DFI - Week 8 - Computational Thinking - Edem626 - UC

CT Things that came up today

I appreciated the Future of Tech in NZ slideshow. I was aware of many of the ideas but found it refreshing and there were some good new examples of NZ Companies with innovative tech that will be relatable to my rural students.\

1. Happy Cow Milk
2. Halter $29m cowgorithm

We have started to use Trimble SketchUp For Schools (formerly Google SketchUp).

So it was interesting to see the Trimble work in Port Otago.

I was already familiar with the DTEC curriculum but the slideshow also had good Te Reo translations for Hangarau Matihiko Progress Outcomes terminologies.

Bucky shared some good links for game creation / character design

1. Hiberworld which I thought was a nice 3D example of a template based game generator.
2. HeroForge - looked like an interesting 3D character creator app

I shared the work of #Dan Milward & Gerard McManus - :  Te HikoTāraro

Dan Milward (working with Game Praxis) has also produced a Game Jam Cards - a game concept development card pack which makes for a creative group exercise. Here is a quick random generator app: http://ygd.bafta.org/resources/game-idea-generator 

I shared links to Drone coding https://sites.google.com/westlandhigh.school.nz/technology/new-dtec/9-10-computing/drones which uses Tello drones with https://learn.droneblocks.io/ for teaching & learning coding. The license cost US$500 could be shared between upto 10 teachers from a collection of schools.

I had registered for the Cyclone "Build Better Worlds" Minecraft Edu competition. I shared my learning site's Minecraft page: https://sites.google.com/westlandhigh.school.nz/technology/new-dtec/9-10-computing/minecraft-edu

I shared the folder of resources from the Cyclone teachers webinar: https://cycloneenable-my.sharepoint.com/:f:/g/personal/danny_bedingfield_cyclone_co_nz/ErRBKv0tVWxGn3tPiFchixAB569n3SkmictRYK2uzZcdDg?e=7sKvBQ

Teachers Pay Teachers

I found these two resources are useful for CT with Minecraft Edu

1. $5 Minecraft Pixel Art worksheets - Image Binary Representation -https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Minecraft-themed-BINARY-BUNDLE-Simple-Binary-Encoding-Worksheets-Project-6401524 
2. $10 Minecraft Edu posters and Lesson Plans https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Minecraft-Education-Introduction-Unit-6138907

ECE CT etc.

I thought the Cubetto looked cool and maybe my wife's early learning centre could get them, however, they are quite expensive and out of stock in Aus : https://www.primotoys.com/

DFI - Week 7 - Ubik Devices - DDDO - 3D VR & AR

UBIK

In terms of ubiquitous apps for accessible and always on learning that is device agnostic, I have been using Aframe.io for students to code VR 3D spaces and 360 VR Tours. This can be used with any device that has internet access because it is an online IDE with links to Github called https://glitch.com/. It involves writing HTML with extra AFrame.io tags, such as <a-sphere>, which can be referenced from the documentation.

For differentiation I have introduced non-coders to CoSpaces.io/edu/ which is a proprietary block based visual IDE. To make /view the 3D work people can use a platform specific app for Android, iOS or on desktop/Chromebook they can login to the main website. 

3D for the Samsung - Solve for Tomorrow Competition

My 7-8 STEM class has been designing 'tiny houses' to solve the housing crisis using TinkerCAD.com. Some have asked about using FloorPlanner.com which is a great way to visualise the interiors. They can easily drag and drop / move and resize walls, windows and furniture.

My 9-10 Computing class also has been trying to use Design Thinking to enter the competition. They have been working on SketchUp for Schools. SketchUp also has available furniture through the 3D Warehouse marketplace.

My 1213DTHM class has used TinkerCAD and MagicaVoxel (not suitable for Chromebook). Today, whilst looking for a Chromebook app to do 3D modelling and animation I stumbled across Vectary.com. 

This looks promising but has an expensive license if you want AR. So much so that it makes CoSpaces licenses seem affordable by comparison.

Here is something I tested and tried to export with iframe embed. Vectary charge more money for publishing publicly which is another negative. In comparison, CoSpaces does allow you to archive student work and move the licenses to a new cohort of students for Tech option rotation classes.

Digital Dig: bit.ly/DFIdigitaldig

My Slides:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1XtVmQqi0LtyHsQx3AVEXwjskwqRko4DdGjwWuDuLAXI/edit?usp=sharing