Andy Losik’s Islands of Geektopia

If you already have a whiteboard and an lcd projector, you are only a Nintendo Wii remote and a tricked out pen away from having your very own interactive whiteboard.

Kristen Vandegutche, special education teacher at Blue Star Elementary in Hamilton, Michigan was able to do just that. She first downloaded a free piece of  software called Wiimote Whiteboard that runs on Macs, Windows, or Linux.

With some help from her dad, she transformed an old Expo marker into an infared emitting pen. Kristen said this was the most difficult part of the process and would definitely recommend next time going the commercial route, and purchasing one from the growing number of online outlets. Try a supplier like Infraredpens.com or visit this discussion to find other other places to get the pen. If you are handy and want a little adventure there are plenty of online guides for building your own like this one from Instructables.

Once you have all of the pieces, set-up is pretty simple. One of the trickiest parts is finding a spot for the Wii remote. It must be at a 45 degree angle with nothing between it and the board. Instructables also offers a guide  for the setup.

The final step before use is to calibrate the computer’s display with the whiteboard’s field of projection. The software walks the user through a 4 spot touch calibration.

Like any other project of this nature, it will take some tweaking. Expect a bit of a learning curve as you gain control of the pen and the subtleties of finding the correct range and angle of the Wiimote.

This low cost solution seems to be a growing trend across education. As more and more tech savvy teachers try it, the community of users grows as the does the opportunities to support each other with what is working and what is not. The Wiimote Project looks like the perfect spot to join in the conversation.

Best of luck and if you have any other great Wiimote Whiteboard resources to share, please do so.

One of the best things I have done with my digital camera is making a commitment to use less flash in my photography. That isn’t always the easiest thing to do, especially if your camera doesn’t have a lot of settings. All of those goofy little symbols on the dial can do a bunch of neat things but most people just ignore them.

If you use the “flash-off” icon and you  light your subject enough, the process is pretty simple. The other way to do shots without flash involves greatly slowing down your shutter speed. This is usually done with the big S on your dial. When you slow the speed, you are telling the camera to keep the iris open longer and allow all of the natural light to fill your picture. This is how most night shots are taken. A flash floods the immediate field with ligh, but a slow shutter and long exposure create a much more natural picture…more like the way your eye sees the world.

I took this Christmas picture that way.

The technique is really good for still settings. You run into problems if you have a moving object during a long exposure shot. However, you can get creative and have fun with it too. In the picture below I am moving around in my remodeling project and because I am not in one spot long enough for the camera to imprint me on the image fully I ended up looking kind of ghostly.

This technique is also used by photogs shooting a skyline at night near a highway. The passing cars show up as blurs against the still cityscape.

Quite possibly the biggest factor in whether any low-light, flashless shot is going to be successful is steadiness. It is almost humanly impossible to hold a camera steady enough in hand to take a picture like these. You have to set the camera down. I invested in $15 mini tripod from Best Buy and it has made all of the difference. The trees were taken with the camera setting on the garbage can out by the curb and the washer served as the platform in the basement destruction zone. I have also found that using the self timer takes away any shake my big fat fingers cause when depressing the shutter.

Shoot more pics!

Last summer’s Discovery Educator Network National Institute in Silver Spring, MD was awesome, hands down one of the best learning experiences I have ever had.

This summer the DEN is leaving it up to the stars to decide where the NI will be held.

Vote now for the location. Here are the finalists:

• Cruise to Mexico (San Diego to Baja)
• Las Vegas
• Boston
• Washington, DC
• Monterey, CA

Visit the DEN Blog and cast your vote.

Have you lost track of how many social networks you belong to?

Give http://usernamecheck.com/ a spin and see where your username is registered.

Honestly, I couldn’t get this thing to work but I found out all kinds of new Web 2.0 sites I never knew existed. The nominee for most-addictive distraction is Favtape.com where you create your own online mix tapes. The killer aspect is the ability to view the tops by year. Talk about bringing back lots of memories. You can embed your mix tape like I did here on the blog

Here is a quick blurb about a promising looking site from the US Geological Society. While browsing the resources in the Michigan Electronic Library’s MORE section, I stumbled upon all of these great Earth science resources specifically tailored to education.

Check out tons of images, videos, and podcasts.

USGS Education

ClassTools.net just might be the most helpful site I have stumbled upon in a long time. I saw somebody posted a link to it on Twitter and I was instantly hooked.

There are 17 different game building templates that literally take minutes to construct. You can download the games you create as stand alone web pages or embed them into a blog like I did.

Click here for full screen version

Besides the games, there are other tools. One I can’t wait to use with students is the online Venn Diagram maker.

Click here for full screen version

Kids type right into the template and print the finished copies.

ClassTools.net really has a ton of potential to engage kids and liven up how you teach.

