Sketching The 3D World
If you haven’t used Google SketchUp yet, you should give version 7 a try. They have made the latest version even easier to use. Create 3D models of cars, spaceships, buildings, or even your own inventions using the intuitive program. As a first time user, it wasn’t long before I was ignoring the start-up tips and exploring the tools for myself. Compared to other graphical editing programs such as AutoCAD and ProE, which have an abundance of features that often require some form of training to use, Sketchup’s design is simple, powerful and doesn’t use an abundance of resources to run on your computer. For your first time, try making a 3D model of your house simply by importing a 2D picture of it and tracing the outline. You can even take images from Google Earth using the same method, make a 3D model of it, then export them back into Google Earth.
Aside from Sketchup being a useful tool for the average computer user, it has also been used for educational purposes. Using a downloadable ad-on to Sketchup called Sketchyphysics2, Mexico State University students created a 3D model of a Chile Cleaner. The model gave the engineers an outline of what needed to be built and developed a virtual walk through of the design so many of the problems could be worked out before construction. This video shows the capabilities of the software.
Every year Google runs an International Model your Campus competition. Using Sketchup, students from various disciplines get together and model their university’s campus. These models are then uploaded into Google Earth for anyone to see. Although Carleton University’s campus is large, it would not be impossible to design in 3D using the latest version of Sketchup. It would be a fun and engaging opportunity for design, architecture, computer science and other students who are interested in designing. Similar projects were submitted to Google’s case studies page.
Although Sketchup is already at it’s 7th version, we still have yet to see the extent of it’s capabilities as more and more people discover it. With user’s as young as 5 years old who are creating relatively complex models, it would be no suprise to find Sketchup on every computer in the near future. As Google states, “we think that SketchUp has a place in every classroom, dorm room and student laptop in the world. After all – we live in 3D. Why shouldn’t we start thinking and teaching that way?”
We will write more posts in the future on some ideas and examples of how you might incorporate Sketchup into your course. Take a look at the case studies submitted by SketchUp users whose work is representative of SketchUp in Higher Education.
Google pulls the plug on a Lively hobby
In a recent blog post, the Lively Team announced on their weblog that they would be disbanding with the shutdown of Google Lively by the end of December. Google says the goal of their July 2008 launch of Lively Beta was to allow “users to be able to interact with their friends and express themselves online in new ways,” and with the creative ways users have applied themselves in the Lively realm, they have been largely successful. Google, however, has decided to shift their focus back to the search and web application utilities that they have enjoyed so much success with. Nevertheless, they noted on their development of Lively that “Google has always been supportive of this kind of experimentation because we believe it’s the best way to create groundbreaking products that make a difference to people’s lives”.
Educational communities traditionally have substantial reservations towards new ways of doing things, and the emergence of new technologies – regardless of the potential value – will always encounter some turbulence on their way to being adopted. Virtual worlds have taken ground-breaking steps recently, but more on an experimental level than a practical one. The challenge has been delivering concrete proof, to students and teachers of the educational community, that the use of computer-aided virtual environments can be truly beneficial if widely adopted. For the moment, though, it’s only a virtual reality for optimistic instructors who ambitiously embrace new educational technologies, such as virtual worlds, even though the real world isn’t quite ready for it yet. To those select few instructors with the initiative to utilise a virtual world for their classroom anyway, we applaud their efforts, and hotly anticipate future imitation of the constructive worlds they’re creating.
Despite the news, Google’s not all to blame. If anything, this is largely due to the direction of Google’s genetics, the nature of their business model, and not due to a weakened interest in the flexible and widely expandable application of virtual worlds. Virtual worlds have not fully matured, and Google is likely unprepared to dedicate any further resources at this time. While Lively may have been Google’s pet project over the past few months, we don’t blame them for shifting back to their traditional practices of creating products that make Web 2.0 experiences seamless with everyday life. As virtual worlds aren’t going away any time soon, we wouldn’t be surprised if Google returns to such a project in the future. Meanwhile, you will likely find the student voice to come a consensus, perhaps best summarized by the words of poet Theodore Roethke, when he wrote “I learn by going where I have to go”.
