Robotic Interlude

A number of students have taken a break this week from their normal work to build and program robots. The college has purchased two LEGO Mindstorms NXT kits for use VET IT, Interactive Media and Computer Science students - mostly in 2009.

Several students - and teachers - have been building with Lego for the first time in many years... lots of fun!

IT Has Changed

We have changed our courses in Information Technology. In response to a dramatic change in the way people are using digital technologies and media some new courses have been added and existing ones have been rewritten.

One aspect of this change has been referred to as Web 1.0, Web 2.0 and Web 3.D referring to the significantly different ways that we now use the internet.

This presentation asks students if they are aware of these changes and finishes with a list of our new courses for 2008.

Last week some HC students began the interior design of some virtual office space in a sky scraper in Web 3.D

Digital Folios

Students are now producing a wide range of multimedia that is not easily organised in a traditional plastic display folder - animations, videos, radio shows, podcasts, music recordings...

We are experimenting with a number of digital folio technologies this year - and we may continue using most of them. Each seems to suit different student and teacher needs...

MS SharePoint (2003)

We have been using SharePoint for 4 years. Every student can create a personal space with:

• room to upload and share documents and digital media
• message space
• tasks list - with task management functionality
• links and other modules such as discussion forums and surveys
• access control - students can set who has what level of access
• presencing - the system indicates who is currently online - integrates with MS Office
  
  

It's also possible for users to add modules that display del.icio.us tags and flickr feeds from mobile phone uploads:




Moodle

Several teachers are using Moodle for their classes with

• space to upload documents and digital media
• forums and blogs - with tagging
• news, calendar, messages
• student management and statistics
  

Teachers find that Moodle provides a more controlled on-line learning environment that is particularly suited to Open Learning classes - although a few other classes also use it.

ELGG - Social Networking

This is the first time we have tried a social networking learning environment. We are using a hosted Elgg service while we evaluate it. We are currently using it:

• for some classes and special interest groups (SIGs)
• to host learning journals
• as a digital folio for tagged multimedia
• to aggregate RSS feeds
• to connect students with similar interests and learning goals
  

Although we only have 80 users on this system at the moment the tags are beginning to build and link people and resources:

Some of our current questions are:

• How can year 12 students take their digital folios with them as they move on to work and further education?
• Should we attempt to provide one solution that attempts to fit all needs or should we offer several tools for students and teachers to choose from?
• How can students manage digital folios for assessment and potential employers and themselves?
• What is the relationship between our 'official' digital folios and other online spaces that students use to upload multimedia such as DeviantArt or YouTube or MySpace?
  

Games Programmer Visits Games & Gaming SIG

Melbourne Games Programmer Sam Sauvage had plenty of expert advice for would-be games developers today.

Sam, from IR Gurus Australia’s leading multi-platform game development studio, visited the Games & Gaming SIG - and stayed on for the Games Programming C class.

Sam talked about career pathways for game developers such as:

• University Maths and Computing - particularly C++ and maths of polygons
• Academy of Interactive Entertainment - a one year course (Melbourne) almost guaranteeing employment in the industry - probably at IR Gurus
• Getting together a young multi-skilled team of passionate gamers

All options led to jobs in a very hardworking industry which Sam describes as becoming a lot like the film industry where teams of 50-100 people covering a wide range of skills work on multi-million dollar projects with tight deadlines.

Sam described the difference between developing games for PCs and consoles and talked about the huge demand for games programmers working on PlayStation 3 titles. He showed some sites related to games developed by IR Gurus and the games industry in general:

• AFL Premiership 2006
  
• Heroes of the Pacific
  
• Heatseeker
  
• Game Developers of Australia
  
• Krome Studios
  
• Assembly - for Demo writers
  

Game demos and modding were also good areas for students to get involved in because you learn basic skills and terminology for the industry.

Sam stayed and chatted with the Games Programming class and looked at some of the flash and GameMaker work being done. He hopes to come back - possibly to work with students on projects.

Thanks Sam - your time was greatly appreciated!