Immersive Reality

Today we had the opportunity to demo zSpace, an immersive, virtual reality that has endless possibilities in education!

Imagine, holding a beating heart in your hand that you can peel back the layers and even go inside while watching the electrical impulses go around. Being able to interchange batteries and diagnose issues with a rotocopter and getting all eight motors to run.

You can do these things and more with your students and the best part is you can do it all virtually.

Check out the video

 

How would you use this in your classroom?

MotionSavvy UNI: 1st sign language to voice system

This morning I was listening to the radio and heard a story on a new piece of technology that I thought might be a game changer in education.

Watch the video and decide for yourself...

All I can say is WOW!! The ability for students to sign at a tablet and then have that tablet speak for them would tear down barriers in education! I hope to that this product gets the funding and support it needs to come out at their estimated shipping date of September 2015.

This would be an awesome addition to a program like the Deaf and Hard of Hearing program at Moore Norman Technology Center

Check out their website. What do you think about the UNI?

Innovation Roundup

From time to time I am going to start sharing some of the blog posts, innovative ideas, websites, and stuff that I have read about. I hope you enjoy.

How the Maker Movement is Moving Into Classrooms

Google Glass use in Education

Boundless - A textbook alternative. It is pretty low cost and the site provides supplemental material to help you prepare for class.

5 Free STEM Courses - A blog post from Edudemic covering some innovative STEM courses.

Flipped Classrooms - A blog post from Free Technology for Teachers sharing some great flipped classroom resources.

GroupSpot - A place for students at UT at San Antonio to come together with resources to facilitate collaboration.

10x10 - A website to graphically show the news.

ClassTools - Tools you can use in the classroom or make your own.

Creative Commons Guide - A graphical representation of creative commons.

Learn to Program - A blog post with tools to help students learn to program.

I like to use Flickr for my presentation pictures. Great video helping to explain how to give proper credit.

Maker Movement

This week I had the opportunity to attend Vision2020 (OK State Dept of Ed) in OKC. There were several great speakers and I am sure many sessions that would of been great to attend. I tried attending sessions that I felt would help generate ideas as we push career and technical education to the next level.

One such session that I attended was the Mysterious Makers by Shawn Petty.

I have to be honest, the whole Maker culture really fascinates me. I follow Makezine.com and am fascinated by many of the postings. People just making things, and some really cool things! I want to learn more and that is why I decided to check it out.

Wikipedia describes the Maker culture:

"The maker culture is a contemporary culture or subculture representing a technology-based extension of DIY culture. Typical interests enjoyed by the maker culture include engineering-oriented pursuits such as electronics, robotics, 3-D printing, and the use of CNC tools, as well as more traditional activities such as metalworking, woodworking, and traditional arts and crafts. The subculture stresses new and unique applications of technologies, and encourages invention and prototyping. There is a strong focus on using and learning practical skills and applying them creatively."

From that definition alone I think it is a great fit for career and technical education. I can envision students, regardless of career major or CTSO, high school or adult, participating in Maker Faire-CTE.

The Office of Career, Technical and Adult Education thinks it is a great fit as well. They have a short article on the White House Maker Faire and will have some upcoming grants for states and local schools.

There are many opportunities through the Maker Movement. CTE should get involved and be a part of this tremendous opportunity for students to creatively learn.

Whose in?

TED-Ed Clubs

What an awesome opportunity for your students.

Verizon Mobile Learning Lab

CareerTech has a mobile health lab and there is a mobile manufacturing lab - what about a mobile technology lab?

Check out this video on Verizon's Mobile Learning Lab, does it spark any ideas?