Makey Makey (And Other Fun Technology)

It's the end of March, which means the end of a great 3 weeks in class experiencing the excitement of Makerspaces. Last week we got to play (excuse me, learn) with 3 new technologies: Makey Makey, Little Bits, and Leap Motion. I loved the experience because we weren't told explicitly how they work or what to do with them, it was up to us to figure it out for ourselves. All 3 stations were interesting, but my favorite was definitely the Makey Makeys. My group used them to make a piano out of various fruits. We also created a way to play Tetris by using other people's hands as the directional keys. This was something I had never seen or heard of before, and it was fascinating to learn about what this technology could do.

The time we spent experimenting with and learning about these technologies was, in my opinion, definitely valuable; however, I'm not sure exactly how I could use them in my future practice. One connection my group thought of was using Makey Makeys for people with limitations in their fine motor skills. It may be impossible for people with certain disabilities to press the small button on a laptop, but maybe instead they could instead tap on a fun object connected to a Makey Makey. In this way, more people could have an experience of playing a certain game on the computer or other applications that they might not have been able to do otherwise.

This week has inspired me to give more thought to how the idea of Makerspaces could be applied to my future field of speech pathology. It is a question I will hopefully have more answers to as I continue my education!

Lights and Tape and Circuits, Oh My!

Maker March continues, and last week in class we got to experiment with a variety of Maker space supplies with a guest speaker. The focus was on circuits, and we had several different ways to make them, including alligator clips and copper tape. This was an entirely new experience for me. My extremely limited previous knowledge of circuits (read: I had no idea what I was doing) didn't stop me from experimenting and having a good time, which is the sort of spirit maker spaces are all about.
The experience in class last week was awesome, but it also made me feel kind of stupid. I felt frustrated that I had no idea how any of these things worked, and that some elementary school students can do. Part of this is that I was more interested in how exactly things worked and more afraid of making mistakes when experimenting than a 5 year old might be.

The result of my experimenting in class...  a copper tape circuit

that lights up 2 LED lights. It's definitely not much, but even this 

small start to a project gave me a sense of accomplishment.

I really wish that I had had Makerspace-like experiences before now. I never got to experiment with making things, or building circuits, or some of the other things we have looked at, and I'm jealous of students now who get those opportunities. Looking back on it now, I think it would have been a worthwhile opportunity. at any stage of my education. My high school has a STEM lab with robotics equipment and other interesting new technology, but it was built after I had already finished my science classes. I'm glad that other girls will have the opportunity to have some of the experiences I am now wishing I had had.

Science is by no means my first love (hence why my major is speech pathology), but I had fun learning a little bit about circuits and getting the chance to build my own. And if I, a 20 year old college student who generally dislikes science, enjoyed this activity, then I think there would definitely be a lot of younger students who would enjoy the same activities. This week has convinced me on the value of Makerspaces in schools and classrooms!

Kahoot

Our tech of the week is Kahoot, an online quiz creation website. The site has a multitude of uses in the classroom, including to create quizzes to test students on what they know, to start off a class with an fun, competitive activity, or to assign as a group project for students to create their own quiz.
To test how the site works, I created a quick "About Me" quiz. Go to kahoot.it and use the game pin 262085 to try out my quiz!

Update: If anyone tries to take the quiz, let me know if it worked in the comments! It's a public quiz, but I've been having trouble trying to play it by putting in the game code without going through my account.

Maker March

This month in class is "Maker March."
Our motto: We are all makers. Our goal: create a maker project with our content-area groups.

Not sure what I'm talking about when I refer to "makers"? (Don't worry, I had no idea what this meant before arriving to class last Thursday.) These two articles from Time and Forbes give some background on maker culture and the maker movement.

On Thursday each group started brainstorming to think of what project they would work towards creating during this month. Working on this project in groups definitely has its pros and cons. When we first started our brainstorming session, everyone in my group was pretty confused. It took a while to start the flow of any ideas, especially since we weren't sure if we wanted to take the project in a SLP direction or not. I think that was one of the cons about being in a group, that it took longer to get any ideas going. It can be difficult to share ideas in their earliest stages to a group, when they might sound stupid or not be fully formed. But once we had some ideas out there, it was beneficial to have a group to bounce these ideas around in. We could build off of the creativity of other group members. Our combined efforts and thoughts had the potential to spark more creativity than if it was just one person. It was definitely helpful to have four minds working together. However, that could also be detrimental when we were not all on the same page. Even though we all on the same page with the basic idea of what we would be making (a board game), we all had different visions of what exactly that would look like. We had to narrow down ideas and get specific to get on the same page. Everyone believes in their mental image of what the game should look like, so it can be frustrating when that does not end up in the final group image. The project could start to turn in a different way than what you originally anticipated, and that is what I struggled with most on Thursday.
I really like the idea that my group came up with, which is to create a virtual world game that is accessible to everyone, especially people with different physical impairments that would normally exclude them from playing this type of game. Even if it were an individual assignment, I would probably want to pursue the idea of a game that is accessible to all students with a wide range of disabilities, like the students I will be working with in therapy. However, I would have been interested in a more simple version of what we are creating. The virtual world is great, but not something we have the knowledge to actually come anywhere near creating a working version of. I would pursue the less high-tech route of adapting a classic board game to be controlled by a child's switch that they already use (if they do not have good fine motor skills). I think this would be really interesting because while I have no knowledge of how to actually create this, I think it is something I could realistically figure out (with a lot of help). It would feel really cool to have a semi-working creation at the end of the month.

These are my thoughts after week 1 of Maker March. We've done a lot of exploring already, but my group still has a long way to go and a lot more to discover. I'll keep you posted on our progress and discoveries as the month goes on!

Evernote

Our tech of the week is the note taking website, Evernote. Ideally, I could have tested the site out in an actual class, but unfortunately the classes I take notes in this semester do not allow computers for note-taking (which is an argument for another blog post).
So instead, I used Evernote to make a list of all of my upcoming homework for the week. Click to view my To-do list!
Evernote has some features that were great for this objective. First, I love that they have checkmarks that you can click and check. There's nothing more satisfying than seeing a checkmark next to a completed assignment. I also liked that it has a feature to make lines for easy separating of concepts, in my case to separate my different classes. Another great feature of the site in general is that it is accessible anywhere, so I'll always have my notes or lists with me, especially because there is a mobile version.
Evernote is a great option for note-taking that is easy to access and easy to share! While I probably won't be rushing to switch all my note-taking to Evernote, I can see how it would be an awesome option for many students.

In Like a Lion...

It's March 1st, which means we've made it through one of the worst months of the year. I typically spend most of the month of February wishing winter would just leave us alone already, thanks.
But in terms of TEAC 259, February was a great, information-packed month. From our various techs of the week to our discussions about TPACK, gaming, and other topics, I already feel much more knowledgable about the world of instructional technology.
One of our ongoing assignments is to create video journals about what we are learning in class and how it connects to our future careers. In my journal for February, I talk about one specific project, the Annotated Standards Infographic, and how I feel it encouraged the use of skills that I will need in the future. I think my journal does a good job of summing up some of the most valuable skills I've picked up in this class so far, so I'll leave it here for you to watch.