My boss, Dave just got in a great new device for the iPad. It is called Osmo. Basically, Osmo is an app and a small red mirror. The mirror allows the camera of the iPad to see the table space directly in front of the device. The video on the website kept me curious about how much usability there really was in this device (plenty of fluff, of course).
Well we have spent part of our day playing with Osmo. Of all the things that are possible with the app, the most interesting part, to me, was the ability of it to recognize physical drawings. Not only does it understand lines and edges, it responds to those lines and edges. There is a game in the app that drops a bouncy ball from the top of your iPad screen. Your goal is to make that ball hit a target. You can change the course of the ball by drawing lines on a sheet of paper. You can also place physical objects on the table and Osmo interprets the edges of that object. Dave immediately thought of fine motor skills and using tooth picks to create lines and angles. I included two videos below. There is also an anagram program and it includes blue/red letters for spelling games.
The idea that the camera on our devices are becoming so intelligent baffles my mind. Check out there website and comment on this post if you think of any ways to use Osmo with students.
Well we have spent part of our day playing with Osmo. Of all the things that are possible with the app, the most interesting part, to me, was the ability of it to recognize physical drawings. Not only does it understand lines and edges, it responds to those lines and edges. There is a game in the app that drops a bouncy ball from the top of your iPad screen. Your goal is to make that ball hit a target. You can change the course of the ball by drawing lines on a sheet of paper. You can also place physical objects on the table and Osmo interprets the edges of that object. Dave immediately thought of fine motor skills and using tooth picks to create lines and angles. I included two videos below. There is also an anagram program and it includes blue/red letters for spelling games.
The idea that the camera on our devices are becoming so intelligent baffles my mind. Check out there website and comment on this post if you think of any ways to use Osmo with students.
| | |
RSS Feed
