Just in case you read this but don't read the nmc campus observer (seems unlikely given this blog is all about the nmc symposium) they've finally posted the video of the symposium.
I won't vouch, for those who weren't there, that all the content shown took place at the symposium it's meant to have taken part at, but there are definitely bits of work from some of the people who attended the Pandora's box sessions amongst many other things.
Monday, December 17, 2007
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Monday, September 3, 2007
Visual Language in Second Life!
fyi...I didn't post a lot during the conference but I learned plenty. Inspired by the Studio Session I decided to acquire some land and build a space for my upcoming courses.Here's a link to pictures from the Second Life space I created for my courses:
http://flickr.com/photos/95501898@N00/sets/72157601843515635
I have land now and I'm having a lot of fun building the space out. If you want to visit here's the link: Pumori (224,15)
If you do visit please let me know what you think...thanks!
- Nettrice
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Flip Dobropan is well pleased
So I thought I posted this a few days ago, but it seems to have not worked. I just wanted to say that I really got a lot out of the class and am excitingly showing things to higher-ups at my university.
Monday, August 20, 2007
Take you own field trips
As promised, the slurls for our field trips:
The Archetypal Cavern
Willow Springs
The Poe House
You can also read a bit about these, and links out to other comments on my website.
The one you can't read about, that not everyone did:
The Collaboration Station
The Archetypal Cavern
Willow Springs
The Poe House
You can also read a bit about these, and links out to other comments on my website.
The one you can't read about, that not everyone did:
The Collaboration Station
The Omega!
Hello All,
What an experience!
I too, want to thank Eloise and Desi for an interesting, as well as great learning experience.
Having acquired many new skills during the week, will allow me to participate in the SL fashion in the future.
I did not get as far as I would have liked. Think I was able to work on the Setting, being friendly and all, and a little work on the construction of the lesson plan.
Yes, since we started back at my academic place of work, I'm allowed 8 hours per week to pursue other venues by contract. So, things had to be done within that time frame in order to not to be concerned with instituition approval for any work accomplished (just the build).
There were a few setbacks, but having worked in pharmaceuticals prior to my academic job, I learned that you are not making progress unless you are making mistakes along the way. So, not to give up, too easily!
I enjoyed this studio session as well as my colleagues in zealous "SecondLifing", and made alot of new friends, too! There was also the new 3 letter word, yes, L-A-G! Wow, what an experience, that was!:(
I am recalling a quote from the past (not quite as it was originally stated, ...)
"We can not solve problems today with the tools of the past!"
The author was Albert Einstein.
Perhaps Immersion Teachnologis are those tools of today needed to assist in solving today's problems in educating ourselves and our populace! Perhaps it means that we just cannot teach one way, staying the same for all throughout our careers. Because that path may be a tool of the past! Especially if your my age!
Well, this works for me!
All hailing frequencies closing! Till next time, youall take care and have a good one!
Palani Allen
What an experience!
I too, want to thank Eloise and Desi for an interesting, as well as great learning experience.
Having acquired many new skills during the week, will allow me to participate in the SL fashion in the future.
I did not get as far as I would have liked. Think I was able to work on the Setting, being friendly and all, and a little work on the construction of the lesson plan.
Yes, since we started back at my academic place of work, I'm allowed 8 hours per week to pursue other venues by contract. So, things had to be done within that time frame in order to not to be concerned with instituition approval for any work accomplished (just the build).
There were a few setbacks, but having worked in pharmaceuticals prior to my academic job, I learned that you are not making progress unless you are making mistakes along the way. So, not to give up, too easily!
I enjoyed this studio session as well as my colleagues in zealous "SecondLifing", and made alot of new friends, too! There was also the new 3 letter word, yes, L-A-G! Wow, what an experience, that was!:(
I am recalling a quote from the past (not quite as it was originally stated, ...)
"We can not solve problems today with the tools of the past!"
The author was Albert Einstein.
Perhaps Immersion Teachnologis are those tools of today needed to assist in solving today's problems in educating ourselves and our populace! Perhaps it means that we just cannot teach one way, staying the same for all throughout our careers. Because that path may be a tool of the past! Especially if your my age!
Well, this works for me!
All hailing frequencies closing! Till next time, youall take care and have a good one!
Palani Allen
Saturday, August 18, 2007
The job of an educator is to teach students to see vitality in themselves. Joseph Campbell
Mission accomplished!
Thank you so much, Desi and Eloise, for an amazing week filled with new tools, new ideas, new knowledge ... and a whole lot of fun! I am so impressed with both of you and the educators I have met this week. I am hoping we have a chance to collaborate on something inworld in the near future!
Thanks for the memories!
Friday, August 17, 2007
On the Brink of Tomorrow
We are all inventors, each sailing out on a voyage of discovery, guided each by a private chart, of which there is no duplicate. The world is all gates, all opportunities. Ralph Waldo Emerson
I am sad to see it end, and want to thank NMC for hosting us this week.
The participants were diverse, energetic, and engaging. We all learned a little bit about our water, the gates, and the journey.
Thank YOU for choosing to sail...for as many as choose to sail, 4 more stand upon the shore...and 10 more stand farther back still...
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!
Parting is such sweet sorrow
Like every course I've ever taught this one has had it's ups and downs. I won't list them, in case I skew your responses to the end of course survey we're compiling although there's one very personal one - finding I can cope with a lively class at 4am is a personal plus I think (just don't tell any people that hire me for projects!).
One big plus though, that I think I can say without biasing things: those of you that have stuck it out are all producing interesting environments with your own twists on what we've suggested. Like any teacher I'm always gratified to see students that get it, take what I (or in this case we) teach, and make something of their own from it.
Thank you for giving that to us.
And, with mention of the survey here it is!
One big plus though, that I think I can say without biasing things: those of you that have stuck it out are all producing interesting environments with your own twists on what we've suggested. Like any teacher I'm always gratified to see students that get it, take what I (or in this case we) teach, and make something of their own from it.
Thank you for giving that to us.
And, with mention of the survey here it is!
Class transcripts, Thursday pm
Wicked Cool Stuff
Tonight was bittersweet - while it was our last session for the studios, it was awesome to watch builds unfold. Tomorrow at 12 noon SLT, we will gather one last time to showcase our stuff.
