The Final Rendition

It’s finally done and works great! I was able to get my Arduino IOT account working and operational. I was even able to get the IOT app and control/ monitor my Arduino garden remotely!

I had Ross Prevost from Esquimalt High help me create a Gary Oak planter box which is was a great help. The Gary Oak really compliments the Camas that I have planted in the one compartment. This relationship is massively significant to the indigenous people of Vancouver Island and creates a great link to that curriculum.

Overall the project was a lot of work, but really cool to see it working! I’m not sure how much I actually learned about electricity, but I learned a lot about woodworking, coding, and planting!

Success!

I finally got the Arduino working through the Arduino IOT application. It took me far too long and far too many cups of coffee, however here we are. I suppose it’s not a matter of how hard I had to struggle to get it working, but that it is and I learned a lot during the path. Not I need to get the planter box made, and plant some Camas!

Mural

Today we used Mural as a tool to deploy the class into work groups where each group discussed a particular topic. The tool was pretty cool to use, however the mobile version was a little lack-luster.

Within my group we discussed work flows. It was interesting to hear my peers walk me trhhough their work flows as both a student and a future teacher. Many were using Google Docs however some were using OneNote and similar applications. I am a little old school and prefer the pen and paper method, however it was interesting to see how capable and transferable (on different devices) some of these new applications were. The Google Docs one really resonated with me for I want to use Google Classroom as a teacher which in turn perfectly translates over to Google Docs.

Mural was a great tool for “up voting” student topics which then creates more “buy in” from the students on the content.

https://www.mural.co/

Arduino IOT

As I have been building my self monitoring garden I have began to use the Arduino IOT service. This is a free wireless service which allows me to wirelessly manipulate and store variables which are connected to my new Arduino MKR1000 board.

This has proven though to be quite a hassle though, for I am unable to get the software to cooperate and fully manipulate the variables on the board.

I need to step back and attempt to just turn an LED on and off as opposed to wiring up all my plant monitoring variables right now. The state of my board is a little hectic, and from what I have learned in previous blog posts; may be a hardware issue. Thus I need to simplify the process, find success in a simpler board, and then progress.

Tracy Humphreys

Today we spoke with Tracy Humphreys from BCed Access. She spoke about technology in the classroom that assists with students who have IEP’s or difficulties learning.

I liked how she spoke to using technology as a gateway for a lot of students. Technology has the ability to allow students to learn in different and sometime better methods than traditional pen and paper. She also spoke to the idea that students are already living in a digital world and that we should try to integrate that comfort into the classroom.

Tracy touched on a lot of subject surrounding IEP’s and although I disagree with a few of her points I thought her overall message about caring for your students independent needs was a great take away.

Synonym for the devil: wifi

Well I have slowly received the components for my Arduino garden project. As the inquisitive tech nerd I am I began tinkering around with them. The Arduino MKR 1000 is the wifi board that I got which will communicate my sensor data to a mobile database. I have been attempting to setup/check the wireless connection between the board and the Arduino Iot software (Arduino’s free database).

To begin my session I back wired my temperature sensor which cause it to read temperatures around 200 degrees Celsius. I though to my self; “this must be a mistake”. However upon touching it, it was not at all a mistake. So that took me a long time to figure out that I had back wired it and it was in fact oscillating (which I have no idea what that means).

Anyways, I got the sensor working while wired in, however ended up retiring for the night when I began trying to check the wifi connection. I’m not sure if I have forgotten my wifi password or the output should be 255 when it’s connected? A lot of time spent on this and not a lot of positive movement.

Learning in the Digital Era

Today we discussed synchronous and asynchronous teaching methods in the light of COVID. Talking about the perceived opportunities that Second Life offered as a teaching tool when Google created a University within Second Life appeared as commical initially. After thinking about what Second Life was trying to accomplish and its user buy in, it makes perfect sense that a company like Google would like to invest in a learning opportunity within Second Life. Harkening back to Ready Player One which is a book I read this past summer. The protagonist goes to school in a VR world. This allowed students to attend high level school from all over the world.

https://secondlife.com/destinations/learning/universities

This notion of digital school and words doesn’t seem super far fetched. It also appears to be the best form of accessibility in terms of International accessibility. Perhaps it appears as strange science fiction now, however if one looks down the rabbit hole of technology it appears as a pretty interesting and great technology that could be instrumental in societies education platform.

Arduino Inquiry Project

I’m now getting a lot of the hardware shipped to my house. I have the soil moisture meters and have been playing around with them. It’s pretty tricky to get them calibrated to measure water since they measure in a percentage as opposed to a tangible metric.

Moving forward I am beginning to install the Arduino IOT which is a wireless database that will hold the data that my physical Arduino is creating. This seems very tedious and I’m a little nervous it wont work once I get the wireless chip.

https://docs.arduino.cc/cloud/iot-cloud

Inquiry Project

I am now creating a cross curricular arduino project. This project will be my final assignment for my Wednesday placement class. This project aims to combine curricular competencies from wood shop, biology, and computer science by creating a planter box which monitors and waters the plants within it.

This week I ordered the parts I will need to build the electronics. I am basing the system off of this video:

https://www.makerguides.com/automatic-plant-watering-system-with-arduino-iot-cloud/

I also finished 3D rendering the planter box itself with Tinkercad:

Overall, I am feeling pretty overwhelmed with the project due to my lack of experience with an Arduino. However I have a solid support system behind me and I’m looking forward to the challenge. 

VISII

Speaking today with the founder of VISII we delved deep into how the school works here in Victoria. There was a lot of information to unpack and consider as we listened to the grass roots beginnings to VISII.

Hearing about the “gradeless” system I was pretty perplexed. “Gradeless” in the sense that there are no grade 9 students nor grade 12 students. Everyone is equal and learns from one another. That seemed like a pretty cool idea to me, where younger students may be teaching older students and vice versa. I would love to go to the school and watch how the breakout sessions organically occur and if they foster cliques or an openness amongst all the students.

https://visii.ca/vision-and-mission/

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