Posts by Betsy:
Open-source Flash game show maker
Click on the screenshot to check out an example game show. You'll need the latest Flash player to see it.
I finished making my second Flash application for the DCDC! (My first is here.) My goals were as follows:
- Create a Jeopardy-style game that instructors could use in a synchronous environment (such as Elluminate, Dimdim, or a face-to-face classroom).
- Make the application accessible to instructors. This means that instructors shouldn’t need to know how to use Adobe Flash or even own a copy of Flash to be able to create a quiz and customize its appearance. I achieved this by linking all text and colors to an XML file, which can be edited using any text editor.
- Make the application open and freely available. The application is published under the BSD, and the accompanying instructions are published under a Creative Commons license (BY/NC/SA).
All three goals accomplished! And here is the DCDC Game Show Maker as a .zip file. The file includes instructions on how to use it, which I hope are clear. Please comment below on how the application and the instructions could be improved! Or email me, or send me a tweet.
I learned a lot from the first application that I applied to this one, so I think this second one is much more cleanly written. And I know I can do an even better job on my next try. Any suggestions for what to tackle? What kinds of games do you wish you could play in your online classes (as a student, teacher, or whatever)?
A caveat and a request: I tested this, of course, and everything seems to work fine for me. But I am a new programmer, and I probably didn’t anticipate what YOU are about to do with it. Please let me know about the problems you run into so that I can fix them. Or even better, send me a new version that includes the fixes and improvements you’ve made. That’s one of the great things about open source, right? (I will probably be updating the .zip file as my colleagues work with it, too – check back here!)
UH Foundation update: All is forgiven!
The squeaky wheel gets the grease – proven true once more. After my public call-out of the UH Foundation for their questionable research ethics, I got this email from the Controller of the Foundation: Dear Betsy, I am sorry to hear that you are not pleased with the Foundation’s actions. I would like to clarify […]
Research ethics FAIL: UH Foundation
I applied for and was awarded a grant for $645 in April 2008, and I have yet to receive the funds. Beyond the money, however, I am upset about the complete ethical FAIL on the part of the foundation that awarded the grant. This grant is from the ‘Oihana Maika’i Fund, which is administered by […]
Resume design
I’m looking for a job. I’ll be begging you for job leads soon enough (after I know where I’m moving to), but here’s what I’ve been absorbing: I’ve seen many blog posts and tweets recently about how to get a job using social media such as LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. (For example, there’s this Lifehacker […]
More tools for displaying data
I’ve been on a chart-making kick lately, somewhat like Lisa Simpson – it’s good geeky fun to make graphs using Web 2.0 tools! I found out about Rich Chart Live from Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day. The chart I made (using invented data) is above. Reload the page if you didn’t see the animation […]
I can has Venn diagram?
Last week, I wanted to create a Venn diagram to visually represent data in a study. One of my colleagues (who shall remain nameless unless he chooses to reveal himself) recommended that I try out GraphJam. So, I visited the site, and I found that it was intuitive and even fun to make a simple, […]
CALICO 2009: Fun, informative, and productive
The past three days (Thursday, Friday, and Saturday), I was attending the Computer Assisted Language Consortium (CALICO) conference in Tempe, Arizona. It’s the first time that I’ve attended CALICO, although I’ve been interested in it for a while. It’s also the largest conference that I’ve ever presented at or attended – there were about 350 […]
Shocked to find that I’ve been published
No, it wasn’t plargiarism. It was merely an utter lack of communication from the editor of HITESOL The Word. On January 2, 2009, I submitted a manuscript to the editor. I had received no communciation in return by yesterday, March 8, 2009, so when I ran across a journal that the topic seemed perfect for, […]
Paper frogs
I work with an amazing group of people who have a wide variety of skills. Two of these people are Patrick Nakamura and Nathan Hutchinson, and one of their amazing skills is photography. They took a series of photos of some origami frogs that I folded, and one of my favorites is above. I may […]
Presentations – PowerPoint = Prezi
PowerPoint slides are boring, as we all know. However, at conferences, they are difficult to escape because of the lack of alternatives. This is the perfect opening for Prezi, a new kind of presentation tool. You can zoom in and out of different text and graphics on an unstructured plane. You can add arrows and […]