One thing that always occurs to me when Eloise and I go round and chatter up about immersion is the idea of WHO gets immersed. Many fall into the trap of thinking that because THEY are immersed, the students will be, too. That isn't always the case. A good litmus test is this:
If your planning includes a lot of "I will do this" and "I will talk about this" - then it is pretty certain that the presentation is not about the student being immersed. If they have to listen to you in SL like they would in a lecture in RL, the plan is more about you and less about them. Remember, our definition of immersion suggests that we use SL for things that can't happen in RL. So, if they are just going to read your thoughts in text chat or on a notecard...well, they can do that in real life....no need to go get gussied up in a second life. So, this is all just to say that if it is about "me me me" than it can't be about the students.
It was amazing to see the light bulbs click today. My favorite was a REALLY wicked cool display that wasn't entirely interactive. When we chatted about immersion, the avatar sprung to action and spent the day creating something TOTALLY learner centered! I was SOOO happy, I could have cried. Light bulbs were flashing all around, and it was a GORGEOUS view!!!!
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Oops I accidentally deleted my spidergram and…ethical content
My thoughts on the idea of “ethical content”: I believe there is a difference between ethical approaches to content and minimal legal compliance with regards to referencing the source of learning objects. We really discussed legal compliance (vs. ethics) in our session yesterday – attribution given to sources to which we link (and not necessarily attribution to the author/creator) as well as compliance with the terms of service of providers such as google and flickr. Which, by the way, we try to avoid using in our courses, going instead with verifiable academic sources (such as the huge array of academic subscription databases that give royalty-free access to resources to subscribing institutions – as long as the resource is being used for academic purposes). We also choose to use: .edu and .org based resources over .com
We didn’t discuss evaluating LOs (learning objects) for “authenticity” and “accuracy” nor of digging deeper to find more primary (or close as possible to the original source) which to me is an important aspect of selecting digital resources. We are lucky, at SUNY Empire State College, to have a team of librarians and media specialists charged with the task of doing this for all of our courses. We also didn’t discuss the ethics of representation and the implications of choices made --- all important aspects of ethical approaches to content.
One way to approach this topic is to clearly define the terms. What is ethical? Who gets to decide? That has been the subject of debate for centuries, so I’ll leave that there and…. Go back to the now defunct spidergram…which referred to a few of the learning and development theories that interest me, such as:
deep learning. Marton and Saljo (1976) developed the following definitions of surface and deep approaches to learning: Surface approach: Students relate to the needs of the instructor, rather than to either their own personal identification with the subject or to the structure of the imparted knowledge. The learning task is to reproduce the subject matter at a later date (e.g. in an exam). Deep approach: Students connect the structure of the subject to their own learning structures. This involves thinking, seeking integration between components and between tasks, and ‘playing’ with ideas. [1]
Gibbs (1992) further refines the definition: most students can adopt both surface and deep approaches to their learning; students can develop an increasingly sophisticated conception of learning; inappropriate course design, teaching methods and assessment can foster a surface approach; and appropriate course design, teaching methods and assessment can foster a deep approach.[2]
Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development
http://coe.sdsu.edu/eet/articles/vygotsky_zpd/index.htm
Community of Inquiry Framework (cognitive, teaching and social presence). Terry Anderson is one of the originating authors of the community of inquiry theory/research. His slides on Social and Cognitive Presence in Virtual Learning Environments provide a nice overview of some of the foundational elements underlying this framework.
http://www.slideshare.net/terrya/social-and-cognitive-presence-in-virtual-learning-environments/
[1] Marton, F., Saljo, R. (1976). "On qualitative differences in learning: Outcome and process." British Journal of Educational Psychology 46: 4-11.
[2] Gibbs, G. (1992a). Improving the quality of student learning through course design. In R. Barnett (Ed.). Learning to Effect . Buckingham: SRHE/Open University Press. Part I Using research to improve student learning.
Gibbs, G. (1992b). Improving the quality of studentlLearning . Bristol: Technical and Educational Services.
Well, back to building. See you in-world --Ragi
We didn’t discuss evaluating LOs (learning objects) for “authenticity” and “accuracy” nor of digging deeper to find more primary (or close as possible to the original source) which to me is an important aspect of selecting digital resources. We are lucky, at SUNY Empire State College, to have a team of librarians and media specialists charged with the task of doing this for all of our courses. We also didn’t discuss the ethics of representation and the implications of choices made --- all important aspects of ethical approaches to content.
One way to approach this topic is to clearly define the terms. What is ethical? Who gets to decide? That has been the subject of debate for centuries, so I’ll leave that there and…. Go back to the now defunct spidergram…which referred to a few of the learning and development theories that interest me, such as:
deep learning. Marton and Saljo (1976) developed the following definitions of surface and deep approaches to learning: Surface approach: Students relate to the needs of the instructor, rather than to either their own personal identification with the subject or to the structure of the imparted knowledge. The learning task is to reproduce the subject matter at a later date (e.g. in an exam). Deep approach: Students connect the structure of the subject to their own learning structures. This involves thinking, seeking integration between components and between tasks, and ‘playing’ with ideas. [1]
Gibbs (1992) further refines the definition: most students can adopt both surface and deep approaches to their learning; students can develop an increasingly sophisticated conception of learning; inappropriate course design, teaching methods and assessment can foster a surface approach; and appropriate course design, teaching methods and assessment can foster a deep approach.[2]
Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development
http://coe.sdsu.edu/eet/articles/vygotsky_zpd/index.htm
Community of Inquiry Framework (cognitive, teaching and social presence). Terry Anderson is one of the originating authors of the community of inquiry theory/research. His slides on Social and Cognitive Presence in Virtual Learning Environments provide a nice overview of some of the foundational elements underlying this framework.
http://www.slideshare.net/terrya/social-and-cognitive-presence-in-virtual-learning-environments/
[1] Marton, F., Saljo, R. (1976). "On qualitative differences in learning: Outcome and process." British Journal of Educational Psychology 46: 4-11.
[2] Gibbs, G. (1992a). Improving the quality of student learning through course design. In R. Barnett (Ed.). Learning to Effect . Buckingham: SRHE/Open University Press. Part I Using research to improve student learning.
Gibbs, G. (1992b). Improving the quality of studentlLearning . Bristol: Technical and Educational Services.
Well, back to building. See you in-world --Ragi
Thursday am transcripts
Transcripts of the Thursday morning session are available. With the small numbers of students they took a slightly different structure, so there are three pretty transcripts: here, here and here, and the plain text transcript it divided into three sections too.
