First Set of Notes - Unit 3 - Newton's First Law of Motion

I spent some time hashing out the first set of notes because it will establish the format for the rest of my notes. This is what I have come up with (this is page 2 of 2)

 

I marked it up as simply as I can to show the features I have come up with so far.

I like to start with NOTES because it tells me WHAT I need to teach.

Next, I suppose that I will make a couple interactive tutorials (because I might want to have SOMETHING from them actually IN the lecture video)

THAT will take some time!

Time: 4 hours

My Website is Blocked to Students

I went in to work today to grade papers and such... And it was the first time I was able to try out my new website at school.

The GOOD news: I was able to fully access my site using my classroom computer and teacher account. This means that I can log in to my page and model how to take notes, view videos, and how to work on the virtual labs and tutorials to my students. I can also use my online curriculum in the classroom. This is actually very good news indeed.

The BAD news: I logged in using a STUDENT ACCOUNT and tried to view my web site and this is what I was given:

I am not immediately discouraged as this makes sense that "Websense" would automatically block all NEW websites until they have proven to NOT be harmful. I am hoping that it is possible for our District Office, as a customer, can request that www.colbysworld.net be placed on some sort of "exceptions" list so that students will have access to my web page WHILE AT SCHOOL.

The reason I need students to have access at school is as follows:
I KNOW that there will be SOME students out there who will ABSOLUTELY REFUSE to do ANYTHING at home, regardless of the effect on their grade or the "fun" level involved. It is IMPERITAVE that I be able to provide access for these students AT SCHOOL.

I am planning on going into the computer lab about EVERY OTHER WEEK for students to work on these online tutorials and puzzlers DURING CLASS TIME. Also: I would like to have OFFICE HOURS every other week in the computer lab for students to work on tutorials with my help.

Status: I wrote an email to one of the technology peoples at the district office to see if it is possible to get students access to my website. I am hopeful that this can be done.

Time: 1/2 hour (at least)

Starting My First Unit Lessons (U3)

I actually started WORKING on a unit today!

I decided that I needed to have an actual topic to FOCUS on so that I can go through the real steps that it will take to implement my plan. If I can get through one complete unit, with all of its notes, videos, interactive tutorials, and the final "interactive puzzler" then I know I've got something that can work.

I have chosen to start with UNIT THREE: Newton's First Law of Motion. Contrary to the title, it has the least to do with measurement of actual MOTION, making it easier to make tutorials for. It also is ripe with possible manipulatives and diagrams. Also, I wanted to put at least one complete unit under my belt prior to tackling Unit One, which the students will actually see first.

What I worked on today was the first set of notes. (This unit will have two sets of notes when completed)

The plan is to post the, mostly completed, notes on the website in the form of .pdf files. There will be a few gaps and holes throughout the notes. The student then prints up the worksheet and then fills in the gaps as he watches the video(s).

The rectangular boxes are the actual, important notes. The circle gears (with the brains inside) are icons that stand for "Hey! This is how you remember this!" I expect most of the writing to be done on the right side of the page.

At the bottom/left you will notice four numbered boxes and then two blank boxes. This is the "key" for this page of notes. While the student is watching the video he will be given the four letters to fill in the four numbered boxes. By the time he has completed the notes he should have all four boxes filled in. This is his "key" or "password" to unlock the associated "virtual lab"/"interactive tutorial" that goes along with these notes.

More about this key as my plan unfolds. For now lets just say it is part of how I will hold the students accountable for doing their homework. It is part of their semester grade.

Time: 4 hours

"COST" of Project to Date?

At the side of my blog I will be keeping a running total, mostly for my own edification, of the cost of this effort to "Flip my Physics Class". Until it is actually implemented in my Physics course it is all technically just one, big "hobby" for me.

Hobby: noun
(1) an activity done in one's leisure time for pleasure.
(2) something that you might enjoy doing for your career but that you don't actually get paid for.

So, until I get this WORKING in my classroom, it's just a hobby.

TIME SPENT:

I will count time spent only in which I am PRODUCTIVELY working on "flipping my classroom." This will include hours spent creating (videos, work sheets, lesson plans, interactive tutorials, web page design, etc.) as well as problem-solving (planning, outlining, figuring out how to get something done.) It will also include hours "training/learning/reading/searching" for skills directly related to flipping the classroom. The vast majority of my first 73 hours logged has been spent on acquiring skills, planning, and problem solving, with very little actual creating being done as of yet.

I will NOT count time that I am just thinking about the project or discussing the project with others. Therefore, I will NOT count ANY of the hours spent in the mere act of creating this blog.

By the way, anyone interested in pursuing a project like this, be aware that I am being a bit conservative on my estimate of time spent. Personally I find that I get involved in the "flow" of something like this and, before I know it, time just slips by unnoticed. So, add another 20% to 50% for the amount of time that seeps past because of flow.

