Capstone

Programming - Daisy Dinosaur

Cargo-Bot is an introduction to programming. Even though it was in the last section, it fits here, too. The film is my program to move boxes.

Daisy the Dinosaur 

Daisy the Dinosaur is easy and fun.  You just drag the actions to the grey screen. Daisy will perform them in order. It took a bit of doing to get things to repeat, but I finally understood where to drag the actions.

I want my students to learn to be logical or if not, at least orderly and organized. I teach my Digital Media students to create web sites with HTML code. One mistake and it doesn't work. It teaches them to be precise or at least careful with their language.  When they make a mistake in writing a paper, I can usually figure out what they mean. When they do the same in HTML, they don't get what they expected. It is a good lesson.

When I was in library school, we learned to catalog books.  That requires precision. If you misspell something, the user may never find the resource her or she needs.

I would like to learn programming.  I have tried Objective C on my own. I got a program to run, but I need more help. Maybe these little programs will head me in the right direction.

Problem Solving - CargoBot, TinkerBox HD, and Bubble Ball

Cargo-Bot in action.

 I explored TinkerBox, Cargo-Bot, and Bubble Ball.  I had varying degrees of success. Some were fun, others frustrating.

TinkerBox asks you to put gears and levers and such in position to get a ball into a container. I got through the tutorial and quit. It was frustrating. I had trouble getting the pieces oriented and couldn't find the pattern.

Cargo-Bot was a bit of a challenge, but fun. You have to program the claw to pick up boxes, move them, and set them down.  The recursive feature took some experimenting, but I got it to work.

Bubble Ball was the easiest.  You place objects like planks and a triangular-shaped fulcrum to guide a ball to the finish line.  I found out it was created by a young man who is 14. That made it more impressive.

I would recommend Cargo-Bot. It is the most like programming.  You have to plan ahead. I ask my students to do that when they write. You can experiment. I ask my students to do that when they brainstorm to write. It looks like there is more than one way to solve the problem, too.  That gives you a better chance of doing so.

Cargo-Bot completed task.

Bubble Ball completed task.

Research and Reference - Online Bookmarking - Diigo

I used Diigo to save bookmarks for Purdue OWL (online writing lab), Librivox, and Project Gutenberg. I chose them, because they can be used in English class. My screenshots are of Project Gutenberg and Librivox, as well as my library in Diigo. Purdue OWL gives tutorial on how to write term papers. Project Gutenberg is a database of out of copyright works. Librivox has the audio version to many of the works i Project Gutenberg.

I leaned about Diigo last summer, but to honest,I haven't used it since. I do teach research writing. When I do, I have my students copy and paste the web addresses they use into a word processing document.  The idea of Diigo is that these addresses will be all in one place and available online.That would be the best use for collecting sites. However, I find it much more complicated than I want. I just need a list.  The old way suits me, but I bet my students would like this better.

1. 

   My Diigo Library

   
   

   

   Project Gutenberg

   
   

   

   Librivox

   
   
   
   

Reference - Dictionaries

Dictionary. Com

I used the word "spring" as my search term in Dictionary.com and Miriam-Webster.  I chose it because it has so many meanings.  

As a media specialist, I am partial to traditional reference materials. Miriam-Webster has been around a long time. It is vetted.  There isn't much risk in choosing it.

On the other hand, I didn't know much about the background of Dictionary. com.  I did look it up and found it is based on the Random House Dictionary. That is a dictionary I have used and like.  

They both have an audio component. That's helpful in learning new words.  They both had background information on the word.  What was different, was that Dictionary.com has a cool "Learners" tab. It puts the word in context and explains how it is used.

I am surprised to say this, but I would recommend Dictionary.com, despite the fact that it has advertising.  I don't know if the ads can be blocked, but that would be nice. 

Miriam-Webster

Easy Bib

EasyBib Emailed my citations to me.

My first search.

A Works Cited Page in MLA

This app should be called Exasperating Bib. I tried and tried to get it to work, but could not. I scanned the backs of books and I put in book titles in the search box and got no results.

In frustration, I went to EasyBib online. There, I was able to put in book titles and get my citations. I don't know if I was doing it wrong or what, but I would not recommend this app.

An app I would recommend for this is Citation Machine. You have to put in the information,but it is more precise.  I couldn't find the edition of several books I tried. With Citation Machine, I just put in what I haveand it works.

My students write research papers, and they need to learn how to cite in MLA style. Citation Machine makes it easy. When I was in school, we had to use a book and look up the right format. Now it does it for you and in a variety of styles.  It is a blessing while EasyBib nearly, but not quite, got me cursing.

Mind Mapping - Popplet

Popplet was new to me. I had used a feature of PowerPoint that is something like this, but Poppet is a lot easier to use.  It just takes a few taps or clicks to get cells to fill. They take photos, which makes them more visually appealing. It is easy to put text in, too. I experimented with color. That makes distinctions between the cells.

I can see using this for a family tree in history.  I might use it as a timeline, though today I was introduced to an app called Timeline that looks promising. My freshmen are introduced to writing essays in the fall. The first steps are planning. Brainstorming is one way, but webbing is another. This app could be used that way.  

This could be used to plan web sites. When I teach Digital Media, I have my students create web sites using HTML.  They need to plan first. This app would give them a good visual representation of the sites they want to build.

My Popplet on William Shakespeare