Kinect Educational App: River Crossing by Kinems

River Crossing” is a new Kinect educational app available for download, freely provided by Kinems.  Kinems is a company that provides learning games utilizing Kinect for K-9 children and enriches the traditional therapeutic method with their motion-sensored educational games.

Here is some more info about River Crossing from the Kinems Game Launcher:

Age: 4+

Objective: Visual-kinetic coordination and development of critical thinking.

Description: In the ‘River Crossing’ game, the child undertakes the task to lead a boat in a river and transfers a duck, a fox and a sack of seeds from one shore to the other. The child-skipper should be very careful so as not to throw his boat on the rocks that exist in the river. Sometimes the passage becomes narrower or wider, depending on the difficulty of the game! For more experienced skippers, the task becomes more complex and as a result the duck should not be abandoned with the fox or the duck with the seeds at the same river shore, since there is always the risk that one disappears from the other. The correct option, in conjunction with careful driving, is to practice the delicate mobility, the visual-kinetic coordination and the grapho-kinetic skills of the children, contributing in this way in the development of the necessary skills for the conquest of writing.”

Project Information URL: http://www.kinecteducation.com/blog/2013/02/12/kinect-educational-app-river-crossing-by-kinems/

Project Download URL: http://apps.kinecteducation.com/catalog/river-crossing-by-kinems.html

from Vimeo.

Contact Information:

• Blog: http://www.kinecteducation.com/blog/
• Twitter: @johnnyeducation

Kinect Games version 3

During my adventures with Microsoft in London a week ago, I created a Windows 8 app version of my Math Mage game using Microsoft’s new TouchDevelop platform and later on that week I created a new version of the game called Word Mage, which tests students’ knowledge of Verbs, Nouns, Adverbs and Adjectives. The new game was for a Hackathon competition and was hastily put together, but I thought the idea was a good one, so I’ve now created Word Mage for Kinect for Windows, based on my previous Math Mage for Kinect. As a programmer turned teacher Maths makes perfect sense to me, English on the other hand not so much, so this game is one that I could have done with growing up, if not present day . The new game is just like Math Mage in that it employees “Fruit Ninja” style gameplay in an educational game which consolidates learning in multi-sensory active way. Educational theorists say that multi-sensory active methodology is the best form of pedagogy .

With that in mind I bring you Kinect Games version 3, which adds the all new Word Mage along with Math Mage, Kinect Angles, Kinect Time, Kinect Magic Cursor and Kinect Pong. Kinect Games v3 will run on Windows 7 or Windows 8 desktop mode and will work with an XBOX360 Kinect or the official Windows version of Kinect.

...

The Kinect for Windows version of Word Mage adds a brand new feature which allows you can add your own words to the game by editing the word lists. It also includes two extra word lists for the special mode in the game, which will then use whatever words you put into the “correct.txt” file for correct answers and whatever words you put into the “words.txt” file as wrong answers. For an example the files that come with the installer have a list of countries in the correct.txt file and a list of cities in the wrong.txt file, so if you select the special mode, players will be trying to identify countries instead of cities. You can use this for mode for whatever you want, be creative with it please . You can also edit the list of nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs as you see fit.

Project Information URL: http://drenton72.wordpress.com/2013/02/10/kinect-games-version-3/

Project Download URL: Click here to download the latest version of Kinect Games including Kinect SDK v1.6. Click here to download the latest version of Kinect Games without Kinect SDK v1.6 (for those who already have it installed).

Contact Information:

• Blog: http://drenton72.wordpress.com
• Twitter: @drenton72

Using the KINECT Green Screen in English [Class]

My Year 8 English class are working on a unit called News in the 20^th and 21^st Century, so I thought an excellent way to make it 21^st Century would be to use the KINECT Green Screen to let the pupils be ‘real’ news reporters. Pupils prepared news reports in groups of 4, including anchors and weather people. I uploaded two images: one of a newsroom, and the other of a generic weather map of the UK. The groups then used these backdrops to perform their reports.

The buzz that the group received from the satisfaction of performing their reports in front of the Green Screen was palpable, and certainly ignited their interest in the subject and gave them the added incentive to really put on a polished performance. With a smaller group you could also use the full 5 image slots to create a backdrop for an ‘on location’ reporter which would add to the professionalism of the whole project.

