Google Sketchup of Islay House Square

We have been using Google Sketchup for quite a while now. Here is an example of some of the work.

 

Video: Islay House Square in Sketchup

The work is all the S1 pupils from one class. The pupils split themselves into groups. They decided on what they needed to do. They got the plans of the square and shared the work out amongst them. They worked out the sizes from the scale on the plans (1:400). They asked if they could go and visit to take photo's of the elevations. Transferred the images over onto the PC's and started to edit them-They wanted to remove the people and the cars they didn't want. They took the images and used them the create the textures.

6 of the year went to the Young Engineers Conference in Glasgow last Friday and while their they took the different models of the various buildings and placed them into a single model and created the animation. They then exported the animation as an AVI file and made the video in MovieMaker.

All this before they get a hold of the UMPC's!

What do you think?

PS I am giving presentation on this at SFL (SETT)

Technorati Tags: sketchup, islay, argyll, education scotland, education, google sketchup

HMIe ICT

That quite a collection letters in the title isn't it? For those outside Scotland I should explain.

HMIe - Her Majesties Inspectors of Education are the body charged with setting and maintaining standards in Scottish Education.

They are publishing a document tomorrow on the state of ICT in Scotland.

It is being launched via the Anderson High School website.

Their is a very interesting video right now which gives a snap shot of the report.

I will be checking the report myself early tomorrow morning.

House Technology

Today was a big day. Nothing to do with the project.

I finalised the mortgage to build a new house. I have been working towards this for 3 years now. So the excitmenting moments have generally come and gone.

Over the last year I have been thinking about the technology that I will put in the house.

So many options:

CAT 5/CAT 6, wireless, telephone, Video, audio, control, heating....... the list of options is long.

One of the first decision that was made was the kind of heating to be used. This has lots of options again. We opted for a Ground Sourced Heat pump. This takes heat from a large area of ground and transfers it to a smaller area of the house. This means that for maximum efficiency we will go for underfloor heating.

Next is the important things.........music. Having looked and researched I have 2 options:

- Sonos wireless system

- Cambridge Audio CAT 5 System.

I am planning to put in a CAT 5 system anyway for the telephone and (of course) the pc's. So at the moment cambridge audio in in front.

So, should I also put Sky (Council Telly is very bad here) through the CAT 5 as well? At the moment the answer is no. By the time I buy the kit from Sky and then add in the encoders and decoders at each end of the CAT 5 cable the price goes through the roof.

I plan to run the satellite cable throughout the house and place freesat boxes in the bedrooms. The main room will have the the full sky package playing through a projector.

To cap it all I am planning to use Recycled plastic roof tiles. Made from car tyres, plasic and limestone. To these in use have a look at The Centre of Alternative Technology Web site

Technorati tags: islay, argyll, house, self build, technology

Wireless Projector

From Blog Pics

I have been playing with a Panasonic Wireless Projector this week.

It is a great piece of equipment. It worked perfectly with our network. Once I realised how to configure it properly (It wasn't difficult, I was a bit slow)

The only problem I have is getting Google Earth to show up over the wireless but I am hoping to have an answer to that tomorrow. I suspect its an OpenGL setting I need to find.

The way the wireless projector works with the internet (I think) is that you use the controlling PC to call a page and that page is sent to the projectors IP Address. It works well.

One question I have at the moment is, if the projector is fixed in place thn can I save wireless bandwidth by using a projector which is hardwired through the CAT5 network?

I suspect, if such a projector exists, it would mean that any media called would be transferred via the hardwire making it much more efficient.

Does anyone have an suggestions, ideas, comments?

 

 

Technorati tags: islay, school, scotland, education scotland, projector, panasonic, school of ambition

When do changes stop being Pilots?

When I talk to people about our project they usually say "So, is this a pilot?" My answer is the same, "No its not a pilot, its a change to a way of working."
As Nicholas Negroponte says at TED, we have moved past pilots. So when does a pilot shift to being a change?
I feel that we have reached a pivot point and we are ready to shift our perspective from paper with some electronic based material to electronic based material with some paper.
The plans we are putting place are all their to support education and the curriculum. Nothing is particularly new or radical.Its using it as the main delivery medium.
As I usually say say at the end of my entries...... so what do you think?
I really mean this. Please come back with comments, criticisms, observations, points, questions
thanks
Ian

Technorati tags: glowscotland, school, education scotland, argyll, islay, umpc

The International views

I have been looking at resources and reports from around the world of schools using Tablet PC's or UMPC's.

A simple Google search produced so many reports that it has taken me a while to sift through them.

I am going to attempt to summerise the some of the ones which stood out to me.

The Vermont Slate

This is a small Vermont boarding school which is using Tablet PC's extensively. Mark Payton has been Blogging on the project since March '05.

I have found the questions, thoughts and solutions here to mirror my own and have even pre warned me about problems that I hadn't considered.

Eschool News

I have found this to be a bit of a Mine. Lots of digging produces some Diamonds, like Ray Kurzweil's interview

Tablet PC's in Singapore Schools

This is a full evaluation of tablet PC's in 2 Singapore schools.

Toshiba

Its no wonder that one of the big names in Tablet PC's has its say too

Do you have any more?

Technorati tags: Islay, scotland education, education, tablet PC, glowscotland

Conference XP

As Andrew Brown as said Collaboration is a vital component to a curriculum for excellence.
I think this is where the Apps that come with IWB's have had the biggest advantage. They have been exciting and active. Where presentations from PowerPoint have been scripted and lifeless. In the Campus Technology online Mag they talk about breathing the life back into Classroom Presentations. Its an excellent article.
The Client we have been assessing the use of is Conference XP. Though I am really excited by the whole Glow shared whteboard space.
The concept of everyone in a classroom having access to the same space at the same time is very exciting one and one of the main reasons for this project...... but not the only one.
Technorati tags: islay, glowscotland, classroom collaboration, argyll

Choosing Tablets

Tablet PC's are much more expensive than an equivalent laptop. So why not just get a load more laptops?
The reason for going for Tablets is that they are the main computer for that member of staff. The teacher can prepare work, simplify the administration, as they can do with a laptop but with a Tablet PC they can use it for a secondary job.
We decided to use the tablet to act as an interactive board (Along with a projector of course). As the teacher writes on the the tablet it appears on the screen. The teacher is not in the way of the projector and the image can be as big as the screen allows. The teacher can bring in video, sound ........ in fact anything that the interactive whiteboard can do a tablet can do as well. With the added advantage of not being limited by the size of a board.
This then makes the total cost (Tablet and Projector) less than the cost of an IWB (Interactive Whiteboard), projector and computer to run it. It also means that the technology much efficiently used. Less time sitting switched off as its used for more than one purpose.
Our next stage is to install wireless projectors. These will then mean that the signal from the tablet will be carried to the projector without a cable. Freeing the teacher to be anywhere in the classroom.
Once the pupils have the UMPC's then anyone's work can be put up on the screen.
A truly interactive, collaborative school?
del.icio.us tags: Islay, argyll and bute, Scotland, interactive white board, IWB, Tablet PC, UMPC, education
Technorati tags: Islay, argyll and bute, Scotland, interactive white board, IWB, Tablet PC, UMPC, education