Biophilic Design

I learned something new last week and it has me bursting with new ideas. I saw someone talk about biophilic design which is a fancy way of saying bringing the outside in and the inside out.

This didn't make too much sense at first but I was hooked because I am pretty sure we are all solar powered. To prove that point, don't you feel energized when you walk outside and the sun hits you, that burst of feel good energy is what I talking about.

What if your workspace could do that same, hit you with rejuvenating energy? The ideas I saw could be done everything we work and live.

Check out these fast ideas to get started.

Take a quick peek at the Virtual Grove. The part that stand out to me is replenishing yourself with micro-breaks. The presenters talk about as little as one minute per hour of being in nature or looking at nature would refill your attention and creativity.

The looking at nature hooked me because that is something all of us can do in a flash. Check out this playlist and the resources on this site. If you used one of these resources for just one minute per class check out the benefits.

Challenge/Next Steps

Review the above.
Use one of these nature videos for just one minute per class or at a low/high energy part of the day. When you play the video have all devices away and just take in what is on the screen.
Do this for a minimum of ten school days.

Comments

Like your ELMO but with an iPad (elementary classroom teachers)

I used AirServer to create the infinity mirror effect. We were in a meeting today and Dominic told us about this fantastic idea. As we discussed all things technology he explained one method of using the iPad as a portable ELMO. It was too cool not to share. Step 1 Make sure you have AirServer running on your laptop. 1. Click the Windows key on your keyboard or click the icon in the lower left of your screen. 2. Just start typing AirServer. 3. Click AirServer. Don't see it? Contact technology or your building tech person. Step 2 Connect your teacher iPad to your laptop. 1. Swipe up from the bottom of the screen. Start by swiping in the bezel, the black plastic part surrounding the screen. 2. Click AirPlay Mirroring. 3. Click your name. Step 3 Open the camera app and instant portable ELMO! Anything you see in the camera's len will be broadcast to the big screen. I just used this method to take a picture of my notebook as a demonstration of how co

Who is emailing me? The Blue Man Group??? (Add an image to your Google account.)

WHY It is always nice to put a face with a name. Sometimes we need a tiny little reminder of what someone looks like because we don't see them very often. Follow these steps to add/change the image associated with your Google account. HOW Open your email. Click your image. It might just be a blue circle if you have not added something already. Click Change . Find an image you like. Your amazing new image will appear. From now on everyone can put a name to a face!

Annotate PDF? How might I do that?

So I have a PDF and I need to edit it. Here is one method that works pretty well for me. Open Word. Click File . 1. Click Open . 2. Click Browse . 3. Find the PDF you want to annotate. 4. Click Open . Click OK when you see this box. Bam! Your PDF now opens in Word. Note: you maybe have to click Enable Editing at the top of the screen. Finished editing and want to turn it back into a PDF? Click File . 1. Click Save As . 2. Click This PC . 3. Pick a location. I usually save things to my desktop. 4. Click Save as type - and choose PDF. 5. Click Save .

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