http://www.chrishamady.com/journal/2011/4/27/ncea-presentation-materials.html
Poll results:
Please contact me if you have any questions. I would be glad to answer them.
CH
]]>If there are other things that you see in iOS that Apple has neglected to include in Mac OS X, please put them in the comments and I will certainly add them to this post.
CH
]]>Well, it appears that my requests (and those from others, I'm sure) have been answered. As of December 7th, the latest Pac-Man app for iPad is now fully iCade compatible!
If you have an iCade, download Pac-Man for iPad and prepare for an 80s-induced, non-stop episode of joystick fun!
]]>The larger point that everyone is avoiding when discussing this topic is: what is best? What is best for learning and engagement? What is best for project-based learning? What is best for a learner paradigm? What is best for an instructional paradigm? What is best for IT to monitor and protect the students in an era where lawyers are screaming for us to protect them? What is best for teachers to integrate? What is best for students to utilize? What is best for professional development to be effective? Of utmost importance, what is the best solution for leveling the playing field and eradicating the digital divide?
Let's look at one specific scenario, downtime in the classroom. Our school has to keep over 1100 laptops functioning for both students and faculty. When anyone has any issue with a laptop whatsoever, it has the potential to negatively impact the learning process for minimally 1 student. If a teacher pauses to try to help a student with a laptop issue or the issue is with a teacher laptop, then everyone's learning is negatively affected.
How will this be addressed in the classroom when students are bringing in all manner of devices with a myriad of problems? Such as:
1. I don't have a mind map program
2. I don't have a music editor
3. That piece of shareware won't run on my version of operating system X.
4. My computer doesn't have java installed on it.
5. My computer won't pull a DHCP address.
6. My phone doesn't have unlimited texting
7. I don't have a phone.
8. I don't have a laptop
9. I don't have a tablet.
I could go on, but obviously I won't. How much time will be wasted as an educator is trying to work a project through every brand/model/configuration of computer/phone/tablet brought into the classroom? Educators do NOT have time to waste when politicians are pushing standards, standards, and more standards into their classrooms.
Data:
This week, our freshman class finished up a home technology survey that I asked them to take. I'll share just a couple of the results with you.
1. Out of the 266 freshman students that responded to the survey, 17% of them told us that our school-assigned MacBook was the only working computer in their household. Most of these students come from economically challenged families. Are we going to make sure students in a BYOT initiative that can't afford their own devices are provided with the best tools that anyone else in the classroom can afford to have? More on this in a bit.
2. Out of the 266 students that responded to the survey, 17% of our students told us that they do not own a SmartPhone.
Are we just going to toss these students a $299 netbook and tell them, "this is good enough for project-based video creation" while Timmy over there brings in his MacBook Pro loaded up with Final Cut Pro, or Johnny has his Sony Vaio with Sony Vegas Pro 11 video editing suite on it? Will the learning be equal for all involved in that scenario? Is the potential there for all students to have projects of similar quality?
If we are serious about educating ALL of our students, then we MUST address the digital divide that exists in our schools and districts and remove it. Let me know when we start telling students that the school won't be providing textbooks anymore. You can bring in your own. I'm sure they will all be adequate.
Lastly, if I'm faced with BYOD, or no tech integration, obviously I'm going to support a BYOD initiative. As I posted on Twitter (which seems to have ignited a small firestorm) the bigger question is: what best enhances student learning? Our students deserve the best solution for their technology enriched education, not the most convenient one for politicians and accountants.
I apologize for the rant if I've offended anyone. I get passionate about equality in education and see BYOD/BYOT as a major obstacle to that end.
CH
As I began to explore iTunes, one feature in particular caught my attention. The automated computer generated visualizations that iTunes creates, synced in time with the music. It was during this time that I was also introducing my music students to "programmatic" classical compositions. Programmatic music, or program music, is music specifically written in such a way that it conveys to the listener a story. A good example of program music is Aaron Copland's, Appalachian Spring.
