Working with NUITEQ as a K-12 Tech Specialist

I'm happy to announce that I am working with NUITEQ as a K-12 Technology Specialist. NUITEQ has made a commitment to developing educational solutions to meet the needs of students and teachers in today's technology-rich classrooms.

Take a look at a recent post I wrote for the NUITEQ blog:

The 21st Century Classroom and Multi-touch Technology


You might also be interested in the new Pinterest site I created as resource for teachers who will be using NUITEQ's multi-touch software, MultiTeach. The Pinterest boards will be regularly updated:

MultiTeach Resources on Pinterest

Below are some pictures of a little guy I know and love, happily exploring what MultiTeach has to offer:

What I like about the NUITEQ team is that it aims to put users front and center at each phase of development.  For education, this means teachers and students.  

Note:  I will continue to share my interactive multimedia and emerging technology discoveries in future Interactive Multimedia Technology posts!

Digital Media and Learning: Video presentation by high schoolers, video of John Seely Brown's keynote at DML2012

This is a video of students from Morningside, Crenshaw, Rosevelt, Locke, and Manual Arts high schools in L.A. who presented a session on Education for a Digital Democracy at the recent Digital Media and Learning Conference. 

What I especially like about this presentation is the way the students highlighted the current state of technology in their urban schools, and what they have to say about their schools' policies regarding the use of personal technologies during the school day.

Digital Media and Learning Conference: Kids from Locke High from School Library JournalVimeo. on

Thanks to the School Library Journal and Scott McCloud for sharing this!

If you are interested in digital media/new media/multimedia and learning, take the time to view John Seely Brown's DML 2012 Keynote:
Cultivating the Entrepreneurial Learner in the 21st Century

DML2012 John Seely Brown Keynote from DML Research Hub on Vimeo.

PDF transcript of John Seely Brown's keynote

RELATED

Digital Media and Learning Hub

John Seely Brown's website

Book:  A New Culture of Learning:  Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Change

Douglas Thomas and John Seely Brown

Multi-touch SmartBoard! (SMARTBoard 800 Series)

Take a look at the video demonstration of the new SMARTBoard (800 series) that offers multi-touch and gesture interaction support so that two students can interact with the board at the same time.

• Students can use 2 finger gestures to enlarge objects and move them around.
• Two students can interact with the board at the same time to complete activities.
• SMARTInk/Calligraphic Ink creates stylized print as you write. Whatever is written or drawn on the SMARTBoard becomes an object in the SMARTNotebook, allowing for things to be resized or rotated.   (2:04)
• Multi-touch gestures enabled in Window 7 and Snow Leopard work with the SMARTBoard.
• Software development kit (3:28):  Example of a physics application developed by a 3rd-party developer.  The application supports two students working at the SMARTBoard at the same time

This video, in my opinion, does not provide viewers with the full range of possibilities that the new features provide.   I'd like to see a "redo" of this video using a live teacher and a group of students.  For example, it would be interested in seeing how the physics application would be incorporated into a broader lesson or science unit.   I'd love to hear what real students have to say as they interact with the physics application, too.

Comment:

I think a multi-user interactive timeline would be a great application for the new SMARTBoard, because students could work together to create and recreate events.  This would be ideal for history, literature, and humanities activities, across a wide span of grade levels.

Touch, Multi-Touch & Gesture Responsive Web & Related Applications (helpful if you have a touch screen or IWB!)

I regularly share information about applications that work well on touch, multi-touch, and/or gesture-based screens.  Over the past few months, there have been updates and new developments that I'm still exploring. (Some of this information might be "old" news, but for many, it will be "new".)

Here's what I have to share today!

Be sure to explore the activities from the Kids section of the National Gallery of Art website, located at the end of this post.

MULTI-TOUCH FIREFOX

Sneak Peek on Multi-touch Events   Felipe Gomes, Felipe's Blog

Multi-touch on Firefox from Felipe on Vimeo.

