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Website Updates 2017-05-01

For anyone interested in the latest pages I’ve added to the website…

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My Last 10

Recently, Doug Peterson responded to a challenge by Alec Couros and challenged others to do the same:

If you were summed up by your last 10 tweets or FB posts, what would that look like?

It sounds like an interesting way to reflect on the content I post, to see if posting enough to benefit my followers, and if the content is appropriate to my intended audience.

So here goes…

Like Doug, a few of my posts are auto-created from the paper.li website, a service that consolidates content posted by those I follow on Twitter into a web newspaper. It’s a great service, one I admit I don’t take enough advantage of to see what great things are going on out there.

A few of my posts are PD-related, as I like to share things I learn in PD sessions or to contribute content, as I did in the #dsbnmakers session I attended last night.

One post is about Ontario’s latest financial literacy initiative, one that I’m glad to see happening.

And the remainder seem to be Google-related, as it’s well-known that I’m a fan of Google and many of the products that they provide.

I admit, there were a high number of auto-created paper.li posts in my last 10 tweets, but we can blame my birthday and a plumbing problem at my house for distracting me a bit this weekend…

What about you? What do your last 10 tweets say about you?

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Header Images Used On This Site

This page will be updated as I add new header images.

Motorcycling in El Salvador
Motorcycling in El Salvador
House on the Beach #0271, El Salvador
House on the Beach #0271, El Salvador
A Trio of Goldfinches
Goldfinch in Thistles
View from Mt Washington
View from Mt Washington
I Hate Sand Roads!
Makerbots in Action
Makerbots in Action
Lady in Havana Smoking a Cigar
Lady in Havana Smoking a Cigar
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Program or Website for Creating a 3D Gamified Literacy Test Prep Environment?

I’ve received a request from an English teacher who has an excellent idea for a program for her students. Here is her request:

I have an idea and am looking for a program to make it happen. I want to create a 3D virtual world that I can use to gamify lit test prep. I want to be able to embed challenges – or links to bring them out of the world to complete tasks. I would ideally like them to have an avatar that can wander around and find the challenges that are hidden throughout the world, and want to add layers of badges / points, etc. as well as mastery learning. I have the idea in my head, but might you know of a good program I can use to create it. Ideally there will be minimum programming as I know limited HTML but would prefer something that does the coding for me. I am happy to pay for the program, but if there is a free one that would be great too.
I can figure out how to make it happen with 2D but would ideally like 3D.
Any suggestions would be appreciated. 🙂

Continue reading “Program or Website for Creating a 3D Gamified Literacy Test Prep Environment?”

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ACSE Conference Reminder

I’m just reminding Computer Studies and Computer Technology teachers about the ACSE conference coming up on Saturday, February, 25th at the Seneca@York campus of Seneca College, Toronto.

We’ve got a great lineup for both subject areas, including sessions on the Raspberry Pi, Vex Robotics, Arduinos, Internet of Things, Hummingbird robotics, computer security, Python, Database & Data Science, software testing, Swift, and more.

Registration is just $90 (or $45 for student teachers and retirees), but only until February 17 (this Friday), after which it goes up to $110/$55.

Some of you have asked if you can bring students along, and we think that’s an excellent idea! Just register them using the lower rate of $45 (or $55 after the early-bird rate deadline).

For further details (location, parking, schedule, etc.), see http://www.acse.net/conferences/2017.

I hope to see you there!

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Tell Me About Yourself! (Student Assignment)

Many months ago I bookmarked a blog post entitled “What I want my teachers to know about me” with the intent of adapting the concept for my own classes.

In the original post, the teacher (@Allanahk) had each of her students create a slide in response to “five things my new teacher needs to know about me”. As much as I loved the idea, I wanted my students to have more privacy with this assignment so they’d be more likely to share.  So instead, I created a master template in Google Slides that each student would use, with the following prompts: Continue reading “Tell Me About Yourself! (Student Assignment)”