I wanted to help the students more easily understand the concept of program music. I decided that the best way to do this would be to spark their imaginations as much as possible. I wrote a lesson plan that went a little something like this:
The students would listen to a piece of programmatic classical music that was playing in iTunes. iTunes would also be creating a visualization based upon the playing music. I asked the students to write a one page paper describing what they thought the music was about. They could either listen to the music for inspiration, or look at the visualization.
The lesson was a success. The students did such a fantastic job participating and demonstrating incredible imagination and creativity, I thought that I should share the lesson with others.
I wrote up the lesson plan a day or two after having presented it to the students. I wanted to send it to Apple as they not only owned and published the iTunes software, but they also had a division in their company that specifically focuses on educational technology. I had heard rumors that Steve Jobs' email address was steve@apple.com so that is the address that I mailed my lesson plan to.
A week or two went by and soon I forgot that I had sent this email to Steve. One day, while I was cleaning up my classroom at Regina Coeli, the secretary called my room and asked me if I wanted to talk to Apple Computer. Soon after I heard a female voice tell me, "We received your lesson plan…Steve really liked it and sent it to us. He asked us to send the students in your class some Apple t-shirts and Apple pens. How many do you need?"
I was flabbergasted. I never really thought that he would actually read my email, much less act upon it. Here I was, a brand new doctoral student in educational technology, truly unsure and insecure about the decision that I had made to leave music and focus on education, and I just had a life changing experience with one of the most powerful, dynamic, forward looking human beings on the planet.
We are not made in one day or in one year. We are not made in one moment or in one event, but there are certain key happenings in our lives that have the unbelievable power to move us, validate us, or act as catalysts to enlighten us, encourage us, or inspire us. If Steve can read this blog post, I hope that he realizes that this one small thing that he did, was one huge moment in my life.
Thank you Steve.
Chris Hamady
]]>http://www.chrishamady.com/journal/2011/4/27/ncea-presentation-materials.html
Poll results:
Please contact me if you have any questions. I would be glad to answer them.
CH
]]>The short story: it really does a fantastic job of replicating the feel and atmosphere of a 1980s arcade game machine. My children and my wife played the iCade for hours the first day we had it, and now I've finally been able to get my hands on it. Here's a link if you want to check it out.
http://www.ionaudio.com/products/details/icade
You'll see from this photo and this photo that the iCade comes unassembled. Putting it together should have been an easy task that included using an allen wrench and a number of allen-headed machine screws to screw the different pieces together. The nut portion of the fastener was embedded in the wooden iCade pieces. I had a serious issue connecting one of the machine screws to one of the embedded nuts. It literally took me 15 minutes of working diligently to get those pieces together.
Once the iCade was fully assembled, the lid lifts up off of the iCade and one slides the iPad into the assembled body of the game system. Here is a photo of what the iCade looks like fully assembled with the iPad inserted into it.
The first thing I noticed about it was that the joystick and the buttons had a very authentic feel and response like the old-school controls of the 80s arcade systems. The gameplay was very similiar if not nearly identical to the way I remember them from decades ago. Speaking of games, there is one serious negative with the iCade: No PacMan!!!!
The iCade instructions tell the purchaser to go to the App store and download Atari's Greatest Hits. Within that free download, one has the ability for in-app purchases of games. I purchased a single game for 99 cents intially. After seeing how fun and well the iCade worked, we opted to purchase the entire Atari set of 100 games for $14.99. The complete set includes famous titles such as Milipede, Centipede, Pong, Asteroids, Tempest, Missle Command, and many others.
Now for the bad news. Pac Man is not an Atari game. It is made by Namco. The iCade website had detailed instructions for developers to customize their games to include the ability to correctly function with the iCade's controls. I took a chance and purchased Pac Man for iPad. No love....it does not have iCade capabilities.
