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  For the innovation badge I went to Edge at the Library. I have never been to the Edge or even heard of it. The Edge offers 3D printing and different forms of virtual reality. I have heard about 3D printing, and have seen videos of it on social media, but I have never seen it actually happen. 3D printing allows someone to download an image of what they want printed, send it to the 3D printer, and the 3D printer will print the image three-dimensional. This would be a great way for students to be able to experience something in the palm of their hand. An example could be a cell. You could print a photo of a cell and be able to learn more about it in front of you. Virtual reality was something that is really cool. I got to participate in Google Earth. I was able to travel all around the world and see what each town, city, or country was like. This is something that would be awesome to have in a classroom. You can use this is so many different ways. You could use the virtual reality to travel to different parts of the world to possibly have a better understanding of their culture or where they are from. These are both awesome things that could better a classroom, although the cost is a big factor that limits everyone to have these in the classroom.

When I attended the workshop at the innovation hub I was so happy that they told us we would be carving wood through burning it. We had to complete a quiz and then proceed to the computer where we plugged in all the information needed to tell the machine what to carve. After we pressed print the machine did the work for us and began to cut the wood to our desired manner. This is relevant to my future career because it proves that there really is no limit to the learning process. Students can do all sorts of fun, engaging, and educational activities that are not your typical cutting paper and gluing it onto another piece of paper. I loved this opportunity and appreciated the use of technology in the process. 

Today some of my classmates and I attended an innovation hub where we learned how to use a universal laser cutter. Before we could work with the machine we had to watch a short tutorial on how to work the machine and create a coaster. Once we were done watching the video we had to take a short quiz and get a 100%. Then we got to work with the laser cutter. We created our design on the computer and created a coaster. The first trial did not go so well. We missed a step and had to redo the design. However, the second time around the coasters came out better, not perfect, but better. I really did enjoy doing this innovation hub. As a future teacher, not only can I teach my students how to pay close attention to steps in an assignment, but i can also teach them how to go back and make sure they fully understand the concept and are paying attention. This is also good for team building skills in the classroom because students have to learn to work together.

I went to a session called Beyond OUr Walls. It discussed the Linda Hall library in Kansas City, and how it is a strictly print library which also focuses on literature in Science, Technology and Engineering. Researchers are able to go to this library and read things that only are available at this location. People from universities are able to come and learn more about whatever field of study they prefer and its relation to either Science, Technology, Engineering. The person giving the lecture, works in the library and talked about how important it is to them to keep the on going trend of only print things because books and journals lose appeal and personality when they are on an electronic device. They lose some of the meaning because they are unable to really get a feel for what the literature is.

On March 30 at 12pm, I attended the innovation workshop DH Brown Bag: Creating Videos for Teaching, Learning, and Research at the library EDGE. From what I read online it was teaching about how to create videos for teaching, learning, and research. I did not know what to expect or what sort of videos would be discussed.

The workshop was pretty informal and I was the only undergraduate student. There were about 7 people in attendance, most of whom were professors here at OU. They were very interested in the fact that I am Elementary Education and asked me many questions about what sort of technology we have learned about as well as what we have learned about creating videos. 

The instructor of the workshop, William Farrell, of the Center for Teaching Excellence, talked about the basics of creating videos using resources available here. The main topic of the workshop was about the concept of professors recording their lectures in a video for students to view. I learned just how many tools and resources we have in the library and in Norman for creating videos. I was given a tour of the sound/video recording studio that is available to undergraduate students. This is very helpful to know about because we have created videos in class and I may have to do so in other classes in the future. William Farrell as well as another woman Tara Carlisle were really interested in the idea of having education students take a field trip to visit the faculty recording studio. 

There are many important things to consider when creating a video for students to view such as length, including lively visuals, pausing when speaking, and keeping it informal. I also learned how to maintain ADA compliance, which is very important. I learned how to create a script for these videos with one side showing what you'll say and the other with what is shown. The Center for Teaching Excellence provides a really cool resource where for a low cost, faculty may record these videos and they will help edit them. We also talked about green screens in the recording studio which was interesting because we just learned about this in class!
 
As a teacher, I like the idea of incorporating technology in the classroom through the use of videos. In class, we have learned about apps such as Seesaw in which we can communicate with students and parents at home. With this knowledge of creating videos from the workshop, I may be able to create videos for students to view at home for extra practice and instruction. I really enjoyed this innovation workshop and learning about the resources available on campus and how I can apply this to my future as a teacher.

I went to The Edge in the Biz to see what sort of interesting and innovative technology they had to offer. They gave me a brief tour and explanation of their many resources, including a laser cutter, 3-D printer, and multiple VR headsets, among other molding and creative applications and tools. 

Unfortunately, the 3-D printer (what I was hoping to use, and will likely go back to experience at some point) was already in use by someone else, but they did let me mess around with the VR headsets for a while. I found the technology fascinating. My previous experience with VR is very limited, so it was very cool to see the full functional capability of the rapidly growing technology. I watched a short horror film about a sentient robot that was programmed to love, but whose family he served stopped loving him. He now murders people hoping to instead "fix" them and be loved again.

Existentialism and AI moral dilemmas aside, this experience spoke to me strongly as a future English teacher. With this technology, my students could put themselves in the role of a main character, and visualize plot from within a story, or even take a virtual tour "walking" around the Globe Theatre. The possibilities are endless. 

