Friday, May 5, 2017

Learn How Venice Works - And Take a Virtual Tour Through It

The Amazing Race is one of the few television shows that I try to catch when new episodes air. This week the show was in Venice. Watching this week's episode of The Amazing Race in Venice reminded me of a couple of neat resources for learning about the city.

Venice Backstage is a seventeen minute video that explains how the water is contained, how the buildings stay upright, and how residents of Venice travel about the city.


The Venice Backstage website offers additional articles and graphics to support the information presented in the video.

Students can virtually explore Venice through a Street View Trek. The Street View Trek through Venice lets students travel the city on foot and travel through the canals in gondolas. The Street View Trek through Venice also gives students the opportunity to step inside historic buildings in the city.

How to Use Know Lounge to Host Online Tutoring Sessions

Know Lounge is a free service for hosting online tutoring sessions. A bunch of new options were added to Know Lounge this week so I made a new video to demonstrate how to use it.


In addition what is demonstrated in the video above, Know Lounge now includes a quiz function. You can create a quiz and have students take it during a live session. The results of the quiz can be shared with students or you can keep them private.

Practical Ed Tech Live - Recording and Questions

Yesterday, I hosted a new edition of Practical Ed Tech Live. If you missed it, the recording is now available to view as embedded below. The questions that I answered during the session are copied below the video.


1. I am presenting at a workshop and thought this would be a great application, but I created a classroom with my G Suite for Education account and attempted to join with my personal Gmail. No go. So I went the opposite way and created a Classroom with my personal Gmail (it worked) and tried to join with my G Suite for Ed account. Again, no go. The reason this is problematic is I assume teachers who are attending my workshop session may want to join my class with their professional account as I will be sharing Google-based resources. I plan to have them join with a personal Gmail and I have a back up plan... but just wondering if this is across the board or a setting my school district needs to flip on the admin site of G Suite. Thank you!

2. I would be so much grateful to you if you could help me please with the following tools : A tool to use to transcribe a recording : from voice to speech as you have just recently sent . I have recorded the responses of my informants in a semi- structured interview in Arabic . I'm looking for a tool that may help me transform that recording into a text and if possible to translate it into English. The second tool I'm looking for is a free software that can help in organizing and managing citations and bibliography.

3. Thank you for the information on Google Classroom. I just setup my first of several classes which I will be using in the Fall. My School district is way behind on technology and as of yet has not selected an online course management system. For this reason I've been on my own and until now I've been using OTUS. You mentioned that there would be some limitations with regard to the G Suite because it would not be included in the free version, I assume. I've been waiting for Google to open this up because I wanted to commit to one platform. Engrade was sold and now I sense that OTUS (using now) will do the same. Since I am a teacher will this version of G Classroom be limited. Will I have to upgrade and have to pay for the "Full version"?

4. A long time ago, I made a video using my iPhone on how to research by using the resources found on our library's webpage. Can you refresh my memory of resources that can do this?

5. I use Kahoot A LOT. Sorry if this is a dumb question, but we are moving to Windows 10 this week. Will I still be able to use all the Kahoots I made previously in getkahoot.com? Or do I have to create new ones in the Kahoot create app? I project from my computer and kids connect with Ipads.

6. I’m Mathematics teacher from Pakistan residing in Bahrain. I have done lots of search to find any reliable website to get extra worksheets for my students. Do you mind suggesting me any website where there are lots of test papers according to grade levels? Please help!

More Than 100 Math Games for Elementary and Middle School Students

XP Math is a good place to find online math games for students in elementary school and middle school. The games section of XP Math offers games for basic arithmetic, algebra, geometry, and probability. There is a classroom option that lets you create an account on XP Math and you can keep track of your students' game scores.

Applications for Education
XP Math is a good resource for locating mathematics activities that students can use on their own. The games section allows students to record their scores to measure their progress.