Couple of updates for you…. my PageFlake was featured on the Smartboard Lessons Podcast Blog Not only did the writers of that blog leave my first comment, but to be mentioned on such a website with an incredible amount of ideas and resources was really, really cool!! You should definitely check out the site, they update it frequently.

Also, I’ve just branched out and started yet another blog… this one is specifically created as a resource for the Physical Computing course I am taking. So those of you who have been following my progress in that class should make note! If you’re new to my blog and are not familiar with it then you can click on the About page on my new blog for more info.

On a different topic, this past week some of our faculty attended a presentation given by an Apple representative on using our Mac Lab to create podcasts. Since most of the faculty was unfamiliar with the concept of a podcast, he spent most of the presentation explaining what a podcast is, how to subscribe to them and the basics of creating a simple podcast using GarageBand. I have been planning to use podcasts in my own classes and will be asking students to create one for their 3rd semester project grade. I need to purchase a digital camcorder and try my hand at making my own podcast– so for our next CST session I am thinking of creating a podcast on how to make a podcast That way I’ll not only get the experience of making a podcast, but I’ll be also be able to explain how it’s done both for my students and for other faculty members who are a little technology shy.

Still have not been able to make much progress on putting together a policy on blogging so that I can get my students blogging. I wanted to do it over the mid winter break but had major computer issues. (For those of you who have not read previous posts, my school does not have a policy on blogging and I have been told not to let my students blog until there is a policy in place.)  My monitor is down on my desktop and I had to reinstall the o/s on my laptop Let me tell you, it was a major headache!! So, the plan is to spend time over spring break getting that policy together. I’ve accomplished a lot this year, but I will feel very disappointed if I’m not able to introduce blogging into the classroom. I wish I had more support from the faculty and administration in developing blogging as a resource for students and as a professional development tool. Those of you who blog understand the many ways it can be used to support education (I also gave a CST presentation and have a list of Blogs used in education for those of you who are new to blogging or are looking for more information).  I have to carve out time to get that done….

Yesterday was the fourth meeting of the Physical Computing class I’m taking… every week gets more and more exciting!! We’ve learned how to manipulate the basic tools, create simple animations using the timeline, use action script (very, very basic though), and make buttons. I guess that might not sound that exciting, but these basics are going to lead to bigger and better things…. We had some time to mess around and try to create a scene, so I tried to recreate the ‘chute’ scene one of our instructors created…. Take a look!!!

Yeah, it doesn’t look that great, but it’s the concepts that count!! Using what I’ve learned so far I’m going to try to make a ‘real’ project this weekend that I plan on using in my senior PreCalculus class. In class today we worked on what I thought was a pretty straightforward word problem— however, instead of spending about 5-10 minutes on it, we wound up spending almost the whole period discussing it/working on similar problems. The problem involves a beaker of an acidic mixture in which x amount of pure acid needs to be added in order to achieve a set percentage of acid in the solution. It hit me that I could make this problem so much easier for them to visualize by using a flash movie instead of static images….. I can totally visualize what I want to happen in the scene, but I think it’s going to take a little bit of work to make it actually happen. We’ll see what I can do this weekend!! Between online tutorials and being able to contact our instructors via email for help I think I’ll be able to pull it off…… so hopefully next time I write I’ll be able to share a much cooler scene than my ‘chute’ movie!!!

Part 2:
Working with the timeline is starting to make more sense, but it’s still a little tough… More frustrating though is trying to draw!!! I don’t have Illustrator, but I was able to download an opensource version called Inkscape. I can see that it’s going to take me a while to learn how to manipulate the various tools, but I was able to do a slightly better job creating images in Inkscape than in Flash…. I need to spend more time creating my ‘acid’ movie, but I guess I have a pretty good start. Take a look:

I obviously have a lot more work to do, hopefully I’ll have more time this week to play around with it…..

chute

This past Wednesday was the first meeting of the Physical Computing class I am taking this semester. It was such an exciting first meeting! We received the laptops, printers, and software which are paid for by our stipend. We also learned more about what we will be learning and doing during the course of the next few months. Basically, we will learn how to use Flash and Arduino to create a project that will used in the classroom. Flash is a software program that creates graphics that can be used to animate designs. Arduino is a programming language that receives input from a variety of sensors to control actuators such as lights and motors. Ultimately we will learn to use Arduino to create a physical response that will be shown graphically through the use of Flash.

I’ve learned a little bit about Flash in a previous class that I took at St. Francis and I am very excited to learn more. Take a look at some websites that use Flash animations:
Al’s Relativistic Adventures
Pi Song
Map of the History of Religion
Yuichan Socratic Zen Conversationalist

I am also looking forward to learning how to the Arduino part of the course— I know very little about computer programming!! Our instructors showed us Pleo, a robotic dinosaur that responds to various stimuli in different ways. We won’t be working with anything quite as sophisticated, but we will learn how to create a device that responds to a stimulus such as temperature, sound, or light.

Also during the class our instructors gave us supplies and showed us how to create a “LED Throwie”.

What exactly is a “Throwie”???!
It’s a Light-emitting Diode (LED) that produces a narrowly
focused beam of light and is powered by a battery
which is then firmly attached to a magnet with tape. LEDs are used in objects like clocks, signs, some TVs, and works of art. Check out the create ways the Graffiti Research Lab has used them! Since my bookshelf at work has a magnetic surface, I’ve stuck my throwie on it….. I wonder how long it will stay lit

I can’t wait for our next meeting!! I will be adding websites on physical computing articles and resources to my del.icio.us, feel free to take a look!!