As artists and makers, we enjoy the process of creating something new from something old or familiar. The Makey Makey makes this possible. Makey makey is a USB device for your Mac or PC enabling makers of all ages to experiment with human computer interaction and inventing. Read more…
As parents and teachers, we encourage our kids to become well rounded people who love learning. In our world of cell phones, ipads, and computers, it’s easy for kids to become passive consumers of media and technology. We, however, want are kids to be active, curious, and creative. Read more…
To help make Android App building more accessible to EVERYONE, researchers at MIT have released a wonderful tool to empower makers and students to quickly build apps using a puzzle metaphor of programming. Everyone can play with puzzles. Right!? MIT App Inventor, originally developed by Google, enables beginners Read more…
Some research and development requires big and expensive equipment, resources, and sensors. It’s awesome when innovators make cool technology more affordable, accessible and available to young students and hackers. As a student at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), Johnny Lee explored ways to use the remote control devices of a Nintendo Read more…
In honor of the Global Game Jam 2014, I collected a few tools and resources to help you or your students get started in learning game programming using various technologies. The Global Game Jam is a world wide hackathon and online festival for game developers and designers. Check Read more…
I have started reading a fun book on innovation management called “Beyond the Obvious” by Phil McKinney. Mr. McKinney has directed a diverse technical career including serving as CTO of HP. A core theme of his book is that innovative thinking occurs when you start asking better questions. Read more…
How was your day? Did you feel energized by your activities or work? For me, this is such a powerful question. We have no clue how long we will be blessed to live our lives. I consider each day a gift and treasure. I know that I feel energized when Read more…
The “Hour of code” event to introduce young people to computer science has been very well received by the community. As time permits, I have been reviewing blog posts and retrospectives on the event. My friends from EduVue provided a nice reflection on the “Hour of code” event at Read more…
During a Google Developers Group session on HTML5, Dr. Allen introduced the group to a web technology called Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG). In instructional technology, SVG can be used to create interactive diagrams that respond to mouse clicks and mouse movements. Many information visualization tools utilize SVG to visualize Read more…
There are many benefits to teaching young people to code. As a musician starts learning a piece of music, the process can be daunting. Musicians, however, naturally start breaking the song into parts. By slowly mastering small phrases, scales, chords, and patterns, the song slowly emerges from Read more…