Explain 3D - Machines and Systems Explained With 3D Animations

Explain 3D is a site that offers a collection of 3D animations of simple machines. The animations use the Unity web player which enables viewers to zoom-in, zoom-out, and rotate animations 360 degrees. Recently Explain 3D made all of the animations available for free. In addition to the animations of simple machines like elevators and hand pumps, Explain 3D now offers 3D models of the universe and electrical systems.

Applications for Education
Explain 3D could be a good source of models to include as part of a larger lesson that you're constructing for your students to view online. To get the most out of the models your students will probably need you to explain what is happening and or the connections to the larger lesson.

How to Create Appointment Slots in Google Apps Calendars

One of the handy features of Google Calendar within a Google Apps domain is appointment slots. In Google Calendar, Google Apps for Education users can create appointment slots. The appointment slots can be used to show people when you are available and allow them to sign-up to meet with you. The screenshots below provide directions for this process. (click images to view them in full size). 

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(Note, this will not work if you are using a Google Calendar through a Gmail account). 

A Crash Course on The Odyssey

John Green is back with a new Crash Course on literature. The first installment in the new course is A Long and Difficult Journey, or The Odyssey. In typical Crash Course style John Green packs all of the basics about The Odyssey into one fast-paced video.


Applications for Education
A Long and Difficult Journey, or The Odyssey is obviously designed as an introduction to the story. I would consider having students watch it after reading and then ask them to identify things that they think John Green should have spent more time on. Then challenge your students to produce their own videos to emphasize the key points that they've identified.

As is common in Crash Course videos, Green makes a few comments that some might consider PG-13. Watch the video and decide for yourself before sharing it with your students.

Create Public Courses on OpenEd

Since it was launched six months OpenEd.io has seen a steady stream of updates. The latest update offers support for public courses. Any course that you create using the Common Core-aligned resources in OpenEd.io can be shared publicly. This update should create a larger pool of shared resources for teachers and students.

As a registered OpenEd user (registration is free and takes less than thirty seconds to complete) you can create courses and playlists of videos and other materials that you find in the OpenEd directory. You can align your courses and playlists to Common Core standards. If you choose to align your course to a standard, OpenEd will suggest materials to you. OpenEd supports inclusion of assessments within your course.

Applications for Education
My favorite aspect of OpenEd.io is the search tool. Rather than searching and hoping to find a video on YouTube that matches the standard(s) you're addressing in a lesson, you can start with the standard and have OpenEd locate videos for you.

OpenEd.io offers iPad and Android apps that your students can use to access your courses and assessments.

You Can Build Your Own Search Engine

Earlier this week I received an email from someone who had found the custom video search engine that I built last summer. The person who emailed me asked how I did it. There's not much to it other than following a few steps at Google.com/cse. As you can see in the directions embedded below, you don't need any coding skills in order to build your own search engine.



Applications for Education
Creating a custom search engine is a good way to provide some gentle search assistance to students. You can create search engines that only include websites that are appropriate for your students' reading levels.