Presentation on Microsoft Technologies in Teaching, Learning and Research presented at Microsoft IT Academy Summit 2011 October. - Presentation Video in low quality to allow upload

1. Enabling Teaching and Learning
with Microsoft

2. Agenda
• Microsoft Kinect in Education
• Microsoft .Net Gadgeteer - A new way to
make inspire and stimulate learning
• Microsoft Windows Phone
• Reimaging Windows

3. Kinect In Education
• About Microsoft Kinect
• Natural User Interfaces
• Skeletal tracking demo
• Inspiring and enabling

4. Some Kinect facts
 Before launch, online retailers (Amazon, Play, Game, etc.)
had all announced that they had currently sold out of their
first batch of pre order stock
 More than 10 millions units sold in 6 months.
 Fastest-selling consumer electronics device ever
 Microsoft Research contributed to make Kinect a reality

5. What is Kinect?
What does it looks like: What it really looks like:

6. Beyond Hardware
• Software makes magic possible

7. Natural User Interfaces (NUI)
Rethinking ways in which people will
interact with computers/technologies of
the future
Re-evaluating everything from their (non-)
physical design to the human needs and
interaction models
Revolutionize the way we think about
technology and what it can do on our
behalf

8. Kinect for Window SDK
• Provides access to raw sensor streams:
– Depth camera, RGB camera, audio streams
• Skeletal tracking
• Advanced audio capabilities
http://research.microsoft.com/kinectsdk

9. Demo

10. Inspiring Young Minds
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/uk_faculty_connection/archive/2011/08/15/dare-to-be-digital-winners-announced.aspx

11. Limitless Possibilities
http://www.kinecteducation.com/

12. A new way to make inspire and
stimulate learning

13. .NET Gadgeteer is a new toolkit for quickly
constructing, programming and shaping new small
computing devices (gadgets)

14. Some History
• Microsoft originally built Gadgeteer as a tool for
ourselves (in Microsoft Research) to make it faster
and easier to prototype new kinds of devices
• Since then, it has proven to be of interest to other
researchers – but also hobbyists and educators
• With the help of colleagues from all across
Microsoft, we are working on getting Gadgeteer out
of the lab and into the hands of others

15. Goals
Low threshold
Simple gadgets should be very quick to build
High ceiling
It should also be possible to build sophisticated and
complex devices

16. 3 Key Components
Modular
Hardware

17. 3 Key Components
Modular Object-Oriented
Hardware Programming

18. 3 Key Components
Modular Object-Oriented Digital Design
Hardware Programming and Fabrication

19. Building gadgets

20. The .NET Gadgeteer Hardware
At the heart of every Gadgeteer project is a mainboard.
A mainboard is made up of a programmable processor, and
a number of sockets that Gadgeteer modules can plug
into.

21. The .NET Gadgeteer Hardware
These are the Gadgeteer modules found in
the GHI Spider Starter Kit.
Touchscreen Display Camera Multicolor LED Button
USB Power Supply
+ Programming Interface
Potentiometer USB Host Ethernet SD Card

22. The .NET Gadgeteer Hardware
Many more modules will be available, from
different manufacturers.
GHI Electronics Sytech Seeed Studio DF Robot
Bluetooth Nano Mainboard Cellular Radio Smart motor controller
Accelerometer 4.5” Touchscreen GPS Ultrasonic Ranger
Xbee Radio Camera Plant moisture sensor Line following sensor
Motor controller Button Accelerometer Infrared distance sensor
Micro SD Card Power supply Gyroscope Color sensor
Joystick Ethernet Compass
Music player SD Card Barometer
OLED Display
Pulse Oxymeter
High-voltage relays

23. A Closer Look at the Mainboard
Socket Numbers
Power LED Debug LED
Socket Types
Reset Button

24. Match socket type letters when connecting
modules to the mainboard

25. • If a module is connected to the wrong socket type it
won’t work (but it won’t damage anything, either)
• Red modules supply power to the mainboard. Only
one red module should ever be connected to the
mainboard at any time.
• When connecting modules, always make sure that
the mainboard is not powered on, and that it is
disconnected from the PC.

