App4 Week 4

I wanted to have a play with Google Earth...

So my idea was to get a dataset of postcodes and display it on a webpage so that users didn't have to have the google earth application.

I then wanted users to be able to search for a location and find the postcode for that location by clicking on the map.

All working!

http://tammybutow.com/vicpostcodes/

Next I want to add interactivity to it, because I need to be able to have the user provide some sort of service...e.g crowdsourcing information.

App 3 Week 3

Ok so I was sick for ages, like for half this week which made it a bit hard to make an app!

So this is my app created in completely one day - from concept to rollout..

I had to go with something that would be easy and quick but I still wanted it to be useful and look ok! :P

It's called Next Stop NSW - It helps you find out how long you have to live, and what you should do before you die in NSW! :p

Here it is: bit.ly/9Pvdwe

Ciao!
Tammy

App number 2 is launched!

We launched App number 2 on Monday :)

You can check out our submission here:

Vic Loves to Party - App Entry

And the site is here:

Vic Loves to party - Site

Already working on ideas, sketches and mockups for the next app :)

Tammy Out!

App number 2 for AppMyState

So now we are onto the second app because it's week two!

This week I am making an app with Tim & Ro.
So far we've spent two days on it and it's coming together nicely!
Excited to see what it looks like when we are done with the week allocated :)

Will have it completed this week for submission on Friday/Saturday!

Cheerio!
Tammy

8 apps in 8 weeks!

So this week I set myself a challange,
Can I create...
8 apps in 8 weeks.

I can do them with friends or by myself and I am going to submit all 8 to the @appmystate comp.

App number One
i heart vic data
Developers - Jessica Ukotic and Tammy Butow

Check it out here: http://bit.ly/bDQHVx

Ciao!
Tammy

App My State

I submitted an idea for the App My State comp which was officially announced Friday.

You can submit apps or ideas.

This comp also differs from Mashup Australia and Apps4nsw because it's not a mashup comp...you don't even need to use a dataset, you just need to build or suggest an application.

If you would like to see my idea: Pick & Mix Vic Data you can visit the App My State ideas entry page located here.

Happy Innovating!
Tammy

2010

I love this video from TED 2010.
Before I watched it I read that the audience had drew gasps!
I was excited and I thought maybe it would be something related to imagery or interactivity of placemarkers...but I was really suprised when I saw that it was related to video and in particular web cams! :D We were just speaking the other day saying that web cams really haven't peaked yet... this awesome demo shows how you can interact with a map in real time! :D
I think that is such a fantastic space to be working in:

Ideas for this
# Ask a store assistant questions
#Visit a library
# Internet tours
# Participate in a gym session
# Basically anything you do in real life would be able to happen through bing maps..that's pretty amazing and the technology already exists..wow! :D

Love augmented reality!

Go Girl Go For IT

Hi!

I am on the program committee for the VIC Go Girl Go For IT event.
It's my job to find great speakers to attend the event!

:D

I'm really passionate about this and will work really hard to make it happen!!
If you are an amazing speaker, please drop me a line:
tammybutow@gmail.com

Tammy Out!

Mashups

Recently submitted a mashup for the mashupaustralia.org competition.
It's a really fantastic initiative to open up public data and encourage the public to create useful websites and mobile phone applications for the general public.

http://mashupaustralia.org/mashups/race-around-your-block/

Yay!
Just made my first php Google Map with a mysql db!
http://www.miseryskateboards.com/phpsqlajax_map.htm
Wooooo
:D
Tammy Out

USA was awesome

Had a fantastic time!!

The adobe MAX conference was super fun!
It was really great to meet people from all over the world who are passionate about technology.
We sat next to one guy from Disney and another guy who has his own web app company with employees across the USA. They use a lot of Skype to get their work done and he said it's great because he has some of the most talented people working with him.

Totally loved New York, LA and Vegas. We even went through Salt Lake City and Chicago on the plane. Pretty neat to see so much different stuff.

We recorded heaps of video footage and took tons of photos! :D
I was really inspired by all the fantastic museums and galleries we visited.
Also by the amazing scenery. The Las Vegas mountains and New York's Central Park were a highlight.

Also bought some really great cookbooks for cake decorating!
Hoping to make some amazing cupcakes!

Work wise have been playing around with more web design and flash. Have been looking into Silverlight as well, in conjunction with Sharepoint/Sharepoint Designer. Starting to make a few demo sites to showcase things that I create.

Doing a lot of reading like usual, watching a lot of Ted Videos and doing some MIT free courses.

Tammy Out
That's all from me.

Sharepoint & Flash & Customer Experience

Lately I have been playing around with Sharepoint and Flash....
I am going on a trip to the USA in a few weeks...hoping to find some new inspiration! :D

Currently interested in
*Customer Experience
*Sharepoint
*Flash
*Silverlight
*ASP.NET 3.0
*Volleyball

USA Trip Goals

• VLOG once a day. Upload to youtube.
• Collect heaps of everyday items.
  
• Take photos & upload Deviant Art
• Skateboard in a mall
• Attend the Adobe Max Web Conference
• Attend the Oracle OpenWorld Conference
• See Statue of Liberty
• Eat a Bagel
• Go shopping at 2am
• Play an old school casino slot machine
• Eat a Lemon Pie at a dinner
  

Yammer

I love Yammer.

I would love to organise a charity fundraiser.

I love learning about new technologies. Webby awards, TechCrunch top 50!

I'm in Melbourne!