All in all using the KINECT added an element of professionalism which helped the pupils take pride in their work. I will certainly be looking to use the KINECT again: In the English classroom I am planning on using it to let pupils prepare Speaking and Listening presentations, the backdrop illustrating any point the pupils wish to emphasis; and in the I.L. (Integrated Learning)  classroom I plan to use it to allow pupils to create short Documentaries which track the progress of a river. A video of part of the lesson can be found below:

...

You can download the KINECT Green Screen form here for free:

http://www.pil-network.com/Resources/Tutorials/Details/4ae64231-4bc3-4cec-a9a2-497e747516f7

Project Information URL: http://techlemur.wordpress.com/2012/12/07/using-the-kinect-green-screen-in-english/

Contact Information:

• Blog: http://techlemur.wordpress.com/  
• Twitter: @Jimmy_Edwards

Kinect2Scratch

Program the Microsoft Kinect with Scratch.

Kinect2Scratch allows data from the Microsoft Kinect controller be sent to Scratch, the programming language for kids from the MIT Media Laboratory. 

This means that anyone can write programs with motion control, use gestures, make kinetic games and generally leap about having fun.

All you need is a Kinect with its own power supply (Kinects bundled with an XBox will need a separate cable). 

Note: Now with 3D & 2 Player mode!

Project Information URL: http://scratch.saorog.com/

Project Download URL: http://scratch.saorog.com/blog.php/index.php/download-kinect2scratch/ (Free, but demographic info required)

from Vimeo.

Samples & Examples

Contact Information:

• Blog: http://scratch.saorog.com/
• Twitter: @saorog

Kinect for life

This week we had an event showcasing  medical technology innovation in partnership with Kingston University, the University of Surrey, Brunel University and Microsoft.

Given the revolutionary advances made possible with Microsoft’s Kinect for Windows, Medical professionals and researchers are exploring how computer vision and natural user interfaces can enhance healthcare.

Confirmed sessions:

• Fall detection system, Dr Dimitrios Makris, Kingston University
• Facial expression recognition from 3D data, Dr Hongying Meng, Brunel University
• Controlling a smart home, Dr Francisco Florez Revuelta, Kingston University
• Concept to Commercialisation – A strategy for business innovation 2011- 2015– Graham Worsley, Lead Technologist in the Assisted Living Innovation Platform, Technology Strategy Board
• Kinect for Medical and Non-gaming applications: developments at the University of Surrey - Dr Kevin Wells, University of Surrey

Confirmed speakers:

• Graham Worsley, Technology Strategy Board
• Prof Malcolm Sperrin, Royal Berkshire Hospital
• Dr Dimitrios Makris, Kingston University
• Dave Brown, Microsoft
• Prof Paolo Remagnino, Kingston University
• Dr Kevin Wells, University of Surrey
• Dr Hongying Meng, Brunel University
• Dr Francisco Florez Revuelta, Kingston University
• Tim Craig, Smart Care UK

Kinect use examples

...

This is a preview into a technology that will be used in the future for example to perform remote surgery or to send robots to work in dangerous areas.

More information on our Kinect + Robot project can be found here:http://robosavvy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8026

Microsoft Robotics Studio

There is currently no standard regarding the control of Robots.  

Most small robots, use a low power microcontroller similar to Arduino. This is something like a computer, but much less powerful, however suitable to communicate with sensors, control motors, recharge batteries, etc.

There is a huge variety of these microcontrollers, and even when the more usual types are used, the robot manufacturers usually create their own software to operate the robots.

This causes situations where for example when a program is designed for a given robot, it needs to be completely rewritten if another brand of robot is to be used, even if they are nearly identical at an hardware level.

This where Microsoft Robotics Studio steps in and closes that gap. Robot manufacturers, or the users themselves can design small software modules for each robot, that act as a translator between MRDS and the control system for the robots.

This means that in MSRDS a command, for example to make a humanoid robot step forward, is identical across several brands of robots.

With MSRDS, Robots can now talk to each other, talk to sensors from different manufacturers or be supervised by our own master process (hypervisor) that makes sure everything is working as expected.   MSRDS also enables interoperability with complex functionalities hosted on the PC such as Speech Recognition.

