Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many students will, unfortunately, miss out on the chance to celebrate their accomplishments with a traditional graduation ceremony this year. However, a virtual graduation ceremony can still go ahead with Microsoft Teams.
From early May through July 1st, holders of a Microsoft Office 365 A1, which is free for educational institutions, will have the ability to host online live graduation with up to 20,000 attendees. A pre-recorded graduation and a celebration with “photos & videos” are also available.
zSpace is an AR/VR laptop that provides students with a new way of learning by bringing together the augmented and virtual reality technologies. Its learning methodology consists of a combination of hardware, software and educational content where students are completely immersed in a learning experience that facilitates the building of a curriculum around it.
zSpace: AR/VR laptop
zSpace applications offer a realistic study environment by providing virtual-holographic images that can be “lifted” from the screen and manipulated with the stylus. Some applications also provide multi-sensory feedback; for example, students working with a virtual heart can see it pumping, hear it, and feel it beating.
zSpace: AR/VR Laptop
The AR/VR laptop comes with glasses that work in conjunction with its tracking system to provide users with an interactive AR/VR experience and a stylus that allows them to bring the objects out of the screen and into reality. It also offers interesting K-12 applications; some of them are listed below:
Franklin’s Lab – guides students through electricity concepts and troubleshooting faulty circuits. Students can follow guided activities and repair broken switches and motors in Workbench mode.
Euclid’s Shapes – offers activities with math manipulatives and provides teachers with a guide to math learning. Students learn with Base-10 blocks, Square Tiles, Fraction Bars, and more!
Curie’s Elements – allows students to explore a periodic table with Bohr and atomic models for each element. Students can also build elements by adding protons, neutrons, and electrons.
MEL Chemistry – provides an engaging visualization and explanation of chemistry concepts – from atoms to molecules including the periodic table, gas laws, and isomerism.
Experiences – include experiential-based simulations of Earth, Life, and Physical Science topics allowing students to manipulate content while learning abstract concepts.
Human Anatomy Atlas – is an award-winning human anatomy general reference. Students can explore human body systems, over 4,600 anatomical structures, and more!
Geogebra Classic – allows students to better engage in math concepts related to three-dimensional topics. Students can explore functions, geometry, algebra, calculus, and 3D math.
Newton’s Park – allows students to run or create their own experiments to deepen their knowledge of Newtonian Mechanics. Students can build simulations while interacting with data.
As concerns around COVID-19 pandemic grew, several schools turned to Learning Management Systems (LMS) to manage their distance learning. Below is a list, shared by UNESCO, of the most used Learning Management Systems around the world:
CenturyTech – addresses gaps in knowledge through personal learning pathways with micro-lessons while challenging students and promoting long-term memory retention.
ClassDojo – connects teachers with students and parents to build classroom communities.
Edmodo – manages classrooms and engages students remotely, through offering tools and resources backed with a variety of languages.
Edraak – offers online education with material and resources for school learners and teachers in Arabic.
EkStep – provides an open learning platform with a collection of learning resources to support literacy and numeracy.
Google Classroom – helps classes connect remotely, communicate and stay-organized.
Moodle – serves a community-driven and globally supported open learning platform.
Nafham – hosts an Arabic language online learning platform with educational video lessons that correspond with Egyptian and Syrian curricula.
Paper Airplanes – matches individuals with personal tutors for 12-16-week sessions conducted via video conferencing platforms.
Schoology – equips teachers with tools for instruction, learning, grading, collaboration and assessment.
Seesaw – enables the creation of collaborative and sharable digital learning portfolios and learning resources.
Skooler – turns Microsoft Office suite into an education platform.
UNESCO published 7 interesting tools for creating digital learning content to help schools switch to online teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Thinglink – creates interactive images, videos and other multimedia resources.
Buncee – supports the creation and sharing of visual representations of learning content, including media-rich lessons, reports, newsletters and presentations.
Dinosaurs 4D+ by Octagon Studio is an AR dinosaurs App that gives the learners the prehistoric experience of unleashing extinct Dinosaurs which existed millions of years ago on Earth! By pointing their mobiles or tablets on the flashcards, learners can watch the dinosaurs in 3D action and catch glimpses of the history, features and interesting facts.
They can rotate, zoom in and out the Dinosaurs to see the actual details in 360-degree view by moving the devices. They can also spot the origins of the dinosaurs from the enormous Sauropods to the tiny Compsognathus all over the globe, compare human body size with each dinosaurs, tap to see them in action, and share the knowledge to others.
