Learning in the Lou

A few weeks ago Doug and I attended an app creation workshop. The first thing the instructor handed out was a little duck to every participant. The idea is wicked simple and the impact it can make is immense. If you had a question during the session, you were to first verbally ask the duck. What? The big idea is to talk your problem out. Most of the time you end up solving it on your own, it is a way of processing your own thinking. I know you have seen this a million times already. A student has a question. They ask you and that light comes across their face, they suddenly realize how to answer their own question.  Know any people who could benefit from a duck?

While FilmoraGo is a powerful app, this post is dedicated to the video editing desktop software VideoPad . This post has a few tips to get you started editing with VideoPad. Importing Clips Make sure your clips are downloaded to the computer before you start editing. 1. Open VideoPad and click File . 2. Click Add File(s)...   Select the video files you want to import. Click Open . Editing the Clips 1. The imported clips will show up on the far left side of the screen. Click on the first one you want to start editing. 2. Set the Start point.  3. Set the End point. 4. Click Place . Setting a start and end point will only place the video between those two points on the timeline. This process speeds up editing by about a billion percent.  Transitions 1. Select the clip before the one you want to add the transition between. 2. Click Transitions . 3. Click the type of transition you want to use. 4. Select the transition you want t...

This morning, I took a random picture of a patch of grass just outside my office.  Check it out:    DougGrassPic  by  Doug Barton  is licensed under a  Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License . Beautiful, right? No, not the grass.  The Creative Commons license! Why am I nerding out over a Creative Commons license?  Because it represents two things that are often ignored in education: Crediting the author for their original work, and Publishing student creations intended for public use. Most student creations have one intended audience--their teacher.  Reasons for doing the work include compliance and pleasing the teacher.  When students create for the world to see and use, the audience focus is shifted away from the teacher to a greater and more global audience. Licensing can be a meaningful part of publishing.  When a student creates, their work immediately has a restrictive copyright...

This post is for those of you wanting to use MinecraftEDU in the classroom. Teacher - Setting Up The Server Double click the MinecraftEdu launcher . Click Start MinecraftEdu Server Launcher . 1. Create New World if this is your first time launching a server. 2. Click Load Last Played World if you have already created the server and you are launching it for the second time. Create New World 1. Select both of the options listed under the World Settings section. 2. Click Start Server with New World. 1. When light turns green the server is ready for students to connect. 2. The IP address the students will use to connect to the server. 3. Click World Settings to adjust the settings. This is a must! 1. Click and select Creative. 2. Select these three options. 3. Name and save the world. You can find the servers in the upper right corner. Student - Getting On The Server Double click the launcher. Click Start Minecraft...

Have you struggled with those minute between when the first and last buses are called? Some days it can stretch as long as twenty minutes. Those twenty minutes can be the longest of the day. I saw one of the most amazing ideas yesterday while at Sappington. Jillian Skouby created a Wonder Wall where students used Post-It Notes to write down things they wondered about. This is where the real power of the wall comes into play. The class picks one wonder every few days or weeks and uses those idle twenty minutes to research that topic. The note above asks why drinking orange juice after brushing your teeth tastes so bad. (Now all I can think about is how terrible that experience is!)  Once they have exhausted this wonder a new one will be placed in the center indicating a new idea to research. What else does this do? Helps teach the students what research could look like. It guides them to understand how to create a researchable question. Gets them interested in r...

Take 5-10 minutes this weekend and check out Barnes and Noble in Fenton. They are sponsoring their send annual Mini Maker Faire. What might you see? Virtual Reality Augmented Reality 3D Printing Robots XYZprinter (wicked cool!) and more... Check out their webpage for more information.