Week 46 - In Aura of New Technology.......

My wonderful mlearning course came to an end on Friday and I will miss being a student!!  I have always loved studying from when I was a child and just enjoy the process of learning something new.  This way, my life is always interesting and full of new experiences!!

I created an 'Aura' (interactive experience featuring an animation, video, or image) on Aurasma, an Augmented Reality site for the first time. I struggled a bit at first with this new cutting-edge technology.  I was an Augmented Reality newbie, and I tried my best, but it involved a little bit of determination and tenacity to get to grips with it. If you join the site and then follow JanetBianchini you can see my auras!!  An 'aura' is an overlay on a trigger = image. 

I learned that Aurasma is already being used in educational projects in schools and here is an interesting review of it by Edudemic.  

If you download the Argos catalogue app, you will be able to view some of its products in AR format. 





Link: http://www.aurasma.com/news/argos-launches-aurasma-powered-augmented-reality-in-app/

Early in the week, I created an action plan for implementing mlearning in my future teaching projects.

 

I had to create an Augmented Reality video farewell and below is the 'trigger' image I created with simple MS Word shapes.  I printed it out, put it on blue card, and then embellished the card with hearts, diamante buttons and pearls to make it something eye-catching and memorable!!

I even got Fluffy hooked on AR and this is his 'trigger' picture:

 

K was curious about the Aurasma site and promptly created an account and started playing around with it.  He has already created some amazing 3-D models, which move around, and the results in static pictures are below:

I was online quite a lot and I was checking that my webcam worked when I took this 'selfie' test screenshot.  I then edited it with Picasa tools!



Leaf Mulch
Now changing the subject completely (and getting back down to reality!), this week I have been collecting leaves, and leaves and even more leaves to make nice friable leaf mulch for spring!!  


I created a set of labels to add to old recycled compost bags and spent hours going round the garden with my tub and gloves.  We have an incredible amount of leaves all over the place, so I think I won't have to buy much compost next year!  I experimented with Word Art.

..and here are the labels on the compost sacks!!  I hope to add even more sacks full of leaves in the coming days.  They will then be left alone and forgotten until early spring 2015.  I will add the mulch around olive trees and my veggie plot.  This time I am cutting all the leaves up finely before adding them to the sacks, adding a bit of compost on top and then adding water to give them a great start.  This is something practical I learned from my 'Backyard Composting' book!

Also we have had a bumper crop of apples this year and I have been collecting them and will need to continue turning them into jams, purees, compotes, stews etc. to put in the freezer.

Finally, this week sees the end of my EVO Moderator Training session and it has been a great experience.  I have been commenting on some of the proposals for next year, and there is an impressive line-up in store, including Teaching Pronunciation, Using Minecraft and so on!!  All sessions need to be approved before they go 'live' in January.  I hope to attend the final webinar this afternoon.

That's it for now.  It's been an action-packed week, and I am ready for Week 47!!