I went to the EDGE office in the library. When I walked in there was something being 3D printed, a woman shooting a bow and arrow with a virtual reality set, and people directing and helping her. The assistants in the office showed me a few virtual reality programs they had on the computers. The first one I tried was a game similar to Mario Brothers, the second was a short horror film, and the third was a tour of Europe. I have played with augmented reality apps before but did not expect anything like what I experienced with virtual reality. Virtual reality allowed me to really be in the game, the torture room, and Europe. I think virtual reality will be extremely relevant in my future career. Traveling is extremely expensive but is something that the students could do with a virtual reality experience. The students would feel like they were actually in Europe and could walk the streets of Paris. A virtual reality experience would be a great aspect to even a cultural lesson where the students were able to see how diverse France is (similar to the United States but in a much smaller country). I look forward to using virtual reality experiences in my classroom with my students. 

For the Innovation badge I went to the Edge at the library to learn more about 3D printing and virtual reality. I learned about 3D printing was, because up to this point I had absolutely no idea. It's really cool because you can download an image or something that you want printed and then send it to the 3D printer and it will create a three-dimensional object. I think that this would be something really cool to use at your school (if your school could afford technology like that) and it would be a good way for your students to create something and then turn it into an actual object. The virtual reality headsets were amazing, I have never experienced anything like it. It is so interactive and makes you feel like you are actually doing a certain activity or exploring a particular place.  I think that the possibilities for using virtual reality headsets in your class could be endless. For example, at the Edge in the library they had a variety of different things you could interact with such as different building types for architecture or exploring different parts of the anatomy. Curriculum wise there would be so many different options for your classroom. The only problem with these two technology tools is the cost. I don't know how realistic or affordable it would be to have a virtual reality headset or a 3D printer in your classroom. I do believe that if these tools were easily accessible for your students it would be a great addition to the classroom.

I learned about the process of 3D printing, which was super cool. It's not as complex as I thought it was. I had a one on one tutorial because I was just a walk in. I spent about an hour just hanging out and talking with the staff, learning about how they do things. It was so fun! I want to go back with my brother and show him all the stuff he can do! And it's free! What! So cool. The staff showed me their programs and their machines and asked if i wanted to make something, so I made a little keychain for Mother's Day coming up. They designed it on their computer for me, which only took a few minutes and then it took twelve minutes to print! The staff lady shared a lot of really great resources I can use for kids. My favorite was sketchfab which is a website of a bunch of 3D models that have been printed with annotations on them for mini lessons or fun facts! It's organized by topic too. I thought this would be a really cool thing to do with my kids one day. The staff even told me that they let elementary classes come in and look at the machines. They can even design their own creations on different websites she gave me and come pick them up! How fun!

Alternative Textbook Information Session.
In this session, we learned about a program that gives grants to OU professors to have free textbooks for their classroom. These textbooks are written by professors to directly address the information taught in their class so that there is not unnecessary information that the students are reading. This program also offers grants from $250-$2,500 so that the professor and students do not have to pay any money. He told us about one Chemistry class he helped where the books cost $300, but through this program, they were able to get their classroom textbooks for free. Also, these books are written in a way where copyright rules are very loose so that other professors can edit the text to fit their classroom. When they do this, they are not violating any copyright laws which I found very interesting. Personally, I would not be comfortable with someone taking my text and making it their own, but I do like the general idea of this program. As a future educator, it is beneficial for me to learn about programs such as this. If I am in a Title 1 school, I could look into programs like this for my classroom if we are short on books. It reminded me of Donor’s Choice. It is good to know about different grant opportunities as a teacher because we are so limited on classroom recourses as it is. Knowing about programs where we can get textbooks for free can open many learning opportunities to our students.

I went to the Edge in the library to learn how to make models to 3D print.  I used a program called sketchup, it's a free 3D model program. Its a little confusing at first, but after a little bit you start to get the hang of it. There was a bowl of miscellaneous 3D printed objects on the table and two of the objects were topographical maps, which could be useful for a geography class.  It would be very useful for an engineering or shop class. Patrick, the guy who was helping me, had used sketchup to design speaker shelves for his room. I actually went home and downloaded it so I could play around with it more.

I went to a workshop at the Library EDGE on March 25th. The workshop was an Alternative Textbook Grant Information session. The only people that ended up attending the workshop was Brooke and I so the session was very informal and not too lengthy. At first, the speaker seemed very confused as to why Brooke and I were there. We explained that we had learned about alternative textbooks in our technology class and were attending the session to learn more about the opportunities that OU provides regarding alternative textbooks. The speaker explained to us how the Alternative Textbook Grants work at OU and its successes in the past. OU has saved almost a million dollars from alternative textbooks, so this idea is becoming more and more beneficial to students and parents. He explained that last year, eleven people received funding through this grant and this year there are currently 14 applicants. The application closes on Friday. The speaker showed us how to access the alternative textbooks on the library website and had some physical books for us to look through. As a future teacher, I can use this in many ways. I can find alternative textbooks that have already been made to use and edit for my own classroom. Furthermore, if I am interested and have the funding, I now know the basics of how an alternative textbook is created, shared, and used. I am glad that I went to this workshop and feel more educated about alternative textbooks!