buying cables online

I've mentioned monoprice.com before as an online supplier of cheap cables (for classroom projector/computer as well as home theater), but since they are based in the US there is the exchange rate and longer shipping times to deal with.

I've recently had two similar Canadian online suppliers recommended to me. While I haven't yet bought cables from either of them, apparently they are both very good: InfiniteCables.com and CableSalesCanada.com, both of which are based in Toronto.

Let me know in the comments if you've bought from either one and your experiences with it.

cheap cables

If you need to buy cables or other home-theatre (or classroom) related items, I recommend monoprice.com. Cheap, but good quality, and fairly good shipping (about two weeks for the cheap shipping). That's always my first place to look.

As well, I've heard good things about Blue Jeans Cable. Haven't ordered anything from them myself, though.

My Classroom Technologies

In my grade six classroom we have been using a number of different educational technologies, including hardware, software, and web-based tools.

Our main hardware platform is a set of Dell Latitude E6410 laptops. Since these are fairly old machines, we have reimaged them with Lubuntu, a lightweight Linux distribution that makes them quite usable. We have a charging cart, extra batteries, and an external battery charger.

On these laptops we have installed the Chrome web browser (in addition to the included Firefox), Audacity for audio recording, Cheese for taking photos and videos, and MinecraftEdu.

Also in the classroom we have two Raspberry Pi computers running KanoOS for computational thinking activities, and a few older gaming consoles for indoor recesses, motivation, and esports (a subject for another post).

We have access to Chromebooks, iPads, tripods (with iPad brackets), microphones (with USB cables and lightning adapters), green/blue screens, a GoPro HERO Session camera, Mac mini computers, Lego Mindstorms EV3 robot kits, and programmable Parrot Rolling Spider drones.

Our web-based tools include:
Google Classroom - assignments and online interactions, and guardian email summaries
Google Sites - hosts our class website
Remind - communicating with my students' grown-ups
Classcraft - a gamified behaviour management system
Mathletics - math practice
Math Live - interactive math lessons
Prodigy - chocolate-covered broccoli math practice
Newsela - news and non-fiction at adjustable reading levels
Duolingo - French language learning
Kids A-Z (Raz-Kids) - optional reading (ebooks and audiobooks)
Code Combat - coding and computational thinking activities

And of course we use other platforms for occasional assignments, such as Marvel's Comic Creator or Weebly. We'll also be trying many other tools throughout the year. For the most part, though, we are not focusing on learning tools, but rather learning with the tools.

Technology Ideas to Enhance Classrooms and Makerspaces

not that a classroom can't also be a makerspace, in fact some argue that every classroom should be

Here are are a few cool things you can try with students of almost any age. Some off these are expensive, some are free. Try things and share your experiences.

Hour of Code

A basic introduction to coding and computational thinking concepts.

A good starting point before moving on to other projects.

• hourofcode.com/ca

Scratch Programming

A graphical (drag and drop) programming environment for creating games, animations, interactive stories, and presentations.

• Can be used by any students that can read (probably best in grade 3 and up).
• Works great on Chromebooks or any other machines.
• There is also ScratchJr on tablets for younger students.

• scratch.mit.edu
• Annual EIPS Scratch Day

e.g. “Math with Scratch Demo” by MisterHay

Makey Makey

A small circuit board for interfacing real-world things with a computer/Chromebook.

• Use wires to connect anything conductive, the computer sees it as a keyboard and mouse.
• Works great with Scratch

e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfQqh7iCcOU

mBot Robot

mBot is an easy-to-use and inexpensive ($100 or so) programmable robot.

Features:

• Wireless connection to the computer
• Two motors
• Two RGB LEDs that can be programmed to display almost any color
• Speaker (for playing tones/notes)
• Infrared transmitter and receiver for communicating with other mBots, TVs, etc.
• Ultrasonic distance sensor
• Line follower sensor (can tell whether it is on a dark line or not)

It can be programmed with mBlock, which is based on Scratch, or via Arduino code.

e.g. line follower by JohannHöchtl

LEGO Mindstorms

Build with LEGO, program with a graphical environment.

e.g. NXT-G programming by Steve Jurvetson

On a related note, check out LEGO Digital Designer (for Windows or Mac) and Build with Chrome (for Chrome).

Raspberry Pi computer

A small, inexpensive (less than $50) single-board desktop computer.

• Just requires a monitor, keyboard, mouse, and cables.
• KanoOS is kid-friendly and has a number of great coding activities built in.
• Many interesting projects have been built with them.

Virtual Circuits

123d.circuits.io allows students to create virtual circuits. Works on Chromebooks or other computers.

• Circuit Scribe
• Breadboard
• Arduino

Google Cardboard Virtual Reality Headset

Very inexpensive, about $5 each.

