Diary of a Techie Chick

Reflection of Disney World....

Every 4 years the PHS band kids take a trip to Disney World. I had the pleasure of being one of the sponsors along with my husband. Both of our sons are in the band, James a junior plays the trombone and Ethan a freshman plays the drums. We departed for Orlando on Monday at noon, 28 hours later we made our arrival. 28 hours on any bus is 28 hours way too long. We didn't hear too many complaints as everyone was very excited to be on the trip. The 60 or so high school band students worked hard fundraising to help pay for the expense. The band board members worked just as hard running the concession stand at the home football games, the chili soup dinner, and this year the ugly toilet fundraiser. I only played a very small part, but was happy to lend a hand when I could.

Throughout the bus ride the kids made the best of it. During our meal stop the kids made the most of their freedom from the bus. A softball game broke out during one of our meal stops. There was even a game a Twister going on. In between stops a movie or two was played. Kids listened to music and even streamed YouTube video clips, and played video games.

Once we arrived at Orlando everyone was ready to be off the bus. They guys didn't even complain when we spent our 1st night in the Down Town Disney shopping. I think most of us were ready to really stretch our legs even if it was at a shopping area. I was in 7th heaven just looking at the wide variety of shops. Our 1st full day in the most happiest place on earth was spent at Epcot. We flew from Orlando to LA, went into the future, and even took a trip back into the past with out even leaving the park. We even walked around the different countries from around the world with finally having dinner in China. We got to meet Mickey, Minnie and Goofy. We even found Nemo. We had the pleasure of bringing our 6 year old daughter along with us on the trip. She was in heaven when she met Mickey and gang. When it was her turn in line she literally ran up and hugged Mickey, like they were long time best friends.

While at our time in Disney the kids attended a band clinic. They got to work with a professional conductor and recorded music to a Disney movie. I do believe they recorded to the Tarzan movie. I can't wait to hear their recording. I am sure they sounded amazing, they always do.

There were several kids on the trip with us that had never seen an ocean, some never really been out of our little town. Watching their faces as we walked on Coco Beach, was watching a kid at Christmas. I was glad to be apart of their experience. I enjoyed meeting the Disney characters, including having lunch with Mickey, Donald, Daisy, and Goofy. My daughter loved meeting Tinker Bell, Cinderella, and Rapunzel. The shows at the different parks are amazing. For the kids it was all about the rides. For us it was all about the memories.

Over all I believe the trip was a success. They kids really enjoyed it and tons of memories were made that week, including the very long bus ride there and back.

Reflection of MACE15....

Presenting at the Mid-America Association for Computers in Education a.k.a MACE is like going home for me. MACE was the 1st edtech conference I attended in my career in education. It is currently beginning held on the campus of Kansas State University, which just happens to be my Alma Mater. I presented twice on the topic of augmented reality in education during this conference. My sessions were hands-on sessions where educators could play and explore the variety of augmented tools I brought along with me. Attendees explored augmented coloring pages, augmented triggers where 3D object would appear, 360° environments, and even creating their own augmented experience.

I enjoyed watching educators walk around the room as they were emerged in a 360° environment from AugThat. One educator's 360° environment had a cave and she tried so hard to enter the cave. We talked about ways these mind blowing triggers could be used in education from setting the stage for a lesson to talking about a settings for a creative writing assignment. These triggers can even be used for descriptive writing, comparing ecosystems, and the start of a research project. Augmented reality is a powerful learning tool. You can almost anything into an augmented trigger and you can add almost anything as the augmented reality experience. I shared ways I am creating augmented experiences with my students.

When I wasn't presenting I attended a few of the sessions. I learned about Doctopus and Goobric as well as a few online tools I hadn't tried before. When I first tried Doctopus was a year or so back and it wasn't very user-friendly so I moved on. I am glad I sat in on this session with Ginger Lewman as she shared how to use these tools in your classroom. The developers have made changes and it is so much more user-friendly. I plan on trying this tool again when I teach spreadsheets.

Dr. James Beeghley was the keynote speaker this year. I really liked his message for us not just our students to "Think Differently". We truly need to think differently, how we see the world today will not be how our kids see the world in 10, 15, 20 years from now.

If you missed my session or any session and you want the handouts MACE does archive them and you can download them off their website or you can access them from the app.

Resources:

Reflection of edcampOKC....

Due to weather edcampOKC was rescheduled from Feb. 28th to March 7th which allowed me to attend this year. A colleague of mine and I got up way to early on March 7th and left Pratt around 4 am. We drove the 4 and half hours to South Moore high school in Moore, Oklahoma where edcampOKC was being held. We arrived just in time so I could sign up to lead a discussion on augmented reality. I actually ended up leading not 1 session but 2 on the topic of augmented reality in education. I also lead a session on green-screen projects. I came prepared with plenty of augmented reality tools as well as my mini green-screen made from a pizza box.

I shared a variety tools from coloring augmented pages to being emerged in 360° environment. The majority of the educators that joined me in the AR sessions had not really tried an augmented experience. There was a small handful that had and were even creating their own AR experiences. The session was hands on and I encouraged the participants to play and explore the variety of augmented experiences. The favorite AR experience that really got the participants talking about how they could use this tool in their classroom just happened to be the 360° environments from AugThat.

I really love attending edcamps and sharing with educators. Edcamps are a relaxed environment and allows others to get up and share that might normally not. The sessions open up a line of communication, allow collaboration, and make connections.

If you were not able to attend this years edcampOKC no worries there were some amazing people taking notes for you. Thanks Oklahoma educators for listening and connecting with me. I do plan to attend next year if it all works out again. I may not get up quite so early.

Resources/Notes:

Bringing Learning to Life with Augmented Reality....

Augmented reality is one of my passions. I love watching kids come alive and fully engaged when they interact with augmented triggers. Students are not the only ones that come alive when they interact with augmented triggers, teachers love them too

Augmented reality is experience that super imposes computer-generated experience over a trigger image. There are several different types of augmented experiences you can interact with. These computer-generated experiences allows you to listen to music, watch video clips, interact with 3D models, or place you in an environment such as the ocean. All of these possible interactions require the student to scan a trigger image that will trigger the experience. Thus the trigger image or target image.

Augmented Reality - IN THE CLASSROOM

Augmented Reality is an engaging tool for students and teachers, really anyone that uses it. It allows you to immerse yourself into any environment, and apply critical thinking skills to real-world scenarios. My goal is to teach 21 century learners think outside the box and beyond their learning environments. You can take an image and create an engaging learning experience that cannot be achieved in typical two-dimensional planes, such as worksheets or on a whiteboard/chalkboard.

Because I am so passionate about augmented reality and the impact it can have in the classroom I've teamed up with Aug That. I am creating some one of a kind augmented lessons that you can have access to and use in your classroom, on top of their ever growing interactive lessons, 3D objects, and 360° environments. Aug That is also giving free access to Teach Connect all you have to do is tell them that the Techie Chick sent you.

Teach Connect allows you to create augmented triggers in a safe environment. No channels to follow, no scanning and getting something inappropriate, a totally complete safe environment. You don't even need to know how to create the augmented experience all you have to do is send them the trigger image you want to use and what you want the experience to be. You also get access to other teacher created augmented lessons. I can even help you create and use augmented lessons in your classroom, all you have to do is ask.

Take a Demo of Aug That. Download the STAR app and check out their Demo page. You are going to love it. After you have taken the Demo email Lisa@Augthat.com and tell her that the Techie Chick sent you. She will get you connected with your free Teach Connect account. Once my lessons are up and running you will also get access to those.