Week 7

Workshop Week

June 28 to July 2, 2009

This is the second week of Alice workshops. Because this week is interrupted by the fourth of July long weekend it is starting on a Sunday and goes to the Thursday. I have something special planned for the long weekend so you will have to check that out at the end of this blog.

I have determined that I do not get much blogging done while I am helping during the workshops. I am also deeply immersed in building a geometry demo world in Alice. I will have that ready next week. In the mean time I hope that you will enjoy this short video Duke made about the Alice project. I'm in it... well not really. You might just catch a glimpse of me in the background.

Sunday was an interesting day. Closer to the end of the day we had some hardware malfunction; Professor Rodger's glasses lost a screw and the lens popped out. But that didn't slow her down. She finished the tutorial while holding her glasses together and then was able to patch a more secure solution before the next tutorial started. Then, with only an hour left in the day, the fire alarm was set off and we had to evacuate the building.

This group of teachers was just as enthusiastic about Alice as the previous group. I can see that this is going to be a general response of any teacher who is willing to take a week out of their summer to learn about a teaching tool. What is really interesting is the interest is coming from both teachers who know programming and those who have very limited computer knowledge. Even those who struggle with controlling the mouse seem to find success and are motivated to keep on learning.

The schedule for this week is very similar to last week. Click here to see a breakdown of what happened this week

Wednesday was Canada Day. Being patriotic I wore red and white, including my Roots Canada hoddie. You may have even caught me humming the national anthem.

I also got a chance to experience the 3D virtual reality room (the DIVE) that I have mentioned in previous blog entries. It was interesting! Unfortunately it did throw my senses off a bit. Now I know that if they are playing the virtual roller coaster ride, I better not try it out.

The Long Weekend

July 3 to 5, 2009

For the July long weekend I traveled with my apartment-mate and her sister to Washington DC. I figured that would be the place to celebrate the 4th of July.

We did a lot of walking, viewed some of the great architecture, and took in a couple museums. There was also the Smithsonian folk festival.

We got a chance to see the capitol building up close before the police asked us kindly to move on.

Our host, and brother of my travel companions, gave us a guided tour of the Georgetown University Law Center.

Then on the Saturday we picked a spot between the monument and Lincoln Memorial.

You can still see the grass in this picture, but by the time it was 8:00pm there was no more grass. If you look in the distance at the Lincoln Memorial you will notice that it is just as crowded on that side too.

It was an amazing fireworks display, even if the person in front of me decided they needed to stand through almost the entire show. Well, it made for some interesting pictures that show the perspective of how big the fireworks were.