Teaching in 3D

One of the things that I loved about being a Tech Ed teacher was the freedom to combine science & math concepts with real world applications & a bit of summer camp crafts. Wehn I first came to work at NC State I was on a grant that looked at how students interpret visualizations. One of the outcomes of this work was that I learned a good deal about 3D & how 3D works. I even got a chance to build and program a two projector, linear polarized, rear projection immersion screen (that is in an attic somewhere on campus). But what really stuck with me was how true 3D images were created & how we trick our brain's into seeing them. Now, add to this the opportunities I encounter to do 1-hour sessions with visiting high school or middle school students & I am a one-woman 3D show.

Recently I had the opportunity to work with students through the Satellitte program on campus, on which I would like to speak more on later, but I really want to discuss how 3D works & how easy it is to use it to teach certain principles.

I like to start with a conversation about what 3D is and how we add to the X/Y coordinate plane with Z. Then I discuss One-eyed pirates and why they walk into tables (seriously, you have to be funny). We discuss how depth perception works and how your brain combines the images of your left and right eyes to make a composite. My favorite trick is to have students raise their index finger and alternate closing eyse. "Did your finger move? Did you move your finger?" This starts a dialogue on dominant eyes, etc.

The premise of 3D is that you are sending separate images to each eye. Now the question is - How do you do that?

There are various types of 3D. I find that if you follow the historic time line of 3D progression it is easier for students to understand.

Stereo Pairs

Stereo Pairs are the easiest for students to understand. They have all experienced the ViewMaster of old. The one with the wheels of images. I pass out a few of the slide wheels and ask them to count the number of images.


They will find that there are duplicates of each picture. A stereo pair of each scene. One for each eye. Stereo pairs are slightly off from one another. They are not the same image, but two separate images taken roughly 2 inches apart. Here comes the "Aha" moment. Why 2 inches? Because your eyes are roughly 2 inches apart.

Now how long have stereo pairs been around? The idea was first captured by Charles Wheatstone, but it took Sir David Brewster to actually create the first Stereo Pair Viewing device and exhibited it at the world's fair in 1851. Of which Queen Victoria was a huge fan.

So how do you take Stereo Pairs? Why you take a picture two inches apart. The most effective way of doing this is to have a 3D camera that takes 2 pictures at the same time. Personally I am a fan of using two cameras mounted next to each other and you mechanize the shutters together. Or you could do the good ol' astronaut shuffle. The rumor is that they couldn't afford the weight of the 3D camera so the astronaut's took one picture and then movedr oughly two inches to the right and took another :)

So all 3D effects come down to Stereo Pairs. But how do you get everyone in an audience to see the same image at once, like in a movie? This is where glasses come in. And the first 3D glasses are the icon of the 1950s - Red/Blue

Anaglyph or Red/Blue
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaglyph_image
I like to use the concept of computer monitors & RGB. All LCD displays are made up of the colors RGB, and thus all images on these displays are a combination of these colors. So to make a Composite 3D image you need to get your eyes to see different images, the Anaglyph method uses color. In one image you take all the Red out of an image (I use Photoshop) so that only the Green & Blue are left (more like Cyan) and in the other you take all the Green & Blue out of the image so only Red is left. It is important that the left image be the Red one and the right image be the Green/Blue one, otherwise you will have to put your glasses on backwards.

I found the USGS site (which hosts a good deal of Anaglyph pictures) to be an invaluable source of creating these 3D images.

Glasses
Now you can buy glasses at http://www.3dglassesonline.com/ (where I buy mine). Or you can make your own - my personal preference. There are two ways to make glasses. Start with already made frames or create your own frames. I have done it both ways. The cheapest cardboard frames I could find were from Oriental Trading Company. The biggest issue with them is that the eye holes are a bit small, but they are fun & funky shapes. If you make your own glasses, you either need to use 11x17 paper to get the side ear pieces or you create masks and use rubberbands or string to tie around their head. If you have time, letting your students decorate their masks can be a fun art activity.

Once you have your glasses, now you need to add your colors. I use the transparent wrapping paper in shades of red & blue. It is hard to get the right blue & I find I have to double up. I pre-cut squares for my students, so they only have to tape it on. The reason making the glasses is so integral is it makes them think about which eye needs to be red and which needs to be blue. Then we can discuss how colors filter. I like to have an example Anaglyph image before I composite it displaying on the screen so that they can see which images disappear or are blacked out by which eye.

