A quick link to my 3D printer research:

Open Source in 3D printing.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oOSRelprBhD6Algk8XKzcGdpSxhTWwOx1BA4bWg-qPw/edit?usp=sharing

Making with Arduino

I'm developing a website for teaching kids to problem solve and make with the Arduino development system.

It's at https://sites.google.com/a/rswsu.org/making-with-arduino/

Finally we have a development system that is easy enough to use with students and affordable for classrooms.


Shhh - don't tell - It's Fun - like Lego for adults.

 

Turn  old netbook into Chromebook wannabe
Non - 1:1

model tested = Dell mini

install Elementary Linux

setup user:
user = student
password = password
autologin on - do not ask for password

remove:
empathy

add:
Google Chrome

Set Chrome to autostart

chrome - settings - privacy - content settings - keep local data until you quit your browser
     Does not save student login.

install printers

do not ask for password on startup, sleep, or hibernate

If the computer asks a student for the password other than Google, restart the computer.

Power button to Google login = 16 seconds!!

Clone for distribution with Clonezilla

After cloning:
connect to wifi 

Windows 10 preview

I had a chance to install Windows 10 preview and work with it today.  I was running it on an old laptop (core duo, 2 gibi ram) and it ran ok, a little slow but not bad, very usable.  Of course the preview version hasn't been cluttered up with junk and updates yet.  I like the way it works.  It's a good mix of the best parts of Windows 7 and 8. 

The big new thing is the way it tries to compete with Google apps.  They want you to login with a Microsoft online account, tied to the Microsoft store, and outlook, and calendar, and office 365, and etc, etc.  

The design is clean and usable and so far it runs better than Windows 7 or 8.

Of course the first thing I did was install Google Chrome, Google Drive, LibraOffice, and GIMP.  All running well.

Arranging the tiles to my liking took a few moments to figure out, but not bad.

I love the new task manager.  It gives much better info.  (maybe this was in Windows 8, I don't know. I use it so rarely)

It boots faster than I am used to for Windows.  I'm hoping it stays that way.

So far the wifi is being more reliable also.

Fun Fun

Ubermix Linux in the classroom

For the last couple of years I have been using Ubermix Linux for all students computers (120 computers grades 6-8).  I highly recommend it.

Features:

• It is designed for classroom use
• easy to install
• one master image for all computers*
• the student can mange his/her laptop
• if the student messes up the computer it can be reset easily and quickly
• good selection of up to date software
• runs well on older equipment

*  The only driver issue I had was with some older wifi cards.  I had to install the driver and add it to my master install key.

What it does well:

• Web browsing
• Google Docs
• libraoffice
• photo editing, audio editing, video editing

What it does not do:

• iTunes
• silverlight
• some websites that use older technology like Shockwave

What about Chromebooks?

Ubermix is great for giving new life to laptops but Chromebooks have two major advantages in the classroom.  The biggest game changer with Chromebooks is their speed.  When a device goes from power button to usable in 10-15 seconds, it changes the way teachers use them in the classroom.  They are no longer an addon, or activity but an ever-present tool that students use.  The other big advantage is the cost.  Schools can turn over their Chromebooks much more often without a higher budget.

Update on speech recognition with Google Docs

You can now have speech recognition in Google Docs directly by installing Read & Write Google.  The free version will read to you.  The paid version has speech recognition, word prediction, etc.

If this is not in your budget, try dictation.io.  This is an online voice dictation website.  You can dictate to the website and then copy/paste to a Google Doc, save to Google Drive, save to dropbox, or email the text.  I have had good luck with this one.  Remember, this website will not learn your speech patterns like Dragon Dictate so may not work for everyone.

Speech Recognition with Google Docs

This is an example of how to use Chrome's built in speech recognition with Google docs.

Google Docs does not have built in speech recognition but Chrome/Google.com does.

• Open up a Google docs document in Chromium.
• Hold down control and tap n for a new window.
• Navigate to Google.com.

  You should see a microphone icon on the right side of the search box.

Begin sequence
(dictate, copy/paste a sentence at a time.)