Google’s Virtual World: Lively
Continuing our previous post Virtually Transforming Classrooms, which was an introduction to Virtual Worlds, I’d like to concentrate on Google’s contribution to this market. We are all familiar with Google’s searching capabilities since it’s recognized as the world’s most powerful search engine and is probably the only site on the Internet that aims to get its users in and out as quickly as possible. As a successful business, Google continuously seeks innovative improvements not only within its own business, but to expand these to any other businesses that may benefit from them. From Gmail to Google Docs, their extremely quick and simplistic designs across their wide range of useful products are known for their universally easy means of usability. It is worth investigating their contribution to Virtual Worlds as it may be a big one considering their ongoing success as a business. Google has a number of products that contribute to the idea of Virtual Worlds. These include Google Earth, Google SketchUp, and most recently, the BETA version of Lively – a virtual 3D social world similar to Second Life. Read more
ThinkFree: Universally-accessible office suite, online!
In a few words, office suites such as Microsoft Office and Corel WordPerfect Office can be a real pain in the butt — for financial, practical and flexibility reasons. It’ll cost you an arm and a leg to buy, it’s typically isolated to run on either Windows, Mac or Linux, and you can only legally install your copy on one computer! These office suites that are at the core of our personal computing should be relatively painless, simple to use, highly accessible, and productive, but often they’re not. In my next post, I’ll continue with another prime example of how transitioning our offline work to an online workspace has made things a whole lot simpler and pain-free. Once again, Web 2.0 has raised the bar for simplicity, compatibility, and accessibility over the internet. These online work spaces, after all, help us out with learning tools that put the “O” in Office, and a more stress-free student back in the classroom.
Although it is still in beta (a sort of pre-release, public test version), up in the office we use Google Docs (or ‘G-docs’) to write and collaborate documents and share internal material. Our blog entries, in fact, often get drafted in G-docs so that we can edit and collaborate before migrating the material to our blogging management system. Google is infamous in their marketing for bundling online tools within the same workspace, and keeping everything in one place for quick access. G-docs will import and export various document types, and allow you to format, embed links, and adjust the primary aspects of your document.
On a side note, OpenOffice.org is another worthy mention (while we’re at it) that’s a freeware veteran and a great solution. Although not web-based as ThinkFree offers in addition, OpenOffice.org is a whole office suite in itself that’s free to download. Yup, if you’re on a tight budget, you’ll be happy to know that this online productivity suite is absolutely free! That’s right, free! (Unlike seeing the word “free” falsely advertising programs online, this one’s for real.) While scratching your head for a while on that note, grab your mouse with the other hand and give Open Office a try. For basic office needs (even a few more intermediate and advanced tools), this program is fairly comparable all-round. Released in 2002, OpenOffice.org has been well-received as being the most robust free office productivity suite available to date.
Our latest online highlight, ThinkFree, is a beefed up variant on a Microsoft product called Office Live Workspace. Office Live Workspace is free to use, but if you want to start making web-uploaded documents it still requires the expensive Office installation on your computer. ThinkFree, rather provides access to an online word processor (for one) that does not require hundreds of dollars to utilise, nor does it even require you to install anything on your computer — only a free account setup through their website. Not only does it offer a word processor, it offers a bone fide office suite, and all from the comfort of your web browser, from wherever you are. As long as there’s high-speed internet access. It reads a multitude of formats so that your collaboration is never kept in the dark.
The overall term they coin for the service is the ‘ThinkFree Boundless‘ environment, in which cross-platform support is the core convenience. Since it’s web-based, it runs on both Windows and Mac and has seamless Microsoft Office integration. Log in, and you’ll have instant access to your productivity suite of applications, including word processor, spreadsheet, presentation, and notes section that includes a variety of templates that can be added to a document on the fly. You can either create documents offline and upload them to your account, or if you have no productivity suite locally, ThinkFree offers ThinkFree Office (so you can work offline), and ThinkFree Manager (to sync your documents between your online and offline work spaces).
While it is extremely convenient to gain read and write access to files in this level of flexibility, we still recommend the ThinkFree Office addition for primary editing (at least on your own, personal computer), and ThinkFree online as a supplementary editor. ThinkFree Note is a powerful web-based editor built into your internal ThinkFree account suite that offers templates, graphs, emoticons. All these goodies simply through your web browser, not to mention and a full array of formatting and editing tools.