Thanks to a commenter ( luchianken)- I realized the picture I pulled from http://www.3dglassesonline.com/how-do-3d-glasses-work/ is completely wrong! I'll look for a new illustration

I then like to show them a few websites that they can use to view 3D photographs.
http://3dparks.wr.usgs.gov/
http://dogfeathers.com/java/hyprcube.html

(On a side note, I don't let students look for 3D pictures - their are some NSFS images out there)

Then you can start talking about how the latest 3D works with light polarization instead of color and your students will have something to explain to their parents next time they are in line at IMAX :)

Your Digital Footprint

Most of us don't think to Google ourselves unless we're bored at work or have a narcissistic streak, but knowing how the internet "views you" can be extremely important. Seth Godin encouraged us all in 2008 to Google ourselves and see how other people are viewing us, and in many cases judging us by our Google search.

But where do you start? Some of us my have unique names, but when I changed my name to Smith I knew that I was joining the 10 pages of the phone book to be lost forever. Then the Internet took over for the phone book (although ironically enough Bethany Norris does come up with a few hits from college) and I became "findable again."

The key is Searching 101 - Boolean searches and quotation marks. Instead of just searching for Bethany Smith (which is by default a Boolean search of Bethany AND Smith) search for the text string "Bethany Smith", otherwise any webpage with the word Bethany and the word Smith somewhere on it will pop up. This text string narrows my search from 12,500,000 hits to 24,100. To narrow it further I can add some modifiers, such as NC or education, or even NCSU. Think about a person searching for you and what do they identify you with. If you've sent an employer a resume then they'd probably associate you with your last employer or your address.



Now once you google me with NC, you get my phone and address. To some people this is scary, becuase now you can bring up a Google Map and with street view can instantly see a picture of my house. You can even take this a step further and go to my local government website http://www.wakegov.com/ and find out how much I paid for my house and if I owe taxes. But this is all what I would call describer information, it provides the basic info surrounding me, but not really who I am. A background check can give you only so much info, it won't tell you if I'm actually good at anything.

So what is Identity? What defines us? One of my favorite videos for presentation purposes, Identity 2.0, begins to talk about the mechanisms we use to authenticate who we are, how these identity transactions that used to be in person with the exchange of a business card or the brandishing of an ID have now migrated to the Internet.

So are we what the Internet says we are? I like Seth Godin's recommendation, flood the internet with good stuff that you control. Create a Blog, a LinkedIn profile, a basic website so that the top hits on Google is info you have created and have control over. To take that a step further, I recommend that you stay consistent in your username ID. On every website I join, I use the same ID, bethanyvsmith. It is my Twitter name, what I use on Slideshare, Google, etc. This continuity allows not only for me to remember my login, but also to be "identified" by others. When I comment on someones website, etc. Bethany Smith begins to be associated with bethanyvsmith). You can use a service like Namechk to try out IDs that you might want use & if they are taken. You can also use a service like ClaimID to claim websites that you are associated with. I just joined this service, so we'll see how it helps with my Online Identity Management.

But in the end, how can I keep track of what is "out there" about me. My favorite tool is Google Alerts. Use the same search phrase that you perfected earlier in finding yourself and have Google search for it on a regular basis, then you can have a scheduled e-mail, or constant RSS feed to keep you in the loop.

We are on this presipise of personal information overload on the Internet, for some of us it's already there, and for others it is coming. While some want to fight it and remove themselves from the Internet, I say embrace it for what it is and put your own spin on it. We must start the good PR about ourselves and recognize that on the internet your name is a personal brand, protect it well. As Kim Cofino says, "Who do you want your Digital Me to Be?"

Changing the way I present - with a little zen along the way

I taught a "Presentation Zen" Workshop the other day that was very well received & probably was the most popular of my workshops this year. I was surprised about the continuing obsession with PowerPoint & the crutch that it gives us all as speakers. In creating this workshop I went through the various styles of presenting that I have experimented with & what worked & what didn't.

In 2007 I saw Wil Richardson present for the first time at NECC in San Diego. Not only was I impressed with what he said - it was how he said it. He was using the Lessig method of black background with one word in white text & it just totally threw me for a loop. It was powerful, it was simple - it was brilliant! It took me a while, but I finally got the guts to make it and presented at NCaect - now NCTies. I had a really difficult time presenting this way - I think I made it too simple & I kept going off topic. That was the when I realized that this presenting method required many more slides that I normally would create. In fact each bullet point became their own slide.

Podcasting

View more presentations from bethanyvsmith.