Another advantage of MRDS is that it is a tool accessible to wide range of users, regardless of their expertise. Beginners can build Robot behaviours using Visual Programming Language and Advanced users can work with textual programming (any .Net language) to make the most out of MSRDS.

...

Project Information URL: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/uk_faculty_connection/archive/2012/10/05/kinect-for-life.aspx, http://robosavvy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8026

Project Download URL: http://robosavvy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8026

Project Source URL: http://robosavvy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8026

Contact Information:

• Blog: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/uk_faculty_connection/

Microsofties going back to High School  [07:42]

Ballmer talks about the future [03:08]

Stocking the Windows Store with quality apps [16:14]

Microsoft gives..a LOT  [21:44]

KinectSEN - Using Kinect in Special Schools for Pupils with Severe Learning Difficulties

This is a guide for starting to use Kinect programs as a tool for sensory interaction and engagement with pupils with special educational needs (SEN), especially severe learning difficulties (SLD). It is hopefully practical and easy to use. You do need some basic knowledge of computers to get going and a little perserverance but it will be worth it though, below are about 5 programs you can try in school with minimal fuss!

This information is teacher created and all of the programs can be accessed for free. All of the programs have also been tried out and used in lessons in special needs schools with pupils with SEN and SLD, typically P4 level to NC1.

Updated 26th September 2012 with the excellent Kinect Flow and Physics from Amnon Owed and another kinect-ed Processing sketch.

...

This is the beginnings of a Professional Learning Community (PLC) involving special needs schools. There is talk of a 'Kinectogether' event with the Somantics team, a whole host of teachers, programmers and other agencies and businesses to give everything a good kick start.

I got a bit fed up of waiting for SEN companies to develop Kinect programs so I tried out a few things, got involved in the Somantics project and tried out programs that digital artists had created and put online for free with pupils in a special needs school setting. The results with the pupils have been very positive

...

Conclusion
I hope more special schools start to use the kinect very soon. Like most things these kinect sessions take time to prepare for, and set up but then they evolve and develop and the benefits start to appear. With a little bit of space and a small outlay in money an interactive area can be set up to try to engage our pupils and help their interactions, creativity and movement. Different sessions and different programs produce different responses and these responses also evolve over time. Some pupils love it and take to it straight away, others need some encouragement and patience, others aren't bothered with it at all, but in my experience that is true of everything! What is important is that these kinect programs have no real parallel in our schools, they use movement to create visuals and sound without needing the pupils to use equipment or to learn any specific skills first. They are natural and intuative.

The technical issues are often difficult to overcome, although with new technology it's to be expected!

It is hard for people who do not understand the complex needs of our pupils to understand the significance of enabling and motivating some of our pupils to interact meaningfully with anything in their environment. The more enabling technologies we use the more chance we have of finding something that will increase motivation, creativity, interaction and movement when other traditional methods have failed. The Kinect is not replacing these other methods but adding a whole new level of opportunity to the tools at our disposal. I am certain that given the resourcefulness and inventiveness of the special needs teaching community worldwide and the support of the business and technical community that these opportunities will multiply and flourish.

Project Information URL: http://kinectsen.wikispaces.com/

In this video, Lingo Jingo's co-founder, Christian Hasker, speaks with Microsoft Architect Evangelist Allan Naim. Allan and Christian discusses why they chose building on Windows Azure. Christian explains the benefits realized from building on the Azure platform.

About Lingo Jingo

Lingo Jingo was founded with one goal in mind – to make it easier for the world to communicate with one another in different languages. If you've ever tried to speak a few words of a foreign language when you are on vacation you'll know how making a little effort to say "Hello, how are you?" can open up a whole new world of experiences.

If you know 500 words in any language, you'll be able to understand rudimentary conversations and make yourself understood. We'll help you gain that confidence.

As an instructor you are faced with the challenge of preparing your students to be thought leaders when they graduate in 1-5 years. You need to be aware of the disruptive technologies that are shaping the workplace, such as the Cloud. Integrate cloud computing concepts into your existing courses and prepare your students accordingly. In this session you will learn about Microsoft's cloud platform, Windows Azure, and the resources available to you as an instructor to leverage Windows Azure.

