Welcome to Boatbuilding

We will be experiencing a large range of learning activities this year, making new friends, developing the ability to operate within teams and developing several products from a variety of materials.

Recording our experiences and activities is very important.

In the past I had used this Blog as a message board and a form of diary (log-book) to record my thoughts and to direct some general advise and guidance to my student group. 

In recent times however I have altered my use of this Blog to be simply a starting place to encourage students to work in an online environment.

I therefore post some links here to help students to get underway with their interface with the course documents and tools. 

We will be developing skills within a range of tools in which we may communicate throughout the year.

So...Welcome. I'm sure we'll have a full and valuable year together.

The first Link I have for everybody to access is the free online pdf book. "Gougeon Bothers on Boat Construction".

http://www.westsystem.com/ss/assets/HowTo-Publications/GougeonBook%20061205.pdf

This is an invaluable resource that has a large range of boat building techniques. The more familiar you become with these techniques the more comfortable you will become with the "Trade Terminologies" (Trade Terms) we use in boatbuilding. 

This is our Boatbuilding language and the key to understanding the theoretical topic matter. Discussion using this trade term language and experiencing building activities by using 'real' materials to produce objects is where most people gain the depth of insight they need to start fully comprehending the diverse subject we call "Boatbuilding".

Lastly we need to record and critique/conclude these stages in our learning journey.

Another link I'll give you here is to enable you to start a Blog as a diary of your journey in boatbuilding.

http://www.youtube.com/user/BloggerHelp?ob=0&feature=results_main

You may choose NOT to run a blog, it is NOT compulsory, but...many students' find it a convenient tool to gather ideas conversations artefacts etc...before committing thoughts to their e-Portflios of Learning.

I'd prefer for each student to create a free Google mail account.

The tools that come free with the google account are very user friendly and aid us in keeping focus upon our work together this year. It helps us collaborate in documents and other online cloud computing tools.

I already have a Google+ circle set up for our interactions beyond the campus environment.

Our google+ (2013 CAT Student Group)

Remember...we learn everywhere.
I'm sure you can probably register with google to gain a gmail account but should you have some trouble...we can do this process together. We each have a laptop and can access the student wi-fi at Unitec.

Once you have a gmail presence I will collect all your gmail addresses and group you all so NOBODY is left behind and I can be sure to communicate with everyone easily and fully.