Final Self Evaluation Post

Upon reflection of the EDT 532 Instructional Development Plan, it would have been more advantageous if I took the EDT 500 course first. This was apparent when I found myself confused by the Instructional Design Plan, but I did make an attempt at a first draft. The review and the feedback from Dr. Sponder was very helpful.

There was some difficulty in where to place the file management and portfolio content section. I realized it would be beneficial for the students to learn how to distribute their created content in an organized way, and how file management is required for the VR Lab to run at optimal speeds. I decided to move the file management and portfolio section after Introduction into Virtual Reality (VR), as I felt that it would be best to have the students think about organization and maintaining their own portfolio. I showed the students different management systems and website options for a portfolio and let them decide on which website systems they wanted to use. The reason why I used a forum-posting format as opposed to a traditional assignment format for the Portfolio assignment was because once the student made a post in the forum, students can almost immediately see the website link. If they changed the URL, they could also repost the link into the forum. Other students would then be able to access the website. The portfolio was a tool for the students to have a copy of the information they posted so they may show it to future employers and to other higher educational institutions. Since this portable VR lab will be used by different students for many different courses, the file management section was necessary, as the amount of storage used for many of these projects can vary in size. To maintain a fast connection, we required that students do not store their files on the VR lab. All other content sections were required, so that students could learn how to setup and use VR as well as how to create and manage their own projects for VR.

The PLN’s are very useful, since it helps us learn about many different technologies. It is useful for locating a topic we read about more efficiently, such as finding instructions, guides and technologies related to our courses. I used labels on BlogSpot / Blogger to create a well-organized online workflow and sorting method.

On the RnD Tek YouTube channel, I organized the videos on the YouTube channel by creating playlists. I created a playlist for the VR, which has 7 videos. These videos are on VR which was created by various other YouTube channels, as well as myself. I created a video for VoiceThread, which incorporated a segment of a YouTube video that I made after I went to PAX East 2017 and a brief segment of a Star Trek episode. I had also created a video that showed a brief overview of my Moodle course.

Overall, I think I had accomplished what I intended: to create a way for students to learn about different VR equipment and to be able to use the VR equipment for their studies and projects.

Source: 
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFuFbcID-WlcODfynGQRgig

https://www.youtube.com/YuHuMi

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJBwuoDU2JSLK5JXamR9ovAagcLvpWZIp

https://voicethread.com/myvoice/thread/9298095

http://moodle.ccsu.edu/moodle/course/view.php?id=905

Best 360 Camera

In this article they explore 360 degree cameras to find the best camera for taking 360 degree shots.

They list each camera they found and also tell you why they picked that particular camera. It is very informative.

Article: http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-360-degree-camera/

AR at CCSU

One of my friends, ScozzDimension told me about CCSU's augmented reality system. Using an Xbox360 kinect and a PC running Augmented Reality Sandbox software made by UCdavis and Oliver Kreylos and using a Linux distribution and a projector which was able to display digital data augmented in the form of a mini-landscape in real time with colors to mark elevation levels, topographic contour lines, and simulated water if a user digs a hole in the sand it should adjust to the topograhical areas.  This type of augmented reality  is pretty interesting.
Article: http://www.ccsu.edu/featured/AR.html

DJI Spark Brings New Entry-level Drone to Their Lineup

https://www.videomaker.com/videonews/2017/05/dji-spark-brings-new-entry-level-drone-to-their-lineup

DJI Spark has a new drone measures in at about 5.6 by 5.6 by 2.1 inches and weighs just .66 pounds
It also has FaceAware technology to trigger lift-off through facial recognition — directly from the palm of your hand. Spark also recognizes a set of gestures, allowing users to frame shots, snap photos or recall the drone using only gestures.  This is fairly interesting technology.

How to turn video to animated gif

http://www.techradar.com/how-to/how-to-turn-any-video-into-an-animated-gif

This article tells you how to grab and convert a video from YouTube, or make a recording from your desktop and change it to an animated gif.

Animated gifs are really great because you could use them for a loop or use them for quick animation.

3D Holograms

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/05/170518083031.htm

This article is about researchers from RMIT University paving the way for 3-D holography into electronics with the development of nano-hologram 1,000 times thinner than a human hair.