Reflection #2: SketchUp

After reading Generation IM, I wanted to check out the SketchUp tool. Basically, it's an online tool that allows users to tri-dimensionally create models for all sorts of outlets. You can use it for architecture, gaming, carpentry, landscaping, interior design, and many others. I have discovered that you can use the pro version for up to 8 hours without paying for it.

I don't know that much about architecture, or gaming, or anything else that this might be a really awesome tool for, but I do think that it could be useful in the classroom, especially because it has so many uses.

I played with the tool a little bit, but I don't really know enough to actually know what I am doing with it. I was able to find a building, in Athens, and view it and manipulate it. There are 21 different angles and interpretations already created of this particular building that I could play with. You can see cars and people around the building to get the idea of the sizing of the building (this one big!) and how complex and intricate it is. The display gives measurements of any part of the building that you click on. You can view it from the bottom, the top, up-side-down, or any angle in-between. You can sue a tape measure to see exact feet and inches of a portion of the building (and it does something else, there are lingering dotted lines, but I haven't figured out what they do). If I were creating my own building, I could drop in people to see how they would look size-wise or spatially.

It is a really cool tool. It makes me want to have the time to learn about architecture. I think that's a big moment right there: it makes me want to learn. This cool techy gizmo makes me want to learn about something that I'd otherwise have no reason to. If we can use techy things like this in our classrooms, our students will want to learn about new things simply because the display is really cool.