BuzzLion for week of September 30

Posted on October 5, 2007 
Filed Under BuzzLion

The leaves are turning, but the technology innovation machine at ETS never stops turning, so here is the BuzzLion for the week of
September 30:

ETS staff often travel to conferences to present, network, and learn new skills. Pat Besong recently traveled to the Adobe Max 2007 Conference to hone his multimedia skills and learn about the latest technology. A three-part post of sorts, you can read about each day at the conference and what he learned.

“I’m going to try and blog while I watch this presentation. There’s like 4000 people here in one room, very much like the Apple keynote at WWDC. The geeks are in frenzied anticipation. There is a triple screen in the front of the room and music is blaring to the animated slides.”

Cole Camplese was one of the ETS folks who presented at an event this past week. Along with Allan Gyorke, they presented at the CIC TechForum on “Open Communication and Web 2.0.”

“What we covered was our process for innovation and engagement. It seemed to be well received by the audience. I decided to do something different in sharing this presentation — I have added it as multiple formats.”

ETS multimedia guru Dave Stong consistently writes interesting blog posts on the world of design technology. This week, Dave talks about “Photoshop, 3D and me.”

“By now you’ve heard that Photoshop will open 3D objects. They come in as special layers very similar to Smart Objects. Double clicking the layer opens a brand new bank of 3D editing tools. Very cool, of course; you may have to wear an earring to access the tools. But as before, my needs, interests, or responsibilities would never lead me to model something that I would adjust in Photoshop. Though I can see how it could be useful, and I can tell that it’s a pretty remarkable software enhancement, I probably would use it even less than 3D Transform. That is, until I saw that Vanishing Point will render to a 3D layer.”

ETS IT whiz Jason Heffner is a big fan of the open source Web content management platform Drupal, and he fills you in as to why.

“I can’t say this enough, Drupal has some of the best documentation I have ever seen written for ANY product I have ever worked with; I can honestly say this unbiased. If you don’t believe me then look for yourself at http://drupal.org/handbook. You will find full documentation for all core modules, instructions for setting up your install, configuring your site, and even end user documentation. The documentation is extremely well written using Books (wiki like pages). All the code, including development and for all the modules, is located on the drupal.org site. There is a large community available online and through the Forums. The support page for Drupal is at http://drupal.org/support; go see for yourself.”

Hypercube? What’s a hypercube? You math and geometry whizzes out there know what it is, but did you know you can find them in the Virtual World Second Life? Brett Bixler tells us more, and why this is interesting for educators.

“Cerated by Seifert Surface, this is a scripting marvel. When I first though about how to do this in SL, I became hung up on one key fact - gravity is always “down” in SL. You can’t really have avatars walking on walls or ceilings. This is critical to experience immersion in a hypercube. Seifert solved the problem by simply (?) manipulating the structure so it changes depending on how you progress through it. Watch the movie to see this in action. You’ll see my avatar several times inside the cube. As I move about, the structure changes around me. See the attached movie.

Besides being neat, this points out the next level of effort required by educators to provide engaging experiences in SL. The social stuff is easy - it’s built in. Manipulation of objects requires some hefty programming savvy - and time.”

Chris Millet recently posted a video on the new Digital Commons that’s worth a look.

Jeff Swain asks the question, “Course editors, did you know you can sequence lesson content items when adding them to your course?” and then proceeds to answer his own question.

“Traditionally whenever content items are added to a course they appear at the bottom of the list. However, with ANGEL 7.1 editors have the option of placing the item in the order they wish it to appear by using the Sequence option while in the content item’s Settings. ”

One final note that has appeared on several ETS blogs:

Faculty proposals sought for 2008 Symposium for Teaching and Learning with Technology

Faculty are invited to share innovative uses of technology to enhance teaching, learning, and research at the Penn State Symposium for Teaching and Learning with Technology. This free event will be held Saturday, March 29, 2008 from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel, University Park. A continental breakfast and lunch will be provided. This year’s theme is “The Collaborative Campus and the Culture of Teaching and Learning.”

Faculty who are using technology to enrich teaching, learning, or research are encouraged to submit a proposal to share their story with other faculty and instructional support staff using the online form at http://symposium.tlt.psu.edu/proposal/. Potential topics could include the application of social computing tools, collaborative writing, new learning spaces, digital expression, the role of technology in assessment and accreditation, and student perspectives on their use of technology. Sessions can be in a variety of formats, including group presentations, panel discussions, poster presentations, demonstrations, small-group discussions, and other activities. Each session should include some discussion of practical aspects such as the tools used, sources of support, best practices, and how the application of technology can be transferred to other disciplines. The deadline to submit proposals is Nov. 16.

For more details and to register, visit http://symposium.tlt.psu.edu/. The Symposium is sponsored by Teaching and Learning with Technology, a unit of Information Technology Services.

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