The University of South Florida’s Educational Technology Clearinghouse has assembled an easy to use, yet extremely informative site that helps teachers understand technology better.

Everything is covered from the Internet to email, hardware issues, software issues, and even practical ways of implementing more technology into a curriculum.

Help comes in a number of formats as well. There is simple question and answer but also some nifty video and print tutorials.

Tech Ease promises “quick answers to real classroom technology questions” and delivers.

My brother-in-law is a funny guy with a number of catch phrases. He’s the guy that announces at the family gathering that he and his wife would have arrived a lot earlier but because they drive a Prius, they had to stop at the gas station and give back some gas. His newest phrase is “It will change your life.” I have now heard that in reference to a variety of things from a bottle of pinot noir, a certain video poker machine, to which flat screen TV I should be buying. We have a lot of laughs and I try to always let guys retain exclusivity over their own catch-phrases but I am going to drop his line on you…and I think…this is the first time I have ever used it seriously.

The Sanyo Xacti VPC-E2 will change your life. Ok, maybe not all that much, but I love mine. I thought I was getting a great deal on it when Apple.com had it on sale at 50% off for $200 during Black Friday. Amazon.com has gone even further and is offering it right now for $179.95 with free shipping.

I needed a small camcorder I could call my own for use with the Infotech classes, so I jumped at this one. However, I have to admit that the most intriguing part was the fact that it is waterproof down to 5 feet. I was quick to try this out and dunked it immediately into my daughter’s fish tank. The most fun we have with the waterproof feature is  when we take it sledding. Video:Sledding with the Sanyo Xacti VPC E-2 . I also held it on the dash one snowy day and recorded my commute to school. Video:My Commute.

I can’t wait for our upcoming Spring Break to Arizona and all of the possibilities it can have in a swimming pool. This summer should be fun for doing some fresh water exploring. I took it ice fishing once this winter and tethered it below the ice only to confirm (what my empty bucket was telling me) that I had picked a crummy fishing spot.

During my experiences with the camera, I have been very pleased. Like most point and shoot cameras, there is a bit of shutter lag but other than that the quality of the images have been good. With the video, the lighting is everything. The picture gets grainy when you don’t have enough light.

The thing I enjoy most about the set-up is the fact that SD cards are used as the recording media. No heads to clean and no tapes to wear out is a huge convenience. The included usb cable makes transferring video and images a snap…at least on my Mac.

Here is a pic from the Chinese joint in Houghton Lake, MI. It is great for stuff like this but if you are looking for professional results it doesn’t compare to using my Nikon D4o but can be a lot quicker and easier to carry. It all depends on what your objective is. This does a lot for me and now the price keeps getting righter.

You can get all of the geeky specs and details as well as the user reviews at the Amazon listing.

Friday afternoon was an exciting time for kids at Bentheim when the Outdoor Discovery Center released a snowy owl back into the wild. WWMT from Kalamazoo did this story on the release.

Fox 17 was on hand and had this video on its 10 PM newscast.

The Grand Rapids Press had this to say about the big event. Link Picture above is from GR Press.

It always seems that just as I am really starting to feel good about a new technology or online tool, another somewhat similar comes along to start tugging at my allegiance.

This summer I finally had figured out this Twitter thing and everybody started raving about Plurk for microblogging. The same is true about Delicious and a somewhat similar service called Diigo.

What I have learned from the whole process is that instead of just sticking to one tool, I can utilize the best of both. Like I tell the teachers I lead in professional development in our district, “Don’t feel bad if you are not maximizing every capability of your classroom technology. Just get good at what helps you the most.”

I am a very loyal user of Delicious for bookmarking sites. In fact, because of the Firefox add-on, I only bookmark school related sites via Delicious. I use it in a number of ways and love experimenting with new ways to enhance what I am teaching. Therefore, when people started getting all excited about Diigo and asking me to join a number of groups, I wasn’t really into learning about it. But, I did and kind of put it on the backburner.

To be honest, getting really involved with Diigo is still on the back burner…but everyday it cooks up a bundle of great resources. As certain as there is going to be an email from Sierra Trading every morning advertising a sale, there is going to be an email with  great resources every morning from the Discovery Educator Network on Diigo. Thanks to the alert settings I can decide how often I receive updates from the group listing new bookmarks and new members. The MACUL Group on Diigo is another great group comprised of Michigan educators.

Someday, I promise I will be more of a contributor to the DEN Diigo group. I feel kind of bad that I am just taking at this point and really not giving to it as it has delivered so many ideas and  sites. Thanks to the people who are really involved. Maybe I will pick your brains sometime to really understand it and use it efficiently. I am also set on helping the MACUL Elementary Teachers group get rolling a little more in the coming year.