Blurring the Lines of Reality - 2016 Update

I was fortunate to attend Magnify recently, a two day Virtual and Augmented Reality conference hosted as part of Auckland Tech Week. Although focus was directed at the entertainment, media and marketing sectors with speakers like Academy Award winning stunt coordinator Guy Norris from Proxi VR, Ian Taylor from Animation Research, and New York advertising heavyweight Catherine Patterson, responsible for Dell Computers Golf the City AR campaign, I came away with plenty of ideas how this technology can benefit the eduction sector.




Vendors had plenty to show off. Nokia was unveiling its $100,000 Ozo professional VR camera and at the consumer end of the market Samsung's Gear 360 Camera and Headset could well be this Christmas's Hoverboard. To experience being inside a cinematic movie experience courtesy of Proxi VR film technology, where action is taking place all around you rather than in front of you and actors communicate to you as if you were actually in the scene is an unreal experience. 

Immersive technology is seen by those in the know as crossing over into the mass market this year.  There are big clues as to what is becoming possible for us in the education sector. True VR is still out of reach to most institutions but experiences such as the Quake History Demo developed by New Zealand company Sensorium, demonstrate the educational possibilities this technology will offer. 

YouTube, Vimeo and "visual expressionist" kings GoPro now support 360 video (to experience this, watch the example videos at the bottom of the post) and with Samsung investing heavily in consumer products, like it or not, the flood of user generated content is almost upon us. With its applications ranging from advertising, media, tourism, medicine real estate...... and yes education, VR and AR is being touted as a significant new development.


Quake History Demo from Sensorium VR on Vimeo.

Its easy to come away from an event like this and think that there is no way this will happen in education. Think again. It wasn't long ago that the idea of filming your own video resources and posting them online seemed like science fiction. AR and 360 video technology will appear first. Products the Gear 360 put surround video production in the hands of anyone and software like Aurasma assist with AR content and is already being used in schools. Stay tuned for the first AR resources coming to Waiariki Bay of Plenty Polytechnic in the next few months.


Here are three quite different examples of 360 degree video. I particularly like the Chernobyl example as it skilfully incorporates historical footage into the ruins of the former Soviet nuclear power station.

360 Degree Tornado - use the arrow controls to navigate around, or even better download the latest version of the YouTube app and watch on your phone




Primary School Age 360 Solar System Tour



360 Chernobyl Documentary Trailer


...... and as a first day of winter bonus - an amazing video of the soon to be released Omni from GoPro. Click here

Three Ways to Ask a Question

Great teachers understand the importance of feedback as part of effective teaching and learning. Feedback allows teachers to check understanding, get a sense of student opinions on a topic and encourages decision making. Feedback contributes to stimulating, lively learning. One way to get feedback is with a great question and in this post we look at three different ways to do just that - ask a question.

Hands Up

The tried and true approach since Grandma was a preschooler, hands up is great for all sorts of reasons, but may not give the most accurate responses. Students are inclined to vote with the majority, or at least with the first responders, and quieter students may not want to vote against the majority even though they are confident in their own answer.  If the question is based on a sensitive issue or involves students publicly identifying their personal beliefs, some may not feel comfortable displaying these in a public setting.

Clickers 

Clickers, which were all the rage a few years ago, and more recently polling software such as Poll Everywhere, can be feature filled and flexible, especially if class sizes are large (100+). The one major downside of clickers and polling software is that they rely on every student having either a clicker or mobile device. "My clicker's battery is flat", "I can't connect to the internet", What's the web address again?"..... you get the picture.

Plickers - Better than Clickers? 

Enter a really cool tool called Plickers,  the 2106 iteration of tech based mass questioning solutions. Yes, it has its limitations, but it certainly ticks many boxes for ease of use and practical features. Put simply, it's a polling tool that uses hand held QR codes and the teachers mobile device.

Why do we like it? Several reasons...

It's a low tech, high tech solution. Students do not need a device. Simply hand each student a printed QR Card from the free downloadable PDF on Plickers website.

Its flexible - Set up classes and questions prior to your lesson, or create them on the fly. Responses can be anonymous or tagged to individual students. Questions can be one-off or part of a running record. Results can be graphed, tabled and exported.

It's fun - Use it for assessment or just to add some competition to your class. You can display the results instantly, letting your class see how individuals answered, either anonymously, or if appropriate, by name.

It's Free!

How do you use it?
Hand out a QR card (they come as set in PDF form) with four response options on it to each student in class - get the students to hold the card up oriented on what answer they choose - scan the class with your mobile device using the free Plickers app - watch the responses get recorded on the screen as you go.

If you want to know more about this great tool, come over to The Qube and ask for a quick demo from one of the TEEL's or keep an eye out for upcoming workshops later this month.

Strategies for Engaging Youth Videos

Kylee New, Phil Grimmer and Mariana Tapsell from the Hospitality, Trades Training and Foundation Studies programmes spoke at the recent Teaching and Learning Seminar that focused on strategies for engaging youth. Each tutor spoke of the challenges they faced, how there was a need to be flexible in their approach, and their strong desire to see the young people on their courses succeed.

Some common themes emerged including the importance of building a community of learners, the need to develop trusting relationships with students and the long term benefits of making the effort to spend time with each student to check on their progress both as a student and young person.

Take a look at their talks below. They were filmed on a self tracking camera called a Swivl. If you would like to have a go using this device in your classroom, get in touch with the Teel Team.

Gamify your Teaching Resources

Yes it's another educational strategy to consider, but never fear, help is here! So, what does it mean? Gamification means to include elements of computer gaming into what you do with your students. 

Still sound scary? I suppose the first question is ‘why’, so here’s some stats:

• Across the planet three billion hours every week are spent playing video and computer games
• 28 million harvest their crops on Farmville every day
• Over 5 million play an average of 45 hours computer gaming per week 

How many people do you know who play Minecraft or Candy Crush?

What makes computer gaming so compelling and how could we harness some of that for education? Players are hooked through levels, points, rewards, competition and instant feedback. How about ‘gamifying homework’ through some sort of reward system. How might you bring gamification into your classroom and tap into some of what compels people to ‘play’ computer games?

Want to know more? Check it out here: http://www.edudemic.com/ultimate-guide-gamifying-classroom/