Requires a relatively recent Android phone or iPhone (4S or newer).

Experience VR games and simulations

• e.g. Jaunt VR (Android, iOS), DiveCityCoaster (Android, iOS)

Watch 3D and/or 360° videos.

• e.g. YouTube 360° channel

Students may even be able to record VR photos and videos using mobile apps.

Stop Motion Animation

On a Chromebook or any computer with a webcam: Chrome Stop Motion Animator app

iPhone, iPod, iPad: LEGO Movie Maker app, Imotion How too use Imotion

Many Android stop motion apps available as well.

Video and Audio Production

e.g. video projects, podcasts, radio dramas

Chromebooks:

• YouTube Video Editor or Magisto
• SoundCloud or Twisted Wave

Mobile Devices:

• Adobe Creative Cloud mobile apps
• And many others

Quadcopter Drones

EIPS owns (and insures) two Phantom 3 video drones for schools can borrow.

Students can also fly smaller indoor drones such as a Syma X2.

For examples of videos with drones, see http://haytech.blogspot.ca/2016/04/drone-videography-examples.html

Have fun.

16-channel relay box controlled by a Raspberry Pi

It's not quite finished yet, but it's in a usable state. This isn't full instructions, but hopefully enough to get you started if you're interested. Please comment below if you'd like more information.

Some of the Parts:

8-Channel 5V Relay Board (two of these)

Raspberry Pi, SD card, associated cables

female to female jumper wire for connecting Raspberry Pi GPIO pins to relay board pins

thick wire for connecting relays to outlets

nine outlets

CNC or laser-cut front plate from this drawing

LightShow Pi software (haven't tried this yet)

An example Python script to flash through the relays one at a time:

import time

delayTime = 0.25

import RPi.GPIO as GPIO

GPIO.setmode(GPIO.BCM)

pins = [2, 3, 4, 17, 27, 22, 10, 9, 14, 15, 18, 23, 24, 25, 8, 7]

for pin in pins:

    GPIO.setup(pin, GPIO.OUT) 

    GPIO.output(pin, GPIO.HIGH)

    time.sleep(delayTime)

    GPIO.output(pin, GPIO.LOW)

    time.sleep(delayTime)

GPIO.cleanup

classroom projector and speaker connections

Since most of us aren't using TVs in the classroom anymore, the question seems to be coming up often about how to connect speakers to play videos. Usually the teacher wants to be able to play videos from a DVD/VCR as well as from the computer, and perhaps from an iPod.

You could, of course, have a separate set of speakers for each of these purposes, but it's easier and cheaper to have one set. To do this, you can connect the DVD/VCR audio output to the speakers and the computer audio output to the audio input of the DVD/VCR.

To connect the computer audio output to the DVD/VCR, use a 3.5mm Stereo Plug to 2 RCA Plug cable connected to the speaker (or headphone) output of the computer.

To connect the DVD/VCR to computer speakers, you need another 3.5mm Stereo Plug to 2 RCA Plug cable connected to the audio output and a headphone "gender changer" for connecting the male end of that cable to the male end of the speaker cable. Instead of a "gender changer", however, you can use a headphone splitter which also allows you to plug in your iPod without unplugging anything.

Of course if you use speakers with RCA inputs, such as the Behringer MS16s, you can just connect the DVD/VCR audio output with the RCA cable that came with the DVD/VCR.

If you want to show videos from your iPod and your DVD/VCR has a second "line in" connection (other than the one you are using for your computer), you can use an iPod video cable that connects to the headphone jack or to the dock connector. Of course if you have a newer iPod these cables won't work, you'll need to buy an expensive one from Apple. Or plug your iPod into your computer with a USB cable and show the videos using iTunes.

As to video to the projector, computer video goes over a VGA cable and the DVD/VCR video goes over an S-Video cable, composite cable, or component cable.

That ended up being a longer post that intended, and a bit of a commercial for monoprice.com (one of my favourite online retailers), but hopefully there was enough information there to get you set up.

on my desk this morning

I thought perhaps I could list the electronic devices that are on my desk this morning.

• My desktop PC, of course
• wireless keyboard
• wired and a wireless mouse
• wireless presenter
• VGA video splitter
• VGA video switch
• VCR and DVD
• remotes for these, and for my projector
• speakers hooked up to the computer, DVD, and VCR
• USB DVD burner
• a stack of blank DVDs
• USB external hard drive
• USB webcam (not sure where that came from)
• Bamboo tablet
• Wii remote
• OLPC XO laptop
• three EeePCs (two that I'm setting up for other people)
• half a dozen USB flash drives
• two SD cards
• USB card reader/USB hub
• clock radio with an iPod dock
• a students' iPod touch (charging in the dock)
• and many cables, connected and disconnected

My desk doesn't always look like this, but perhaps more often than not...