Greetings! (Read Finnish? Surely you jest! Even Hungarians who speak a distantly related language say Finnish is absolutely impenetrable even for them. You might provide a summary in Esperanto, which I know a fair number of Finns know. The readers can paste the summary into Google Translate to get the result in their native language. There is a well developed mathematician community in Esperanto that keeps the math vocabulary up to date.) Anyway, I have definite plans for using Sage Math for high school teachers. I am also using GeoGebra (another open source program, but easy and beautiful) to handle simpler and more traditional math concepts. I also have an ambitious plan for full featured classroom instruction on the internet. I make use of the virtual world of Second Life (this is the only one that could be described as serious, all the others I have seen are basically silly in comparison.) Anyway, I have a school on Second Life on 18,000 sqr meters of hilltop land I rent overlooking Linden Village where many of the employees of linden Labs have their in-world offices. (Anybody with the last name "Linden" in Second life is an employee of the company that owns and runs Second Life. They are treated with a great deaal of respect as they have god-like powers in-world.) Anyway, I have 3 classroom towers with 27 classrooms total, a 120 seat amphitheater, and a media dome floating above the trees just a little above the highest buildings. All this for about 50 euros rental a month. Each of the above mentioned items sits on its own media parcel and has an independent media system (5 in all) with all kinds of capabilities, including DVD movies, cable TV, Second life's native tv channels, You Tube videos, the internet, and other things. I have a personal classroom (10th floor in the building on the right) and model classrooms set up in each building. items of educational interest are see up in the lobbies and the penthouses are conferences rooms of diverse sorts. In the model classrooms, I use the Bright Web Browser (a now free Second Life item) to show off Sage Math. It can be easily set up for bookmarks which in this case could be Sage Math web pages or online math material, some of it animated. I have a plain media browser screen that I set to Twiddla by default. Twiddla is a audio/video internet conferencing syatem that acts as a white board in Second life that acts exactly the way a white board does in real life but has many more additional features. It is easily accessible for reading and writing purposes by anyone in the virtual classroom. You write on it using your mouse pointer. It is available free to casual users and any educators and will allow text, video and audio conferencing with individuals who are not in Second Life. It interacts well with Geogebra and will show Geogebra screens in Second Life. i have the media system screen set to videos from the marvelous and wonderful Khan Academy which has a vast archive of mathematical lectures free for the use of anyone. A great starting point for a math unit! The major issue with regard to showing internet media in Second Life is it will not run Java applets. this means that you cannot show JMOL graphics directly in Second Life though all other SageMath stuff shows just fine. Likewise, you cannot show the interactive screens of Geogebra Tube, a large internet of Geogebra lessons and stuff available online (you can show still unanimated screen shots of both of these in Second Life though.) This is far less of a problem than it sounds. Above every screen in Second Life capable of showing the internet is a gadget that when clicked on from within Second Life will immediately call up that identical web page inside your favorite browser. Then you can see JMOL graphics and GeoGebra lessons in full interactivity. This can also work well with Twiddla, as the write feature is lots faster if you click on the Twiddla screen and write it in your browser than if you do it directly in Second Life. Anything you write on the browser twiddla page immediately shows up on the Second Life Twiddla page and vice versa. yOu can do all sorts of media stuff in fact if you wish. At the back of the calssroom I have a special screen that is designed to show youTube presentations. This is designed for stuff you want to have more or less permanently. You upload it to Second Life then install it under the Media tab of the blackboard when click on the EDIT feature. It is actually quite easy to do. Within the classroom is some space for the teacher's personal items and a number of cushions set up on the floor. It is possible to install chairs or desks, but cushions work better as nobody blocks anybody else's line of site. The teacher is expected to stand by whatever medua feature is in use and has no need to sit down. The teacher may also choose to walk around among the students and ask questions. It is possible to communicate by both text chat and voice chat in the Second Life classroom, either as the class as a whole, indidividually or in small groups. The look and feel are remarkably like a real life classroom but you can do all sorts of things you cannot in real life or at least not easily, one is three dimesional modeling of geometric shapes using the Second Life build feature. Everybody is present as an avatar, a 3D fully animated figure that can approximate how you appear in real life or be a complete fantasy. My avatar is MathBear who actually is a bear in academic robes and round rimmed brass specs and is my branded image for my educational project in Second Life, the Math Bear Education Initiative. The ability to interact in a natural ways in a natural appearing 3D environment creates a very powerful sense of psychology presence and appeals to the students social instincts. The endless possibilities for creativity in Second Life are also a strong appeal to the students. I habve examined other internet teaching projects and schools and I have yet to find one that is particularly appealing. The worst just have ASCII characters ttyped on a plain white screen. Both instructors and students resist being forced into these drab, uncrreative and poorly interactive educational environments. myGreetings! (Read Finnish? Surely you jest! Even Hungarians who speak a distantly related language say Finnish is absolutely impenetrable even for them. You might provide a summary in Esperanto, which I know a fair number of Finns know. The readers can paste the summary into Google