs, if you are signing in with a Google Apps for Education account, you will be prompted to select that you are an educator.  At that point, Kami allows you to explore the premium features for 30 days, though the basic features provide ample opportunity for teachers and students. Tech Tip: Once the app is installed, teachers and students may need to manually connect it to Google Drive.  In Google Drive, select the red NEW button & scroll down to More.  From there, select "Connect more apps," and search & connect Kami.  By creating this connection between Google Drive & Kami, students and teachers can choose to have Kami be the default app that opens PDF files if desired. To begin using Kami, students and teachers simply launch the app, and drag or click to import a PDF file from the hard drive, Google Drive, Dropbox, or Box. There is also an option to open a recent file that has been edited in Kami.  From there, students can start marking up their documents. There is a wide variety of annotation tools including highlight, strikethrough, underline, add comments, add text, free draw, and an eraser tool.  In the premium version, there are some added capabilities of inserting shapes, signatures, and voice-to-text features. Saving couldn’t be easier with Kami, as it can be set to sync to Google Drive.  Students and teachers can also export the file to other locations.  Each time the file is exported, the option to export both the original and annotated copies exists.  Additionally, because Kami files are stored in Drive, Google Classroom integration is made possible!  Teachers can annotate a PDF file with directions, further explanation of content, or guiding questions, and then push it out in an assignment in Classroom, selecting the option for each student to get his or her own copy.  Students can open the file in Kami,further annotate the file, and then submit! The easy-to-use annotation features in Kami make utilizing PDF files easy and fun for students and teachers! Learn more Google Apps Tips & Tricks from Avra Robinson this Summer! EdTechTeacher also has a wealth of Google resources on edtechteacher.org/gafetheir web site. This post originally appeared on Free Technology for Teachers if you see it elsewhere, it has been used without permission.              Related StoriesAn Animated Tour of the Water Cycle and Water TreatmentApril's Most Popular Posts on Free Technology for TeachersThe Week in Review - The Most Popular Posts 

The AP exams for US History, European History, and Government are coming up this month. Teachers and YouTube sensations Keith Hughes and Tom Richey are hosting a series of Google+ Hangouts on Air for students who would like some review help before the exams. Every night this week they are hosting a different hangout for different aspects of the exams. Check the schedule for the list of what is covered each night. The review hangouts will be posted on Tom's YouTube channel and Keith's YouTube channel. Students should take a look at the other videos on their channels for more review lessons. This post originally appeared on Free Technology for Teachers if you see it elsewhere, it has been used without permission.              Related StoriesThe Week in Review - The Most Popular PostsThe Week in Review - 50 Million Page ViewsPowerPoint Playbook - Animating Numbered Lists 

Over the weekend my friend Tony Vincent sent me an email about a new video that he made about Adobe Illustrator Draw. Adobe Illustrator Draw is a free iPad app and Android app. It's the app that Tony uses to make the awesome illustrations that appear in his presentations, on his website, and in his Instagram feed. Watch Tony's video, embedded below, to learn how to create illustrations from scratch or by tracing in Adobe Illustrator Draw. Applications for Education As you can see in the video illustrations made with Adobe Illustrator Draw can used by students in slides, as avatars, or anywhere that a high-quality original illustration is needed. As Tony pointed out to me, the app is free but it does require you to register for a free Adobe ID. This post originally appeared on Free Technology for Teachers if you see it elsewhere, it has been used without permission.              Related StoriesNow You Can Sync Your Google Classroom Roster With Quick KeyNew Commenting Options in Google Slides, Sheets, Docs Mobile AppsThe Week in Review - The Most Popular Posts