Lumin PDF is a neat tool that I wrote about a couple of years ago when one of my colleagues needed a way for her math students to draw on PDFs that she sent to them in Google Classroom. You can read more about that situation right here.
I just received an email from Lumin PDF announcing that all of the premium features are now available to teachers and their students for free! The premium features include merging and splitting PDFs, highlighting (in addition to the normal annotating options), and the removal of banner advertising. And Lumin PDF integrates with Google Classroom. You can register for a free Lumin PDF premium account here.
If you're interested in other options for annotating PDFs, I recommend trying the tools built into OneNote or trying Kami. Video tutorials on how to use both of those tools are available here.
For the last year or so whenever I watch a sporting event on television there are advertisements for cryptocurrency exchanges. It has even pervaded niche sports like professional cycling (here's one story about a particularly dodgy instance in cycling). Last year one of my students even set out to try to mine Bitcoin. Another of my students dabbled in creating NFTs. The point is, cryptocurrencies and NFTs are now mainstream. And both of those are based on the concept of blockchain.
Blockchain is what makes cryptocurrencies and NFTs possible. If that seems clear as mud, you should watch Common Craft's video titled Blockchain Explained by Common Craft. The video does a great job of using a concept that we're all familiar with, ownership of physical property, to explain the Blockchain concept.
After watching Common Craft's video about blockchain, watch this video from Financial Post to learn how the blockchain concept is applied to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
Interactive Blockchain Demo
Blockchaindemo.io and Coindemo.io are interactive websites on which you can see how cryptocurrency transactions take place.
An Open Course About Blockchain and Money
Once you understand the basics of blockchain you might want to learn more about cryptocurrencies. Blockchain and Money is an open course from MIT. The course was originally taught in the fall of 2018, but all of the materials and lectures are still available for free. All twenty-three lectures in the course can be viewed in this YouTube playlist. It is a graduate course so I don't expect that high school students would be able to understand all of it, but an interested high school student could still glean some good lessons from it.
Two Sundays ago my Practical Ed Tech Newsletter was all about finding pictures, videos, and sounds for classroom projects. As a part of that newsletter I included my updated guide to finding media for classroom projects.
In my guide to finding media for classroom projects I provide overviews of my favorite places for students and teachers to find image, video, and audio files that can be downloaded and re-used for free without violating copyright. If you'd like a copy of my guide to finding media for classroom projects, you can find it here as a PDF.
Why Does It Matter?
If you're wondering to yourself, "if it's for my classroom, can't I use any pictures I want?" The answer is no. Just take a look at what happened in one school district that tried to use that argument.
More About Copyright in the Classroom
Here's the recording of a webinar about copyright and Creative Commons that I hosted last spring.
Here's the recording of a webinar about copyright in the classroom that Beth Holland and I hosted a few years ago.
Disclosure: WriteReader is currently an advertiser on FreeTech4Teachers.com.
WriteReader is a great platform for online creative writing projects. It has many features that make it great for elementary school use. Some of those features include how students access it, the library of artwork, and audio support for students.
In this new video I demonstrate how to use WriteReader for creative writing assignments. Along the way I highlight my five favorite features of WriteReader. In the video you'll see me:
C-SPAN's Summer Fellowship program is now open for applications. Those who are accepted into the program will spend a few weeks working remotely with C-SPAN's education team. Participants receive a $1,000 stipend for their participation in the program. More details about the summer fellowship program are available here. Applications are due by May 6, 2022.
Every summer C-SPAN Classroom also hosts a conference for social studies teachers. A friend of mine participated in it a few years ago and he said it was an amazing experience. C-SPAN hasn't announced dates for this year's summer conference, but it does appear that it will be virtual. Check this page later this spring for dates and information about C-SPAN Classroom's summer conference.
