Etec 597: Makerspaces

Here's to the start of Etec 597: Makerspaces through Texas A&M-Commerce.

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Project 2: Copcar Lights

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During this week's lessons we experimented with the potentiometer. I started with the example code provided and then I rewrote the entire code with different names for the variables, just to check if I could follow what information was being used and where it was needed in the code. Reflection: One of the more humbling points was after I successfully rewrote the code I showed my wife. She thought it was pretty cool as she is always very supportive. I then attempted to complete one of the circuit play activities to get both devices to run through the digital ports. During this portion I wanted to dive in a little deeper and I discovered the print.read command, I documented this process in my previous post. It took me about two hours to fix and debug this activity, after which point I showed my wife again. It then dawned on me that from her perspective I had done pretty much nothing, the LED still flashed the same as before, but I knew that I had made great strides in my personal u...
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Week 4: Digital Dice

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Challenge: Create a Digital Dice system. The arduino rolls a random number and then lights up the appropriate LEDs to replicate how that number appears on a dice roll. Reflection: I designed this system similar to how Dr. B showed in his video. I placed 7 LEDs that I can control to show any of the possible dice rolls. Instead of having one long video this week I wanted to break it up into a bunch of short videos. Each video shows a different step or challenge that I encountered during this build. Overall I appreciated the openness of this project. The tutorials are nice, but being given a wide open challenge really tests our skills. The first video is the longest. It does a short walkthrough of the code and the board. Part 1: Setup and code The second video depicts the first major problem that I encountered. If I held the button down too long the arduino would repeatedly roll, causing the lights to quickly flash between different states.  Part 2: Potential Problem...
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Personal Retrospective

Personal Retrospective at the end of Makerspace What was the build that you are most proud of and why? I am really proud of both the digital dice and my final build. Both of these projects pushed my programming and coding limits beyond what I have used for a number of years. I have enjoyed programming, but since I took my current teaching job I teach pretty much the same coding lessons every year and they don't go very deep. These activities let me try out some coding skills beyond what I teach to my students on an annual basis.  Go back to your first week and read each week’s submission with an eye for personal growth. Where were you when you started and where did you end up? To be honest the first couple of weeks were pretty boring for me, which is why I tried to spice it up by adding in the RGB or the other extension projects. The initial LED projects are almost identical to what I teach my students so I already know most of the ins-and-outs around those projects. T...
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