The extra wiki pages promised on Tuesday are available, and were updated this morning.
The extra wiki pages promised on Tuesday are available, and were updated this morning.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
design for learning
“Learning cannot be designed:
it can only be designed for –
that is, facilitated or frustrated”
(Wenger, 1998, p. 229).
Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice: Learning, meaning, and identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
it can only be designed for –
that is, facilitated or frustrated”
(Wenger, 1998, p. 229).
Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice: Learning, meaning, and identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Primcast with Shoutcast server
Here is the primcast link, as well as information on the shoutcast server, which is what I use with winamp. I haven't had one spot of downtime with this service in 10 months and I don't even domain host with them (II)
They also have live customer service if you need help; especially helpful in getting set up. This is a huge plus for me.
If you have any questions, just ask.
They also have live customer service if you need help; especially helpful in getting set up. This is a huge plus for me.
If you have any questions, just ask.
Thursday's Wednesday's Reflections
Since this is our busiest time of the year as we ramp up for the start of classes Monday, it has been a bit of a challenge to find time to keep up with the project schedule. And keeping a thesis moving forward at full speed doesn't make things any easier.
Nonetheless, I am very glad to be able to participate in this studio session. I am learning stuff every day. And making connections with some amazing people!
That is really the strength of SL . . . networking. Although one can connect with colleagues at RL f2f conferences, it isn't often easy to maintain any significant level of interaction. Just in this studio, the projects that participants are involved with--and the people themselves are truly captivating. It makes me want to follow along as they all continue to develop!
At least for my style of learning, Desi and Eloise are awesome: knowledgable, dedicated, patient, enthusiastic, and personable. And no . . . I am not just sucking up to get a good grade! :)
Nonetheless, I am very glad to be able to participate in this studio session. I am learning stuff every day. And making connections with some amazing people!
That is really the strength of SL . . . networking. Although one can connect with colleagues at RL f2f conferences, it isn't often easy to maintain any significant level of interaction. Just in this studio, the projects that participants are involved with--and the people themselves are truly captivating. It makes me want to follow along as they all continue to develop!
At least for my style of learning, Desi and Eloise are awesome: knowledgable, dedicated, patient, enthusiastic, and personable. And no . . . I am not just sucking up to get a good grade! :)
Tuesday PM transcripts
The plain text version is here and the pretty version is here.
There will be, after I've slept, some additions to the wiki, about my experience assessing, and being assessed, by portfolio - elements of your experience might vary of course! I will also try to write the stuff about audio up into a simple page since it seemed to cause some confusion and interest in both sessions.
I will also add slurls for the field trips!
There will be, after I've slept, some additions to the wiki, about my experience assessing, and being assessed, by portfolio - elements of your experience might vary of course! I will also try to write the stuff about audio up into a simple page since it seemed to cause some confusion and interest in both sessions.
I will also add slurls for the field trips!
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Flip Dobropan is a bit overwhelmed
Don't worry, I mean that in a good way! Mainly, I still trying to wrap my head around what can be done in sl, especially with audio things. This morning I learned about a lot of things I didn't know about, such as that people from different places can play music together and be in time. I am excited to learn things like how to post videos and that sort of thing, but also, and more importantly, how to integrate those into an educational experience. Anyway, I suppose that's it for now; I'm sure I'll have more to say once things sink in a bit more.
Here It Is! :)
Hello All!
Well, these past couple of days has been very interesting! Both at the Studio and the Symposium. I have learned how to do just about everything required for this studio. Both studio mentors and peers in this course have been willing and patient to share, especially during our lag periods. ( I now have something to say when I can't get, build, or rez something, yes that 3 letter word, "lag". And I do not have to feel bad about it! To bad we don't have lag in the game of golf!)
There is one more thing for me to learn by this afternoon's meeting and that is "How to make a notecard to put into an object."
During some of the discussions inworld, I have heard a lot about content delivery, and engaging and immersive, and feel that the next step (dimension) is to also consider to somehow build into the construct (environment) the creation of thinking skills in the learner, which is a goal of the educational process. I have placed that as one of the spidergram "spheres" on my sandbox area. Can I put anything into this prim? Help!
A Change of Venue!
Having searched the SL world almost all over, and having not found what I think I need, has caused me to alter my original lesson plan to just a portion of that lesson plan. This will take a lot of time all by itself!
Idea!
One thought here, is that, to add the "dimension" discussed above is easier if you already have an understanding (or inituitive understanding) of the basic elements of good teaching.
Works on Builds!
I am acquiring the skill to allow avi s to walk through walls!
In addition, there is a concerted effort on my part to become familiar with particle scripting.
Overall
This is a great learning experience. It does require some background. I think notecards would work real well here.
Okay then! Closing all hailing frequencies, for now!
--Palani
August 14, 2007 (T)
Well, these past couple of days has been very interesting! Both at the Studio and the Symposium. I have learned how to do just about everything required for this studio. Both studio mentors and peers in this course have been willing and patient to share, especially during our lag periods. ( I now have something to say when I can't get, build, or rez something, yes that 3 letter word, "lag". And I do not have to feel bad about it! To bad we don't have lag in the game of golf!)
There is one more thing for me to learn by this afternoon's meeting and that is "How to make a notecard to put into an object."
During some of the discussions inworld, I have heard a lot about content delivery, and engaging and immersive, and feel that the next step (dimension) is to also consider to somehow build into the construct (environment) the creation of thinking skills in the learner, which is a goal of the educational process. I have placed that as one of the spidergram "spheres" on my sandbox area. Can I put anything into this prim? Help!
A Change of Venue!
Having searched the SL world almost all over, and having not found what I think I need, has caused me to alter my original lesson plan to just a portion of that lesson plan. This will take a lot of time all by itself!
Idea!
One thought here, is that, to add the "dimension" discussed above is easier if you already have an understanding (or inituitive understanding) of the basic elements of good teaching.
Works on Builds!
I am acquiring the skill to allow avi s to walk through walls!
In addition, there is a concerted effort on my part to become familiar with particle scripting.
Overall
This is a great learning experience. It does require some background. I think notecards would work real well here.
Okay then! Closing all hailing frequencies, for now!