• Click the microphone and speak a sentence.
• Hold down control and tap a to highlight the entire sentence.
• Hold down control and tap c for copy.
• Hold down alt and tap tab navigate back to google docs.
• Hold down control and tap v for paste.
• Hold down alt and tap tab navigate back to Google.com

repeat the sequence

Hint:  Start with a period to get  Google to space and capitalize correctly.

Voice dictation is far from perfect.  But it is an effective tool especially for a dyslexic user.

Linux in the Classroom - Setup Ubuntu 12.04 as a Student OS

I've been a fan of Ubuntu but shied away from Unity.  Ubutu 12.04 has some features that are worth looking at: fast boot, simple interface, and reliable.  These should lead to more teaching time and less time waiting for / fighting with the computer.  So I installed and tweaked it for student use.

Our standard student computer is set up with a local shared student account.  We use Google Docs for our primary editing and collaboration.  Student can also log into/mount their share on the file server.

1. Install OS

I installed 12.04 on a custom partion small enough to be cloned out to any computer in the school - 37GB.  You can adjust this later with gparted.

Update - before installing software, replace the opensource Java with Oricale's Java.  I had multiple teachers complain that some of the websites they used would not work with the Java that comes with Ubuntu.  here is a link for instructions.

2. Install software

My standard software includes:

• Chromium - for Google Docs
• Flash
• LibreOffice - office suite - already included
• Audacity - audio editing
• Gimp - Photo editing
• Open Shot - video editing
• Blender - 3d editor used by openshot
• Inkscape - vector editor used by openshot
• Cheese - webcam capture
• MuseScore - music notation editing
• Tux Paint - paint program for kids
• VYM - mind mapping software
• education games, logic games and math games

3. Uninstall Software

Uninstall software I don't want on student computers:

• Email
• Messaging
• Social clients

4.  Setup Printers

Setup all the network printers the students need access to.

5.  Test and connect to any Wifi access points the students will use.

Wifi points need to be pre-connected as students can not change them.  Double check this after cloning to a new laptop. Ubuntu 12.04 is a little more picky about this.

6.  Setup the Student Account

6a.  Create the Account

Setup a limited account called student with a strong password.  Set the account to auto login.  Do not tell the students the password.  If they get to a point where the computer is asking for a password, they probably shouldn't be there.  They need to back out or restart the computer.  Turn off asking for password after screen saver, or suspend.

You should end up with an admin account and a student account with the student account auto logging in.

6b. Set the Environment

Set the student account's look/feel.

• Setup the launcher icons the way you want them.
• Turn off asking for password after sleep/resume.
• Turn off saving passwords in Chrome.  It's a shared account.
• Set the default printer.
• Set the screen background and screensaver.
• Set the default document type in LibreOffice to Word for compatibility.
• Setup a link to the school's Google Docs login.
• Set the homepage.
• Create a link to login/mount the school's file server.

7.  Create an Apps folder

I install a lot more programs than I want to put on the Unity launcher and my students get lost under Dash.  So I created a folder on the desktop called Apps.  

• Create the Apps folder
• copy/paste the files in /usr/shared/applications to the Apps folder
• ctrl-a select all, right mouse click - properties, set the execution bit.
• Delete the program launchers you don't want the students to have easy access to.
• Organize - I put the games into a games sub folder.

8.  Make the Master Image for Cloning

Use Clonzilla to make an image of the disk to be cloned out to other computers.  After cloning, you will need to set the wifi and default printer for the location the computer is in.

Update - 12.04 boots faster than 12.10.  I haven't found any advantage to moving to 12.10.

Google Apps for education - stay signed in

It's unfortunate that Google will not allow us to turn off 'stay signed in' for Google Apps on student computers.

Here's a work-around. I'm using Chrome on the student computers. Go to settings - Under the Hood - privacy - Content settings - Cookies and check 'Clear cookies and other site and plug-in data when I close my browser' I can't think of any good reason for a shared computer to save cookies beyond the current session.

MSM612-Learning Html with CSS

Here I go with another cool graduate class. This one is about how to write good html code and pair it with CSS.

I'll be using this blog to make notes and ideas I learn in this class.

iTunes audiobook from mp3

I figured out how to make mp3s show up as audio books in iTunes with Windows.

