James Franklin :: Blog

I must have missed the news... this program has been out for months but I didn't notice anything about it.

Anyway, for those that don't know Google Sketchup is a 3D modelling program - that's free. (Read what Wiki'knowseverything'pedia has to say about it.

I've never really taken to 3D modelling software. I've always wanted a program that will let me instantly create an okay 3D model without any effort - but they always seem to require sitting down and investing a few hours of time.

Google Sketchup actually makes the process EASY. Within an hour of installation I'd created a simple mock up of my house and an animation. You can build a shape with one tool, then simply extrude it to turn it into 3D. (Actually it reminds me alot of Illustrator in that respect - both seem to have their advantages).

What was my motivation? Well, if you take the output AVI you can use Riva to make a nice FLV and then import into Onyx (if you're using the AIR version) then you can use it in your VJing.

My new hobby has now taken on a whole new dimension. - And I'm thinking that kids would really take to both Onyx and Google Sketchup.

Have a look at my effort here (it looks worse because of the FLV encoding).

This has been a good week. Early on in the week I found out that large corporations can be very helpful. While of course you still have to jump through hoops, hat off to the BBC for helping little me . I can't say exactly what for (as I don't want it to appear that in any way they endorse me or whatever it was they helped me with), but a big thank you to them all the same.

Today I spent almost the whole day looking for sounds that I could use in a module that I'm making. Now, I know that you can get hold of anything for money, but it was going to work out at about $100 to produce about 1% of this project - just on some sound effects!

I won't bore you with the details of where I looked and was unsuccessful, needless to say that when you get to the licenses you quickly find that being "commercial" tends to be the only exclusion - but you don't find that out until you've chosen all the sounds you need!

Also while creativecommons is a great thing, it's just far to unclear when searching if you will be able to use sounds commercially - often the conditions for use are also too prohibitive. 

But at long last I've found a solution. If you need *Free* royalty-free sounds I'm happy to say there is somewhere. Partnersinrhyme.com have, I estimate, about 300-400 sound effects and short music loops that are genuinely free and genuinely royalty-free. You can use them in anything - including commercial products.

What's more, I spoke to Mark Lewis who works there - and it seems like I've had contact with my second nice organisation this week. [Thanks Mark for the positive response to the last e-mail].

So there we go. Possibly a random post for most of you... but for me the joint best thing that's happened this week. (And no, the Blair, Brown thing didn't do it for me).

I'll certainly add the PIR site to my list of sites that can be used in DiDA multimedia projects for the kids at school. 

Scratch is a visual programming language developed by a group in the MIT media lab. And it certainly keeps up with the high standards set by MIT.

It allows you to create interactive stories, program animation, and even create simple interactive games. What's more it's incredibly intuitive in it's design and very easy to create the visual programs - without the usual typing mistakes that annoy anyone learning a more sophisticated real language.

This is easy enough that the least able in KS3 year 7 could use it, but also has enough features for the most able of year 9. It would be great for a ICT club - but I'm sure would go down well in any control type lessons.

Most importantly, it's free to download for Mac and Windows with a Linux version in the pipeline. So kids can use it both in school and at home.

I also think that anyone that has used this would find it easy to move up to developing with the visual programming for Mindstorms Lego NXT.

The only thing I've ever been asked in school is "when do we learn how to make games". Well, while I'm sure many could cope with the Flash/actionscript required - many more would struggle. But with scratch I think that it's possible that everyone in KS3 could do some simple kind of game... I can't wait to try it out.

Onyx for those that didn't read my first post is VJ editing software. My first play with it was great fun - but the fact that Flash doesn't allow the reading of files was a bit of a hindrance.

Today I had a break and thought that I'd look to see if accessing a webcam in Flash was easy - it is - and here's the result. (You'll need a webcam for it to work - and you might need to refresh the page if the cam doesn't come up first time).

So having done that, I thought that it would be a really cool feature in Onyx and so I checked to see if it was in it. - Well it is. And what's more a brand new version has been created.

It makes use of the new Apollo (now called AIR) from Adobe - which means that it can also read a directory of FLVs and SWFs. You can get a feel for it with the demo - (same as previous post). Also watch the training video which gives you a feel of the new Apollo version.

There are a few bugs still - it's beta. But I'm very impressed with what it can do - and it's a big step up from the previous version. The ability to cross fade (coming soon) and save a mix really makes this a superb bit of opensource software. Most importantly it now accesses the file system through Apollo.

I strongly advise you to get AIR (Adobe Integrated Runtime) and download the offline version of Onyx - it's a bit different.

I reckon that with a couple of USB video capture cards and camcorders you could do a great live mix - integrating some FLVs and SWFs in there. - And of course it would make for a great addition to any ICT club too.

Even on a more simple practical level - you could do live picture in picture and crossfading of any live event - band / play etc - without the need to spend out on very expensive hardware/software.

Hat off to Daniel Hai - This will be awesome.  

Okay, this has nothing to do with edu/tech, but I haven't posted here for a long time.

Thanks to the person that found the true message that the olympics people are trying to give

VJing for those that don't know is the video equivalent of DJing. Its essentially mixing together video clips - normally to complement music.