--Palani
August 14, 2007 (T)
Tuesday Musings
Tuesday Musings
I am making slow progress. The challenge I am facing is not being able to ‘see’ other syllabi and how other instructors have added ‘immersive’ activities to their online/onground classes. I also am not a builder; so I think I will take Eloise up on her offer. My progress to date is as follows. The class I am creating my plan for is a graduate course in organizational behavior. One of the assignments includes ‘assessing corporate culture’. Students are provided a list of several well-known organizations and asked are asked to pick one and evaluate the organization’s culture. This is a team project. I would like to make this assignment a three-step process. The students perform the ‘real world’ analysis; and then perform the same analysis in Second Life on those same companies. The final piece is a comparison/contrast. The companies I identified from my list that have both a real world and Second Life presence include: Cisco, IBM, and the Red Cross.
These are the questions the students use to evaluate the companies:
a. What are some formal statements that are prevalent in the organization? These could include the organization’s philosophy, mission, vision, values, and any promotional material with which you may be familiar. What do these statements suggest to your team about the organization?
b. What is the design of the physical workspace or work environment and what does this say about the organization’s culture?
c. What slogans, language, or sayings are prevalent in the organization? How do these inform people in the culture?
d. What deliberate role modeling, training, and teaching are emphasized in the organization?
e. What explicit rewards and status symbols are used to motivate employees?
f. Are there any stories, legends, and myths that are familiar to employees and customers?
g. Describe some organizational activities, processes, or outcomes leaders measure and control.
h. What are the leaders’ reactions to critical incidents and crises?
i. Describe the workflow and organizational structure.
j. Evaluate any organizational systems and procedures.
k. What type of organizational goals and associated criteria are used for selection and replacement of employees?
The Second Life experience would include ‘visiting’ those companies, as well as conducting interviews with the SL representatives of these companies.
Any feedback would be appreciated.
-Kathleen/Kallisto
I am making slow progress. The challenge I am facing is not being able to ‘see’ other syllabi and how other instructors have added ‘immersive’ activities to their online/onground classes. I also am not a builder; so I think I will take Eloise up on her offer. My progress to date is as follows. The class I am creating my plan for is a graduate course in organizational behavior. One of the assignments includes ‘assessing corporate culture’. Students are provided a list of several well-known organizations and asked are asked to pick one and evaluate the organization’s culture. This is a team project. I would like to make this assignment a three-step process. The students perform the ‘real world’ analysis; and then perform the same analysis in Second Life on those same companies. The final piece is a comparison/contrast. The companies I identified from my list that have both a real world and Second Life presence include: Cisco, IBM, and the Red Cross.
These are the questions the students use to evaluate the companies:
a. What are some formal statements that are prevalent in the organization? These could include the organization’s philosophy, mission, vision, values, and any promotional material with which you may be familiar. What do these statements suggest to your team about the organization?
b. What is the design of the physical workspace or work environment and what does this say about the organization’s culture?
c. What slogans, language, or sayings are prevalent in the organization? How do these inform people in the culture?
d. What deliberate role modeling, training, and teaching are emphasized in the organization?
e. What explicit rewards and status symbols are used to motivate employees?
f. Are there any stories, legends, and myths that are familiar to employees and customers?
g. Describe some organizational activities, processes, or outcomes leaders measure and control.
h. What are the leaders’ reactions to critical incidents and crises?
i. Describe the workflow and organizational structure.
j. Evaluate any organizational systems and procedures.
k. What type of organizational goals and associated criteria are used for selection and replacement of employees?
The Second Life experience would include ‘visiting’ those companies, as well as conducting interviews with the SL representatives of these companies.
Any feedback would be appreciated.
-Kathleen/Kallisto
My Dilemma
I am excited by the opportunities offered in this session to explore and design. But as we say in French: je dilemme. I have some ideas for wonderfully immersive learning environments - but they draw from years of research, arcane materials, and culturally and historically sensitive topics that have traditionally been misinterpreted, and misused by the western exoticization of the culture I would like to represent. For that reason, I am not willing to create them with full permissions. So, if I were to really create what I'd like to create: it would be an ancient Tahitian house of learning, with elements in and around the house that would lead the student to learn more about learning in Ancient Tahitian Society. But perhaps this will have to be for another place, another time. If I have to create something full perms, then it will be something else...
I'm having fun in the course! Wonderful to meet you all. --Ragi
I'm having fun in the course! Wonderful to meet you all. --Ragi
OMG
Talk about a Pandora's Box! The more we dig into the immersive learning aspect, the more my ADD brain goes into overdrive!
As I am tweaking (lol) my spider, I am witnessing the concept expanding. This is great, but it can be a bit of a beast. OK. So, we have our idea in mind. Mine is to use SL as an in-depth previsualization environment for filmmaking. This will serve my students well and better prepare them for tackling the real deal. Obviously, not all details are available through the hovering text, so I am to assume - no comments - that we can utilize the content distribution techniques we have been encountering and dealing with to disseminate the various principles, facts, and instructions we are wanting to convey.
Once we have the full spider developed, it should be a great representation of the conceptual course or objective outline.
Are we going to be able to convert any of this into more tangible artifacts? .... Need more caffeine!! :?)
Great stuff and the field trips are awesome for seeing techniques in action.
As I am tweaking (lol) my spider, I am witnessing the concept expanding. This is great, but it can be a bit of a beast. OK. So, we have our idea in mind. Mine is to use SL as an in-depth previsualization environment for filmmaking. This will serve my students well and better prepare them for tackling the real deal. Obviously, not all details are available through the hovering text, so I am to assume - no comments - that we can utilize the content distribution techniques we have been encountering and dealing with to disseminate the various principles, facts, and instructions we are wanting to convey.
Once we have the full spider developed, it should be a great representation of the conceptual course or objective outline.
Are we going to be able to convert any of this into more tangible artifacts? .... Need more caffeine!! :?)
Great stuff and the field trips are awesome for seeing techniques in action.
Tuesday morning transcripts available
If I had a hammer...
I'd hammer all day long!
A gentle reminder that we're trying to encourage you to build an immersive environment suitable to your topic, not just plan it! What we're hoping to have is a group of immersive spaces available, built by you, by FRIDAY.
I've been doing this a long time, I can make the SL content of the cave in 5 hours, it might take you rather longer, and of course a cave probably isn't appropriate to you. Willow Springs, yesterday's field trip, was about 25 hours of my work. It's much bigger than you've got space for, but the time can easily slip away. (Note to self, add the Archetypal Cavern to the website Eloise, and some of your reactions too!)
