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Imagine Possibilities
As I was brainstorming ways in which technology can be deployed for learning and instruction, I came to the ubiquitous cellphone. How can we use this technology for teaching? I was pleasantly surprised, though not shocked by what I learned from this article. A Japanese lady had written an entire novel using a cellphone: “One such star, a 21-year-old woman named Rin, wrote “If You” over a six-month stretch during her senior year in high school. While commuting to her part-time job or whenever she found a free moment, she…
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SL: Changing Lives for the Better
We who are able-bodied and can get around in RL, may not feel how SL has particularly impacted us. But a group of 9 folks with cerebral palsy in Dorchester, Massachusetts have discovered how empowering and liberating it is to be able at last to do what they’ve always wanted to do, through SL.Wilde Cunningham is an avatar created by these 9 people; he lives in a world where he can fly, snowboard, ski and do the things his creators are never going to be able to do. Viewing this…
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What Journalists Make of SL
Hype and Backlash for Second Life Miss the Bigger PictureMediaShift. Blog by Mark Glaser, 2:19PM Apparently, journalists have spun quite a hype around SL and just as quickly is tearing down without knowing much about it. Not having spent enough time inworld themselves, they were just relying on reviews by other journalists. To quote one journalist, Daniel Terdiman: …SL’s biggest weakness is the difficulty that newbies have when they first check out the world. “What happened was that it was really sexy to see Fortune 500 companies going into what…
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Whyville, Sims, SL etc
Darn, I missed the event that took place a month ago on what kids are learning in virtual worlds. Fortunately, here’s the link to the aggregate post with hyperlinks to the transcript, audio, and video posts that have been made of the event. USC is leading the pack in terms of research in SL. When I was writing the final paper for my summer course, they had just then received a $550,000 grant from the MacArthur Foundation to study the role of philanthropy in virtual worlds. I have yet to…
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Barriers to student learning in SL
I have over 2000 emails in my SLED listserv that I haven’t read; about 120 emails in SLresearch listserv for graduate students to plough through. However, I can’t delete them because there are goodies to be found. At a glance, there are some threads that are really helpful, like the one in this subject line. Here is what the author and follow contributors mention (SLED listserv, authors: Irene) Potential barriers to student use of SL for learning:No technology (computer, internet)Insufficient technology (need computer upgrades like processor or graphics card or…
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Catching up on VW again
I have been busy with so many things – work, reporting for church newsletter for a couple of months, friends, family, etc)…. I need to find some time to get back on track on my research about the 3D world. Fortunately, I subscribe to tons of stuff that I can refer to. Here are just a few to read: Chat History from Virtual Worlds Hot Topic Discussion – EDUCAUSE Annual Conference 2007 in Seattle EDTECH 597: Teaching & Learning in Second Life The Chronicle of Higher Ed Live Discussions: Getting…
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IDE 735#13: More reflection
So the course has ended, but I feel it’s just begun for me. There’s just so much to catch up on because of the course schedule and my own work schedule. I didn’t get to really read and chew on what I’ve read. There’s a lot of readings I want to delve into; I want to rewrite my final paper for a conference submission; it’s just a first draft. I have so many things I want to clarify, so many concepts I still have not a firm grasp of yet:…
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IDE.735#12: SL for relaxation
With such limited time and so much to do, I often have all these thoughts I want to blog about but don’t because I just don’t get to a computer on time and those moments/thoughts are lost. I posted 2 questions on Clark’s blog after asking one of them during his guest speaker appearance on June 14. I’m now trying to gather my thoughts and findings about SL to create my final paper. Started well but researching on SL is frustrating. Today I tried to attend a major event hosted…
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IDE.735#11: The Fascination of SL
I’m beginning to find SL very addictive. There’s just so much going on. It’s a game, so it’s fun and engaging, but it can also be educational. I’m also learning a whole new vocabulary. Do you know what a prim is? I didn’t until I googled to check it out as Miss SL 2007 kept using it in her blog. Personally, I think SL has great potential, setting aside all the pc crashes and motion sickness I get. Here’s a bit about what I’ve learned — thanks to Natalia, Miss…
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IDE.735#10: Miss SL 2007
This lady’s blog is supercool. She has a Second Life guide, lists fascinating places to explore, produces tutorials on how to create nice avatars, and listen to this, she is…. ta-dah!!!! Miss Second Life 2007 – Natalia Zelmanov! Is this surreal or what? I have to try out the links she posted myself. Many many to explore.
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IDE.735#9: Guest Speaker Clark
I visited Clark’s site numerous times to read and prepare for the session on Thurs 6/14, so I was a bit disappointed not to get to ask all my questions. Still, I’ll have a chance to post them. I posed him a question about the lack of a standard lexicon or terminology in the field. Honestly, my head at this point is swimmingly full of jargon about sims. He said that his effort in creating the glossary blog was a start in the direction to standardization. Hmmm… I thought so…
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IDE.735#8: Roaming SL again
Well, today I explored SL again to see if I can find anything educational or informative. I teleported to this Angel Island Isle and met 2 persons who actually interacted and chatted with me. Whoa! This lady, Sunshine Sparrow, is from a Florida state community college. She actually told me what this island was about – for Angel LMS to orientate potential clients to their software. Cool! So other competitors might be in SL too for this reason – like Blackboard, D2L, etc. She told me where I could go…
