Fwd: Sketch Up

I've been picking up a lot of chatter on RSS Feeds and Blogs about Google's "Sketchup" being used by Professionals and by Autistic Children, who are spatially gifted.  I know my daughter also likes this tool, but it's not used "yet" in the traditional classroom, so she doesn't pursue it as much as I would like (...sigh...).  

I'm not really sure where these types of tools fall in the overall Curricular, Instructional, and Services structure, hence, I'm cc'ing all of you - sorry.  But, lots of good chatter out there and the tool is absolutely wild.  It gets really interesting when one overlays their design onto Google Earth, like their back yard, or under developed area, or downtown Phoenix (called a "Mashup").  Talk about authentic learning and engagement by kids.....;-)

Video on projects created by Autistic Children at;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7PIwSnKq7E

Business is starting to use SketchUp because of it's design power (see below link as an example tutorial on the "Section" tool), the price (free to cheap), it's multi-platform, you don't need a specialized and very potent/expensive computer to run it (TCO), but really because of where the world is heading in IT, and that's sharing and Mashup's - the ability to interface your creations with data bases and other tools and other people, thereby creating a whole 'nuther perspective into Web 2.0.  As an example of business use, our Transportation Department just procured our first-ever "mashed up" application using GPS sensors for our buses, and Google Maps for real time routing location and traffic flow.  Businesses are going to exploit these tools during the next 10 years - so should we.

Example video on how to use the "Section" tool;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiMA1IAn8HU&feature=related

Link to the SketchUp 3D Warehouse, consisting of designs shared by users all over the world (Web 2.0):

http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/

We can continue to pay licensing fees and support commercial software, but we can also push towards what the PVUSD Technology Plan calls for - Open Source solutions, wherever possible and appropriate.  I believe network centricity is going to be critical over the next many years - technology solutions that don't interface with other tools and data on the internet are locked in, and will have a high probability of fading into obsolescence.


Jeff.....