Next, I emailed both Namco and ION AUDIO asking them to expedite the process of getting Pac Man on the iCade.
Here is my email to them (only showing version sent to Namco):
"I just purchased Pac Man for iPad. Please add iCade (http://www.ionaudio.com/products/details/icade ) support for their bluetooth controller. Your game really lacks the 80s fun I used to have without it. I'm about to write reviews of iCade and Pac Man and publish them... Will you commit to supporting the iCade in the future so that I can publish that info?
Thank you.
Chris"
ION AUDIO's response:
"Hi Chris,
Thank you for your interest in Ion Audio!
The application you are referring to is not currently supported on the iCade. We would all love more games to be supported though!
In order to have it supported, the App developer would need to contact us so that we could work together to create the settings so that the app will work correctly with the iCade. If you would like this to happen, please contact the developer of the specific Pac-Man app you purchased and let them know. We would love to have more games work with the iCade!
Best Regards,
Gregory Holmes"
Namco's response:
"Hello Chris,
Thank you for contacting Namco Bandai Games America Inc. Customer Support.
We are considering supporting this device in our future game releases where it makes sense. Please note that our retro arcade titles, such as PAC-MAN, are handled by our Japanese office. We have passed along our interest to support this device for the retro arcade games but the decision will be theirs to make. We can't promise you anything at this point but we are at least looking into supporting the iCADE.
Thanks again for taking the time to reach out to us. We hope you continue to enjoy our games.
Regards,
Namco Bandai Games America Inc. Customer Support"
Pac Man for iPad is a fun game, although the on-screen joystick is a bit wonky to control. It really does not come close to the fun that could be experienced if Namco would use the available developer information found at ION AUDIO's website and customize Pac Man for the iCade. I'm hoping that Namco takes advantage of this opportunity to both enhance their game, as well as create an avenue to sell more copies of it. I am grateful that Namco took the time to forward my request on to the division that handles Pac Man. Thank you to both ION AUDIO and Namco for their prompt responses to my emails.
Other than this one negative (not ION AUDIO's fault), the ION AUDIO iCade is a fun, well designed, and fully functional old-school arcade system. If I had to rate it I would give it an 8 out of 10 star rating.
CH
UPDATE- I'm changing my rating to 10 out of 10. Pac-Man is now an iCade-supported application!!! See Pac-Man Now Supports the iCade.
]]>Presentation slides in Apple Keynote format
Presentation slides in Microsoft PowerPoint format
One Connected Community Laptop Research Article (PDF)
Proceedings Journal Article from 2010 SITE Conference on 1 to 1 Computing at CCHS (MS Word format)
Free Open Source Software page (web site)
Mac or PC in Education (web site)
Laptop Insurance Form (MS Word format)
Laptop Loan Agreement (MS Word format)
Online Communication Policy (PDF)
CH
]]>
Once that was finished, I opened up the iTunes app on my iPhone 4 to see if I could find my Shared media. iTunes did not show any shared media. I next opened up the iPod app on my iPhone and again could not find any links to shared media. This was bewildering (see my proposed solution at end of article). I checked online and couldn't seem to locate any information on how to make this happen. Finally I decided to check in the Settings app. Inside Settings-iPod I found an area labeled, "Home Sharing." I entered my iTunes email address and password here:
Once that was done, a new item appeared in the iPod listing. Shared:
Clicking on this listing gave me a choice of "shared" iTunes libraries to choose from:
I chose the library associated with my Mac Mini media center as it contains every piece of media that I own. Once that was done, I was able to see all of my music and movies that were being shared from iTunes running on the Mac Mini:
The steps to make this happen on the iPad were roughly the same, but for some reason Apple has decided to put shared movies into the "Videos" application instead of the iPod app. I'm not quite sure what Apple's reasoning is for even having a Videos application? What is gained by introducing a lack of consistency and different user interface on these two EXTREMELY similar iOS devices?