Translate to get the result in their native language. There is a well developed mathematician community in Esperanto that keeps the math vocabulary up to date.) Anyway, I have definite plans for using Sage Math for high school teachers. I am also using GeoGebra (another open source program, but easy and beautiful) to handle simpler and more traditional math concepts. I also have an ambitious plan for full featured classroom instruction on the internet. I make use of the virtual world of Second Life (this is the only one that could be described as serious, all the others I have seen are basically silly in comparison.) Anyway, I have a school on Second Life on 18,000 sqr meters of hilltop land I rent overlooking Linden Village where many of the employees of linden Labs have their in-world offices. (Anybody with the last name "Linden" in Second life is an employee of the company that owns and runs Second Life. They are treated with a great deaal of respect as they have god-like powers in-world.) Anyway, I have 3 classroom towers with 27 classrooms total, a 120 seat amphitheater, and a media dome floating above the trees just a little above the highest buildings. All this for about 50 euros rental a month. Each of the above mentioned items sits on its own media parcel and has an independent media system (5 in all) with all kinds of capabilities, including DVD movies, cable TV, Second life's native tv channels, You Tube videos, the internet, and other things. I have a personal classroom (10th floor in the building on the right) and model classrooms set up in each building. items of educational interest are see up in the lobbies and the penthouses are conferences rooms of diverse sorts. In the model classrooms, I use the Bright Web Browser (a now free Second Life item) to show off Sage Math. It can be easily set up for bookmarks which in this case could be Sage Math web pages or online math material, some of it animated. I have a plain media browser screen that I set to Twiddla by default. Twiddla is a audio/video internet conferencing syatem that acts as a white board in Second life that acts exactly the way a white board does in real life but has many more additional features. It is easily accessible for reading and writing purposes by anyone in the virtual classroom. You write on it using your mouse pointer. It is available free to casual users and any educators and will allow text, video and audio conferencing with individuals who are not in Second Life. It interacts well with Geogebra and will show Geogebra screens in Second Life. i have the media system screen set to videos from the marvelous and wonderful Khan Academy which has a vast archive of mathematical lectures free for the use of anyone. A great starting point for a math unit! The major issue with regard to showing internet media in Second Life is it will not run Java applets. this means that you cannot show JMOL graphics directly in Second Life though all other SageMath stuff shows just fine. Likewise, you cannot show the interactive screens of Geogebra Tube, a large internet of Geogebra lessons and stuff available online (you can show still unanimated screen shots of both of these in Second Life though.) This is far less of a problem than it sounds. Above every screen in Second Life capable of showing the internet is a gadget that when clicked on from within Second Life will immediately call up that identical web page inside your favorite browser. Then you can see JMOL graphics and GeoGebra lessons in full interactivity. This can also work well with Twiddla, as the write feature is lots faster if you click on the Twiddla screen and write it in your browser than if you do it directly in Second Life. Anything you write on the browser twiddla page immediately shows up on the Second Life Twiddla page and vice versa. yOu can do all sorts of media stuff in fact if you wish. At the back of the calssroom I have a special screen that is designed to show youTube presentations. This is designed for stuff you want to have more or less permanently. You upload it to Second Life then install it under the Media tab of the blackboard when click on the EDIT feature. It is actually quite easy to do. Within the classroom is some space for the teacher's personal items and a number of cushions set up on the floor. It is possible to install chairs or desks, but cushions work better as nobody blocks anybody else's line of site. The teacher is expected to stand by whatever medua feature is in use and has no need to sit down. The teacher may also choose to walk around among the students and ask questions. It is possible to communicate by both text chat and voice chat in the Second Life classroom, either as the class as a whole, indidividually or in small groups. The look and feel are remarkably like a real life classroom but you can do all sorts of things you cannot in real life or at least not easily, one is three dimesional modeling of geometric shapes using the Second Life build feature. Everybody is present as an avatar, a 3D fully animated figure that can approximate how you appear in real life or be a complete fantasy. My avatar is MathBear who actually is a bear in academic robes and round rimmed brass specs and is my branded image for my educational project in Second Life, the Math Bear Education Initiative. The ability to interact in a natural ways in a natural appearing 3D environment creates a very powerful sense of psychological presence and appeals to the students social instincts. The endless possibilities for creativity in Second Life are also a strong appeal to the students. Young people do not find it boring! I have examined other internet teaching projects and schools and I have yet to find one that is particularly appealing. The worst just have ASCII characters typed on a plain white screen. Both instructors and students resist being forced into these drab, uncreative and poorly interactive educational environments. My huge problem is trying to get teachers, especially high school teachers to come take a look at what I am doing in Second Life. They are technophobic and fearful, like they might lose their souls or something. There is a lot of educational activity in Second Life but hardly any teachers are taeching math. I know of one professor who does so, but all he does is scan in his handwritten notes and show them in-world, making no use of the rich internet and virtual technology available. What I need are teachers willing to come onto