You can download a copy of the report by visiting the NMC Horizon Report website:  http://www.nmc.org/horizon

1. We began class with a discussion on video games can be used for educational and developmental purposes.  The slides from this talk can be found under the Lectures page.
2. Next we explored Scratch and experimented with creating our own simple interactive modules.
3. After our first break we began a discussion about Virtual Worlds with a specific emphasis on how they are being used by colleges and universities.  After that we logged into Second Life and explored TCNJ Island.
4. In the afternoon we talked about Podcasting and how the technique is currently being used in classroom settings.  The slides from this talk are available under the Lectures page.  Afterwards we explored how to use Audacity to record and edit our own audio files as well as create our own podcasts using our blogs.

More information on the product can be found here.

The PicoBoard

Scratch Basics

When you first start up Scratch you’ll be presented with the following window. I’ve labeled each part of the window – I’ll be referring to these names throughout the tutorial.

In the stage you should see a small orange cat. His name is Scratch, and this is his world. Unfortunately he doesn’t do anything yet. We’re going to start off by giving Scratch some actions, also known as a “script.”

You should notice that the left side of the screen is filled with colored puzzle pieces. These are actions -we can snap together multiple actions in order to write a “script” that Scratch will follow. Let’s write a script to tell Scratch to move to the right when we hit the right arrow key.

1. Click on the Control button in the Action Library. A new set of puzzle pieces will appear
2. Drag the second puzzle piece (”When space key is pressed”) and drag it into the Scripts panel

   

   figure 1

3. Use the dropdown in this puzzle piece and change it’s value to “right arrow”
4. Next we need to tell Scratch what to do when the right arrow is pressed. Click on the Motion button in the Action Library and find “change x by 10″. Snap this puzzle piece onto the bottom of the “when right arrow key pressed”

   

   figure 2

5. Hit the right arrow key on your keyboard. Scratch should move to the right!
6. Repeat this process for the left arrow key. You can drag more puzzle pieces into the window – pieces don’t necessarily need to be connected to one another. Make sure that Scratch moves by -10 instead of +10 when going left! Here’s what the screen should look like.

   

   figure 3

7. If you want Scratch to be able to move up and down you can repeat the process with one important difference – you need to change Scratch’s Y position instead of his X position when moving up and down.

   

   figure 4

8. You might notice that Scratch doesn’t face in the right direction when moving around the screen. We can fix this by creating different “costumes” for Scratch. Click on the Costume tab – you should see a panel like this:

   

   figure 5

9. Let’s create a costume for each of Scratch’s directions. We already have one in which he is facing to the right so we need 3 more. Click Copy 3 times next to costume1. Rename each costume so that it reflects the direction we will be working with.

   

   figure 6

10. Click Edit next to the “Left” Costume. Click the “Flip Horizontal” button to flip Scratch around.

    

    figure 7

11. Click OK to go back to the costume view. Now Click the Script tab to go back to our script view. We need to tell Scratch to change his costume when he moves in a particular direction. Click on the Looks button in the Action Library and drag out the “switch to costume” puzzle piece onto the script that makes Scratch move to the right. Set the puzzle piece so that it changes to the “Right” costume.

    

    figure 8

12. Congratulations! Scratch should now change direction!

Next we’re going to give Scratch a friend to play with. Every character that exists in your game is considered a Sprite – you can add new sprites by clicking the tools beneath the stage. Let’s go ahead and create our second sprite.

1. Click on the “choose a new sprite from file” button.

   

   figure 9

2. Go into the “Things” folder and select the Banana sprite. You should now see your second sprite on the stage.

   

   figure 10

3. Click on the banana and use the “Sprite Name” text box to rename the sprite – call it ‘Banana’

   

   figure 11

4. Now we’re going to tell Scratch to do something when he comes in contact with the Banana sprite. We’re going to need to write a new script for Scratch that does the following:
   • Continually check to see if Scratch is hitting the banana
   • If so, have Scratch say “Yum!”
   • If not, have Scratch say nothing
5. Click back onto Scratch so that his movement scripts are showing. Click on the Control button and drag out the “When Flag is Pressed” puzzle piece. Also drag out the “forever” and “if / else” puzzle pieces and arrange them like so:

   

   figure 12

6. This script says “When the Flag button (AKA the game’s ‘Start Button’) is pressed I should continually (forever) ask myself a question. If the answer to that question is true, I should do something. If it isn’t true, I should do something else.” Let’s fill in the pieces. Click on the “Sensing” and drag the “touching” puzzle piece out – snap it into the diamond shaped block next to the word “if” and change the drop down so that it says “Banana”

   

   figure 13

7. So now we have our question – “If I’m touching the banana sprite” – next we have to tell Scratch to do something if that is a true statement. Click on the “Looks” menu and drag out the “Say” puzzle piece. Drag it under the word “if” and snap it in place. Change the text to something more appropriate (”Yum!”)