I was pleased today to find that there had been a great update to Onyx (version 3). You can see a screenshot and demo here.

The features are impressive - and you can use a separate application to support multiple monitors. So on one laptop with a VGA out you could VJ in realtime to music and view the result on a projector.

I think this is really cool - but then again I tend to think anything audio/DJ related is cool.

Certainly it would have a great use within some kind of ICT after school club. But I'm sure that it could be taken further - especially if you got the kids to edit their own clips first. - The other advantage of using clips to VJ is that you need very short clips - and dodgy/shaky quality is fine!

So could we teach VJing in the UK? Well let's assume that we are also creating/editing the video clips and that we have an appropriate audience and reason for the output. What should pupils in the UK be doing in ICT?

Level 4: They add to, amend and combine different forms of information from a variety of sources. They use ICT to present information in different forms and show they are aware of the intended audience and the need for quality in their presentations. They use ICT systems to control events in a predetermined manner and to sense physical data.

Level 5: They use ICT to structure, refine and present information in different forms and styles for specific purposes and audiences.

Level 6: Pupils develop and refine their work to enhance its quality, using information from a range of sources. They present their ideas in a variety of ways and show a clear sense of audience.

Level 7: Pupils combine information from a variety of ICT-based and other sources for presentation to different audiences.

Who said that the curriculum suggests PowerPoint? Surely that all points to VJing?

Anyone fancy writing a year 9 unit of work for VJing/Editing short clips etc. I'll happily teach it next year :-) 

Well first, "long time no blog". I've actually had quite a bit to blog about - a trip back to the UK where I went to the Japanese embassy for a day and a conference in Brighton amongst other things. But for some reason I just didn't fire up the blog, so all that goes unreported. If I find the notes from these events then I may blog about them at a later date.

But I've had my interest to do something sparked up again.

I've not yet used Adobe Connect (formerly Macromedia Breeze), however, I've heard good things about it. Some of my issues with it as a concept though are its closed source nature and also the image behind it being one that has very little to do with education.

For instance - its features page suggests such nuggets as branding, course management, curriculum management, reports, manager reports and certification. These are of course all useful - however, they actually have little or no purpose in education (that means education as in learning - not the administrative part of education that is reponsible for churning people through the treadmill).

So overall I've been put off even looking into Adobe Connect. The price is nowhere to be seen - however, it is available if you have Adobe contact you - that means its probably very expensive. I'm also not happy with Adobe's education pricing for CS3. Macromedia Studio 8 was approximately £70, while it is still sold at this price - it is being replaced by "Adobe CS3 Web Standard" which costs £163.63. That's right MORE THAN DOUBLE the price before! So the idea that educational (non corporate) institutions should buy into Adobe products like connect would seem like a big mistake financially.

So, I was quite impressed to find DimDim. Okay, the name is stupid - especially given the education context. But it is opensource and has a development team behind it. They have structured their paid service into the hosted solution, giving away the server/client side of the software. The features currently present are:

Presentation (converts ppt to flash - on the fly - and presents to other users.
Audio/video sharing - works well (but audio quality was poor)
Application sharing: Full screen - displays on other screens (a bit slow - but works)
Chat - both to group and privately

Now this doesn't sound overly impressive - but it installed like a dream and looked very nice and professional - both important points for a new opensource project. The feature list of the product they want to be releasing is far more impressive though:

Document sharing - for interactive collaboration of documents
White board and Annotations - group drawing/doodles in margin - ability to annotate on documents and brainstorm!
polls - set polls that all participants can respond to
question manager - Q&A for a whole class in realtime.

The points above all have educational benefits and tick all the boxes for "assessment for learning" etc. Much more, I believe that they could actually improve education and enjoyment/participation in it.

The final cherry on the cake though is that they are trying to integrate the system with Moodle - and I've seen screenshots of someone who has this working with a Moodle activity.

This means that you can set a combined meeting with brainstorming, polls, demonstrations and chat all as just one small part of a lesson! No need to worry about usernames or passwords either. And other than bandwidth/data transfer - no cost whatsoever.

It must be noted that this software is still in beta - and their roadmap suggests significant delays (possibly 6 months). But this looks like something worth waiting for. I would certainly expect it to be stable and ready for integration in time for September 2008.

Now just imagine September 2008, walking into a school which has Moodle 2.0, Elgg and DimDim all working and integrated together. Tell me that any of the other "learning platform" providers will be providing a more useful set of tools (for educational not administrative purposes).

It seems that everywhere I look at the moment I see the results of Dr Martin Westwell.

His research (which I cannot seem to find on the Internet - someone please point me in the direction of it) suggests that technology and the way we use it is affecting the connections in children's brains. This I would not dispute. It would seem like a fairly simple idea that the way we use our brains will affect how they are.

What does astonish me though is how this is being interpreted. Some of the comparisons that I have read relating to this suggest that because current programmes on television have more interleaved plots that this means that children are in some way more clever/able because they can understand them.

What it actually means is that the hypermedia we are currently exposed to makes us better at coping with information delivered in this manner.

