Alignment in Power Point

Aligning objects in Power Point is super simple with some lesser-known tools.
Check out this article for easy tips.  Be sure to view page 2.  I keep grid lines active always.

Disability-led Innovation for the Masses

What started as technologies for people with disabilities are now a part of everyday technology we love and enjoy.  View this video and consider the Sports Psychology Lab.  How do you think these technologies will make their way "to the masses?"

When CRAP Is Good

(Slideshares below will be used in a class activity)

Your Presentation is CRAP, and That's Why I Like It from Jo McRell

CRAP Design Principles from Daniel Beck

Crap design from Lisa Dawley, Ph.D.

Principles Of Effective Design from Barbara Nixon

CARP Design Principles from Hutchison

Tech Sandbox Lite

Did you have fun in the Tech Sandbox?  Do you wish you could play with these tools at your leisure?  Now you can.  Here are some free (or cheap) tools that mimic the Tech Sandbox tools.  You can create using one of these tools for you ILP.

1.  3-D Printing

The 3-D printer is definitely cool!  They are all the rage in library world as part of the Maker Space trend.  TinkerCad is a free online software for making 3-D printing designs.  Try it out as one of your ILPs.  If you are so inclined, there are places that will print your design for you (not free but fun).

https://www.tinkercad.com/ 

2.   Oculus Rift

The 3-D virtual reality provided by the Oculus Rift offers many opportunities for instruction.  But you don't need the expensive equipment to play.  Google Cardboard is a 1.0 version that can be purchased affordably.  

https://www.google.com/get/cardboard/

 3.  Sphero Robotic Ball

The Sphero ball is a great tool to introduce students to coding, a popular skill taught in many schools.  But you don't need the robotic ball to learn coding.  Here are two websites my Robotics Club students use to learn drag-and-drop coding.  The first one toggles to java coding as well.  Try your hand at coding for an ILP.

Hour of Code:  https://code.org/learn

Scratch:  https://scratch.mit.edu/ 

This bill just passed in Florida:

HB 0887  Computer Coding Instruction (Adkins) - credit in lieu of foreign language or math - passed, on House Calendar 

If you really like the robotic ball, Ozobot is a small version:

http://www.slj.com/2016/02/opinion/test-drive/tiny-ozobot-gets-kids-into-block-based-programming-test-drive#_

Coding is half the fun of the Robotics Club.  First, students build a robot with Legos.  Then they program the robot to perform certain tasks.  Here is a link to some sample projects.

http://www.nxtprograms.com/projects2.html 

And finally, here is a video of my son's group's last project, a striking viper.  They are beginners.  Advanced robot designers make very complex programs and compete.

Great Quotes and Video

Quote of the week from Juls' blog:

"Due to the fact that when children are younger they have a shorter attention span, videos, interactive games, pictures, etc.  will keep your students engaged and focused for the long school days. This will keep your students zoned in rather than, zoned out."

Quote of the week from Chassidi's Newsletter:

This year our curriculum is a bit challenging which will require my knowledge as a educator, your encouragement as a parent, and your child’s determination as a student. “It takes a village to raise a child” 

My favorite example of how to transform media for a new purpose (think fair use) - Please take 2 minutes to watch this and turn the volume up.  Very powerful.