Category: EdTech

3D Design and Print: TinkerCad workshop

October 11, 2019 / jamieandrews / 0 Comments

On Thursday, October 10, I attended a free 3D Design and Print workshop at UVic Digital Scholarship Commons. At this workshop they spoke about the processes and products of 3D printing and gave us the opportunity to design our own model using the TinkerCad software. I made a simple name tag for my doggo, Ellie!

Useful Resources:

Thingiverse Education: “provides over a hundred free lessons that make teaching with a 3D printer easier and more effective for a variety of grade levels and subjects. It also provides a community where educators can exchange best practices or remix projects.”
TinkerCad: “a free, easy-to-use app for 3D design, electronics, and coding. It’s used by teachers, kids, hobbyists, and designers to imagine, design, and make anything!”
Sketchfab: resource to search for 3D print artifacts – available to use and download because of the creative commons license.

Possibilities:

Biodegradable glow stick cap (UVic student)
Anything!

Important to look at the model from multiple angles to make sure it all lines up before printing

Think about printing orientation so as to maximize efficiency (i.e. which orientation will allow for minimal support?).

Can use heat to smooth things out. Or shape filaments using a blow drier, for example.

Available printing filaments:

PLA (polylactic acid – used at UVic)
PVA (polyvinyl alcohol)
TPU 95A (flexible filament)

Technique to inquire about: bridging

Blog 1: Video Editing

September 28, 2019 / jamieandrews / 2 Comments

On Friday, September 27th, 2019, I along with many in our cohort joined thousands of others in a Climate Strike that has swept the entire globe. We marched in solidarity with the future health of our home, Mother Earth, at the forefront of our minds. According to Greta Thunberg, the world is losing approximately 200 species every day to extinction. At the same time, people are standing up and holding their governments accountable to their actions, saying enough is enough; it is time for meaningful change.

Here is a video I put together to commemorate the day. I used many of the techniques we practiced in class before heading off to the strike. I slowed many of the clips down and added a sepia tone to all the clips leading up to the march. We had Rich McCue come to speak with us and share with us many useful tips in creating video using iMovie. I chose to incorporate music (Michael Kiwanuka’s Love & Hate) as well as some audio clips from Greta Thunberg’s address to the UN in New York, September, 2019. Enjoy!

Also here is a documentary I found to be particularly inspiring. It shares the stories of the youth-driven grassroots movement that is sweeping across Europe.

Sincerely,

3D Design and Print: Getting the ball rolling

September 25, 2019 / jamieandrews / 0 Comments

Okay, now this is something that I am stoked to learn about.

Wouldn’t it be neat to have 3D design software and printing capabilities in the classroom? This is a tool that I feel has unlimited possibilities, a playground of sorts for the imagination. With 3D design and print, kids are invited to individually or collectively engage their creative muscles and think outside the box.

On Thursday, October 10, 2019, I will be attending my first intro workshop to 3D Design and Print, and I can’t wait to get some hands on experience with the software.

In this introductory workshop, we will be working with TinkerCad in the design process. Here is a video explaining how to use the program:

And the 3D printing will occur using MakerBot Print:

I do wonder, however, what is the environmental impact of 3D printing? Is it a sustainable practice long-term? Is the material produced biodegradable? Where is the material sourced? And by whom? Is it feasible to have this in a public school classroom (i.e. what are the associated costs)? Is it accessible to children of all backgrounds and abilities? These are all questions that I hope to answer along the way, and I’m sure more questions will come to mind as I delve deeper into this 3D world.

Enhancing My Understanding of the Climate Crisis: Following in Greta’s footsteps

September 25, 2019 / jamieandrews / 0 Comments

This Friday, on September 27th, 2019, at 12pm, a climate strike will occur in front of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia as part of a global climate strike inspired by an emerging leader in climate and social justice: Greta Thunberg. The following TED talk highlights her story:

On September 23, 2019, Greta delivered a powerful speech at the UN Climate Summit in New York imploring world leaders to put truth and meaning behind their words by addressing the climate crisis full on.

Backed by over 30 years of hard scientific facts, Greta stated that “we are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all [governments] can talk about is money and fairytales of eternal economic growth. How dare you.”

The earth doesn’t belong to us, we belong to it. It’s time we acknowledge this plain fact and shift our worldview to reflect this. We must divert our attention away from the preservation of the almighty dollar and place it instead on the preservation of Earth’s complex ecosystems that sustain us. We must do this. We must do this now. All future generations are watching us.

With that said, I beg each and every one of us to show up and vote (for us Canadians this comes as soon as Monday, October 21, 2019), and to furthermore hold our governments accountable to their words of promise. For the sake of literally everyone who is alive right now, human and non-human, as well as those who wait in line behind the doors of life, we must push our governments to become better then they set out to be.

On September 27th I will be out in front of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia demanding that we begin to govern with Earth’s best interest at heart. Will you join me?

Sincerely,

Book Making: Setting the stage

September 25, 2019 / jamieandrews / 0 Comments

I have always been fascinated by the beautiful artwork people are able to produce from watercolour.

As a child, I remember walking through my grandaunt’s art studio and feeling a sense of awe when I saw her watercolour landscape paintings, especially the one of Mt. Hood in Oregon where the setting sun rendered its snow-covered peak a soft pink hue. I believe that watercolour is an ideal art form for books as one can be very diverse in the ways they choose to express an image with the paint.

Recently, I have come to realize how powerful storytelling can be — it shapes our worldview, allows us to experience the world from other perspectives, and reminds us what it really means to be human; to feel, to wonder, to make sense of things in order to quell our countless anxieties.

For this reason, I have chosen to dedicate an inquiry into learning how to write, illustrate and bound a book from scratch. As a teacher candidate in the Elementary Education PDP Program at the University of Victoria, I am particularly interested creating children’s novels. These novels I hope will inspire children to share their passions and realize their dreams in an ever-changing world.

I begin my exploration of this topic by understanding how to work with watercolour. Here is a introductory video to watercolour that I found to be useful:

I went to a local art store and picked up some supplies; watercolour paint & brush, watercolour paper, a rotary mat, ruler & OLFA knife (to make the pages the size I want), sketching pencils, Scotch tape, and a few fine liner Micron pens to write with.

When it comes time to book binding, I will need a few more supplies. However, this is all I need to get me started on the process! In the next blog, I will post a picture of my experimentations with water colour. Until then, happy days!

Learning Swedish: A journey begins!

September 25, 2019 / jamieandrews / 0 Comments

In early 2013 (I’m sorry, I misspoke in the video), I was lucky enough to travel to Stockholm, Sweden. Upon my arrival, I immediately felt at home with the culture and the environment. Something was very familiar about the place, it was as if I had been there before. This inquiry is designed to provide myself with a working knowledge of the Swedish language so that I may go back one day and converse with locals, learn from them, and ultimately establish a sincere connection with a country that calls to me.

Please note that although I’ve been to Sweden once before, my current speaking level is what I would call non-existent. I hope to change this. To start, I will work my way through the Swedish language on Duolingo. I will upload weekly videos showcasing my progress with the language, and hopefully, engage in conversations with native speakers/fellow learners along the way.

This first video represents a starting point. With regards to any skill, it is important to remember that we all start somewhere. Find something you are passionate about, and gift some of your time to that passion. Here’s to making mistakes, getting dirty, and learning (Swedish)!

Sincerely,