I will have to count to be sure, but I think we've got less than 12 people building. Feel free to keep one plot for planning and another to build on. You might want to spread out a bit, so you've got space to build next to your planning plot.
If you're not a confident builder, please grab me today when you see me online and ask for help. Ask your colleagues as well, I know of at least one person who was rescued by a classmate, thank you to her for the rescue! If all else fails, I will be there tomorrow after the downtime for "office hours." That can be questions for things we've not covered or you've not understood, but it can also be writing short custom scripts for you, teaching you how to build and the like.
A gentle reminder that we're trying to encourage you to build an immersive environment suitable to your topic, not just plan it! What we're hoping to have is a group of immersive spaces available, built by you, by FRIDAY.
I've been doing this a long time, I can make the SL content of the cave in 5 hours, it might take you rather longer, and of course a cave probably isn't appropriate to you. Willow Springs, yesterday's field trip, was about 25 hours of my work. It's much bigger than you've got space for, but the time can easily slip away. (Note to self, add the Archetypal Cavern to the website Eloise, and some of your reactions too!)
I will have to count to be sure, but I think we've got less than 12 people building. Feel free to keep one plot for planning and another to build on. You might want to spread out a bit, so you've got space to build next to your planning plot.
If you're not a confident builder, please grab me today when you see me online and ask for help. Ask your colleagues as well, I know of at least one person who was rescued by a classmate, thank you to her for the rescue! If all else fails, I will be there tomorrow after the downtime for "office hours." That can be questions for things we've not covered or you've not understood, but it can also be writing short custom scripts for you, teaching you how to build and the like.
Monday, August 13, 2007
Hello!
My name is Arteer (Helene iRL) and I have been immersed in Second Life for 10 months now ... and I must say, loving every minute of it!
I first joined SL in 2005 at the same time as I began work on my MA in communication, but with my predilection for creative adventures, that was not going to work if I was going to study! ~laughs~
I am finishing my MA in communication (December). The focus of my project is on instructional immediacy in online environments. The research, the writing, and, most of all —the application— of social presence theory has been more than amazing in this environment.
Monday Musings
Hi all
My name is Kathleen Ives. By ‘day’ I serve as the Event Producer for the Sloan Consortium (Sloan-C), where I oversee our online educational initiatives such as the Sloan-C Online Teaching Certificate program, asynchronous workshops, webinars, blended offerings, face-to-face offerings as well as most recently, events in Second Life. By ‘night’ I adjunct for the University of Phoenix in several modalities: online, face-to-face, and blended. My interest in attending this workshop (and this conference) is twofold. One, is to develop a better understanding of the ‘behind the scenes efforts required to stage both this workshop and this conference, as Sloan-C is in the process of developing a series of Second Life workshops for its members, as well as staging a an International Symposium on Emerging Technologies in Carefree, Arizona, May 7-8, 2008.
As an instructor, I am looking for ways I can enhance the online experience (and perhaps even the face-to-face) through creating immersive activities that support the curriculum. I see Second Life as yet another ‘tool’ educators can put in their toolkit. As I mentioned last night, I believe the curriculum requirements should drive the development of any Second Life experience, versus the technology taking the lead.
I have been a resident of Second Life since March of this year, and still feel the environment is not ready for the majority of online educators. It is not very intuitive, and the time investment to learn even the basics can prove daunting. I am not a technical person, so in my perfect world, I would like to have others build it for me, and then I just drag and drop :-)
Below is an example of a conversation that was held in a scripting class I took today:
Protomas Ludwig: Now it's obvious that this function makes a prim rotate, but lets look at its 'parameters' in the curved brackets.
Protomas Ludwig: we are talking about the function, llTargetOmega(<0,0,1> ,1, 1);, about the stuff in the ( )
Protomas Ludwig: The first part in the parameters is a triplet of numbers in what I call spikey brackets < >.
Protomas Ludwig: The reason I call em that is that they are USED as brackets in a lot of programming situations but are actually mathematical symbols.
Lavigini Borzage: Does "tragetOmego" always refer to rotation?
Protomas Ludwig: I DID look for an official name, but apparently they only are called LESS THAN or GREATER THAN, which is confusing when they are used as delimiters
Protomas Ludwig: Lavigini, that function is ALWAYS about rotation, but the name doesn't necessarily correspond to any general principle in Linden Scripting Language...as such, its a bad name
Lavigini Borzage: Ok thanks
Lavigini Borzage: Knowing that explains alot
Protomas Ludwig: but the write obviously thought llTargetOmega sounded cool
Aley Arai: i learned that target omega is *only* rendered on your home computer, and the objets arent realy moving at all in the sim
Protomas Ludwig: its amazing some of the functions are called llAlphaDoom StrikeOne or something
Protomas Ludwig: Aley, that is 100 percent correct
Aley Arai: then why can you add targetomega to a physics prim and it will zoom all over the place?0-0
I’m glad Aley and Lavigini ‘get it’!
I look forward continuing our discussions here and in-world.
-Kathleen [Kalisto Ihnen]
My name is Kathleen Ives. By ‘day’ I serve as the Event Producer for the Sloan Consortium (Sloan-C), where I oversee our online educational initiatives such as the Sloan-C Online Teaching Certificate program, asynchronous workshops, webinars, blended offerings, face-to-face offerings as well as most recently, events in Second Life. By ‘night’ I adjunct for the University of Phoenix in several modalities: online, face-to-face, and blended. My interest in attending this workshop (and this conference) is twofold. One, is to develop a better understanding of the ‘behind the scenes efforts required to stage both this workshop and this conference, as Sloan-C is in the process of developing a series of Second Life workshops for its members, as well as staging a an International Symposium on Emerging Technologies in Carefree, Arizona, May 7-8, 2008.
As an instructor, I am looking for ways I can enhance the online experience (and perhaps even the face-to-face) through creating immersive activities that support the curriculum. I see Second Life as yet another ‘tool’ educators can put in their toolkit. As I mentioned last night, I believe the curriculum requirements should drive the development of any Second Life experience, versus the technology taking the lead.
I have been a resident of Second Life since March of this year, and still feel the environment is not ready for the majority of online educators. It is not very intuitive, and the time investment to learn even the basics can prove daunting. I am not a technical person, so in my perfect world, I would like to have others build it for me, and then I just drag and drop :-)
Below is an example of a conversation that was held in a scripting class I took today:
Protomas Ludwig: Now it's obvious that this function makes a prim rotate, but lets look at its 'parameters' in the curved brackets.
