Application is done!

At least for the time being. We shall see how it pans out from here. There will probably need to be some tweaking of the rubric as we go on, but that's not a huge undertaking.

Busy busy

Spend the last two days in meetings again, and getting the PLTW application squared away. Also, I'm getting all of the purchase requests for my department, and for all the various activities done as well. UG!

Tech Needs

I've been out for a few days, because of meetings, and teaching the Apperson Scanners.

I have been able to get some information about the different things tech-related.

ICE Tablet PC
First, Paul Hardy has said that he doesn't really have a need for the Tablet PC, because he will have a Project Lead The Way Laptop.

Nick Wedoff has said that he would LOVE a laptop/tablet, but it would have to be able to run Chief Architect, 3dStudioMAX, and KeyCreator. This could be a limitation, when the hardware has integrated graphics, like in some laptops.

Steve Elza and I have indicated that we would be very willing to participate in the Tablet PC ICE program.

Tech Needs

Paul has had great success with the shopbot, and having the computers in the lab has been a huge help. He has requested "better" computers to get him to a total of 10. He suggested the CAD computers, when they get reapportioned.

Steve Elza will be putting different desks in the auto shop, and would like 5 computers in there, networked.

Electronics would like Multisim purchased and installed on the computers in the lab.

There is concern that the plotter in the CAD lab will not be compatible with Vista when we do eventually make the switch.

Our two color printers in the CAD Lab are on the fritz, and it was suggested from one of the other buildings in the district that we get one large, volume color laser printer.

I will need a replacement motherboard for my Computer Repair PCs, and 1 replacement stick of RAM (1GB)

O, I forgot!

In addition, Google is working alongside the "Open Handset Alliance" to come up with a free, open source operating system for cell phones and handhelds. They expect the hardware to be released in the 2nd half of 2008, but the SDK (software development kit) is available now. The neat thing (which I was getting my students involved in) is that they have set aside $10 million to award to different developers who write novel pieces of software for it. We are working on ideas for software that people might want on their cell phones or PDAs as we speak!

A post drought

Eek! It's been two days since a post, and the intertron may never recover.

Dramatics aside, I was out of the building on Tuesday, watching my mother graduate from a Nursing program. We had a long conversation about the analogs between medicine and education. If teachers spent as much time as doctors on each student(patient) how the individual education would be much better, but more expensive and time-consuming.

We had a laugh at if we treated medicine as we treat education. 30 patients come into a room for 50 mins, while a single doctor attempts to treat all of their various conditions before they leave for 24 hours.

Yesterday, I set up the final pieces of equipment for the Dance Room sound system. I can't wait until that job is FINALLY done. It's been almost a year and a half since I first proposed it. Red tape makes me cry.

Rapid Prototyping Excitement!

Nick Wedoff and I have been talking for a while about Rapid Prototyping equipment. Sometimes called "3d Printers," rapid prototypers are devices that can "print" a 3d object using plastics.

Normally, these machines are in the realm of impossibility for education, since entry level models start at $15,000. However, a new company has released a statement saying that they will be releasing an extremely cheap 3D printer, to the tune of about $5,000. That is much more plausible.

These are amazing for engineering, when we can draw something and then "print" it in 3D to see how the pieces fit together. We had a chance to borrow one a few years ago, and the projects the kids turned out were incredible. There was a custom fishing reel that a student had drawn, and all the pieces were printed and fit together perfectly.

Here are some pictures of things made on a rapid-prototyping machine.

Another:

From design...

To Reality:

PLTW Application continued

Ok, so the application is pretty much functional, with the exception of aggregating the "Applied tech courses taken" data as a number. It is a pretty neat little beast. Check out the preview here

http://www.fhs.d211.org/departments/appliedtech/mkarasch/pltw/application.asp

A nice form to grade the essays

A report of the students who qualify based on all of the criteria.

HOT FRIES!

Paper Tyrant.

I suggested to Mr. Wedoff today that I become a paper tyrant. I was going to say "Paper Nazi" but I'd rather not refer to myself as a Nazi. I gave him a hard time about printing out things for his students that are all sitting in front of a computer. HAR!

