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Pokemon Go’s plans to make 3D scans of the world

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In 2016 we saw the world go crazy for Pokemon Go. The game sent hundreds of millions of people of all ages wandering the streets searching for virtual creatures. This game has paved the way for augmented reality in today’s technological landscape, and the ability to overlay computer-generated imagery onto real-world environments. Niantic (developers of Pokemon Go) are leading the way in advancing augmented reality technology, especially in their new proposed update.

Niantic plans to encourage users to create and upload 3D scans of real-world locations while they play Pokemon Go. With the incentive of unlocking “new kinds of planet-scale AR experiences”, avid Pokemon players will be helping develop the future of AR gameplay.

The Future of Augmented Reality

Given Niantic’s success, Big Tech companies are now in an arms race to see who can develop and execute this technology the fastest. Businesses such as Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, and Google are currently developing similar AR products. By using simultaneous localisation and mapping technology (SLAM), the companies can regularly scan and collect data about a user’s environment.

We consume new technologies very quickly, so it is easy to imagine a world where augmented reality is integrated into our everyday lives. However, there are growing concerns about pervasive augmented reality being used by big companies to create more targeted advertising. Other organisations have warned against these new technology developments with concerns over the potential influence on surveillance and control.

Using augmented reality in the classroom

It can be tempting to ignore this technology, given the potential threats or concerns on how it can be used for ‘evil’. However, there are many benefits and positives in using augmented reality into today’s educational setting.

While the new 3D scanning feature is yet to be implemented, the current game provides opportunities to build lesson plans around the game now. For example, in an English lesson, you may have primary students write a fact file on a certain pokemon. A Maths lesson may involve high school students measuring the distance travelled, defining speed, the area covered and so forth. There are numerous lesson plans relating to the app in computing, design technology, art, geography and PE classes.

For more inspiration on how you can create fun and engaging lessons using the latest technology check out our blog on the newest education tools.

To learn about more opportunities to integrate technology into the classroom, or if you are wanting to upskill your teachers to effectively use new tools in lesson plans, contact our friendly eStorm team at any time on 1300 378 676 or [email protected].

An update on our Apple Education Solution Partnership

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Here at eStorm, we have been working closely with Apple to provide the best solutions for our education partners. Recently, Apple refined the criteria to become an Apple Education Solution Specialist. We are excited to announce that we have continued to qualify as specialists in this field.

Why do we partner with Apple?

For over 40 years, Apple has been assisting educators to unlock student’s creative potential. Not only does Apple achieve this through powerful technology, but tools and curriculum that inspires and engages students. There is something unique about taking a device out of a box, plugging it in and being able to start using it straight away.

The Apple Education Solution Specialist criteria requires us to demonstrate an ability to assist schools from the inception of their Apple device initiative, all the way through to roll out. This also includes supporting IT departments and teachers, as well as school management along the way.

As an Apple Education Partner, we have been recognised for our work with educational institutions to provide tailored solutions for students and schools across Australia.

Specialised For You

Our team undertakes continual training to ensure our macOS and iOS technology knowledge is up-to-date. Under the Device Enrolment Program, we have access to tools to assist your school in implementing automate device enrolment through Apple School Manager. Such tools allow us to:
Assist Schools to automate device enrolment with Apple School Enrolment,
Manage student and staff devices with Mobile Device Management, and
Deploy devices to staff and students complete with Apple education tools such as Classroom and Classwork.

Understanding Your Needs

After working closely with schools in the past, we now understand that the needs of the schools are beyond just the device. We know the key to developing great programs is liaising closely with the leadership team, teachers and the community. To create a positive impact on teaching and learning, the eStorm team provides professional learning opportunities to incorporate content into the classroom. These include Apple Teacher, Everyone Can Code and Everyone Can Create.