   

   figure 14

8. If Scratch isn’t touching the banana we want him to say nothing. Drag another copy of the “say” puzzle piece out and snap it into the “else” position. Erase the message so that Scratch says nothing when he’s not touching the banana.

   

   figure 15

9. Click on the flag button and try out your game. Scratch should say “Yum!” when he’s touching the banana and nothing when he’s not.

1. Find a podcast RSS feed – copy it using Edit->Copy
2. Visit http://www.widgetbox.com/widget/media
3. Paste in the RSS feed link in the box labeled “Playlist”
4. Click “Get Widget”
5. Copy the HTML code and paste it onto your blog as HTML code

1. Open up your blog’s dashboard
2. Create a new post
3. Give your post a title
4. Click on the ‘Add Audio’ button
5. Upload your MP3 file
6. When this finishes, click on the ‘File URL’ button and then click on ‘Insert into Post’
7. A hyperlink should appear in your post.

That’s it!  People can now use the RSS feed for your blog to subscribe to your podcast.  The feed URL is usually located at the bottom of the page, but if it is missing you can add it back in by enabling the ‘Meta’ widget.

Keep in mind that podcasts created in this way have a few limitations, including:

1. At most, you can only have one audio file per post
2. WordPress limits the maximum size of file uploads.  Currently this is set to 5mb on globalblogs.org

If you want people to be able to play your MP3 file without having to subscribe to your podcast feed you can provide a MP3 player directly on your post.  Here’s how:

1. Make sure that your post is published
2. Visit your post and right-click on your audio file – copy the URL to the file
3. Visit this widgetbox page:  http://www.widgetbox.com/widget/mp3-player
4. Paste the URL into the ‘Music URL’ box
5. Click ‘Get Widget’
6. Copy the embed code and post it into your blog post as HTML

1. Open up Audacity.  A screen simliar to the following will appear:
   

   Audacity startup screen

2. Make sure that you have a microphone installed.  You can use the built-in microphone on your laptop if need be, but a USB powered external microphone will really help to make your audio come out crisp and clear.
3. Click on the record button (#1) and begin speaking.  A waveform will begin to appear (#2) as your voice is detected by the microphone.
4. Click on the stop button (#3) in order to stop the recording.
5. Click the rewind button (#4) and play button (#5) to listen to your recording.
6. To trim your recording make sure that the selection tool is clicked (#6) – then highlight the portion of the audio that you would like to cut.  Click on Edit->Cut to extract the selected area.
7. To record a second clip, click the record button (#2) – a second waveform will appear beneath the first.
8. To reposition a clip, click on the slider tool (#7) and slide the desired clip back and forth.
9. Using the volume adjustment tool (#8) you can increase or decrease the volume of a specific clip.
10. Your can import other audio files (WAV, MP3) by clicking on Project -> Import Audio.  The audio file will appear as a new waveform. Here is a small collection of sound effect files to get you started.
11. You can also apply special effects to your audio clips – this can be accomplished by selecting a portion of a clip using the selection tool (#6) and then using the Effect menu.
12. When you are finished working on your clip you should save your project by clicking on File -> Save.
13. You can export your project as an MP3 file by clicking on File -> Export as MP3.  Note that Audacity does not come pre-loaded with MP3 export capabilities – you can add this feature into the system by installing the free LAME MP3 Conversion Library (available here).

With your newly created MP3 file you can create a soundtrack to a video, remix a song or even create your own podcast.  For more information on using your WordPress blog to create a podcast, click here.

Moving around Second Life

• You can make your avatar walk by using the arrow keys. Up will move your forward. Left will turn you left, Right will turn you right and back will make you walk backwards.
• Hitting the “Page Up” key one time will cause your character to jump.
• Holding down the “Page Up” key will cause your character to fly!
• When you are in the air you can use the Up, Down, Left and Right keys to move around
• Holding down the “Page Down” key will cause your character to land on the ground.

Changing the appearance of your avatar

• Right-click on your body and select “Appearance”
• Use the different buttons (Shape, Skin, Hair, Eyes) to change the look of your avatar

Putting on new clothes

• Click on the Inventory button at the bottom left side of the screen
• Open up the “Library” menu
• Open up the “Clothing” menu
• Open up a folder (i.e. “Boy Next Door”) – find a piece of clothing or body part that you wish to wear
• Right click on the item and select “Wear”
• You can take the item off by right-clicking on the item and selecting “Take Off”

Chatting with your friends

• Hit the Enter key to enter “Chat Mode”
• Type in your message at the bottom of the screen. Click Enter when finished.
• Everyone around you will see your message!
• Hit the Escape key to get out of “Chat Mode”

Places to visit in Second Life

http://www.pentagram.com/what-type-are-you/

PS: My type is “dot matrix”

My ideal font type as determined by Pentagram's font type analyzer