Then I watched this amazing presentation online by Dick Hart about Identity 2.0. Now this is a much more scripted lecture than I could ever give - but I really like it and wanted to do something that evoked that.

I'm trying to remember where and when I first came across Presentation Zen & how that changed everything. I think it was when David Warlick came to a MEGA meeting and talked about blogging. He was such a great speaker, and his presentation slides enhanced the experience. So I started to see what others were doing and ended up creating my own presentations in this presentation zenlike style.

I found these presentation rather time consuming. I really had to think about what I was presenting - I found myself outlining on a good old notebook before I started. What was even more challenging was trying to find images that represented my words. A few tools helped along the way like Flickr Storm & http://www.flickr.com/ but it was still challenging to think of the right keyword to search. I also needed to make sure that these images were Creative Common Liscenced, which thankfully Flickr has added as an advanced search feature. Yet the process of finding the perfect feature helped me hone down what I was really talking about and has made me a better presenter. One of my favorites is this one I did on PLNs.

Creating an Online Personal Learning Network

View more presentations from bethanyvsmith.

Of course in the middle of all this I see that the edublogger world storm around using stock images. Dan Meyer started it :) but I think it got a good deal of people including Darren Draper & Dean Shareski thinking about image use. As much as Dan claims that stock images are so typical - I remember back to my old public speaking teacher - remember your audience. There are some times that stock images appeal to your audience & times when they don't. I though that when presenting on my thesis at SITE this year I should be more formal and go back to the black slide with white writing & yeah it was OK - but the reaction my friend Lisa Hervey got when using stock images was just much better received. I wish I hadn't been scared to be different in an academic setting.

My goal when I present is to be memorable (hopefully in a good way) & I find that using good and effective images is the key to that. Personally I prefer flickr to istockphoto, but it is hard to find good images - I say use what you can. Any step that we can take to make presenting a more enjoyable experience is worth it.

Customizing your Ning

I asked to do some customization of a ning for an outreach project to meet the "graphical identity" of the university. I was really inspired by how well the NECC Ning works works with the NECC main website. But upon investigation (I downloaded their CSS) I discovered they had done more customized things that I was capable of accomplishing. So I set out to customize an existing theme using some of the built in options availablt to Ning.

Step 1: Find a Theme to work with
I decided that HyperMelon gave me the overall look I was going for, just with the wrong colors.

Step 2: Define your color palette
Luckily the web colors for the university and this project had already been decided upon. I used

Red (NC State Red) Web cc0000
Gold Web f2991b
Burnt Orange Web cc6600
Dark Red Web a20000

If you don't have any colors already determined. I recommend using the Visibone Color Lab, not only does this help with matching colors and finding their "web number" it also helps you check readibility for boxes.

Step 3: Changing Colors
Most of your changes will occur in the "All Options" section under appearance. I highly recommend using the Preview function so you can see what these color changes impact. For instance the "Media Player" section actually impacts your badge colors.

Step 4: Changing Theme Colors
However, to change the actual theme options I had to click on the "Advanced Tab" and edit the CSS. The trick with this is to only change the colors, but it can be tough to determine what you are actually changing the colors on. I typically use colors as a guide. I search for the colors in the CSS and look up the number for the color. Then I look at my theme and see where that color is and if it is something I want to change. I'm not sure about all themes, but I imagine the CSS terms are univeral. So I changed the following in HyperMelon:

#xg_masthead p#xg_sitedesc - Changes the Site Description (or Sub head) color
#xg_navigation ul li.this a - Changes the Rollover/Click on the Navigation Bar at the top

Step 5: Adding a Header Image
Header Images need to have a width of 955 and can have a height of 150-200. I found that the theme I was working on actually required a header image height of 125. Since the Site Name and description take up the left side of the Header, you really need to focus your efforts on the right hand side of the header. Also, if you are using logos, I find that the readibility of them goes up if you use a PNG file rather than a GIF file. Once you have your header image you can uload it under the "All Options" under Appearnace.

Overall it took a lot of trial and error, but I think we actually have a Ning that reflects NC State. I hope to announce it soon!

Should you use Social Networking Tools?

In looking at my thesis research I wanted to really look at Social Networking and what were the quantifiable benefits of the tool. I was given the opportunity to work with a distance education class, which I think is perfect for the SNS community building we want to see, but I had to look a bit deeper. What in essence is the point of education? Of taking classes? What are the outcomes that we try so desperately to quantify with projects and tests? And could I look at that without examining projects and tests :)

I felt that discussion boards were the key to not only online learning, but also this creation of community. That without discussions and interactions, you may as well be a correspondence course. The more I read, the more I came to value how important peer-to-peer interactions were, and how SNS can support these so well. I felt that interviews and surveys could give me a good idea of how students felt about using a SNS, but I really wanted to look at their discussion data and see what story it told.

