Class 2, Assignment 9

After seeing Kristen and Demetri's blog responses, I also chose to go with Text Wrangler as my code editor.

And this is a screenshot of my first website up and running.

Class 2, Assignment 3

Here is my cropped screenshot of our learning ladder I got by using the crop tool in GIMP.

Assignment 2-2: My GIMP Photo

Assignment 2-1: What is Immersive Education?

In this screenshot, I thought it was pretty awesome that the people conducting a study on the ecosystem shown (the pond and its surrounding areas) could monitor conditions such as turbidity (shown above).  The most interesting function of this system is that through a calendar feature, the individuals carrying on this study could reverse time and/or "fast forward" to future dates and analyze how different conditions (rain, wind, etc) affected the ecosystem.  The students can even delve INTO the water and see how murky or clear the water is depending on the weather.

In this screenshot, young students are able to use technology to explore a virtual watershed.  Students were able to run around, and see different species of animals that they would otherwise most likely never see.  In addition, as seen on the screen to the left of the virtual watershed, the students were able to interact with actual staff from the Smithsonian institute and see (via video) some of the animals they deal with on a day to day basis.

This final slide really shows how effective this virtual learning system is in engaging young children who would normally shy away from things like algebra.  In front of this group of students cheering is a panel of their peers who are playing a virtual computer game based around their algebra skills.  By appealing to the young children's affinity toward technology, they essentially "forget" that they are actually learning.  Any and all added motivation to get young kids to become engaged in math and other skills is undoubtedly a tremendous teaching tool for faculty (and students!).

GIMP

Here's the extent of my GIMP skills.  Just messing around, but I'm looking forward to fine tuning.

Class 1, Assignment 5

Hi everyone, my name is Brendan Venti.  I am a senior at the Woods College at BC, and this is my first blog for this class.  A little bit about me: I live in Brookline, MA, and work for a high-end construction company based in Boston.   Our latest project is right across Storrow Drive from the Hatchshell.  I'm attaching a link to a website explaining a little background about the site and work that it entails(Beacon Hill).  Also, I'm a proud single father of a 2-year old English Bulldog.  He's my right hand man.  I look forward to this class with all of you, and I am attaching a picture of my dog (Hank) begging for some food as usual,
as well as a screenshot of GIMP running on my computer.