Apple Authorised Service Provider Bonus

As an Authorised Service Provider, we can connect your school with the right devices that best enables your students to achieve their academic goals. By partnering with eStorm, we can offer education discounts for:

  • Faculty or staff members of public and private higher education institutions in Australia
  • Employees of public or private K–12 institutions in Australia
  • School board members who are currently serving as elected or appointed members in Australia
  • Parents and citizens/friends (P&C/P&F) executives currently serving as elected or appointed members in Australia
  • Qualifying homeschools in Australia
  • Employees of a public or private, profit or non-profit preschool in Australia.

Find out more about how partnering with eStorm as Apple Solution Experts can benefit your school today.

 

Microsoft Azure for Students: How To Prepare Students To Thrive In The Digital Economy

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As cloud and specifically distributed computing competencies are the #1 skill set needed most by organisations in 2018, according to LinkedIn, a long with Australia being in the top 4 nations for IoT readiness, there has never been a more integral time for students to think big, get creative and explore the development of digital applications and services.

Today’s students are tomorrow’s developers; Azure for Students, developed as part of a growing commitment to education in both the cloud and STEM classrooms, helps these students be successful future cloud developers regardless of the tools and technologies they pick. From learning a coding language to building new Artificial Intelligence experiences, students are now able to learn through a growing library of computer science labs and how-to-build docs.

Announced on March 1st, Azure for Students is designed specifically with student-focused cloud usage in mind and offers verified students full access to 25+ free Azure products, as well as a US$100 credit for use toward paid products with no credit card required.

estorm_azure_for_students

But what is Azure exactly?

Microsoft Azure is a comprehensive set of cloud services that developers and IT professionals use to build, deploy and manage applications through a global network of data centres. Integrated tools, DevOps and a marketplace support the efficient building of anything from simple mobile apps to Internet-scale solutions.

Azure for developers

As Azure integrates tools from mobile DevOps to serverless computing, as well as supporting a range of operating systems, programming languages, frameworks, databases and devices, you are able to get your apps to market faster while using tools and open-source technologies you already know.

  • Continuously innovate and provide high quality apps
  • Provide cross-device experiences with support for all major mobile platforms
  • Run any stack – Linux-based or Windows-based – and use advanced capabilities such as Kubernetes cluster in Azure Container Service

The consistent hybrid cloud

With Azure, you get the freedom to build and deploy wherever you want using the tools, applications and frameworks of your choice. Azure allows you to connect data and apps in the cloud, as well as locally, for maximum portability and value from existing investments. Azure also offers hybrid consistency in application development, management and security and identity management.

Building intelligent apps

Take advantage of Azure data services and artificial intelligence to create new experiences that scale. and support deep learning, data-driven intelligent apps, HPC simulations and real-time analytics on any shape and size of data.

  • Develop breakthrough apps with built-in AI
  • Build and deploy custom AI models at scale
  • Combine the best of Microsoft and open-source data and AI innovations

The trusted cloud

Trusted by 90% of Fortune 500 companies, the Microsoft Cloud provides security, privacy, transparency and the most compliance coverage of any cloud provider.

  • Achieve global scale on a network of managed data centres
  • Detect and mitigate threats

Some Microsoft Azure benefits:

  • Using an open and flexible platform: Azure supports the broadest selection of operating systems, programming languages, frameworks, tools, databases and devices.
  • Extend your existing IT: easily integrate with your existing IT environment through the largest network of secure private connections, hybrid database and storage solutions, and data residency and encryption features.
  • Scale as you need, pay as you go: Azure’s pay-as-you-go services can quickly scale up or down to match demand, so you only pay for what you use.
  • Protect your data: We know some organizations are still wary of the cloud and that is why Microsoft has made an industry-leading commitment to the protection and privacy of your data.
  • Run your apps anywhere: Azure runs on a worldwide network of Microsoft-managed data centres across 19 regions.
  • Make smarter decisions: Make smarter decisions, improve customer service and uncover new business possibilities from your structured, unstructured and streaming ‘Internet of Things’ data.
  • Rely on a trusted cloud: From small dev-test projects to global product launches, Azure is engineered to handle any workload. More than 57 percent of Fortune 500 companies rely on Azure.

Learn more about how Microsoft Azure can help your business.