ThinkFree Office may be shareware (try-before-you-buy), but it’s a helluva lot cheaper than MS Office. And it also does something Microsoft would never offers: access on your iPhone. Because it is web-based, and all of the service’s data is stored on a distant server, the ThinkFree Environment is native with Windows, Mac, and Linux. These tools offer the max in compatibility, and they’ll ensure you never have to wrestle around with another pesky .docx file again.
Reflections on STLHE: The Lecture Club
Now that I’ve returned from vacation, I can take some time to think about the sessions I saw in Windsor during the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (STLHE) conference. One of the ones that may have real practical application is The Lecture Club, by Dave Berry and Cynthia Korpan from the University of Victoria. The Club is based on the principle of peer observation of other faculty members, from all walks of life and in a variety of subjects. Here is a description of the initiative from the article in Tomorrow’s Professor (article #725):
“Lecture Club members were given the choice of attending one of two separate lectures in the same class. Visitors sat in the back of the room to observe, and then met the following week to discuss the visit, without the instructor present. It was made clear that this was not a critique, but rather, an explication of the teaching practice of an award-winning instructor. Participants were urged to focus upon the teaching rather than the teacher. Following the discussion, the coordinator (the first author) provided the instructor with a summary of the discussion.”
Berry and Korpan modelled their initiative off the Teaching Professor description (which outlines the model employed by the University of California Davis), although they did not limit their observations to award winning professors, nor did they provide a summary of the discussion to the observed lecturer. The group – composed of 6-8 individuals – chose to visit any professor willing to let them observe, but kept the contents of the discussion within the group. This was the one area of contention for some of us attending the session (How do you convince someone to be observed without providing an incentive for them?).
In any case, the format of the Lecture Club has a myriad of possibilities here at Carleton, especially for our burgeoning 3-2-1 Mentor program. Unlike other mentoring programs, the EDC’s program features a 3 person model, composed of faculty members that come from like-minded but separate departments (thereby eliminating traditional mentor models that incorporate issues of tenure and promotion). Adopting an initiative like the Lecture Club is an ideal discussion starter and an opportunity for faculty members to bond over their shared observations. We’re actively looking to incorporate some form of the Club into the program in the Fall, although at this time it’s unclear exactly what form it may take.
We’ll keep you informed, or feel free to post your own comments and suggestions for us to consider!
Drop.io
I stumbled upon an interesting new web application called Drop.io via the Infodoodads blog. The website gives you a unique page or “drop” where you can upload up to 100 MB of media. The page is very versatile allowing you to ‘drop’ almost any thing you want to the page. It can handle word documents, PDFs, audio files, or video files. The webpage that is created can be password protected or left open to allow others also contribute media. Once you have created the page anyone who has the password (if it is password protected) can go to the site and download any of the content.
The things that make drop.io special are the extra features:
- Voicemail drops - you can leave a voice mail message as a audio on your drop.io page because every page has its own phone number and extension.
- Faxing – you can fax anything to and from your drop.io page.
- Built in email - You drop.io page has a built-in e-mail that is linked to your ‘drop’ page, [dropname]@drop.io.
The drop.io site is a great way for those working on computers at different locations to have files that can be easily shared between each other, such as your on campus computer and your home computer. It also works wonderfully for collaboration on group projects and papers because only your collaborators can see the document or research sites.
My First EOSET Experience
Having never attended the Eastern Ontario Symposium on Educational Technology (EOSET to those in the know), I was initially apprehensive about my ability to follow along. In a way, the size of the group and the experimental presentation style (panels of 3-6 individuals, each presenting for10 minutes, followed by a general Q&A and poster session) made the experience quite comfortable. One interesting aspect was that even if certain sessions were less applicable to your needs, you only had to wait a few minutes for a brand new topic. The intermingling of professors, staff and private industry tech workers ensured a broad spectrum of presentation topics (and products) which kept the energy in the room high for most of the day.
