An Earth Day Surprise using a webcam and 3D Augmented Reality

Each morning and afternoon I greet our students at the entrance of our school. I usually ask a Question of the Day using polleverywhere.com, a Google Form, or wallwisher.com. Today I introduced students to an interesting piece of technology called augmented reality and captured their reactions using Camtasia studio's screen capturing software.

The students were amazed. I demoed two examples of augmented reality. In honor of Earth Day on April 22 I chose GE's smart grid augmented reality project.  It features an interactive solar farm or a wind farm which magically appear out of symbol printed on a piece of paper.  I think this would make a great kick off activity for any Earth Day lesson or alternative energy activity.  The second example I chose featured a friendly little green monster that waves and looks around.

What you need to try this out:

• A web cam
• A printer
• A web browser with Adobe Flash 

Link of the Week #12 - MailChimp

Email Marketing and Email List Manager | MailChimp

The excitement of another MACUL conference has started to wane and routine has started to set in, so I was excited when I received an e-newsletter from John Sowash. He used a web service called MailChimp to design and deliver a dynamic html styled newsletter to the mailing list he had gathered during his presentation.

John's e-newsletter stood out from the other messages in my inbox because MailChimp allows you to use templates and html coding to deliver what is essentially a web page embedded in an e-mail.

Another great feature is the unsubscribe option. Not everyone who gave me their e-mail address wants to continue receiving updates or links to the video tutorials I make.

Setting up a Free account allows you to send 3000 "campaign" messages per month before prompting you to upgrade. I could see teachers using this a means of delivering their class newsletter or having students produce a persuasive argument campaign.

There are also built in tools for building your social networks like twitter or to promote websites and blogs.

John Sowash - #Macul10 Wiimote smartb...

John Sowash - #Macul10 Wiimote smartboards for $100.00

Smartboards allow students to get up and interact with their environment

• Physically engaging
• Encourages higher order thinking skills
• Improve motor skills
• Interacts with Web 2.0
• Reduces sage on the stage instruction

Johnny Chung Lee - The originator of the wiiboard

Josh made his own ir pen 2 years ago.

• could be good electronic class project but otherwise ... 

Now there are commercial made ir pens available.

IR lights don't light up light an incandescent bulbs.  Use a digital camera or video camera to see the light.

Penteractive.us is the least expensive option

Irpensonline for elementary - no clicking needed

Requires the .NET framework

Software

• Smoothboard.net - 30 dollars now but most full featured (does have free trial)
• Pentabulous is free
• Java whiteboard - only one for the mac

Installation

• Integrated blue tooth
• Connect the wiimote hold the player 1 and 2 buttons simultaneously
• Run the whiteboard software (when it's connected the player 1 button should light)
• Calibrate
• 70% or better Tracking utilization gives best accuracy
• Permanent mounting of wiimote is important
• You can to a doupble wiimote cross
• John used a camera tripod to mount the wiimote at the presentation and got a 52% accuracy
• Penteractive ceiling mount clips into drop ceiling rails ($30)
• Training the students is key (Whoa! there's a wiimote strapped the ceiling!)
• Threaded wiimote cover ($3)

Uses

• Google Earth was made for the this system
• Google SketchUp
• Review Games
• Protein Modeling
• Virtual Cell - Pearson
• Assessment and review
• Virtual Knee surgery
• Timeline Creation
• Concept Maps

Station activities make this system effective for encouraging student use

Assessment and Review

• Google Web quizzes and have students come up and answer collaboratively

Battery life varies on use

• The software monitors the wiimote battery life
• rechargables
• usb chargers

Mimeo works well with the wiiboard software

• several support networks for this

Resources

• wiimoteproject.com

Screencast: How to reset a Google Form

Google Forms does not provide an easy way to reset your form data or clear results from the Google Spreadsheet. This screencast follows the step-by-step directions found at Abhi's Weblog http://bit.ly/cy6IhK.

Make sure you follow the directions closely and be sure to practice on a Form before trying this on a Form containing important data.

YouTube
- How to reset a Google Form.mp4:

Screencast: Create a collaborative bookmarking and research resource using #GDocs Forms.

Social bookmarking sites like Delicious and Diigo are great, but setting up student accounts and teaching students how to use these sites can be time consuming.

Here is a video tutorial on using Google Docs Forms to build a quick collaborative bookmarking and research resource for your class. 


YouTube
- Screencast: Create a collaborative bookmarking and research resource using #GDocs Forms.: ""

Screencast - Getting Started with Google Docs Forms.mp4

I'll be presenting "Transforming your classroom with Google Docs Forms" at the annual Michigan Association for Computer Users in Learning (MACUL) conference in Grand Rapids, MI on March 11 @ 10 a.m.  


This screencast introduces Google Docs Froms as a "gateway" to the Google Docs Spreadsheet.  It also highlights the various types of data which Forms allows you to collect and the graphical summary generated by that data. 

YouTube
- Getting Started with Google Docs Forms.mp4

Screencast - Using Google Forms on an ipod touch or other mobile device

In this tutorial I demonstrate how to use your Google Form on a mobile device such as an iPod touch or web enabled smart phone.

Using a mobile device with forms could be ideal for quick interview style formative assessments with students or small groups. Or you might hand the student the device and allow them to enter their responses.

I'd love to hear how you might use Forms on a mobile device in your classroom in the comments section.

To learn more about using Google Docs Forms click here.

Capture your screen in seconds

ScreenToaster - Using Google Forms on an ipod touch or other mobile

Google Docs Forms Editor Features

Over the next month I'll be creating a series of tutorials focusing on Google Docs Forms.  In March I will be presenting a breakout session on the use of Google Forms in the Classroom at the Michigan Association For Computer Users in Learning (MACUL) annual conference in Grand Rapids, MI.  

This tutorial presents an overview of the features in the Forms editor.