Lesson Plan - My Way

Most lecturers and Teachers will know of Lesson Plans, I have mine it may not conform to some standard or other official way, but it works for me and helps me plan the lesson.

I have all the information I need to plan the lesson, from the subject I am covering, the equipment I might need, to the slide set I will use.

My slides are in subject on Google, and so often I go back to teach a lesson I did last year, and can't remember which set I used, the lesson plan sorts this.

I also have a reading list, I expect my students to have at least read before attending, often as not its a free download, I give links to the source, and point to any specific section I want them to read. There are many reasons I do this, but most its to save time, and get the most out of my limited lesson, by asking them to say read a section of the building regulations.

I also give a bibliography of source books, web sites and article I have used in generating my slides.

This lesson plan have been refined from a simple spread sheet to this A4 google Doc format, which I may well have published some time back on this blog.

Each time I use it, I have made notes in my Moleskin, problems, good points, additions I felt might have helped, links I might have added, so over the summer I will update this current version. I'll post once its done, but till then the two sheets I have used as jpg's should be enough for you to copy and make your own, if not leave a message and will send.

Related articles

• Here's Google's official statement on today's fast-spreading phishing attack
• The Literature Look: 5 Tips for Decorating With Books
• Architectural Technologist - More on google Docs
• Google Doc Spreadsheet cell Bullet points list
• Moleskin

Lesson Plan

In the early days of my slight change in career, from simply running my small practice, to being a Professor, I would be asked to run a lecture, so I made the slides and loaded them up, ran the lesson and was mightly pleased at the result, but come the next year, I found that I have added similar slides to the set, for other years and slightly different classes, that I could not remember which slides I used last time, and the over all format I used.

So I went in search of a lesson plan, and whoooo, there are so many, and so many reason, layouts, formats and styles. So I sat back and played about with different ideas, this was over a few weeks. I left it dfor a while, and tried again, this time fixing a style I likes, see todays photo.

My lesson plan works for me, I tweek it every now and then, but for the past year its worked well, I use it not only to itemise the slides I want to use, but why. My most recent addition is the pre lesson reading list, articles or books I want the students to read, prior to my lesson.

In my slides I so often add a post lesson reading bibliography, but if I am using several slides, this get a little mixed up, so I have also added a specific post lesson list to the Lesson Plan.

I tried to use the slides themselves to organise my lessons, but this failed, I got so mixed up, so now I keep them is generic folders, and use the lesson plans to list my slides, its so much cleaner.
My next question is do I issue it to my students, so far my lesson plan has been my own aid, but having shown it to a few past students, I got great feedback, so for my next lecture I will add a link to Moodle.
I am a massive fan of Google Slides and Docs, the way it works and how I can share docs without actually sending pdf copies is great. I can update add items and know the next time they look at it, its the latest version.

This latest lesson plan is written in a spreadsheet, I like the way I can organise, but it adds its own problems to formatting, specifically bullet point lists, so I have added a link at the bottom to a way to fix this. But I have plans to revise it, make it better, and currently I am looking at a new format, thats simpler and more specific.

If you want a copy let me know, but the photo today is of a complete day

Related articles

• Google Doc Spreadsheet cell Bullet points list
• Google Slides on the iPad
• Adding images to Google Sheets from your iPad
• Architectural Technologist - Adding and subtracting when using Angles
• Architectural Technologist - Google Docs and my Teaching material Generation
• Google Doc Spreadsheet cell Bullet points list
• Moleskin

The End of 2016

I sat down this Boxing Day morning to tidy up my desk, and files a few bits away. I normally do this small, in brackets, job at this time of the year, its seems right to start the year of to a clean plate.

But as always I get side tracked, and its hard to stay focused on the job at hand. So after a full morning, dodging tasks handed to me by my good lady, and incoming text messages from my sister who also seems to think I have nothing better to do, I have got my filing more of less done, a book shelf sorted and my computer cleaned, and I mean that in the literal sense, as the screen looked like it was in need of a dam good clean, so the glass cleaner cloth was used to a big effect.

