The Pressure's On
There are two major projects I have been immersed in over the past several weeks. The first is a continuation of a project that was introduced to me back in January. It is the creation of an augmented reality sandbox.
For those of you who have never heard of an AR sandbox, it basically provides a 3D topographical map. Mr. Musselman wants this sandbox to teach primarily elementary students various science concepts. I have been collaborating with Mr. Musselman on this project for about two months. So far, we have written a grant to the Burlington Education Foundation requesting money for parts. We need funding for lumber to build the sandbox, a projector, a camera, and a computer. The computer must run Linux and we need a specific type of graphics card.
Through this experience I’m learning about how real life projects works and I’ve been having to do a lot of research because I’ve never done this type of project before and there are very few AR sandboxes out there for me to use as a reference.
My goal is to get this project completed before I graduate, but if I have to, I will come in after graduation to work on it because I want to get this done.
The second major project I’m working on is designing the stage for the TEDxYouth@BHS event. This opportunity came as a result of Ms. Scheffer. She asked me to make “X’s” for the event. I’m making six X’s total (three different sizes) and I’m also making the words “Risks and Rewards” that will light up with LED lights. I’m also making dice, one for each side of the stage.
Experiences like these two projects are helping me develop my time management skills. I’m also given the chance to be creative with my design skills. This is important to me because I want to pursue a career as a mechanical engineer.
For those of you who have never heard of an AR sandbox, it basically provides a 3D topographical map. Mr. Musselman wants this sandbox to teach primarily elementary students various science concepts. I have been collaborating with Mr. Musselman on this project for about two months. So far, we have written a grant to the Burlington Education Foundation requesting money for parts. We need funding for lumber to build the sandbox, a projector, a camera, and a computer. The computer must run Linux and we need a specific type of graphics card.
Through this experience I’m learning about how real life projects works and I’ve been having to do a lot of research because I’ve never done this type of project before and there are very few AR sandboxes out there for me to use as a reference.
My goal is to get this project completed before I graduate, but if I have to, I will come in after graduation to work on it because I want to get this done.
The second major project I’m working on is designing the stage for the TEDxYouth@BHS event. This opportunity came as a result of Ms. Scheffer. She asked me to make “X’s” for the event. I’m making six X’s total (three different sizes) and I’m also making the words “Risks and Rewards” that will light up with LED lights. I’m also making dice, one for each side of the stage.
Experiences like these two projects are helping me develop my time management skills. I’m also given the chance to be creative with my design skills. This is important to me because I want to pursue a career as a mechanical engineer.
ILE Advancements
This week I did a lot of conversing with Mr. Musselman. I told him how when I was at the Learn Launch conference at Harvard Business School I was lucky enough to see a reality sandbox first hand. I got to talk to the team of students and get an idea of where I need to start and how long the project is going to take. I got to see their design and choose what I did and didn't like about the structure. I told Mr. Musselman that they had used a tower style computer instead of a laptop. With this we get the ability to put in the components we want. They also had the projector mounted on the up post instead of hanging over the middle of the sandbox. This makes it a lot less wobbly. I showed him the list of components we would need to build a suitable computer to run what we need too. He was thrilled with this and said that he would start writing up the grant paper work. I’m hoping we will be getting approval soon so I can get started on the build
Harvard, School of Tech and Innovation
My colleagues and I attended Learn Launch at Harvard Business School on January 22nd. At this event, schools and programs from throughout Massachusetts attended the “Classrooms of the Future” showcase to explain their respective programs and how they were integrating technology in the classroom. Representing the Help Desk Ms. Scheffer, Timmy, Josh, Kevin, and I had a table that we set up with a big poster in the middle covered in a sea of pictures showing the story of what goes on in Help Desk. We also displayed some 3D printed figures, Google Glass and we showed off our blogs.
People would stroll through, some wanting information on how to start their own program, and some having no clue of what a Help Desk is even for. I don’t know what people are going to do with the information we provided them with, but I do know that everyone that walked away from the table was either impressed or driven to start their own Help Desk.
People would stroll through, some wanting information on how to start their own program, and some having no clue of what a Help Desk is even for. I don’t know what people are going to do with the information we provided them with, but I do know that everyone that walked away from the table was either impressed or driven to start their own Help Desk.