You can see that most of my old posts were about being a pre-service teacher but now I've stepped into the corporate world....

I'm currently working as a Graduate Programmer / Tester / Developer / Support Personnel !

But I'm still extremely pro for encouraging students to study ICT at school and university!
I really think more needs to be done to encourage girls as well.

I've been thinking about the different things I would like to do this year in terms of volunteering, in the past I've done mostly tutoring and working with students. I still really want to do more of that! I miss it a lot.... I am going to be attending the business chicks breakfast as a volunteer next month so that will be great :D

Have been having such an amazing time in Melbourne but, tomorrow we are going to the snow :D Can't wait!

Also mindmapping ! Found this amazing mindmapping tool yesterday called mindjet... best one I have seen so far (and I have seen way to many) I wish I new about it last year! I am going to start using it at work and meetings.

Ciao
Tammy

Flash Animation and Games

During prac I have been lucky enough to teach Flash and Photoshop.... two of my favourite programs :]

Will also hopefully include Acid for music and Audacity....

Students need to create a storybook in Flash for children.
I'm really excited for this project and I think they will do well with all the skills they have learnt...
I predict they will need a refresher activity after the holidays as they will have forgotten so much :[

I have been collecting many many resources for the upcoming internship. I hope everything goes well and I am really looking forward to it :]

Also, we won't have computers because we are getting Moed...teaching computing without computers..what a challange!

Any way I'd also like to say hi Dad because he reads my blog :]

Have a great week
Love Tam

Too see an example of one of my student's work go here:
Ryan's Game

Power Teaching

Power teaching looks really good.
I saw a few clips on
You Tube so I think I'm going to give it a try.

+ I intend to use "Class.....yes" and "Teach....ok"
+ The points system..."extra credit, dextra credit"
+ Modelling hand gestures for students to follow

I really wonder if it will work.

Work =
1. Student engagement
2. Students learn facts and can recall information long-term
3. Power teaching can be extended from basic recall to critical thinking

Pre-Service Teacher - Final Prac+Internship

Hello!

I have decided to document my final practicum and internship as a pre-service teacher using QSITE :]

I begin on the 25th of August!! :]

I'm really excited

My two areas of teaching are computing and history, but I haven't yet dicovered which students I will be teaching.

On another note...recently I have been trying to decide which news site I want to recommend to my future students. For a long time I have been a fan of News.com.au , It has stories from all the Australian newspapers.. I like the feel of the site, the use of pictures and video and the fact it's a .com.au ... BUT on the opening night of the Olympics they failed to inform me about the Russia-Georgia conflict.

Not only did Sky News tell me 3 days earlier, they even had video.

What news site do you recommend for the classroom? Google News? Sky News? BBC? FOX? ABC? BTN?

For tech news so far WebbAlert wins hands down

I'm going to finish off with a lolcat from Hobotopia! -Tammy

Pre-Service: Flash, Word Processing and Videos in the classroom

Today I found out I will be teaching year 10 students, year 11 students and possibly year 8 students :]



We will be working with Flash to create animations following a unit in sound.

Straight away Newgrounds comes to mind.



I may have the chance to work with year 9 students in an accounting unit following web design.

(Manage accounts for your web company? Manage your own online vodcast business)

I would like to incorporate Google Spreadsheets if possible.

Free access to software is interesting.



I will also possibly be working with year 10 students in an IT cert class. They have just covered databases

and will be moving on to word processing. Incorporating the two with imported data, mailing lists etc could be a good way to link to prior learning. With word processing I would like to also incorporate an online collaborative word processor for group work (such as Google Docs or Acrobat.com or Microsoft Office SharePoint ).

I'm not sure if this will be possible due to certificate requirements, network speed etc.



I still haven't discovered an interesting way to teach tabs.

So far I think I will encourage students to research a topic and create a report.

Am thinking that the initial topic will be the Guinea worm of Africa,

a 2 foot worm that grows in a person's body after drinking contaminated water.

Guinea Worm in Ghana

My aim is to have the students learn about their world and use technology to accomplish this.

Uses of Word could be

+Using Word to collect information and analyse sources.

+Report on an issue, what can be done to resolve it. Referencing accurate sources

+Summarise the issue using tables and diagrams in Word.

+Convert the report to a PDF file

+Mailing list to send the report to people about this issue.

+Create a postcard to inform fellow students about the issue. (Vote for best one in class and have them printed?)

+Blog/Reflection in Word.



Ideally following this directed inquiry project, I would then like to put students into groups to work on a topic of their choice (approved first by me). I really enjoy watching students learn to communicate and this would be a great opportunity. It also mirrors the real world where a document can pass through the hands of many people before being finalised.



iTunes

For a long I dismissed iTunes because i am not someone interested in listening to audio podcasts.

BUT today I discovered theres a huge section of video podcasts to subscribe too :]

I think it's a great way to stay up-to-date with news and documentaries.



- Tammy

Animation

I found a wonderful web 2.0 app today called Go-Animate...

+Create animations
+Upload your own backgrounds/characters/sounds from your computer or Flickr
+Create your own voice overs and sound effects
+Ability to easily incorporate motion and emotions of characters

Useful for all subject areas. A great summarising/assessment activity.

Voicethread is amazing

I love this online collaborative web application. It's so useful!

I used one for a presentation at uni and it worked really well. All of the pre-service teachers thought it would really come in handy teaching :]



It wish I would have found it sooner, I just seemed to stumble across it one day because it was nominated for an award...

Voicethread ! Australian teachers really need to learn about this great resource.