However, few comments from commentators seem to look at any negative aspects of this. While everyone is happy to hold up books such as "Everything bad is good for you" they seem not to realise the negatives.

I feel it best that I first say where I am coming from. I use three computers simultaneously on a daily basis. I have 3 physical displays and another 3 virtual displays. My browser rarely has less than 20 tabs open with information related to all the areas I am currently thinking about. I will simultaneously be using between 10 and 20 programmes on my computers at any given time. At any instant my computers will distract me to the latest results of an RSS feed or e-mail. It is fair to say that I do understand the benefits of such ways of working.

However, when we consider, for example, the point on interweaving plot lines as a measure of sophistication of audience we miss many important points. Is there not a sophistication to being able to focus on one issue at a time? Does it not take intelligence and ability to view one plot line that on the surface is simple, however, will have deeper ramifications? Are we placing no value on the ability to interpret, consider, speculate and an entire host of other things denied by a endlessly bombarding environment?

In no way do I wish to rubbish the work of Martin Westwell. I simply cannot get hold of it. A cursory search of the Internet and Amazon has lead me to no material that I can actually read (someone please direct me to it). However, I do take issue with those that would espouse television and computer games as pure good. I will not deny good aspects to these things, however, we ignore the negatives at our peril.

Let's look at a recent article from The Independent.

"[adolescent testosterone levels in boys] leads to a lack of concentration, aggression and poor learning. But when boys get enough quality time with their parents this surge does not seem to affect behaviour and learning. Yet the average child now watches 21 hours of television a week, and spends only 40 minutes with his or her parents". 

So clearly, television and other ICT has a negative aspect to it. But why go to a recent article? How about Aric Signman's well written and well researched "Remotely Controlled: How television is damaging our lives - and what we can do about it".

And why let us stop at books and articles made this millennium? Jerry Mander's "Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television" offers many of the same points (although not so well researched).

Don't get me wrong. I am fully aware of the benefits of the Internet, computers and ICT. However, these need comparatively little encouragement. What does need encouragement is the ability of children to interact with real people, real environments, the ability to focus on one goal, the ability to concentrate on one topic and the abilities required for self control.

We must take the research into the positives of ICT and embrace them where we can.

But to ignore the negatives and misuse technology will at best be expensive; at worst devastating.

One of the most time consuming things I think is producing user guides. These produced in a wordprocesser and perhaps pdf require numerous screenshots and then text explanations. Excluding the time factor of producing them they also are not very inclusive for people that have literacy problems. Their only advantage is that you can have them printed and look at the while working.

At the moment I'm subscribed to Lynda.com. This opened my eyes to how effective a simple quicktime movie of work can be. Admitedly I have two computers on at the same time so I can watch the video with one screen and practice with the other screen. But with a pause button and timeline I really don't think that's essential.

So I started looking for screen-recording software and came across Camstudio which is opensource (or some sort of free license - I forget which). This is superb at what it does. It makes wmv files (which are huge) and swf files which are okay, but still large.

I now thought how great it would be if you could have flv files. I came across Riva which has a free cut down version (making use of the opensource ffmpeg).

 Riva is excellent at producing flv files. It is incredibly simple to use, yet it offers you full control over the frames per second and bit rate of the movie. I spent an hour or two fiddling with the settings. Finally I found settings with reasonable output and frame rate and only 1.5MB/minute! I recorded a sample 4 minute tutorial of setting up Dreamweaver to make a web site and it was about 6MB.

The reason I'm interested in this golden 1.5MB/min figure is because if anyone has broadband (256kb/s or faster) then they will be able to stream at that rate!

I also think the filesize is not much larger than a similar Word document that provides that kind of training.

Having got all excited about these two products working together, I quickly put the flv into flash and made the surrounding swf. I then made myself a sample SCORM package with eXe that incorporates the flash swf that I made. - I had to put the flv into the zip myself but that was trivial. I also found that eXe seems to have a bug around inserting flv's directly, but swfs seem to work fine.

The result is that I can make a course module with eXe, that incorporates video tutorials of how to carry out certain parts of the course - AND, unlike Lynda the filesizes are more manageable for lower bandwidth broadband! (Lynda though has far higher quality tutorials!).

Okay, I realise that this is a long post, but I really feel that the camstudio, riva, eXe route is a great one - and it can all be done for free!

While Captivate is impressive in what it does, I really think from my own experience of learning with this method that the point/click/testing/overlays etc are not condusive to learning in many cases. The realtime video with warts and all and a nice commentary to explain things seems far better. - The price tag is certainly nicer!

I've been searching for statistics on if anyone is actually reading this site. I'm not really that vain, but I think it's always interesting to see. I couldn't see elgg providing anything at all in this area. However, thanks to advice I've now started using Google Analytics.

Just put the appropriate code into your template and you're set up. It takes under an hour to get everything set up. I've been using it for a few days now and the results are really nice. Not that I have any readers of course - but it's interesting to see from the few people that have visited just where they come from and what they typed into Google.

So to those that accidentally came across this blog from Sweden, North and South America and other parts of Europe - hello. And I apologise now that from your search terms it's unlikely that I had all that much to offer you!