The majority of people that came up already had devices in their school and were trying to go 1:1 in their learning environments. They all walked to the booth looking to find how we help kids and what is the most popular problem that we see. We would answer their questions and then go on to tell them about the other amazing benefits Ms. Scheffer and the Help Desk provides. This is where they were blown away and fell in love with the idea, as did I when I caught wind of the class.
As being one of the creators of the BHS maker space, I answered most of the questions people had about that new aspect of our Help Desk. I told everyone how it is a worker friendly space that allows a student to explore and experiment in a way that they couldn’t in a normal class or lecture.
As being one of the creators of the BHS maker space, I answered most of the questions people had about that new aspect of our Help Desk. I told everyone how it is a worker friendly space that allows a student to explore and experiment in a way that they couldn’t in a normal class or lecture.
Hour of Code
For the hour of code assignment I completed LightBot. I selected LightBot because it looked like one that would hold my attention, and I wouldn't get sick of doing it. I loved LightBot because it was definitely a brain picker. the most challenging thing of completing these activities was visualising the big picture and how you're going to have to work it out at the start of the problem. I am now more motivated to look deeper into programing now because of how the hour of code was able to teach me a lot and let me have fun at the same time. I had to use common sense, memorization, and problem solving. I knew I was using these skills because at the beginning of the tutorial I would look at it and figure out the moves I needed to make and then put them and test it. I need to work on my memorization because I would forget what standed for what sometimes. I think that every student should get a look at what computer programming is like because in the long run when a student has to pick a career, programing is a great choice. It provides a much needed job so being hired won't be a problem and the money is just icing on the cake.
Help Desk Takes on Gillette
Kicking Off
Not too many students came into helpdesk for help this week during my period. All I had was a girl and a boy that couldn't get onto the Wi-Fi and I had to get their passwords reset and it fixed the solution. One girl came in that wasn’t familiar with the IPad so I sat with her to walk her through the main applets that our school uses and I also got her some applets that I thought would benefit her. I showed her how to import and export documents from applets like notability to classroom. I showed initiative this week when I worked with Timmy to create a wrench on the 3D printer for a tool to use in our maker space. I showed I have what it takes to be a leader when I heard my teacher say that she wanted somebody to instruct a mini sewing class in our maker space, so I reached out to one of my friends Sam Marchese, one of our top fashion students here at BHS, who was thrilled at this opportunity. I exercised my creativity this week by trying to make an adjustable wrench on the 3D printer that would function. I haven’t got it quite yet but I’m close. I was able to overcome the challenge of my Google Chrome app being slow. I found out it wasn’t fully downloaded and there was still one more step I needed to complete. Working with that student showing her how to use her IPad was a new situation that I was able to adapt to. I offered excellent customer service when my teacher was working with another teacher showing her how to use a test and quiz taking app and at the end of their session I added that she should be careful when sending out the answers and not to do it right after the students take the test or quiz because they can show the answers to other classes that haven’t taken it yet. She was very appreciative that I told her this and made a note about it. I was able to manage my time this week by having everything done onetime and keeping notes of what I was doing. The skills I want to improve on are my knowledge of non-apple computers like a Dell.
Week of IOS9 and More
This week during my Help Desk periods my partner and I have done many cool things. We have helped kids get notability on their IPads, fixed a projector, and assisted kids in figuring out the problem to why their IPads Wi-Fi doesn’t work at home. This is something that I learned how to do because I never knew before. Our school set up this Wi-Fi that isn’t linked with the schools protected Wi-Fi , so it acts like the one at your house. If your IPad can connect to this and you can open browsers then the Wi-Fi at your house is the problem. What’s happening is your service is blocking your IPad and you will have to call for them to fix it. This week I made my first YouTube video because the new IOS 9 software update came out and I did a review on it. I talked about 7 new features that I found cool. A lot of kids came in needing the app notability. They way that we get it for them is by sending them a link because it’s a paid app but by sending them our link they are able to get it for free. Some of these kids had problems with the link and it said it was already used so all I had to do was go into their app store, go to downloaded apps and then it would be there and you just have to hit download. This was a great week and I cant wait until next week!