Resources

In the Classroom

• Faculty Connection: Suggested Resources for Introduction to Cloud Computing
• Faculty Connection Resource Kit
• Windows Azure Training Kit
• Grants for Educators looking to use Windows Azure

Outside of the Classroom

• an Developer Connection blog
• Canadian Developer Connection group on LinkedIn
• TechDays Online
• CdnAzure on Twitter
• Windows Azure on Facebook

Kin-Educate: An educational game for the Kinect

Kin-educate is part of a research project exploring innovative ways to interact with computers, and what better tool to use than the Kinect? But, what kind of Kinect application to interact with? Well, since its release the Kinect very quickly became synonymous with education. Developers could see the potential, as could educators. So this seemed like the perfect place to start experimenting with the Kinect – by developing a fun, innovative educational game. The result is Kin-educate.

Kin-educate features two mini games. One, a spelling game, randomly chooses a word, shuffles the letters and then gives the player 30 seconds to grab, drag, and drop the letters, in order, to complete the word.

The maths game focuses on mental arithmetic. Randomized sums are generated and the player has to shout out the answer. A high score gets you your photo taken using the kinectColorViewer to capture an image of the player and display it.

The game is being tested at the moment and once any creases are ironed out I will make the project and source files available to all.

In the meantime you can see watch some videos on YouTube:

Kin-educate Spelling:

Kin-educate Maths:

FEATURES:

· Two handed control:

o Instead of using the coding4Fun hoverButton control on the buttons and having the timer ring appear on them, I wanted the timer ring to appear on the hand. I did this by using the hoverButton function on the hand symbol to trigger the events on the selected button.

o So when you hover over a letter in the spelling game (which is a button) the hoverButton triggers the letter buttons methods – in this case using the Kinect colorImagePoint to map the letter to the active hands location then I quickly switch the hand image to a closed fist to make it look like it is holding something.

o At any one time only one hand is actually active. This is controlled by gestures – as simple as; if the right hand is higher than the left then apply the hoverButton control to this hand. This helped get around any left or right handed problems, and also makes it much easier to play the spelling game.

· Speech recognition:

o Speech recognition is embedded within the entire application. It is all part of making it an engaging and interactive way of learning. So why put your arms at a weird angles or press a button on a keyboard to stop a game when you could simply say “Stop”? When you’re ready just say “Continue” or if you’ve had enough just say “Quit”.

o The speech recognition for the maths game was one of the most challenging aspects of developing Kin-Educate. Accounting for accents, poor annunciation, background noise, and then the number of variables involved in randomized sums (the number of potential answers) was pretty tricky. I managed to get around this by limiting the potential answers of the randomized sums to between 0 and 10, and then, once the word is recognized I compared this to the actual answer with a few checks. It still has some trouble with accents but within a couple of tries most people get the hang of it.

Kin-educate is still under development and will be an ever-evolving project. Different games can be added over time utilizing even more of the great Kinect capabilities and any suggestions are welcome. The next development is already in design. Any feedback is always appreciated, and keep an eye out for when the project will be available to download - soon!

Project Information URL: http://kin-educate.blogspot.co.uk/

Contact Information:

• Blog: http://kin-educate.blogspot.co.uk/
• mickpal_@hotmail.com
• michaelpalmer.mp@gmail.com
• Or leave a comment on my YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/MichaelPalmerMP?ob=0

Developing a full-fledged Windows Phone app in one week – that's pretty ambitious, right?

Last week, at the Academy of Interactive Entertainment (AIE)'s weekly Summer Cyber Camp, a team of talented high and middle school students set out to do just that. I followed them for one week, documenting the process of creating their 3D game for Windows Phone 7 (WP7), called Color Break. Some of the students began with minimal programming experience while others had been using C# for a few years. At the end of the week, however, they were all capable of writing code, creating graphics, and incorporating more advanced concepts such as physics into the game.  By Friday, they'd finished and ported the application to the phone - just five days later (check out the app in action in the video)! It just goes to show that whether you're an absolute beginner or a seasoned expert, developing for the WP can be a simple, fun, and extremely educational process. One student, who had never even coded in C# before, began developing a first person shooter. As a college student myself, I was impressed.

