Free tools educators can use to take their class online!

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In wake of the corona virus and any emergency, schools are looking into online options. This video will guide you through some of the best tools available (and are free!) to perform this task quickly and efficiently. This video is for K12, higher education, and anyone looking to teach online.

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Check it out…

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I have created a new website where I can share some of my interests outside of instructional design, esports, and education. This new site will focus on tech tips, health, fitness, finance, lifestyle, etc. I wanted to keep all of that out of my personal site (this one you are reading) where I try to keep it professional and focused on things around my career. Anyway, check it out:

Here is the new site – http://professorpractical.com

What do you need to host your first esports tournament?

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As you know if you follow me, I am the advisor of the esports club at UNCW. Recently, I have been getting a lot of emails from schools, clubs, or organizations who would like to know how to set up their own esports tournament. The following video goes through the basics you would need, the minimum, when hosting a small tournament. I kept this simple so that it would be easy to follow and there are a lot of details left out (on purpose). The idea here is that you have a guide to work from to put together a plan to host your own tournament.

Blue Light – 30 Day Challenge

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Update from Week 4 – I am impressed. Still blocking blue light. Very happy with the results.

See my final video here:

Update from Week 3: In addition to everything I noticed in week 2 my headaches are gone. I haven’t had to take headache medicine for 10 days, which is pretty unusual. If I go a full 2 weeks, that will be impressive and a record. Not sure if its just the season, my new diet, or the blue light. My guess is that I am sleeping better and straining less at the computer which is leading to better sleep and therefore less headaches. I will keep you posted at the end of my 3 days next week.

Update from Week 2: I am noticing something new – I can’t stay awake in bed to read. Usually I read from 30-60 minutes per night. For the last 1.5 weeks I have been falling asleep within 5-10 minutes. The first few nights I didn’t think anything of it but now its the same every night. This is cool but I really need to finish my latest book!

Original post:

I have been interested in blue light glasses for quite a while now and for Christmas this year got a pair (https://amzn.to/37twDgw)! Actually I got two pair! So naturally being curious I decided to try them out. I wanted to do a 30 day challenge to see if I noticed any difference in my sleep or headaches when wearing the glasses. You see, I have read that these glasses can do all sorts of wonders, which makes me think they are snake oil. But I am a migraine sufferer, so anything that could potentially help is worth trying out, especially if it’s risk free!

So I began my journey by researching blue light. What I found was that blue light, like most other things in life, is both good and bad. It’s great for us in the day, it gives up energy. But at night, it can mess up our sleep and sleep is very important for human health. So essentially being on a screen right before bed can affect our sleep (notice I said can, not does because the research is very undecided at this point).

So the first thing I did was test my blue light glasses. I bought a test kit from amazon to test them (https://amzn.to/2ugdlNy). This test kit showed they did block blue light. The problem was that I didn’t know how much blue light the test kit shows was being blocked. Additionally, I couldn’t find any research saying how much blue light needs to be blocked for you to notice a difference. This makes this all more tricky as I essentially need to self experiment. So self experiment I did…

Additionally, I also realized that I can block blue light on my devices without glasses. There are settings on your PC, Mac, Iphone, Android, etc that allow you to block blue light.

OK so lets talk some results. Keep in mind, I am only 1 week into this test but I have already learned a lot.

First a side note – I noticed in my research that when blue light is blocked that a screen should appear orange/red. This is what also happens when I turn off the blue light from my computer and phone. But my blue light glasses are clear. The company claims to have some “other technology” allowing it to be clear but when I see what the researchers from NASA are using, they are also using orange tinted glasses. This leads me to my results…

Wearing the glasses, I am noticing nothing. No difference. None whatsoever. But what is interesting is that as soon as I turn the blue light off of my computer or phone, like within minutes, my eyes feel less strained. I really notice this difference right away. I haven’t noticed it impacting my sleep or headaches but there is a difference. This makes me think my blue light glasses need to be the good orange ones (https://amzn.to/2QQlSiV) or they aren’t blocking enough blue light. So my initial opinion is that the clear glasses don’t block enough. I also think you do not need the glasses at all. Why not just turn the blue light off your computer and phone an hour before bedtime? They have settings to set a time so you won’t even need to do it more than once. Anyway, those are my initial results. I will post more over the next few weeks of my 30 days challenge. Here are some videos where I discuss all of this: