Virtual reality can be utilized as an amazing tool in the classroom. As a history teacher, I would have my students look at locations we’d been learning about in virtual reality. For example, below is a 360 degree video found on YouTube showcasing the major landmarks in Rome.

There are other resources than just YouTube for VR in the classroom though. ClassVR is a resource specifically for using VR in the classroom. Here is a link to their history resources: https://www.classvr.com/vr-ar-resources/history-vr-teaching-resources/. They offer 30 minute free demos that you can try out in your classroom. Overall, virtual reality can be used as a great resource for history teachers to help give students a real visual of what they are learning in class.

The WE Virtual Learning Center is an amazing resource for educators. There are lesson ideas for all grade levels. One of my favorite sections is the Action Plans. Action Plans are used to help educate students on real-world issues. For example, the Action Plan “WE Are Silent” aims to educate students on the millions of kids around the world that are being silenced every day. The website even offers resources pertaining to “WE Are Silent” for each grade level and denotes exactly what SDG the lesson touches on. As a future high school teacher, I would use the resource recommended for high school students.

Above is the first lesson for high school aged students in this Action Plan. The WE Virtual Learning Center offers an entire unit comprised of 4 lessons here for high schoolers. This is just on example of dozens that are offered on this free-to-use resource. This will be a major help in my classroom and will save me a ton of time by already having well thought out lesson plans.

Stockton University offers its students a variety of tools to aid in accessibility. These tools could be physical equipment or software. Assistive technology can be particularly beneficial for students with challenges in language processing, auditory or visual processing, or those who struggle with note-taking, among other areas. To gain access to these tools, students must be registered in the Learning Access Program and then contact the Wellness Center to schedule an appointment with the Coordinator of Adaptive Technology. This blog post will be focusing on the physical equipment that students may use at Stockton.

• C-Pen Reader – A portable device that reads printed text aloud with an English, Spanish or French human-like digital voice. 

• Digital Goniometer – Including a HALO, which is both an inclinometer and goniometer that allows you to record a patient’s measurement with one hand.

• FM Systems – Use radio waves to send speech and other signals to hearing aids.

• Handheld Magnifiers – Small electronic magnifiers that magnify text and is for use in the classroom.  The product contains continuous magnification and has large intuitive buttons for easier navigation.

• Smartpens – Like a pen, but use Bluetooth technology to record audio and send it to a smartphone, tablet, or PC. This product is designed to help students capture the most from classroom lectures and documents information that could be missed while in the classroom.

• Spellex – A medical spell check tool for thousands of medical procedures, diseases, surgical terms, treatments, diagnostic tests, and pharmaceuticals.

• Thunder T3 – Earmuffs that feature Air Flow Control technology that reduce noise in the room.

HyperDocs are an interactive learning tool you can be using to help engage students in your classroom. In place of a teacher leading a lesson, students will navigate through a HyperDoc teaching themselves. The objective of the HyperDoc is to guide students through a self-paced lesson in an engaging way that can be utilized remotely.

Here is a simple HyperDoc guiding students on how to make chocolate lava cake. This is a great lesson plan because it guides the students to where they should find the information, work in pairs as well as in groups, objective checkpoints, and expectations.

Overall, HyperDocs are an important tool teachers can use to differentiate instruction within their classroom. There are many different methods to create a HyperDoc and can cover any content area. Students will be given the opportunity to achieve lesson objectives on their own, while also being provided the scaffolding to ensure success.

Using the website museivaticani.va I was able to take a virtual tour of the museums located at the Vatican in Rome, Italy. This is actually a location that I have visited through a Stockton class I took that went to Italy! Taking a tour in the real world is always very quick and crowded, the tour guides are trying to get you in and out as soon as possible because there are just so many visitors. They really don’t give you a lot of time to look. It is especially cool to look at the Sistine Chapel again because you are not allowed to take pictures inside of there. Here is a screenshot I took of what the inside of the Sistine Chapel looks like!

This resource will also be helpful in the classroom. As a history teacher, I hope to one day show my students a virtual tour as wells a pictures I took of my own at the Vatican. Christian history is an area of interest for me and I hope I will have the opportunity to teach it someday to my students.

A new alternative for PowerPoint or Google Slides I found through the Sail the 7 C’s Textbook is Microsoft Sway. Sway is a linear medium that displays information similarly to a Slides presentation but does not have actual slides, it is all one page of information. This works by scrolling down the page and information and videos will show up as you scroll. This is more engaging than slides because it’s not just clicking and seeing clunky transitions.

The website is also presented in an incredibly user friendly way. There are multiple templates to start from and many sample presentations to showcase the capabilities of Sway. https://sway.cloud.microsoft/JB4wp642pJofLtYI Here is one of my favorites. Overall, I think Sway is worth a try and it might just spice up your presentations to keep your students engaged!

Discovery Education offers an array of virtual field trips and a program called DE Docs for students. Virtual field trips offer dynamic and interactive experiences that take students behind the scenes of unique destinations connection them to real-world problems through engaging, multi-media content. DE Docs are long-form, documentary style videos that provide an in-depth exploration of specific topics, offering new perspectives and a focused narrative to deepen students’ understanding.

Upcoming premieres for DE Docs and virtual field trips are shown on the page. Knowing that these modern documentary style videos and interactive field trips have a premiere date helps create lesson plans where prerequisite knowledge may need to be taught before students are ready for these videos.

Discovery Education also has many more features for educators such as a puzzle section, where you can create an array of various puzzles as well as use ones that were already created. This will be important in my classroom because puzzles are a good way to get the brain working at the start of class. I think educators should start class with something to ease students in rather than starting immediately with the lesson. These puzzles could also be collaborative to help build interpersonal relationships in my classroom and to help foster a community.