Protomas Ludwig: we are talking about the function, llTargetOmega(<0,0,1> ,1, 1);, about the stuff in the ( )
Protomas Ludwig: The first part in the parameters is a triplet of numbers in what I call spikey brackets < >.
Protomas Ludwig: The reason I call em that is that they are USED as brackets in a lot of programming situations but are actually mathematical symbols.
Lavigini Borzage: Does "tragetOmego" always refer to rotation?
Protomas Ludwig: I DID look for an official name, but apparently they only are called LESS THAN or GREATER THAN, which is confusing when they are used as delimiters
Protomas Ludwig: Lavigini, that function is ALWAYS about rotation, but the name doesn't necessarily correspond to any general principle in Linden Scripting Language...as such, its a bad name
Lavigini Borzage: Ok thanks
Lavigini Borzage: Knowing that explains alot
Protomas Ludwig: but the write obviously thought llTargetOmega sounded cool
Aley Arai: i learned that target omega is *only* rendered on your home computer, and the objets arent realy moving at all in the sim
Protomas Ludwig: its amazing some of the functions are called llAlphaDoom StrikeOne or something
Protomas Ludwig: Aley, that is 100 percent correct
Aley Arai: then why can you add targetomega to a physics prim and it will zoom all over the place?0-0
I’m glad Aley and Lavigini ‘get it’!
I look forward continuing our discussions here and in-world.
-Kathleen [Kalisto Ihnen]
Introduction - Silver Tomorrow
Hi everyone,
I am a graduate research assistant in the Instructional Design and Technology program at the University of North Dakota. I am doing an internship with the Center of Instructional and Learning Technologies (CILT) for the Fall '07 semester. The CILT director (Lorianne Heron in SL) gave me the option of building a protype campus with NMC in SL and I jumped on the opportunity. I started playing around in SL, creating my avatar (Silver Tomorrow) and learning to build a bit here and there, to prepare for the internship. Lori then offered to register me for this Symposium and here I am. I am hoping to bring UND to SL and I hope to do it an innovative and immersive way that doesn't replicate RL!
See you in-world! ST
I am a graduate research assistant in the Instructional Design and Technology program at the University of North Dakota. I am doing an internship with the Center of Instructional and Learning Technologies (CILT) for the Fall '07 semester. The CILT director (Lorianne Heron in SL) gave me the option of building a protype campus with NMC in SL and I jumped on the opportunity. I started playing around in SL, creating my avatar (Silver Tomorrow) and learning to build a bit here and there, to prepare for the internship. Lori then offered to register me for this Symposium and here I am. I am hoping to bring UND to SL and I hope to do it an innovative and immersive way that doesn't replicate RL!
See you in-world! ST
Flip Dobropan is on the scene
Hey everyone. This is Flip Dobropan (Nick Johnson in RL). I am a graduate assistant for The Ohio State University. I'm working with a group called the Digital Union and we are doing research on emerging technologies and I have been tasked with everything Second Life. I give workshops and that sort of thing, though I'm mostly faking since I don't actually know very much. We are in the early stages of buying an island for our university (takes a while to convince the higher-ups in a gigantic school) and I will probably be a big part of forming our campus and working with faculty members.
In my other life I am a Ph.D. student in musicology, with a focus on the music of the Catholic Reformation of the 16th century. I am interested in the various ways that changing theology influenced compositional style. It's a very fun topic and I like living two very different lives - one techy in a fancy computer lab, and one academic in a dark, musty library digging through old music manuscripts.
I have two interests for taking this class. First of all, since I will probably be very involved working with faculty members at OSU I need to be able to help them through all of this stuff. Secondly, and due to my interest in music interacting with culture, I am excited about the possibility of music being a communal experience in SL. Music, as we all know, has become more and more personal over that past century. Virtual worlds opens up a new way for people to enjoy/discuss/debate/compose music in a communal environment which I at least think is fascinating.
In my other life I am a Ph.D. student in musicology, with a focus on the music of the Catholic Reformation of the 16th century. I am interested in the various ways that changing theology influenced compositional style. It's a very fun topic and I like living two very different lives - one techy in a fancy computer lab, and one academic in a dark, musty library digging through old music manuscripts.
I have two interests for taking this class. First of all, since I will probably be very involved working with faculty members at OSU I need to be able to help them through all of this stuff. Secondly, and due to my interest in music interacting with culture, I am excited about the possibility of music being a communal experience in SL. Music, as we all know, has become more and more personal over that past century. Virtual worlds opens up a new way for people to enjoy/discuss/debate/compose music in a communal environment which I at least think is fascinating.
Uhhh... Let's See
Greetings to all of you!
This is the part where we make our introductions I guess. Hmm.. OK.
My name is Maverick Young (aka Doug Darby) and I am with Abilene Christian University in Abilene, Texas. I doubt most of y'all (yes, I am a true Texan) have heard of Abilene, so let's just say that it is a couple of hundred miles due west of Dallas. I am the Creative and Media Specialist for ACU's Distance Education program, and also adjunct in our Dept. of Journalism and Mass Communication teaching Visual Media and Multimedia Portfolios. I hold an MS in Digital Media and am currently looking to start work on my PhD.
I am involved with leveraging new technologies and methods to creative learning environments specifically engineered for an online medium. We use a number of strategies to make a quality and engaging online experience for our online graduate programs. I work in video and audio production, as well as interactive learning object development. Second Life is a new concept for ACU, so my goal is to show its potential and identify appropriate applications for it to enrich our academic landscape and build community.
I am jazzed about what converging technologies are doing, and especially the changing face of education. The concepts of immersive experiences and alternative learning environments promises to offer students so much in the way of understanding learning. Besides, the social aspects of community building on a global scale offers a great deal in the way of not only collective intelligence, but richer cultural understanding.
OK OK OK .. I can ramble.
I am hoping to develop an effective means of providing students a learning environment for conflict resolution and negotiation, as well as a virtual film school frame work that takes teams through the production process before any RL production begins. The beauty of that is the transfer factor. They can take the organized elements developed in SL and use them as a launch point for the RL production. Basically, a lot of pre-production takes place virtually.
I look forward to working with all of you and learning more about the power of immersive learning.
This is the part where we make our introductions I guess. Hmm.. OK.