Seconond Life and if they are interested, I will train them in handling the necessary virtual technologies and provide them with a classroom, all for free. Second Life itself is free, I have a Sage Math server set up on the RackSpace Cloud which has been running stably for months. You can access it at http://198.101.203.91:8000 I would love to get exchange worksheets with anyone, especially high school level stuff. I also have a MOODLE server set up on FreeHostia that can handle attendance, grades, courses and all the typical administrative stuff for a school. I also have set up the SLOODLE implementation of MOODLE for Second Life which includes a lot of educational goodies that you can register to your mOODLE account and can do all sorts of useful educational things. You could for instance, set up a booth for enrolling students in your class or create a barrier that will only admit registered students into your class. In the lobby of the middle building I have set up a bunch of SLOODLE goodies for your perusal. All I need are teachers willing to try something really new, extraordinary, and powerful.. You dont have to limit yourself to locals either, You could have students from all over the world operating out of their homes in your class and it will feel like you are all in the room together in the flesh. Students whose English is weak can use translators to translate text chat into their native languages to aid comprehension. These translators work fairly well too. Sigh!
Isn't there anyone out there who is not hopelessly neophobic and technophobic? Who isnt completely welded to the past and fearful of embracing the future? When I try to explain my ideas at educational conferences, people stare at me like I have 3 heads. Ifeel sort of like a john the Baptist, you know, a "vox clamantis in deserto"! hopefully Yours, Math Bear a.k.a. Jerry P.S. You can easily download the Second Life program and install and run it free of charge. But it takes a while to learn to navigate in virtual reality. After setting up a profile and giving you an avatar, they put you on Orientation Island. Here are many exercises and tutorials to teach you how to function and navigate in Second Life. Don't shortchange these! linden Labs estimates it takes about 4 1/2 hours to learn the basics of Second Life. If you do not go through this, you will find yourself pretty helpless and probably give up in frustration. Anyway. when you are confident you can get around, they send you to Help Island which offers additional tutorials and an awful lott of useful freebie items. I have been told it is a good idea to go to the library there and read through the big book they have, After that, you go to the MainLand which is where I have my school. if you use the Search feature (try the "Content" button on the top of your screen) you can teleport directly to my school under "Math Bear Education Initiative". Look for this in "Places". It will include the teleport link. To notify me, use Search again; this time set to "People" and search for MathBear Cyberschreiber. Click on the name then click on IM and send me a text message and even better, click on "Add Friend" and I will be aware of you within Second Life. Feel free to explore the school and play with items. The elevators are especially fun but please return them to the ground floor when you are done. Don't forget to fly up and check out the media dome! ^,..,^ ________________________________ From: Mikko Moilanen <moil...@gmail.com> To: sage-edu@googlegroups.com Sent: Monday, October 15, 2012 9:45 AM Subject: [sage-edu] Bachelor's thesis: Sage to replace MATLAB Hey everyone I made a bachelor's thesis titled Sage to replace MATLAB. I am not touting about the greatness of my thesis but just want to inform you about the results: my job is now to install and configure Sage server for my school and educate mathematics teachers to use it. With that surprising result I must encourage teachers and students alike to promote Sage and better me, which should not be too hard. Also, I would greatly appreciate any suggestions about how to educate the mathematics teachers to the possibilities Sage can offer. They teach college level mathematical analysis. I would jump up and down of joy if my school would begin to use Sage. (In case anyone is interested and able to read Finnish, here is the link for my Thesis: http://publications.theseus.fi/handle/10024/48512.) Sincerely Mikko Moilanen -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "sage-edu" group. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/sage-edu/-/W5gHg4dBbnkJ. To post to this group, send email to sage-edu@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to sage-edu+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/sage-edu?hl=en. nghuge problem is trying to get teachers, especially high school teachers to come take a look at what I am doi ________________________________ From: Mikko Moilanen <moil...@gmail.com> To: sage-edu@googlegroups.com Sent: Monday, October 15, 2012 9:45 AM Subject: [sage-edu] Bachelor's thesis: Sage to replace MATLAB Hey everyone I made a bachelor's thesis titled Sage to replace MATLAB. I am not touting about the greatness of my thesis but just want to inform you about the results: my job is now to install and configure Sage server for my school and educate mathematics teachers to use it. With that surprising result I must encourage teachers and students alike to promote Sage and better me, which should not be too hard. Also, I would greatly appreciate any suggestions about how to educate the mathematics teachers to the possibilities Sage can offer. They teach college level mathematical analysis. I would jump up and down of joy if my school would begin to use Sage. (In case anyone is interested and able to read Finnish, here is the link for my Thesis: http://publications.theseus.fi/handle/10024/48512.) Sincerely Mikko Moilanen -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "sage-edu" group. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/sage-edu/-/W5gHg4dBbnkJ. To post to this group, send email to sage-edu@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to sage-edu+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/sage-edu?hl=en. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "sage-edu" group. To post to this group, send email to sage-edu@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to sage-edu+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/sage-edu?hl=en.