If you’d like any further information about Microsoft Azure, assistance with your IT needs or you simply don’t know where to start – please feel free to call us on (07) 3120 0640 or email us at [email protected] We’re here to help.

Sphero Edu + Swift Playgrounds

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Introducing the Sphero Arcade

Code, the universal language of technology that powers everything around us. As technology continues to evolve and play a huge part of our daily lives, programming skills are becoming more and more essential. Apple thinks everyone should have the opportunity to create something that can change the world, so they designed the Swift language, which lets anyone easily learn, write, and teach code.

At the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in 2016, Apple announced Swift Playgrounds, a revolutionary app for the iPad that makes learning the Swift language interactive and fun for all learners. Swift Playground is essentially a video game that teaches kids how to code using Apple’s Swift programming language. The interface allows you see what you’re creating with code as you write it ,  type your code on the left and immediately see the result on the right. Earlier in 2017, the Sphero Edu team partnered with Apple to build the first integrated Playground content designed to control real world robots. Thanks to this new partnership, you can now program real world robots including Sphero’s very own SPRK+.

Sphero Arcade Playground 

In this arcade-style playground, you can recreate classic games with a Sphero SPRK+ robot while learning the basics of game design. You’ll build your very own robotic renditions of some famous games like Pong, Bop It, and Pac-Man. Each game uses Sphero in a different way such as rolling on the floor, detecting gestures, or using Sphero as a joystick.

$6M in STEM funds

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Australian preschools are about to find out if they have been selected for a new $6 million STEM program. The play-based science, technology, engineering and maths program will be piloted at 100 preschools in 2018.

STEM will be formally introduced to young children using apps that “go beyond the screen” to encourage active play that supports exploring location, patterns and problem solving. Preschools selected to take part in the pilot will be announced this month. The Early Learning STEM Australia (ELSA) pilot, spearheaded by the University of Canberra, is being welcomed by early education experts.

“The apps will introduce STEM principles through play, on and off the screen, providing educators with an opportunity to enhance play with learning experiences,” says Professor Lowrie, from the University of Canberra STEM Education Research Centre.

The program aims to build children’s inquiry, experiment, observation and reasoning skills. Studies show STEM subjects will play a vital role for future employment even for preschoolers. A Future of Work: Setting Kids up for Success report, published in 2016 by the Regional Australia Institute, states that “to remain competitive in the 2030 job market, one in two Australians will need skills in programming and software development, as well as an ability to build digital technology”.

Virtual Reality Changes Medical Education

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With skills shortages and budget cuts, the healthcare sector has seen significant changes in its delivery model in the last few years.

A new initiative in the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles wants to solve this problem by building an intelligent and responsive Virtual Reality training application with real-life emergency trauma situations.

Rather than using mannequins ,  the traditional method for such training  the  students can now wear Oculus VR headsets and experience emergency care scenarios in a virtual environment that looks and feels like a real-life scenario.

The VR simulation is compatible with Oculus Rift headset and Touch controllers. It is designed not only for consumer applications but also for social and enterprise training for healthcare and beyond.

The reality is that there are some lifesaving procedures in emergency medicine that you rarely perform, but must always be ready to perform in a split second.

One such a procedure is known as cricothyrotomy, which involves making an incision into a specific area of patient’s neck and inserting a plastic tube through a thin membrane into the trachea—requires accuracy and speed, and can be lifesaving if performed correctly, but deadly if not completed in a timely or improper fashion. Other life-saving skills including intubation, central line and intraosseous catheter placement also require practice and repetition in order to save lives.

Over the past decade, there has been an explosion in the use of simulation medicine to help physicians gain preparation for performing lifesaving procedures as well as approaching delicate or difficult situations related to patient care.

The idea is that the medical students will be able to practice under realistic workplace pressures and conditions within the virtual world so that they are better prepared in real-life situations.

Minecraft: Education Edition and Coding

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The latest new feature in Minecraft: Education Edition makes it possible for students to learn how to code while playing the game.