Next is my year of CPD, as a lecturer, I can not be accused of not full filling my 35 hours, I read constantly and often, a lot of my notes and photos get logged into Evernote, I tried Microsofts OneNote, and dabbled with or is that continue to dabble with Googles Keep, I just want it to succeed, but how can it against Evernote. it just works, and works well across all my devices, the same can not be said of the others in this respect.

I want to update my spreadsheet for CPD hours, but i fear this is going to have to wait, I have just found my list of papers and articles I want to write, or finish, my web site needs updating with my latest paper, and I have the notes on my recent Professorial lecture to update and bring together into an article.

Saldey 2016 has not been a pleasent year, my father died in August, so a lot of things I had planned were put on hold and other things moved or did not get my full attension, whilst I dealt with this, but as I speak, dad is in a small plasic bag on my shelf awaiting a final resting place with his father. I know roughly were he is, but need to spend time finding his old plot in Aston Parish Church.

I live on the cusp, let me explain, I run a Mac, and for the best part, its fine, but I use Google for lectures, and writing, Drive is so good at being on all the machines I have to work on, here at home and at Uni, Mac just does not like sharing like Google does, Pages is ok for short writing, but I prefer Google Docs, for my longer papers and articles, and Chrome, I have set up with a few nice little apps, that Safari just does not have. You may ask why not move to a chrome book, I might in the new year, but my CAD work with Vectorworks is firmly placed on the Mac and I will not move from this, unless Nemetschek, come up with a web based app like Auto cad. I want to return to Gmail, after moving to Mac mail some time back, but the pain I will have to endure in doing this just is not worth it, so here i satay mostly Mac, with more than a little Google.

So there it is, end of another year, I have so much to do in 2017, my list of things I want to do grows longer, I shall be 65 this year, and thoughts of retiring just don't form any part of my plans, but a change in work just might, as I write more, blog more frequently teach better, and add to my mentoring, the future is not me, its the youngsters who are waiting in the wings.

Consultancy now seems more viable, as I concentrate on developing my futurist side, our industry is changing, CAD is morphing into something else, point cloud looks so inviting , but the real interest for me is all the data we generate, how we use it as we delve into AR and VR,  plus data has to involve Algorithms, and online data from so many places and things, hence todays photo. Oh and not to forget how spreadsheets and Google are going to play such an interesting part in all of this.

2017 is going to see all of these melt into MR, or Mixed reality. How it will be used is an ongoing development, there are several camps, which  track , one looks interesting, one has promise, and the rest, well we will see !. At the right time, I will expand my thoughts on this, but until them  watch the blog.

Talking of which, the blog has been a little quiet I know, but now, as I enter 2017 I have so many lined up to write about, expansions of several lectures, more videos to post and if I can some trial live lectures. As I write my abstracts for papers, I will use the blog to air thoughts and discus the paper before going to print.

So there it is, the end of 2016, and a whole new year looms,

Related articles

• BetterCloud completes pivot from G Suite to general SaaS management
• Google Doc Spreadsheet cell Bullet points list
• A New Mac but Dropbox saves the day
• It's Raining
• Google has added solar data to their maps - Konstrukshon CPD Weblog
• Mind Maps
• Moleskin

Making use of CAD file exports as spreadsheets

Perhaps one of the biggest things happening to CAD is the way BIM, is adding such richness to the drawings we produce, and so much of this is being exported as Cobie files, a posh way of saying structured spreadsheets. Its here I want to take a look, and I have added a specific section to my CPD to look after this subject.

I often teach this to students, and I look at spreadsheets as Four distinct areas of learning, I will briefly list these, but they will take separate blogs to expand on them.