Code Snippets from Felipe's Demo (Includes tracking divs, drawing canvas, image resizing, image crop, & pong) Mozilla Wiki
Bringing Multi-touch to Firefox and the Web
Christopher Blizzard, Mozilla Hacks

COOL IRIS
I have a hunch that someone out there is working on a multi-touch version of Cool Iris. Until I can find out the details, take a look at the videos below:


Cool Iris Overview on Google Chrome


 Here is a short video of what Cool Iris looks like on an iPhone:



Cool Iris Links
Cool Iris and iPhone
Cool Iris and Developers
Cool Iris Blog
Cool Iris Media/Press


About Cool Iris:   "Cooliris, Inc. was founded in January 2006 with a simple mantra: "Think beyond the browser". We focus on creating products that make discovering and enjoying the Web more exciting, efficient, and personal.Our core products include Cooliris (formerly PicLens), which transforms your browser into an interactive, full-screen "cinematic" experience for web media, and CoolPreviews, which lets you preview links instantly. Headquartered in Palo Alto, CA, our team consists of seasoned developers, entrepreneurs, and Stanford computer engineers. Each of us is passionate about serving our users without compromise and seeing that our products deliver the best experience."


BUMPTOP
Bumptop Gets Multi-touch Support on Windows 7


Bumptop Website
You can download Bumptop from the Bumptop website.  Here's the description:
"BumpTop is a fun, intuitive 3D desktop that keeps you organized and makes you more productive.  Like a real desk, but better.  Now with awesome mouse and multi-touch gestures!"
Anand Agarawala's Ted Talk

"Anand Agarawala presents BumpTop, a user interface that takes the usual desktop metaphor to a glorious, 3-D extreme, transforming file navigation into a freewheeling playground of crumpled documents and clipping-covered "walls.""

Discussion about Bumptop on the TED website

NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART KIDS
I've been compiling a list of websites that offer good touch-interaction.  One site that is good for children- and children at heart- is the National Gallery of Art's Kids pages.  There are a few entries that I had fun playing with students on the new SMARTboards at one of my schools:

FACES AND PLACES - LANDSCAPE




"FACES & PLACES encourages children of all ages to create portraits and landscape paintings in the style of American naive artists. By combining visual elements borrowed from more than 100 works in the National Gallery's permanent collection, this two-part interactive activity offers an overview of American folk art of the 18th and 19th centuries.(Shockwave, 6 MB)."


This one is so fun!  You can select different characters and make them dance, run, jump, or even fall.  You can design the landscape and add buildings, trees, and animals, and even change the sky pattern.  Press "go", and your character will travel around the panorama you've created.


DUTCH DOLL HOUSE


Dutch Dollhouse  (Shockwave, 4.6 MB)
"Mix and match colorful characters, create decorative objects, and explore the kitchen, living quarters, artist's studio, and courtyard of this interactive 17th-century Dutch House."


NGA KIDS JUNGLE



"Create a tropical jungle filled with tigers, monkeys, and other exotic creatures. Inspired by the art of Henri Rousseau, NGAkids Jungle is an interactive art activity for kids of all ages. (Shockwave, 930k)"


What I liked about the Jungle application is that each item can be easily customized.  On the SMARTBoard, as well as on my HP TouchSmart PC, it is very easy for a student who has limited fine-motor control to create beautiful pictures.


FLOW

"Flow is a motion painting machine for children of all ages. Enjoy watching the changing patterns and colors as you mix pictures on two overlapping layers. Choose  designs from four sets of menu icons, or add to the flow by clicking the pencil tool to create your own designs."


This application is a favorite of some of the students I work with who enjoy watching things spin. (You don't have to have an autism spectrum disorder to enjoy playing with Flow!)

National Gallery of Art Student and Teacher Online Resources

Embedded Touch-Screen Computer Games for Primates at the Zoo!

Interactive computer games still very common in our public schools, the day-time habitat for most young human primates. Non-human primates at several zoos now have access to "ubiquitous" touch-screen computer games, embedded within their habitats, as part of a research program spearheaded by Atlanta's Center for Behavioral Neuroscience.

The games were developed with assistance from IBM volunteers to help assess reasoning, learning, and memory. For related information and links, see the TechPsych blog entry.



I would love to use (and develop) interactive multimedia computer games, delivered on touch-screens, to help me with my assessment duties as a school psychologist!

If you or someone you know is doing research on this subject in the schools or with school-aged populations, please let me know.

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Researchers Have Orangutans Play Video Games