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Guest Interview on MakerCast, the Podcast for Makers

maker

I recently had a great conversation with Jon Berard, the host of the MakerCast podcast. If you’re interested, take a listen to my MakerCast Interview.

To say that Bill Van Loo is multi-talented would be underselling things. Though Bill has switched careers several times over, he is coming up on a decade of teaching. Bill works as a technology and engineering teacher at A2STEAM, a public K-8 school in Ann Arbor, MI. In his personal life, Bill is a photographer, musician, lifetime learner, and maker. This interview with Bill covers a range of topics, including:

– STEM/STEAM programs and their role in eliminating the Skills Gap

– Integrating different domains, especially engineering and the arts

– Learning from failure (and being willing to fail)

– Taking pleasure from small successes

– The evolution of technology, education, and technology education

– The role of community in the learning process

MakerCast Interview with Bill Van Loo

Sign up for my MACUL workshop on March 18, 2015!

teaching

I’m delighted to announce that I will be leading a pre-conference workshop at the 2015 MACUL conference in Detroit, Michigan. My workshop, on Wednesday, March 18, 2015, is focused on documenting and sharing project-based learning.

http://maculconference.org/preconference-workshops/

Full STEAM Ahead: Projects to Build and Share

8:30 AM – 12:00 PM  –  Cobo Center
Bill VanLoo, Teacher, Ann Arbor STEAM at Northside, Ann Arbor Public Schools

Come make and document hands-on projects from the STEAM content areas! A special focus will be learning tools and techniques for documenting your work; options for mobile devices (Android and iOS), Web tools, and cameras will be explored in detail. Finally, you’ll discover methods for efficiently sharing your work online. Bring your favorite tool for capturing photos and videos.

Working through some audio tests

maker

I spent a little time tonight running audio tests with my new Audio-Technica wired lavalier mic plugged into my camera. I’m using a Canon T3i with the ATR3350 lavalier mic.

After listening to the recordings of the AT lav mic and testing iMovie’s noise reduction, it doesn’t bode that well for the little, inexpensive lav (it’s about $25, so no harm done).

While the lav mic sounds more full, it’s got a really high noise floor (lots of background hiss). Since I don’t care much for how iMovie handles its “reduce background noise” feature (it introduces a lot of weird artifacts; full of pumping audio, garbled sounds, and generally underwater-sounding audio), that’s not good. I may do a more full set of audio tests in the future; I’m not sure if this little mic is going to make the cut for my audio/video production needs.