So, how do you get started? Well it's simple – check out http://create.msdn.com to access the plethora of resources, downloads, and tutorials. If you're a student, there are also a ton of free, easy-to-use WP-related development tools available, including:

- Dreamspark (http://dreamspark.microsoft.com), to get access to Visual Studio 2010 Professional, the IDE that the students are using in this video.
- The Windows Phone Student Developer page (http://www.microsoft.com/student/en/us/techstudent/handson/phone-development.aspx) for resources as well as a student developer account to get started.

Alice Lee

Also of note, the PC features a spill-proof keyboard (whew) and an LED light that indicates when the PC is networked, so the teacher can see it from a distance with ease. The PC also includes a Wi-Fi certified WLAN modem and a dial-up one for students in a remote areas where there isn’t Wi-Fi available.

The device weighs 3.19 lbs, has a 10.1” screen and is cased in a plastic shell that has a built-in handle for portability. Inside, there’s  a 1.66GHz single-core Atom N455 processor, 1GB of RAM and the choice of either a 160GB hard disk or 16GB solid-state drive (SSD).

The film itself did well at Sundance, too. It scored a distribution deal – the first at the festival - via Paramount Vantage, a unit of the Viacom movie studio.

So is this the new Bill Gates: twitterer, blogger, movie star? Hey, if it helps him with the charitable work he’s been focused on through the Foundation, I’m all for it.

(Image Credit: Peter Kramer / Associated Press)

But I've got a lot of topics in the queue I hope to get posted before IBC (and yes, I'll be in Amsterdam for the whole show).

First up, the very cool Project Tuva, a Silverlight presentation of the seven classic Messenger Lectures by famed physicist Richard Feynman Microsoft Research and Stimulant. It’s named after the small Central Asian republic of the Russian Federation to which Feynman had a long yearning to travel. Project Tuva was sponsored by Microsoft’s Tony Hey, Rick Rashid, and Bill Gates.

As I've mentioned before, I've been in this digital media game for quite a while now. And since long before we had visions of HD web video, or even DVD, multimedia education has been one of the big goals for the technology.

My school years spanned the filmstrip/16mm projector and early VHS eras. And while an in-class movie was always a treat, the linear nature of the experience could be frustrating. The really interesting parts didn't last longer than the dull parts, and there wasn't any good way to ask a question or dive deeper. And with a dull part, I could easily tune out thinking about Space: 1999 and never come back. The classic lecture format has the same problem, although the teacher could at least read body language of the class to get a sense of where to focus.

So even back in the protean CD-ROM and even laserdisc eras of multimedia, there were many efforts to add interactivity to linear video educational content. The goal was greater engagement, with students able to skim, review, and dive deep when and where something grabs them.

But while we've had a lot of great examples of the genre, the cost of creating all that rich interactive content was a real barrier to making it part of everyday education.

But the combination of the web (lots of existing content ready to be accessed) Silverlight (nice portable runtime to deliver rich experiences), and Expression Studio (highly efficient authoring), we're able to do bigger, deeper projects with a lower authoring cost than ever before.

So, check out the Project Tuva player. The content itself was quite compelling even on celluloid, but they've really done some great things leveraging Silverlight and the web. And it was a delightful surprise; I hadn’t even heard it was in progress before launched.

Let me take a tour through some of my favorite features (going roughly counterclockwise from the top):

Context sensitive extras The right-hand side shows available extras, supplementary information about what's currently being discussed. Clicking on one pauses the video (important!) and takes the user to a graphic, web page, or embedded Silverlight app like World Wide Telescope Silverlight-based web client preview. When they're done, video playback starts right where it left off.
Search Typing into the search box yields a list of the matches in any of the seven videos. Clicking on any particular video shows all matches and their context in the video.
Smooth Streaming And it uses Smooth Streaming for delivery, of course, up to 2.4 Mbps. At the top rates it does a good job of retaining that crazy old-school-movie-on-16mm texture. I haven’t got my hands on the source yet, but I’d be curious to see if HD could be extracted with some high-quality preprocessing.
Transcript All lectures have full transcripts, and automatically show the current line as a caption below the video window. A full transcript mode is also available, and can be used for navigation; just click on a line to immediately switch to playing back the video there.
Timeline The timeline has some great user interface felicities. A quick click started playback at the start of the chapter. But holding down the mouse button a moment or grabbing-and-dragging the playhead allows scrubbing within a chapter. If the timeline view is expanded, the location and type of all the extras are shown, as are the location of user created notes (described below).
Notes The user can add time synched notes that are saved on the local machine. This allows students to bookmark places for followup, or educators to set up a queue of particular topics for classrom use.
Simple Player Or someone who wants to just watch the video can leave everything minimized to cut back on visual distraction. The full-screen mode is cleaner yet. Compare the interface with all the interactive elements minimized and maximized.