PLTW Application

We decided to create an online application for PLTW. I created it today, and an associated database to go along with it. Check it out and give me some dummy data here:

http://www.fhs.d211.org/departments/appliedtech/mkarasch/pltw/application.asp

Best of the Blog!

I reviewed the top blogs from the various "Best of" compilations today. There were some interesting items.

http://www.alistapart.com/ was really neat, as they make some interesting comparisons about the web. They talk about how people try to make websites, shoehorned into design concepts from video, books, tv, posters, etc. Many times these fail, because the web is distinctly NOT the same.

What I really liked was how they compared it to architecture. That the architect designs the structure that will be used, and it is the builder, and eventually the people who occupy it to define the content and use the building to it's fullest. Those users really help it grow and the architect themselves are uninvolved after the initial build.

It was certainly an interesting take.

Amazon Kindle

The e-reader Kindle from Amazon is a success out of the gate! This is exciting, since Sony's e-reader was a bit of a flop. I'm ready. Lets switch all textbooks to electronic format tomorrow. $500 a student. How much do we currently spend on textbooks for 6 subjects?

By the by, a nice review of the kindle

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/our-kindle-verdict/amazon-kindle-real+life-review-verdict-lightweight-long-lasting-and-easy-to-grip-in-bed-325939.php

Competition breeds excellence.

I have come to the realization that the only thing that will compell me to blog consistently, is competition. I was hoping for some people to blog often, so I would feel compelled to post MORE often, but alas, in current company, I have no rival. So I will look outward for a worthy (but not TOO worthy opponent who posts on a semi-regular basis that I can try and best.)

Back from break!

Back from Thanksgiving with some fresh ideas!

I was in Boston, and I saw a neat system in practice that I had been toying with in theory. MythTV is a linux-based DVR, and it can broadcast over the intranet to any connected PC. What a great idea for a school to keep all of their videos/audio so that students could access it at any time. No worrying about who has what dvd or vhs checked out, or if multiple people need it. I suppose united streaming does this to some extent, but this could have anything we want on it.

Spent today showing Steve Elza how to use the Student Inquiry system to look up a person who emailed him wanting work done on their car, and gave no information except their name, and that they had a son who went to Fremd. We used student inquiry to look up the last name, pull up info on the student, and grab the parent's email address. Whew.

Data Driven 2

It appears that along with tech coach, I have also become honorary proofreader for the department. It's a job I enjoy. I proofread a letter of recommendation today, and another grant proposal for spring compressors.

We also worked on the shopbot today to develop a plan for a heart shaped jewelry box for an alumni. I spent some time looking for a picture to show the box, but this was the closest I could find. Ours didn't have the nice inlay, but it was pretty sweet just the same.

Data driven

Paul is working on a grant for some calipers and engineering measuring equipment. He asked me to grab some data from a survey that we have going for the PLTW program.

I pulled down and aggregated the data today during 2nd hour. The numbers are small, but impressive. 93% of the kids who took the survey at Fremd were interested in pursuing engineering in college.

Mike's Blog

The Tech Coordinator has a nice blog here:

http://fremdit.blogspot.com/

Quote of the day

Mike: I'll see if if Colin can help with the projector...

Mike: Colin gave me the finger...

More thoughts about the rubric.

We aren't sure yet if this is something that would be filled out by a student, or filled out by a teacher. Some things would have to be filled out by the teacher, for example, the evaluation of a written sample.

Perhaps one idea is to have multiple documents, one that students (or parents) would fill out, and give them an idea of how likely it is that their student would be accepted to the program.

Quick Turn Around

Yesterday, my Department Chair, Paul Hardy, asked me to convert a form from excel into a web-based application. Done and done.

http://www.fhs.d211.org/departments/appliedtech/mkarasch/pltw/rubric.asp

First Post!

First!

This blog will detail the daily (optimistic) exploits of the technology coach supreme, Mike Karasch!