# Week 1.

# Maker culture in education.

# Summary and core material

# Assignment

Open and get acquaintance with your online platform (opens new window) following these instructions (opens new window)
Fill "About me" page talking about yourself and about your teaching environment (the environment where you usually teach).
- Publish it online as explained in the previous instructions.
Create a video (< 3 min>) using any app or online platform explaining:
- Who you are?
- Show your classroom or space.
- What do your students like about you as a teacher?
- Share your philosophy about making, digital fabrication and technology in education.
- Present a personal object that connects with the maker movement
Upload the video to any platform and link in your About me page.
Go to Discord and say hello!

# Tasks in the Fab Lab

Setup the documentation environment with the help of your instructor
Explore different digital fabrication processes available in your lab (laser cutter, vinyl cutting, 3D printer). No need to go into specifics just observe the different machines working and reflect on possibilities
Discuss with your instructor on policies and safety rules in your lab.

# Asynchronous content

# Examples of manipulatives and other learning tools created using Digital Fabrication

CAD Library (opens new window). Peer reviewed DF files and learning resources for use in the classroom
SCOPESdf.org (opens new window) -opensource lesson repository for df in education (mostly df WITH kids)
Back to School 3D files (opens new window) video and links for 3D printable files for use in the classroom
We Are Teachers (opens new window) -80 3D models for classroom use

# Digital Fabrication processes

Presentation of main digital fabrication processes at Fab Lab.
Video presentation (opens new window) of main digital fabrication processes at Fab Lab.
Introduction to 3D Printing (opens new window)
Introduction to Laser cutting (opens new window)

# Setting up your online platform.

Video Tutorial (opens new window).
Tutorials for different static site generator. TBD

# Tools for compressing video / image.

Our publication platform limits the size of the files that you can upload. You need to be careful on the size of the images and videos you upload. If they are very big you should compress and diminish the resolution.

Images: The resolution of the images for a blog, should not be bigger than 1200x800 with a recommended aspect ratio of 3:2. Only when you want to make images full screen, image size should be 1920x1080. In addition you should use a compression format: either .jpg for photos or .png for screenshots. In the case of the jpgs you can reduce the size of the image modifying its compression rate. Increasing the compression rate, file size is smaller but the quality of the image is worst. In the case of pngs, you can compress the image without loosing information. The following software can be used to reduce the image sizes:

Gimp (opens new window): Versatile open source source to work with raster images. It is the free equivalent to photoshop.
FastStone Photo Resizer (opens new window): An image converter that allows to convert, resize, crop, add watermarks ... to a bulk of images (multiple images at the same time). Works only on Windows.
Canva (opens new window): Online design platform for creating visual content.

Videos: Videos, if they are not correctly compressed, they could occuppy lot of space. It is easy to reduce a video of 300 - 400 MB to just 20-30 MB using proper compression. In general for the Web you should use a resolution of 1920x1080, the format recommended is .mp4 wqhile the compression codec is H264. If you want to compress video using:

Handbrake (opens new window) Multiplatform and versatile tool to convert multiple formats of video.
Canva (opens new window): Online design platform for creating visual content.

# Additional material

Excerpt from "Digital Fabrication and Making in Education (opens new window): The Democratization of Invention". This is a short excerpt from a longer academic article by Paulo Blikstein in three parts:
- Dewey, Papert, and Freier: Theoretical Pillars for Digital Fabrication and "Making" in Education
- Why do we need Digital Fabrication Labs in Schools?
- The Keychain Syndrome, or the Temptations of Trivialization
TPACK framework (opens new window). Depth explanation of the framework covered during the lecture.
Invent to Learn. Making, Tinkering, and Engineering in the Classroom. (opens new window)Sylvia Libow Martinez & Gary Stager. Interesting book that covers how to integrate making in education.