From the student perspective.........................................

As we move towards the final installation of the glasshouse camera and web site, we have been seeking feedback from our students as to how they view the potential learning capabilities of the eGlasshouse system. Two of our current students have kindly agreed to have their thoughts and comments placed on the blog:-

Diploma Horticulture Student - Vanessa Caldarera

"It's really cool! Having access to the glasshouse via the webcam and the  online web site has really been a novel way for us to learn more about climate control. I can now remotely  gain access to  the glasshouse via  the web site that has been set up. This is giving us a live update every 4 hours in terms of both image and climate mapping via the Priva Integro computer system.It's really great to see a record of what is happening both inside and outside the glasshouse and then look at how the plants are behaving. I love it!"

Diploma Horticulture Student - Joe Star

"One of the great things with the system is being able to have remote access to the camera. This is something that is done in the class as otherwise we would have everyone wanting to move the camera at once! The remote access allows us to pan around the glasshouse and focus in on a specific plant or area. One of the great things about the system is that the camera can be set to take a picture of a specific plant at a pre determined time. We are going to use this feature on the new crop for our 'crop registration' process - the tracking of plant growth. This will see us installing a graduated measure against a plant so that the image will show how tall the plant is, which we can then cross reference against the previous weeks image. The other thing we are looking at doing is taking an image every day so that we can 'play back' the growth of a complete 12 month crop. For me personally I just love the level of technology that is now associated with controlled environment horticulture - it's great!

Up and running!

After what has seemed like an endless battle, we have finally being trialing the camera in the glasshouse! The camera allows us to have a 360 degree view of the growing area, as well as being able to pan in on a specific plant at a pre determined time of the day. This is especially useful to us as we track plant growth as part of our "Crop Recognition" program. 

The capture of any images can be cross referenced against the Priva Integro climate control graphs and will allow observers of the system to look at what the plants are doing, and see what the climate is providing in terms of heating, ventilation, humidity, and CO2 levels. There is also a direct link to the Priva Integro settings so that climate strategies can be examined in detail.

The initial page that we have been developing for the trials is shown above so that it can give you all an idea of what the final product is likely to look like. 

How have we been going?

For those of you who have been watching this site on a regular basis, you will have noticed the general serenity of the site - or rather the lack of updates! Well like a swan, we have had the serene look on top whilst running like mad under the water!

We have been looking at several options for our webcam and we have now come up with the solution.

Powerplants Australia have established a system for us that will enable us to view the Tomato Crop in a number of ways. The camera itself allows us to not only gain a generic view of the crop but to zoom in on specific areas. The software will also allow us to take pictures of specific plants as precise times each day. This will greatly assist us with our crop registration process.

We have also been working on getting the Priva Integro data relayed to an external site. This has seen us utilising our standard remote access medium of "logmein" with additional software that we are developing.

In the next couple of weeks we should have the full system up and running which will allow students to view climate data as well as remotely being able to move the camera around to gain vision of specific crop areas.

Who's watching who................

As we progress into the project we have been looking at a number of options that will give us the results and systems we are looking for. The attached video gives you a look at what can be achieved with existing technology using time lapse photography, and we will be exploring these systems.

Discovering how to Tweet!

As part of this project we are becoming involved in the world of Twitter. So what is Twitter? Prior to this point all we knew about Twitter was that it was a medium used by celebrities to highlight their activities. But we are now discovering that this is a powerful tool in terms of marketing. Already we are getting followers from around the world who are watching our progress. In order to capitalise on this, we are looking to attend some addition personal development in this area so that we can fully utilise our ability to Tweet! In the meantime, feel free to click on the Twitter link and join us on this journey.

http://twitter.com/eGlasshouse

 

Welcome to the e Glasshouse Blog

In 2010 Chisholm Institute was successful in securing funding to develop a E learning system to compliment the Controlled Environment Horticulture Glasshouse.

The project is being funded by the Australian Flexible Learning Framework and conducted under the guidance of  eWorks, who are a leading exponent of e-learning solutions and technology training. eWorks are continually reviewing products and services to develop solutions that match the pace of change in industry and technology.

The project will see the introduction of "webcams" in to the glasshouse to facilitate on line vision of the crops, and a direct link to the Priva Integro climate management system.

We have developed a further blog site that will track the progress of this project, which will ultimately allow individuals to see exactly what is happening within the glasshouse. The link to this site is located on this blog site and will be updated as the project progresses.

This project is an exciting development in both the educational and technology areas, and will enhance Chisholm's capacity to deliver courses to a wider student cohort.