26. Software Development Libraries
• Gadgeteer uses the Microsoft .NET Micro
Framework (NETMF), which provides a simple
and powerful way to write software for small
devices
• Software is developed and debugged in Visual
Studio, and code is in managed, object-oriented
C#
• The SDK provides classes encapsulating
functionality for individual hardware modules as
well as other utility functions

28. C# Application and User Libraries
Gadgeteer Library
Modules: Audio Camera ... WiFi
Program,
Interfaces: I2C PWM ... SPI Timers,
Utilities
Sockets and Pins
Class Libraries
Runtime Component Layer (Hardware Abstraction + CLR)
Hardware

29. t
Connect modules to mainboard, and connect to PC via USB.

30. NET Gadgeteer let’s you engage your
students with compelling projects
immediately using world class tools
from Microsoft that they can leverage
throughout their careers.

31. • We want to make it easier to give shape to
Gadgeteer devices by using digital fabrication
technologies
• First step: integration with 3D CAD modelling
software (e.g. Solidworks)

32. Auto-generate mounting
fixtures

33. Falling cost and increasing availability
of 3D printers

34. Digital design and rapid
manufacture

35. A 24 Hour Prototyping Exercise:
Making a Hand-Held Videogame

36. MICROSOFT CONFIDENTIAL
Hardware configuration (~5 minutes to assemble)
Four-way switch to control
placement of puzzle piece
Knob to rotate
piece
Colour OLED display
(128x128 resolution)
USB power source
and programming socket

37. Software development in CONFIDENTIAL hours)
MICROSOFT
C# (~5

38. MICROSOFT CONFIDENTIAL
Enclosure design in
Solidworks
(>3 hours)

39. MICROSOFT CONFIDENTIAL
Enclosure 3D printed
(>6 hours)

40. MICROSOFT CONFIDENTIAL
Assembly (>30 minutes)

42. Gadgeteer Resources
• End user website
http://netmf.com/gadgeteer/
• Source repository
http://gadgeteer.codeplex.com/
• Retail hardware
http://ghielectronics.com
(others to follow)

44. People vs. Icons

45. It’s the only phone that gives you:
Modern communication built in.
APeople Hub with one touch access
to Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, all built
right in.
Group your friends, pin them to your Start
screen to get live updates and text, email
and IM them all at once.
Facebook Chat, Messenger, check-ins and
photo tagging built in.
So now it’s easier to connect and share.
Windows Phone. Put people first.

46. A smarter way to app.
Pin apps to the Start screen for
live updates at a glance.
Apps connected to your
searches make them easier to
discover and use.

47. Internet beyond the browser.
A fast, beautiful web experience
with Internet Explorer 9 and
hardware acceleration
Local Scout provides suggestions
and prioritized local search results
on restaurants, shopping and things
to do.

48. Windows Phone
Developer Tools

49. Windows Phone application
development
• Use your existing .NET and Visual Studio skills to
create rich and powerful applications
• Developers coming from other platforms enjoy
short ramp-up times and helpful resources
provided by the Microsoft Developer Network
Academic Alliance
– Components:
– Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone
– Windows Phone Emulator
– Silverlight 4 Tools
– XNA Game Studio 4.0
– Microsoft Expression Blend for Windows Phone

50. Professional-level development and
design tools to students
• https://www.dreamspark.com
• For any student at a recognized educational institution
• FREE download of Professional software
• To all verified School and Higher Education students
• Free Apphub account for any student over 18

52. Windows Phone

55. Windows 8 Resources
Windows development centre
http://dev.windows.com
Building Windows 8 blog
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/
BUILD conference sessions
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/BUILD/BUILD2011
Build Windows
http://www.buildwindows.com

57. demo
demo Win a XBOX 360 Consoles + Kinect Sensor
If you’re a UK University you can enter a draw to win a XBOX 360
Consoles + Kinect Sensor. All you need to do is visit the
http://www.microsoftfaculty.com and enter your course details into
the form provided. The Competition closes 11.59pm, 20th November
2011. Prize winners will be announced on the 24th of November
Microsoft UK Academic team visit - http://www.microsoft.com/uk/faculty
LeeStott@microsoft.com