The fact that a link to Shared content does not automatically appear in the iPod app, is a cause of concern for me. Wouldn't the more intuitive and usable solution have been to show a Shared content link within the app, rather than having a user navigate to Settings-iPod and enter Home Sharing information prior to this link appearing?
In my scenario, clicking on the always-showing "Shared" link could bring up a dialogue box asking the user for their Home Sharing information at which point the shared libraries would appear. If Apple had done it this way, it would have created a much simpler and usable procedure imho.
This actually created a pretty fair amount of discomfort for myself and Vic Orly, who is a very competent Apple technician. If it took two geeks like us 15 minutes to figure out how to set up Home Sharing, as well as locate the Shared videos on the iPad (as a result of inconsistencies between the iPhone and iPad interfaces), what will it take for someone with less technical skills to make this happen?
Aside from these small usability glitches, I'm very grateful that Apple has included this functionality in iOS 4.3 and it seems to work very well. Thank you Apple!
CH
Update: There seems to be a glitch in the shared movies when trying to navigate them from my 1st generation iPad. The first dozen or show movie titles continue to repeat as I scroll down all of the movie thumbnails. I can tell that the movies are different, but their correct titles do not display. iPhone 4 displays all shared movies correctly.
]]>
Powerpoint slides here:
A video demonstrating some of our live video streaming productions is here:
A video reflecting a recent foley audio editing student project is here:
This facility was co-designed by myself, Mark Bunce (recording arts instructor for BGSU), and Brian Hanley (student at Full Sail University).
CH
]]>
4 of our administrators use and share a MobileMe account to sync and share their calendars with one another. Three of them also sync their calendar from their Macintosh computer to their iPhone using iTunes. Recently, Apple offered iCal/MobileMe users the choice of "upgrading" their calenders to a newer version. One of our administrators took advantage of this choice and after upgrading his calendar, all manner of bad things began to occurr.
For starters, the other computers would no longer sync to MobileMe. We began our troubleshooting by attempting to upgrade these computers to the latest version of MobileMe calendars. First hurdle- 2 of the 4 Macs were running Leopard instead of Snow Leopard. In an effort to save time re-configuring the calendar data, we decided to upgrade these computers to Snow Leopard. The first thing we did was sync and backup all of the iPhones to each Macintosh, and then backup each user's calendar to a file on the desktop (In iCal do File-Export-Export). We then removed all calendars from the user's iPhones.
After Snow Leopard was installed, we removed all of the computers from syncing with MobileMe and trashed their iCal "Application Support" files, "Cache" files, iCal preferences (.plists), as well as any MobileSync preferences and files that we could find.
Once we had a computer that was completely clean, we re-imported that user's calendar into iCal and tried to sync the calendars back to the iPhone. Nothing we did would accurately sync the calendars to the iPhone. We kept ending up with old calendars that were no longer in iCal, or duplicate calendars. We trashed iTunes prefs, Sync prefs, cache files, iCal prefs, all of the above simultaneously. Nothing helped. Just when we were about to give up, I finally hit on a solution.
It occurred to me that the sync data on BOTH the computers and MobileMe must be corrupted. No matter which location I used to replace the other's data, the result was the same. Bad data. Here is what I did to fix this mess:
I created a new user account on one of the computers and re-imported the original user's calendar into iCal. Now that I had pristine sync data with a user's calendar on it, I replaced all of the data on MobileMe with this sync data. Next, I replaced all of the data in the original user's account with the new good data from MobileMe. It worked. Sync to iPhone was flawless. I then replaced each other computer's sync data with the good data from MobileMe and then re-imported those user's calendars as well.
After 4.5 hours of work, we were finally able to go home and those four users are once again using their MobileMe calendars with their Macs and iPhones. If only MobileMe had another setting that said, "Reset all sync data on both this computer and on MobileMe," this nightmare might have been averted.
Ok...I'm being dramatic. Not really a nightmare. Just doing my job.
CH
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