My name is Maverick Young (aka Doug Darby) and I am with Abilene Christian University in Abilene, Texas. I doubt most of y'all (yes, I am a true Texan) have heard of Abilene, so let's just say that it is a couple of hundred miles due west of Dallas. I am the Creative and Media Specialist for ACU's Distance Education program, and also adjunct in our Dept. of Journalism and Mass Communication teaching Visual Media and Multimedia Portfolios. I hold an MS in Digital Media and am currently looking to start work on my PhD.
I am involved with leveraging new technologies and methods to creative learning environments specifically engineered for an online medium. We use a number of strategies to make a quality and engaging online experience for our online graduate programs. I work in video and audio production, as well as interactive learning object development. Second Life is a new concept for ACU, so my goal is to show its potential and identify appropriate applications for it to enrich our academic landscape and build community.
I am jazzed about what converging technologies are doing, and especially the changing face of education. The concepts of immersive experiences and alternative learning environments promises to offer students so much in the way of understanding learning. Besides, the social aspects of community building on a global scale offers a great deal in the way of not only collective intelligence, but richer cultural understanding.
OK OK OK .. I can ramble.
I am hoping to develop an effective means of providing students a learning environment for conflict resolution and negotiation, as well as a virtual film school frame work that takes teams through the production process before any RL production begins. The beauty of that is the transfer factor. They can take the organized elements developed in SL and use them as a launch point for the RL production. Basically, a lot of pre-production takes place virtually.
I look forward to working with all of you and learning more about the power of immersive learning.
Monday morning transcripts
I'm All About the Meme
Greetings fellow Pandora's Box Members!This Nettrice (Nettie) Beattie and I work at the Massachusetts College of Art. My day job is Computer Arts Academic and Community Liaison. I am a visual artist, media maker, and trainer/educator/professor. During the academic year I teach visual language (2D and 4D) and during the summer/after school hours I teach digital art/media to younger students (pre-college). I am currently developing an idea for a project that is about engaging a new audience and evolving aesthetic…one that is participatory and challenges the status quo.
It is the changing art/media landscape—the universal power of the Web, and it's ability to build across communities, and make a huge impact, both individually and collectively—that provide opportunities to pay attention in the arts to an evolving aesthetic.
This is the immersive learning environment I aim to build upon this week as part of my participation in this session. For more info feel free to visit my site at: http://s106678790.onlinehome.us/pd_page.html.
First Session: Creating Pandora's Box
A few images from the first session of "Creating Pandora's Box."
Transcripts available
I've posted the transcript of tonight's class, you can find it on the wiki or on Kisa's chatlogger
Hi from Corwin
Hi everyone! *smiles*
I'm Corwin Carillon (aka Nick Noakes). I run a teaching and learning center at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and in SL work with CDB Barkley running the NMC Teachers Buzz sessions. I also have a sim space called Boracay, which is adjacent to NMC campus .. a few sims south of the Conference Center and you are welcome to explore. If you want to know more about it, see http://boracay.wikispaces.com
Good to see John, Ragi and Thursday here. Thursday you bumped into Anya Ixchel the other day at the Buzz session, I hope you are chatting with her re identity. Her book just came out and arrived on my desk this morning called Youth Online: Identity and Literacy in the Digital Age.
Looking forward to seeing you all at one of the second sessions.
I'm Corwin Carillon (aka Nick Noakes). I run a teaching and learning center at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and in SL work with CDB Barkley running the NMC Teachers Buzz sessions. I also have a sim space called Boracay, which is adjacent to NMC campus .. a few sims south of the Conference Center and you are welcome to explore. If you want to know more about it, see http://boracay.wikispaces.com
Good to see John, Ragi and Thursday here. Thursday you bumped into Anya Ixchel the other day at the Buzz session, I hope you are chatting with her re identity. Her book just came out and arrived on my desk this morning called Youth Online: Identity and Literacy in the Digital Age.
Looking forward to seeing you all at one of the second sessions.
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Using the spidergram planner
This planner is designed to let you create spider diagrams and similar within SL simply and easily.
There are issues about doing this in SL, and this is not a perfect solution, but it does work. Touching the controller will offer you a menu - admin will let you choose who can access the controller (it defaults to all can use, you can set it to group or owner only), or a list of colours. These colours are the colours of the ball that will rez (and their hovertext label).
The balls will all rez about 2m above the controller - they will actually snap to a grid corner. You can then move them around etc. at will.
If you touch the ball you get four of five menu options. These are Item, P emit (or P off), P target, Update.
Item will ask you to name the ball - this will become the label on it's hovertext as well.
P off will turn off a particle chain, P emit will start one - and tell you to choose another ball and choose P target. Update will make the ball update, if you change it's name in edit mode for example.
If you change the colour of the ball the text will automatically change colours too. You can choose any colour you like, the initial rezzing with colours is simply to start the process.
You can, of course, edit to any colour you choose. Editing the name of the ball and choosing update (or editing the colour) will change the hovertext.
If you want to link your prims to "save" your map you can. Linking mostly saves information about particle targets that is retained when you rerez the set. Your links *should* be maintained, but in testing it failed about 10% of the time, probably due to lag in the region.
Read more about it on my website.
There are issues about doing this in SL, and this is not a perfect solution, but it does work. Touching the controller will offer you a menu - admin will let you choose who can access the controller (it defaults to all can use, you can set it to group or owner only), or a list of colours. These colours are the colours of the ball that will rez (and their hovertext label).
The balls will all rez about 2m above the controller - they will actually snap to a grid corner. You can then move them around etc. at will.
If you touch the ball you get four of five menu options. These are Item, P emit (or P off), P target, Update.Item will ask you to name the ball - this will become the label on it's hovertext as well.
P off will turn off a particle chain, P emit will start one - and tell you to choose another ball and choose P target. Update will make the ball update, if you change it's name in edit mode for example.
If you change the colour of the ball the text will automatically change colours too. You can choose any colour you like, the initial rezzing with colours is simply to start the process.
You can, of course, edit to any colour you choose. Editing the name of the ball and choosing update (or editing the colour) will change the hovertext.
If you want to link your prims to "save" your map you can. Linking mostly saves information about particle targets that is retained when you rerez the set. Your links *should* be maintained, but in testing it failed about 10% of the time, probably due to lag in the region.
Read more about it on my website.
Intro - Thursday Xu (Rex Heer in RL)
Hi! I work in the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching at Iowa State University. I work with teacher/learners at the University to help them identify, develop, implement, and evaluate ways in which to leverage technologies for teaching and learning that are driven by our best understanding of how people learn.