Consulting my notes from the event, I’ve discovered that I truly found multiple sessions useful. Right off the bat was an interesting project called SmartBoard from the only student presenters at the conference (sidebar: my colleagues immediately confused this 4th year Carleton project with the identically named electronic whiteboard, while I remained oblivious until the end of the first panel). Despite the unfortunate name, I enjoyed the idea of an alternate to WebCT as SmartBoard proved an enticing wiki-based data management system that seems relatively easy to keep on top of. I’m not sure it will have widespread adoption in the near future, but with a sparkly new name and a few more security precautions, this could be a nice alternative for instructors who want their students to have easy access to course materials and discussions.
The combined use of clickers and vodcasts in From Interactivity to the Overflow Effect: Engaging Students with On-Demand Instruction in a Media-rich Popular Culture Course. The session enticed me because I saw the direct link between my future film course and Sydney Eve Matrix’s popular culture media course at Queen’s University. I’ve long admired the potential uses of clickers, while simultaneously acknowledging how easy it is to misuse it. Matrix demonstrated the practicality of such a technology, as well as the potential positives that can be derived from its proper usage: high attendance, higher final grades and good teaching evaluations.
Finally, Marc Fricker’s presentation on Using Classroom Presenter was noteworthy – although the words “future noteworthy” might be more apt. It quickly became apparent that institutions with tablets (be it for teachers and/or students) are more adept for using the technology, which allows live manipulation of powerpoint slides with the option to save.The potential for using Classroom Presenter is sky high providing instructors have decent penmanship, and although Carleton is a tablet-less institution, having two sets of slides – one plain set for students and one with added notes for instructors – is tantalizing considering the number of times I’ve found myself presenting on a slide whose purpose I can’t remember. Perhaps they should market this one as ideal for the Forgetful Instructor!
Adobe ConnectNOW: Collaborative web conferencing
A few days ago, while looking for a web conferencing solution for a professor looking to do online office hours, I stumbled upon Adobe’s online application ConnectNOW. While it wasn’t a solution to the original problem, after giving it a quick try I came to see it has many other very interesting functions.
The application (which is free!) basically gives you an online meeting space, which can be accessed and edited at anytime by those invited by the creator. After signing up with your email address, a space (kind of like a personal webpage) will be created where you can store files, notes, whiteboard drawings as well as anything else you add during a meeting. This allows you to meet online (with webcam and audio feeds) while typing shared notes and drawing on a whiteboard, then at a later date you can come back to the space and view, edit, or add to what was there from the meeting. This gives you a lot of flexibility when collaborating with colleagues at a distance.
Some of the other features include file sharing/storing, the ability to remote access other computers as well as telephone conferencing. One of the downsides of the application is that group size is restricted to three people on the free version. However, for a small collaborative project or meeting, this seems like quite a useful tool.
Video Tools Roundup
Here are some links for working with videos that I have found helpful or interesting over past few months;
Finding Videos
TimeTube is a powerful search webapp that creates a timeline of the YouTube video clips associated with the search keyword. [via Wendy's Web Search Blog]
Bigpicture.tv was mentioned in a previous blog post and is a great resource for videos of leading researcher talking on various topics in their field.
5min is a place to find short video solutions for practical questions and a place for people to share their knowledge. [via Jane's E-Learning Pick of the day]
Sharing / Mixing
Omnisio.com is a video mixing webapp that lets you create and share video compilations made from other online videos, such as YouTube content. [via Lifehacker via OUseful Info | del.icio.us]
Overstream is a tool that lets you add subtitles to other online videos, such as YouTube content. (Requires free sign-up to use) [via Lifehacker]
Converting Videos
bitripper.com Windows only: Freeware application bitRipper provides no-hassle, one-click conversions from DVDs straight to AVI video files. [via lifehacker]
Converttube.com and Mediaconverter.org allow you to download online videos (Like ones from YouTube) from the internet to your computer.
Mind Mapping
One of the best ways to visual display complex ideas is Mind mapping. This allows you to generate structure and classify ideas that are linked together by a central key concept.
Mind maps have been used by educators as an aid in learning, studying, brainstorming, problem solving, decision making, organizing and writing. New mind mapping tools allow you to create, manage and share mind maps online and access them anytime, from anywhere.
