2015s

May 6, 2015 ∞

First day with #applewatch and I’m really impressed with most aspects so far. Dictation seems much better than on the phone.

Mar 15, 2015 ∞

Innovations Conference Presentation Materials

Earlier this week I attended the Innovations Conference in Boston, Massachusetts. In addition to watching some great sessions on student engagement techniques, open educational resources, and storytelling in the classroom, I co-presented a session with Mark Fuentes (Accounting professor at PSCC) titled Sending Students on a Discovery Quest. We discussed our experiences building two scavenger hunt iOS applications that use QR codes and iBeacons to help students locating various offices and services on campus. Mark and I have been collaborating on the project for the past two semesters and have learned quite a bit along the way.

Beacon Quest iOS App

In a previous post, I discussed the development QR Quest, an iOS app that encourages PSCC students to explore the many offices and services available at the college. That app, built as part of an internal Mobile Fellows grant, uses QR codes to track students' progress as they solve clues leading them to specific locations on campus. I originally intended to use iBeacons instead of QR codes, but I was unable to order the required number of beacons in time to launch the app. Fortunately, I was able to purchase 10 iBeacons from Radius Networks at the end of the fall semester, which I used to create a new app called Beacon Quest. The new app features a totally new UI, and is also the first app I’ve built using Swift, Apple’s new programming language launched at WWDC 2014.

Announcing the Mobile Talk Podcast

I’m excited to announce the launch of Mobile Talk, a podcast from the PSCC Mobile Fellows. In this weekly series, Donn King and I will share our thoughts on mobile technology and education. We plan to keep the episodes short (less than 10 minutes) and will feature guest interviews, listener questions, and more over the coming months.

In episode 1, we discuss social media for educators. We have some audio issues, but Donn managed to save the recording with a bit of audio editing magic in Audacity. In episode 2, we discuss some tips and tricks for setting up a new a new iOS device. Episode 3 will be released as soon as the weather allows campus to open again!

CodeTN Presentation Resources Available

Last fall, Pellissippi State Community College partnered with Greater Schools to launch the inaugural CodeTN kickoff event. Teams of high school coders were teamed with faculty mentors and tech experts from the private sector in a competition to create web apps that solve real-world problems. The winning team won $5,000 for their classroom along with some great individual prizes.

I was asked to present a workshop on open source tools during the kickoff event. The materials from that session are now available on Github. Feel free to download the repo or submit a pull request with your own tools!

Feb 12, 2015 ∞

Chaco Bacon Bliss Donut. @blake291981 next time you guys are in town we have to try this!

Jan 17, 2015 ∞

Took a nice hike to Rainbow Falls today

Jan 8, 2015 ∞

Got my ticket for tomorrow’s talk!