Known as Code Builder, the feature is ]available now in beta for Minecraft: Education Edition. Code Builder is a tool that shows up in the game as a robot. Users can interact with the game through the robot using the learn-to-code platforms such as Tynker, Scratch and MakeCode.

The feature isn’t limited to those introductory platforms — Becker added that “you can go as far as you want with the tools that we provide in Code Builder.” For instance, people who know JavaScript can code directly in that language without the in-game robot.

Minecraft: Education Edition is open to students, teachers and staff at K-12 schools, colleges, universities, libraries, museums and other qualifying institutions. It is available on Windows 10 and Mac OS

Apple Coding for Kids

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Coding is as essential to our kids’ education as all the mainstream lessons our children participate in at school. Now more than ever tech leaders and IT Coding Organisations are touting the importance of the skill in students emerging into higher learning and the workforce. The journey must start early and embedding these skills into early learning will prepare students for the future.Learning how to create the stuff on which our modern society runs will ready future generations to make the things that the rest of us will use.

Tynker, a company that creates self-paced and school-based coding lessons for kids, has partnered up with Apple’s Everyone Can Code program to provide two new courses for students in Kindergarten to 5th grade. The free curriculum available via the free iTynker iPad app — is also integrated across two new curriculum modules for teachers in iBooks.

Explain Everything App

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Explain Everything is a whiteboard and screencasting app that makes creating interactive lessons simple. Its full-featured editing options and its import/export functions allow it to stand apart from the other competitors. Explain Everything app’s have an educational focus, adaptability, and user engagement that makes it the best  of its kind.

When you open the Explain Everything app, you first tap “New Project” and choose a blank screen or import photos, documents, and other material from various sources. Teachers can import PDF, PPT, DOC, XLS, Keynote, and RTF files from Evernote, Dropbox, Box, Google Drive, WebDAV, email, and iTunes. Users can also export the final product as an MP4 movie, PDF file, PNG image, or XPL project file.

On the left side of the screen, you’ll see a self-explanatory panel of tools, including a pointing device to highlight portions of each slide with an arrow or a red dot. Other options include the drawing tool, eraser, and text box. The white area of each slide allows for infinite presentation space, as all content can be scaled and cropped as needed.

At the bottom of the screen is a record button that allows you to capture the slide creation process step by step, and you can narrate the content as it appears. You can also embed video from your device, YouTube, etc. to help explain the content. Alternatively, you can use the front camera of your device to record video of yourself explaining each slide.

Find below a link for creating a historical timeline.

Revolutionising staff learning and development

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Throughout any organisation’s life cycle, there will be a need to invest in some aspect of training and development. Whether your business requires staff upskilling, leadership coaching or altering staff habits, learning and development is something every business requires at some stage. As human resource-intensive as learning and development can be, the progression of technology has provided opportunities to be smarter and more creative in the way we engage staff. High speed internet, video streaming, social media and handheld devices have completely altered the way we can present learning.

An example of a fantastic use for virtual reality (VR) in the educational / enterprise space is a smartphone app for public speaking training. What better way to help address your public speaking fears than place you in a virtual room with a virtual audience? This is the promise of the SpeechCentre VR app, available on the Samsung Gear VR. Using the app, individuals can practise speaking to a virtual audience while moving around a room and getting a sense for the types of distractions that might happen while they are on a real-life stage.

Another popular method is online training tailored to your specific business. Online training ensures employees always remember what they’ve learned. By delivering on-screen, contextual guidance that allows your employees to learn and perform better and faster. Online learning tailored for your business  can shorten training times, reduce the learning curve, increase productivity, provide in house support, effective and strategic knowledge delivery, assist in monitoring staff capability and standardise business processes. Most importantly delivering training online is cost effective.

Delivery can be as simple as using Google forms right through to Learning Management Systems and in-house developed Apps. I think apps will eventually create a unique position in the training methods of corporates. Given the unique advantages, they may soon become trusted assistants of every employee in the workplace. They will eventually replace a lot of varied tools, manuals, charts, technical support, calculators and so much more. Perhaps making the mobile computing and communication device the only tool you need.