• Drawing aid
• Detailing with a view to export
• Exporting as Cobie files and it use
• Data Manipulation

So first off as a drawing Aid

This is were I started, so long ago, playing with spreadsheets on a very old mac, the spreadsheet was basic, and did not have many commands, but it allowed the usual multiply div and subtract, enough to work out petrol us and millage, this I added to over the years to allow area calc, and working out ventilation rates for area or volume, it served me well for simple lists, and some minor accounting.

In Vectorworks this is taken a little further, as its so easy to embed the sheet in the file and use it to take information from the drawing, which I suppose is taking us onto the next level. I will expand on this, but Jon Pickup has some very useful lectures within his archive, his free stuff is located on YouTube under Archoncad, but his paid for membership, which I can recommend, is via his web site at www.archoncad.com

Detailing with a view to exporting

Most of my specs in my 2D drawing, are text blocks, placed near to the detail, and are ones I have used over the years to describe a product, material, or a way of construction, simple instructions to the contractor. This is, or will stop as I move into drawings that need to be exported with a view to 3D ifc, or Cobie files, I need to attach information so that it can easily be picked up, and used in the right context. The simple move to 3D does not mean its full BIM, yo have to work at it and add a lot of data and BIM compatible objects to draw with that will have the correct information, properly set out and formatted.

Exporting as a Cobie file

This is the main way data will be exported, and I as I stated earlier, we need to understand how and why, and make sure we add data in the correct way. On big jobs the cobie file may well be large, well over 2000 rows, and might be part of a complex set of spreadsheet files. We need to understand the way they are used so that we can ensure the correct data is applied, as we will see later, spreadsheets to be used effectively need consistent data, when they are used with a big data format such as Hadoop, or Hana, its a different matter, but spreadsheet to spreadsheet, it needs to be correct.
But the trick we as Technologist must now learn is how to make the best of these files and bring to life a lot of data that may be hidden away from just scanning the endless lines of data.

Data Manipulation

To do this we need to start learning how to link and use this data with commands like Vlookup,  Fusion tables and most of all Pivot Tables

Now depending on what you use, Excell, Google spreadsheets, there is a slight difference in the way you might approach this problem, so I think I am going to concentrate on Google Sheets, I use it more than Excel, which I might add, has the more functions, but Google Sheets is what I use.

I have a couple of videos embedded below, they are just a taster, the bulk of this I will handle later in a more detailed blog, here all I want to do is introduce the problem and a route of CPD. They are, as usual off subject, but I will take the time to produce videos that as on subject and will look at the use within an Architects /  contractors office. We may not used these commands, but we should know what is being used and why, so we produce the correct information. You may be wondering why I have listed Fussion tables, they don't realy fit, but the way they are used in interesting, and again I will expand later.

As a suggestion think about the way materials are purchased and delivered to site, the delivery note should have on it the product number, this can easily be linked to the cobie spreadsheet and compared, perhaps even a location added. sand added to a mortar mix or screed.


Related articles

• Google Spreadsheets Now Shows Functions In Your Preferred Language
• Google Analytics and Google Spreadsheets: Create Your Own Dashboard
• Google Sheets 101: The Beginner's Guide to Online Spreadsheets

Evernote as part of your research

A few days ago I posted a new blog, talked about an alternative way to recognise the value of CPD using proper research instead of sitting for an hour listening to a CPD lecture.

Well today I want to extend that article, by describing a way to add notes to your CPD list. I keep mine in a google Spreadsheet, and have all sorts of formula to add up and show the time I have spent on a subject, I also have a cell thats a link to an Evernote Folder thats got the research I made for that subject, its an easy way to organise notes, web links and articles you find. Not only is it easy to create, a folder link, but in your notes on the spreadsheet an individual link can be made to a specific article.

This is so easy to do, just right click on the folder in Evernote, choose publish and follow the "create link" for adding to your spreadsheet. I have tried this in Google Keep, but the links just don't work well, and as for saving web pages it only saves the URL, where Evernote saves the page complete.