<\/a>
\nClasses start on 29 August which, for those not near a calendar, is just under two weeks away. One of my courses this semester is a Computer Graphics course. This isn’t my area, but no one else here has any more background so it’s fallen in my lap when we’ve done it. Because no one here’s really active in this area we haven’t done it all that often; I’ve taught three or four such courses in the 15 years I’ve been here, and the last time was something like 6 years ago. But there’s high student interest, so once again into the breach.<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\nAnd so, just days before the course is set to begin, I discover (entirely<\/em> by accident) blender<\/a>. I’m not sure what role it would have in the course (we’re going to focus more on how you would implement<\/em> something like blender than on how to use it), but it would have been nice to have a little time to play with it and think about how it might have fit in. Ugh.<\/p>\n

For those who, like me, know not the wonders of blender, it’s a pretty darn spiffy looking open source 3D modeling and animation tool. The image above came from their gallery<\/a>, and I definitely recommend this fun little movie<\/a> from their movies page<\/a>. It looks kind of like the wondrous POV-Ray<\/a>, but with neat modelling tools built in. Nice stuff.<\/p>\n

And of course the first student I mention it to is all “Oh, yeah, I have that on my computer”. Which raises the question of why I didn’t canvas the students for tool ideas last Spring, especially since they are way<\/em> more on top of graphics than I am. Humph.<\/p>\n

Will I ever learn? Sadly, I have my doubts…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Classes start on 29 August which, for those not near a calendar, is just under two weeks away. One of my courses this semester is a Computer Graphics course. This isn’t my area, but no one else here has any more background so it’s fallen in my lap when we’ve done it. Because no one … Continue reading “How come this always happens?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-computing","category-education"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p90sy-3v","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":478,"url":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/2007\/02\/19\/its-hard-for-us-old-folks-to-get-it-or-teach-it\/","url_meta":{"origin":217,"position":0},"title":"It’s hard for us old folks to get it (or teach it)","author":"Nic McPhee","date":"19 Feb 07","format":false,"excerpt":"John Naughton had a nice column in The Observer last month about the chronic problems with IT courses for kids. There had been a plan for a new required exam in information and communication technology (ICT) for 14 year olds in the UK, but enthusiasm for the requirement has waned\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Computing"","block_context":{"text":"Computing","link":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/category\/computing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Four heads are better than one","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm1.static.flickr.com\/100\/279625345_412cdf3ef2_m.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1078,"url":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/2009\/08\/22\/study-finds-on-line-education-beats-classroom-but-what-does-that-mean\/","url_meta":{"origin":217,"position":1},"title":"Study finds on-line education beats classroom, but what does that mean?","author":"Nic McPhee","date":"22 Aug 09","format":false,"excerpt":"A recent study for the Department of Education (NY Times piece; full 93-page PDF report) performed a meta-analysis of 99 students over the past 12 years, and found that students in on-line courses did slightly, but statistically significantly, better than those in traditional classrooms. 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