1. add mp3s to library.
2. select the group of mp3s.
3. right click - get info
4. click options tab
5. change remember position - yes
6. change media kind - Audiobook
7. click OK
8. your iPod needs to be set to sync audiobooks
It worked

Jaycut

I work one day a week as the technology Integration person in a small school with limited resources. The computers only have 256MB RAM. They barely run windows let alone do any video editing. But the teachers have flip cameras they are trying to figure out how to use. One answer I found is the on-line video editor Juycut. It accepts the flipcam files for upload and is a nice, simple video editor. The one thing the teachers need to plan ahead for is the time it takes to upload and download videos.

Moodle

I setup yet another Moodle server. This time from scratch. I bought a domain name and edited the DNS settings. I took an old Dell (1.6CPU 512RAM 40HD) and installed Ubuntu server 9.10 - LAMP server. I installed Moodle from the repository. Easiest setup I've ever had. I tried it with 10.04 - no luck. The only glitch was the fqdn. I corrected that in the config file and everything was happy. Now I'm looking forward to showing the teachers how to use it.

Remote Assistance

I just moved my Mail Server from one ISP to another and I knew some of my teachers would be calling because their email didn't work any more. I was going to do a 30 day trial of goto assist because of its great reviews but didn't want to deal with trying it with the school credit card. I kept looking and found TeamViewer. It's working great. When a teacher calls in asking how to get his/her email working, I can take over their computer and fix it for them.

1. have them Google teamviewer download and go to the page
2. talk them through downloading and running the small program - TeamViewr Quick Support
3. have them give you their id number and password

Linux Domain / File Server

Our Windows 2003 server had major problems last week $$$$. Not good at the end of a school budget. But a perfect opportunity to try Ebox Linux Server. So I put together a Ebox Office server, added the users, copied their files on, and chown -R their directories. So far - working like a champ.

200+ users

Ebox 1.4
I added icewm (windows manager), ivman (hotplug USB), nedit (editor), and nautilus (file manager).

So far - so good I haven't observed it under a heavy load yet but it doesn't look like its going to be a problem.

iPod Touch in the classroom

I just observed a six grade class using iPod Touches for the first time. In very little time they were zipping around exploring the apps I put on and surfing the web. They were easily able to find web pages and resources the teacher asked for. I'm impressed. These are going to be a useful tool for teachers.

Windows 7 voice dictation

I am playing around with voice dictation in windows seven. I am very happy that voice dictation is built into windows. It is one of the few features that I miss when using Linux. So far, I am finding that the accuracy and usability of voice dictation in windows seven is not as good as I have experienced with Microsoft office voice dictation, IBM, or dragon dictate in XP. I am spending a lot more time correcting mistakes than I ever have with previous voice dictation programs. It does however seem to be learning from my corrections. Windows voice dictation does not work with Open Office writer, it does work with Wordpad.

I have used voice dictation with students in the past but only with limited success. Voice dictation does not work as well with immature voices and can be a frustrating experience for students.

Here is a link to an article about getting started with speech recognition in Windows 7.

Frist Class and Linux

I find the First Class email client for Linux to not work as well as I would like. The better solution is to install the Windows client using wine. The best solution is to switch to Google Apps for Education (working on that). The only drawback I find is that web links don't work seamlessly, I have to copy/paste the URL.

Backup

We all know how important it is to have a backup. But here is one I have been hit with twice now - OK I get it.

The power went out on us yesterday and the battery backup on the wireing closet died sooner than we thought it would. When the power came back on, our main router had lost/scrambled its settings. Luckily, we had an old router we could throw in to keep the school running while we rebuild the main router.

Backup is not just software. Have a backup plan for minimal networking also: mode, router, switch, etc.

When do you tech software and when do you tech skills?

When is it appropriate to teach a software package because it is the industry standard vs. challenging students to figure out multiple software packages? I will typicaly install Gimp and Open Office on computers and sometimes hear "shouldn't we be using the standard programs"?

Here are some thoughts on that:

• It's more important students learn how to figure out software than learn a given package.
• The software will change and evolve by the time the students get in the workplace anyway.
• I want my students to be comfortable using these tools for the long term. I don't want them feeling that they have to use the expensive commercial program if there is a valid open source alternative available such as Gimp vs. Photoshop.
• The only time I could justify the cost of the commercial software is at the high school level.