[Still updating details of this post, quite a lot I had written down and lost]
In 2018 we spent the holidays in the village at our family home along the Maggi Highway, Makana Dobu. A lot has changed back home and although much of the land still looks the same there are a few homes up now and the community is growing bigger each year.
A few of the homes now have solar lighting but the usual setup a single 20W panel, one or two lights and a 12V battery. Just recently we had power poles erected and electricity brought in through a New Zealand government funded (have to confirm this) project. Before this project this was the off-grid setup we had at home.
Our house had the following equipment:
65 Amp battery - 12 volt
100W Solar Panel
50W Solar Panel
Lights:
2W x2
8W x4
10W spotlights x2
Charge controller x1 rating 10Amps
max panel 100W panel
for >100W panel you need at least 15-20 Amps rating controllers.
The final setup on paper...
This was a draft on paper of how things were setup in the house.
Calculations:
65 Amps / HourX12V= 780 Watts/Hour
Everything depends on the load of appliances connected and used in an hour or so.
Formula
100W solar panel divided by 18 volts = 5.56 Amps
(18 V, Nominal output / max output if sun is strong)
5.56 Amps x no. of sun hours.
E.g. 5.56 A x 8 hours of sun = approx. 40 W total power.
Therefore, it depends on the sun (the hours of sunlight you get).
100W is able to give you 40amps in 8 hours of direct sunlight.
Have you ever seen some whiteboard animated videos that bring the message intended to come alive simply by using animation? I used to be fascinated at how they are able to do this and what skill level it would require to even do one. Well guess what, over the years, various tools and apps have been developed that anybody these days could come up with cool whiteboard animations all with the click of a button. Easier said than done as it really does take a bit of time and practice.
Here is several proprietary whiteboard animation software that you may find on the market.
While millennials were introduced to technology relatively early on in their lives, Gen Z don’t know life without it. Since social media and Google have been at their fingertips, students are used to instant information and teaching themselves anything they want to know with YouTube.
With that in mind, students often expect instant results from teachers and find it much easier to learn from video than they do books. While this shift might take a bit of adjustment, it’s a great opportunity for teachers and students to develop their video skills.(2020, Educator’s guide to using animated video in and out of the classroom)
What is VideoScribe?
VideoScribe is the name of the software for creating whiteboard animations automatically.
It is easy (trust me after several attempts), quick, and pretty inexpensive also for a very powerful and resource-rich tool. It was launched in 2012 by UK company Sparkol. After only two years on the market, it had more than 250,000 users in 135 countries around the world. It has remained since as a very popular whiteboard animation tool that is used for instructional videos to advertisements.
I first downloaded a trial copy of this application back in 2016 and have been teaching myself how to use it by watching tutorials online and of course trying my hands at making short instructional videos. It really does require a bit of practice for those without any previous knowledge of using similar tools.
Here is the link to download a 1 week free trial. You may purchase the single user license for $14/month (approx. K50 monthly). Best option would be to get a team license (in an educational setting) as more members would mean less cost.
Since then I have learnt a few things about the tool and have managed to create a few short whiteboard animations to explain some basic concepts for my classes.
The fun part is the learning process. I've learnt to create a script first, organize what I like to call assets (images, text, transition, timing etc) in the script. Once you have this laid out then you can record and do the voice-over.
Here are some sample videos I have created. (Please note they are the results of my 'learn-driving' this application :). I am still learning to do this properly.)
The first video was probably my first explaining the different route types.
An explanation on the purpose of DHCP. (You can hear the famous Madang Flying Foxes chirping away in the background. DWU is home to many of these flying foxes)
Quick introductory to EtherChannels
The purpose of PPP
Hope this will inspire you to try out VideoScribe or even the other apps listed above.
Comment below if you use a different tool that achieves a similar or better result. Also let me know if you would like me to do a video tutorial on VideoScribe.
A sample video of the many videos I have done and put up on Youtube for my classes. Note that this is the only second video I have listed as 'public' with the DWU logo. All these videos for my classes with the DWU logo are 'unlisted' so only students have access to them. I do not monetize these videos and they are the property of DWU (by contractual agreement ).
Note: I don't have the best tools nor do I have the best room space/setup but I make the most of what I have.
I download non-copyright music for the background from tons of sites online.
(Mind you several of my videos have landed me on copyright strikes because music downloaded and used without permission, so be careful when you use music from online and upload to Youtube)
For
us in PNG, online teaching may already be complementing face-to-face
classes for some while others may be still planning on implementing it.
We at DWU have already begun preparing and others have started teaching online. Among the plethora of tech tools available to achieve this you also have
the pedagogy, one of them being the use of online discussion forums.
Made even more popular through the many groups and pages on social media
platforms that encourage this.
Flower Darby, the author, highlights six simple ways to foster meaningful conversations in an online forum:
Take part in the discussion.
But be strategic about your participation.
The better the question, the better the debate.
Ask students to write about something they find naturally interesting — like themselves.
Structure the online conversation.
Aim for organic, authentic conversation.
Read the article to find out more.
I really do not use discussion forums a lot in my online classes however when I do use them the participation in the conversation is not very encouraging in my opinion. Not a lot of my students respond to the discussion question. Even if they respond, the response is light and does not carry much thought in it to further discuss the point. Perhaps I too need to take into consideration a few of this pointers.
What is your take on this and how do you use discussion forums?