Moodle is also known for its extendible architecture which supports third-party plugins. That’s where the new Live Services plugin fits in. With the plugin, Live@Edu services like Outlook Live, Calendar, Bing, Live Alerts, and Windows Live Messenger can all be integrated right into the Moodle framework.

After working with educators to determine their needs, the Live@Edu team realized the administration of the various services needed to be easy enough for anyone to use even if they weren’t technically savvy. They also realized that their work should be made as easily available as possible so they released the plugin under the GPLv2 license.

Once installed, teachers and students can log into Moodle sites with their Windows Live IDs, so basically it’s a single sign-on solution. It also allows teachers to send alerts to their students via email, mobile phones, or both. The teachers especially liked the mobile alerts option since so many of today’s students are heavy users of their mobile phones, reports the Education Labs blog.

In conjunction with the plugin, the Live@Edu team also launched www.educationlabs.com, a community-oriented website as a home for their projects.

Any school can use the Live@Edu service, which provides students with secure 10 GB email account hosted in Exchange and accessed via Outlook Live, online file management in Office Live, Windows Live Messenger, 25 GB of cloud storage in SkyDrive, and more. For more info on Live@edu, visit my.liveatedu.com.

To see a live demo of the new Moodle plugin, check out this video on Channel 9.

In this series, I am pleased to introduce SmartRedPen.

Enjoy the VIDEO starring Jennifer A. Caulfield, Bolivar M. Vivanco, and Larry Gregory.

The solution demo starts at time 1:23.

Sanjay Jain

ISV Architect Evangelist

Microsoft Corporation

Blog: http://Blogs.msdn.com/SanjayJain

Twitter: http://twitter.com/SanjayJain369

The Eduify service also addresses the need for students to have tools that more accurately reflect their modern, online lifestyles. In Eduify, for example, students can pull in online research from around the web and then prepare their paper in a web-based workspace that’s accessible from a computer or mobile phone.  There are some great features in Eduify, too,  like its ability to automatically create a bibliography. Later on, the company will add a paid document editing/proofreading service as well. Even further down the road, there are plans to integrate Windows Live Messenger and Live Mesh technologies in the service.

At the moment, Eduify is in beta, which makes sense as Windows Azure itself is still a CTP (Community Technical Preview). The company gained access to the Azure Platform after joining the Microsoft BizSpark program, a program which aims to help startups get off the ground by providing them with free tools and services for a set period of time. This allows them the breathing room they need to build a scalable and sustainable business without having to worry about those traditional startup costs.

Anyone interested in participating in the beta can sign up for an invite here from the Eduify homepage.

The first application he demonstrates is one that lets you play with letters on the screen of the Surface computer. The individual letter tiles can be moved around to form words. A variation of the app includes numbers, which could be used to create equations.

A second application designed for older students involves building an electric circuit by dragging pieces around on the screen. Using tools which can be dragged out from the toolbox provided, you have to build a circuit that lights up a lightbulb. I remember having to do this in science class ages ago, but it looks a lot more fun on the Microsoft Surface!

A third activity for chemistry students lets you build a molecule on the screen by combining elements and/or changing the number of subatomic particles they have associated with them.

Why middle school? According to Ken Perlin, an NYU professor of computer science, in middle school many students “become discouraged or uninterested and pour their time at home into gaming. We think gaming is our starting point to draw them into math, science, and technology-based programs.”

The research study will be called the “Games for Learning Institute.” The budget is $3 million. Microsoft will be paying half with the universities chipping in for the other portion. The study hopes to discover what makes games compelling and playable and what elements make them effective for learning…that is, even they are effective for learning. The games used in testing will be deployed along with curricula to 19 NYC area schools where results in the classroom will be tracked. (via Wired Campus)