MONEY:

I will be keeping a running total of cash spent out of pocket.

Colby's World Website - 3 years subscription = $123.40
Adobe Creative Cloud - 1 year subscription = $256
Action Script 3.0 & Flash Professional Books = $60
Bamboo Capture Pen/Tablet = $80
Blue Snowball iCE USB microphone = $70   (added June 27, 2013)
Camastia Studeo 8 = $185.95    (added Aug 4, 2013)
Two, Portable 500 GB hard drives = $148.77
One Month VPS hosting trial = $13.00
Two year upgrade of hosting account = $400

Total To Date: $1337.12

How To Deliver Content Online - version 1.2

I have spent the past couple days hammering out some issues to figure out just how I am going to be able to deliver online content to my students. I have made some breakthroughs and now have an idea how this may all come together.

My solution requires that all of my students have access to a working, updated Adobe Flash Player on their computer (either at home and/or at school), but the payoff will be increased interactivity for the students. (For example: instead of a video just playing, I can put cues in the video that will cause the video to pause and wait for student input...)

Here is a brief outline of how this will work:

First: VIDEO LESSONS - I have been able to load flash videos directly onto my www.colbysworld.net server. Even though the newer .f4v videos are not allowed on my ftp server, the older .flv files DO work. The catch is that I need to provide a video player in order to run the video directly from my web page. (When you post videos on YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook, etc, those web sites provide the video player.) The solution: use Adobe Flash Professional to build a .swf file for each video. This means that I also have to build an .html "wrapper" page for each video. (Not real tough but requires a little bit of basic html programming ability. I already built the generic file that I can just re-use for each video.)

Second: VIRTUAL LABS - I have been able to load interactive flash files onto my www.colbysworld.net server. These are .swf files that I make with Adobe Flash Builder that will allow students to perform mini-labs and hands-on tutorials. Note: So far I have only posted a couple of those silly "video games" that I made last week while I was learning Flash. Again, each file needs an html "wrapper" page just as the videos above need. (I already built the generic file for these as well.)

Third: MAIN PAGE - I will use Adobe Muse to create the main page(s) that the students will use to navigate through the material. Most of my "text" content will be delivered with Muse, along with html links to the above two other types of pages. When it is done it will look like one, seamless website.

A "prototype" of the website, with all three above elements included, is already up and running. I expect it to improve over the next year. So, if you are reading this blog entry after a couple months I hope that you are looking at a version of the page that is a bit different than described herein. (Hopefully you are not seeing a "number guessing game" or a "Time Bomb Diffusing" game by then!)

Time: 6 hours

Completed Flash Lessons

A couple weeks ago I purchased two books on Flash and Action Script programming. Today I have finally completed them.

The Game Design book finished with how to make bigger games (multi-level), use Physics (yay!), Loops, Arrays, and Sounds. I think I have a good foundation to push on and try to make my own interactive tutorials now. (This was the last 150 pages and took about 5 hours to get through.)

The "Adobe Flash Professional CS6 Classroom in a Book" was a 20 hour, 10-Lesson class on how to use Adobe Flash Professional. It included tutorial files for each lesson as well as two hours of DVD videos. I now have a better idea of what Flash can do. (There is a "paintbrush" tool in there that paints fire animation!) It might even be possible to play my videos through Flash (although I am not sure of the technical difficulties in doing that. It may be far easier just to put my videos on Vimeo and have my students access them from there.)

Right now I am using Adobe Muse to create the web page while using Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop for the visuals. I can program the interactive tutorials using Action Script 3.0 in Adobe Flash Builder then wrap those up with Flash Professional. The Flash Professional .sws files can be embedded in the Adobe Muse web pages, along with my videos.

Big chunk of time spent here.
It takes time to develop the skills/knowledge necessary to draw from.

Time: 23 hours

Adobe Media Encoder - first look

In the midst of continuing my education regarding Adobe software I came across Adobe Media Encoder which was included with Adobe Flash Professional (and, hence, comes with my Creative Cloud membership.)

Here is a screen shot:

This little baby can transfer just about any audio, image, or video file into another audio, image, or video file as well as give the user the ability to crop and pan (so you can just focus on one part of a video). I spent about an hour today using it to import videos into my Flash files. (I wonder if it might be something I can do instead of YouTube or Vimeo? My gut tells me that the server I am subscribing to for my web page will be too slow for videos.)  Here is a list of some of the files it transfers: MPEG2, DV/HDV, TiVo, Zune, Apple, YouTube, Vimeo, DVD, Blue-ray, WAV, MP3, AA3, etc...

Time: 1 hour