Flat Connections Global Project

This is another article wrapping up students learning from 3D Printing. It has detailed experiences of students learning.

This is about MakerBot Academy, a crowds sourced effort to get 3D printers into schools. Motivated by president Obama who said that "3D printing has the potential to revolutionize the way we make almost everything. The next industrial revolution in manufacturing will happen in America. We can get that done." MakerBot is trying to promote the next "industrial revolution" with 3D printers.

This article focuses on a teacher who recently integrated 3D printing in her own class. It talked about how much of a learning experience it was for her children, and at some points they learned together to find out how a 3D printer works.

This article details about how 3D printing will soon transform the classroom. It talks about how different museums now have "fossils" that you can download, and print a replica for a class. It goes on to state that in 3-5 years 3D printing will become much more prominent in all classes.

This is an article that states how 3D printing can help in a classroom. It details how a 3D model can provide hands on learning for students, and is a great way to get students interested in the subject matter.

In reading this article I discovered some of the negative traits of virtual labs. Obviously it is not as hands on as a traditional lab. This may be an issue for some of the more visual learners. There can also be time and place restrictions when it comes to the virtual labs.

I found it interesting to read about the two being compared. Of course there are always going to be benefits to participating in the traditional lab, new advances in technology have made it easy to replicate doing the same thing without some extra costs. In a virtual lab there is no set up or cleaning up after, students can repeat the experiment more than one time, and it is a lot more cost effective. These are just a few topics that the site focusses on that I found useful.

This article discuses many of the advantages to using a virtual lab rather than going through the motions of a traditional lab. Virtual labs are generally less expensive, allowing more schools to benefit their students. The labs have also been shown to help explain the process and science behind the lab in a understandable way to students trying to learn. Although it does mention that virtual labs should not be completely take over. The article says that these labs should really be used to "enforce" the information.

These virtual labs are prepared to "create a new point of view and bring about a new dimension to the lesson." After doing research they have found that these virtual labs are just as effective as doing the real thing and not as rough on the environment. Students reported that they enjoyed this new way of learning and helps in different ways.

iPad sales are surpassing computer sales, and the demand continues to increase. Transition from paper to tablets. There is more emission when producing an iPad than when producing paper but it is balanced from consuming on the same device rather than buying new books over and over again. The disposal of tablets is a little more tricky. E-waste is often sent to other countries.

Some devices are more eco-friendly than others. This is based on what it is made of, where the materials came from, manufacturing, packaging, energy efficiency, and recyclability. Each wireless phone service has their own way of promoting the ways that their company is green. The greenest manufacturer is Wipro.

This unit examines and discusses the carbon-based environmental impacts of teaching and learning in higher education institutions. It introduces a typology for teaching models that use or do not use information and communication technologies ( ICTs), and explains the factors and activities that need to be considered when assessing the carbon-based environmental impacts of different teaching models.

Very useful link for the people in environmental impact/open content.

Many people complain that renting computer power from Amazon and other cloud companies is too expensive. I found this site useful because it discusses how the cloud can be made cheaper for the use of everyone.Cloud prices have been lowered 6 to 8 percent annually, he says, whereas as hardware costs have plummeted 30 to 45 percent.

I found this website very helpful to understand the concept of cloud computing and its functions.

Network-based services, which appear to be provided by real server hardware and are in fact served up by virtual hardware simulated by software running on one or more real machines, are often called cloud computing.cloud computing is computing that involves a large number of computers connected through a communication network such as the Internet, similar to utility computing. In science, cloud computing is a synonym for distributed computing over a network, and means the ability to run a program or application on many connected computers at the same time.

What is Cloud Computing? Cloud computing is a web based service that allows workers to access the files and documents needed to do their job or task. Everything that is needed is stored on an internet based center and can be shared, edited and or viewed by anyone who is able to access the designated software program storage.

­Buying computers for everyone isn't enough, you also have to purchase software or software licenses to give employees the tools they require. This tells that cloud computing has many different advantages for users.

This site is essential because it discusses how cloud computing is being used in the cooperate world and it discusses how it saves time and money. When talking about a cloud computing system, it's helpful to divide it into two sections: the front end and the back end. They connect to each other through a network, usually the Internet. This site breaks this process down and makes it easier to understand

Virtual and remote laboratories (VRLs) are e-learning resources that enhance the accessibility of experimental setups providing a distance teaching framework which meets the student's hands-on learning needs. In addition, online collaborative communication represents a practical and a constructivist method to transmit the knowledge and experience from the teacher to students, overcoming physical distance and isolation.

LAK 14 stands for Learning Analytics and Knowledge (Conference) 2014. This is the fourth year of the conference, and I think a lot of data can come from this site. See the "Live Blogs and Notes" page for more information about the conference via blogs written as it occurred.

A good summary of how analytic tactics are used in the modern world. Amazing definition of learning analytics on page 4. Also has useful charts to help understand how different forms of data can be used in an educational setting.