So I came across the work of Gunawardena, Lowe, & Anderson, (1997), (see list of references) which looks at phases of knowledge construction (IAM) in a discussion board forum. So much of what I found was, "I agree" or "You are so right," and if I looked at that as an "interaction it would count, but it really wasn't substantial. It didn't mean anything. With the IAM coding scheme I was able to really see when discussions were fruitful and meaningful. Now the initial drawback to this is that there wasn't a large difference between SNS and traditional courses, except once.


You see Week 8 was an anomaly, but not just because of the phase variation, but also because it was the ONLY discussion started by a student. Authentic discourse occurred, because students bought into the issue. Then I realized what they key to using a SNS is - it is student-centered and they can have control over their learning.

As instructors we can't teach the same way with new tools. In order to take advantage of SNS usefulness, we need to shift our thinking about what a discussion board is and what it should be. We also have to shift our students expectations of what a discussion board is and how it can be used in a online class.

Just because you use a technology doesn't mean you are utilizing it.

Ada Lovelace Day

Today, March 24th is Ada Lovelace Day. Born in 1815, she was one of the world's first programmers, and wrote programs for Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine. Programming until fairly recently was seen as secretarial work and was done mainly by women, it wasn't until the 70s, that a shift occurred and male programmers dominated the field. In honor of Ada Lovelace day many of us have pledged to blog about women in technology.

I am very fortunate to work at a university with so many examples. But I believe there is one person that stands out to me, Dr. Sally Berenson, a former professor at the College of Education who is now at UNCG. Her Girls on Track program, invited middle school girls to come to campus to learn about math, science, and technology. It was her belief (and mine to) that girls lose interest in science & math and are not encouraged to pursue. Her research on women in math and mathematics education is quite extraordinary, and provides an insight into the gender gap that exists in STEM fields. In fact, her GoT program became a longitudinal study looking at the effects of middle school intervention on college major. She has 15 years of data to work with, I think most of us dream about a fun study that provides such rich data, and can change lives.

Beyond that she has been an inspiration to me as someone that has found that balance between work and home life. As someone with a new family, it has been people like Sally that have inspired and encouraged me to find my own balance and to pursue the career I want. Her example has given me hope that I can achieve some modicum of what she has accomplished and not sacrifice my family in the process.

In short, I would like to be her when I grow up.

D-Day

It's funny, when I think of "defense" I have connotations of basketball drills, and running, and chants from the crowd. But this week I went through a different kind of defense, and academic one. It has been a long time coming, and I'm still not quite there, but it has been quite an experience.

I first started grad school in 1999, right after my undergrad, but we moved soon after and my life took another path for awhile. When I moved back to Raleigh, the opportunity to work at NC State came up. It was a perfect fit (I like to think for both of us), and I really started to not only see, but value what a graduate degree could be for me. I began taking classes again in the Fall of 2004 and it has taken me 5 years to complete my Masters! (I had no idea it was that long - I had to look it up). Now, primarily what added to this duration was my desire to do a thesis. I work with so many researchers, I really wanted to understand what they were talking about (my vocabulary has improved exponentially here) as well as take the steps to maybe, someday, be a professor myself.

My initial plan was to do research in the eye-tracking lab I managed. I wanted to look at the over-use of animations, words, clip art etc. in PowerPoint design. I really wanted to build on Richard Mayer's work and apply it to teachers. However, when the time came, I had switched jobs and discovered Presentation Zen - what would my study add? So, call me crazy, and many people did, I wrote an entirely differet proposal about Social networking using Ning.

Luckily, my committee was willing (espcialy since nothing had really be put in writing about it), to let me change and really supported me. I have to admit, although it was hard, it was the best decision I could have made. It allowed me to pursue something I was extensively interested in. I am also fortunate to work at a place that values my education (its good to know the College of Ed stand behind that :) and were willing to work with me on what I need to do to accomplish my goal. Not many employers would feel the same. The support of my family and friends as been exponential. When they say it takes a village to raise a child, I believe it takes a city to support a graduate degree. And now I'm hoping to give a bit more time back to the community, both on and offline, that have supportd me for so long.

So thank you all, my next few posts will be all about my COMPLETED research!