My background includes architecture and 3d modeling, painting and drawing, multimedia development, nature-person, and dreamer who prefers to rely on intuition, feeling, and perception.
Also, I am in the thick of writing a Master’s thesis related to concepts of identity, community, validation, and involvement, and the first-year experience for millennial generation ethnic minority students and how they use social networking and virtual environments to think about and articulate their evolving self-identities as college students, strengthen social networks, and develop a sense of connectedness, community, and belonging at a large predominantly white midwestern research-extensive land-grant institution.
Whoa . . . I have GOT to come up with a better title!
I look forward to sharing some learning with all of you!
Thurs
Introduction- Ragitake Takakura (Nicola Martinez in RL)
Hi Everyone, I direct curriculum and instructional design for the Center for Distance Learning at SUNY Empire State College, with a focus on best practices for online learning while integrating deep, collaborative, and visual learning within pedagogical and philosophical approaches for the adult learner. Empire State College has a center on Eduisland in SL, and we have just purchased a sim. After two years of research, planning and preparation, we are about to launch a number of SL initiatives.
I'm a member of the Media Grid Immersive Education Technology Group for the setting of standards for immersive education, active in Second life as Ragitake Takakura, and am working with Sloan-C colleagues to launch Second Life Effective Practices initiatives (for teaching and learning in SL). My research is in learning design for immersive and virtual environments. Prior to working for Empire State College I directed instructional technology as well as dance companies – so I have both techie and creative sides :-).
My current projects include a $1.25 m Charitable Leadership foundation grant for the development of math and science courses (online) - this includes an immersion/visualization segment that is funding our SL initiatives.
First thoughts: I am looking forward to the conversation about immersive education and its possibilities (really liked the Johnson/Levine article). I’m not really interested in working with the blog, wiki and other tools (because we already do that extensively) or working with flickr etc. and/or finding or designing learning objects (been working in visual approaches to pedagogy for years). Personally, I think that the time we devote to the studio sessions would be better spent in-world using in-world tools, environments, explorations, and activities. What I am interested in learning is all about real immersion in virtual worlds: creating the authentic immersive learning experience for students.
The questions I have for the group are: how do we break out of the box to create what isn’t possible in RL? How do we design experiences that don’t replicate what is already being done in RL, but rather, either: create learning experiences that aren’t possible in RL, or cost-prohibitive in RL, or that can be done better in SL than in RL? What are effective practices for teaching and learning in Second Life?
See you in-world --Ragi
I'm a member of the Media Grid Immersive Education Technology Group for the setting of standards for immersive education, active in Second life as Ragitake Takakura, and am working with Sloan-C colleagues to launch Second Life Effective Practices initiatives (for teaching and learning in SL). My research is in learning design for immersive and virtual environments. Prior to working for Empire State College I directed instructional technology as well as dance companies – so I have both techie and creative sides :-).
My current projects include a $1.25 m Charitable Leadership foundation grant for the development of math and science courses (online) - this includes an immersion/visualization segment that is funding our SL initiatives.
First thoughts: I am looking forward to the conversation about immersive education and its possibilities (really liked the Johnson/Levine article). I’m not really interested in working with the blog, wiki and other tools (because we already do that extensively) or working with flickr etc. and/or finding or designing learning objects (been working in visual approaches to pedagogy for years). Personally, I think that the time we devote to the studio sessions would be better spent in-world using in-world tools, environments, explorations, and activities. What I am interested in learning is all about real immersion in virtual worlds: creating the authentic immersive learning experience for students.
The questions I have for the group are: how do we break out of the box to create what isn’t possible in RL? How do we design experiences that don’t replicate what is already being done in RL, but rather, either: create learning experiences that aren’t possible in RL, or cost-prohibitive in RL, or that can be done better in SL than in RL? What are effective practices for teaching and learning in Second Life?
See you in-world --Ragi
Introduction - John Bourne
Hello all:
I couldn't tell if this is spot for making introductions - but I'm hoping it is. I'm John Bourne (a.k.a. Milos Lundquist in SL) and I'm Executive Director of Sloan-C. I'm really doing this workshop to force me to work more on my intensive SL-based course for Babson MBA students the second half of the upcoming semester. I'm located in Needham, MA where I moved from Nashville to start Olin College some 7 years ago. It was a good experience, reinventing curriculum from a clean slate - that experience has carried over to my online work, as well.
What I've learned so far -- it is nice to have all the materials that you-all have put together. Second, I don't see the spider tool - must be somewhere, but can't find it. I also see that time of the synchronous events are a problem since one can't always be there at the times specified. So the idea of repeated sessions is a good one - but probably won't be difficult then students are taking SL courses for credit. I like very much the constructivist nature of your course - however, I suspect - if the Sloan-C workshops are any indicator - that you won't have enormous uptake since constructivism requires a lot of work. What we found out some years ago that you have to provide materials and some "do" - this seems to satisfy more people. I'm a big fan of constructivism ("do-learn") and use in all my classes (now having taught 38 years....).
I like the combined blogging, wiki's and the like. I've tried with various class and have settled on more combined tools. Turns out that Drupal lets more be integrated and (surprise!) the new version of Blackboard combines tools (wiki, blog, discussion, synchronous) nicely.
Good luck to everyone.
John Bourne
Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Olin College
Professor of Technology Entrepreneurship, Babson College
Executive Director, Sloan-C (www.sloan-c.org)
I couldn't tell if this is spot for making introductions - but I'm hoping it is. I'm John Bourne (a.k.a. Milos Lundquist in SL) and I'm Executive Director of Sloan-C. I'm really doing this workshop to force me to work more on my intensive SL-based course for Babson MBA students the second half of the upcoming semester. I'm located in Needham, MA where I moved from Nashville to start Olin College some 7 years ago. It was a good experience, reinventing curriculum from a clean slate - that experience has carried over to my online work, as well.
What I've learned so far -- it is nice to have all the materials that you-all have put together. Second, I don't see the spider tool - must be somewhere, but can't find it. I also see that time of the synchronous events are a problem since one can't always be there at the times specified. So the idea of repeated sessions is a good one - but probably won't be difficult then students are taking SL courses for credit. I like very much the constructivist nature of your course - however, I suspect - if the Sloan-C workshops are any indicator - that you won't have enormous uptake since constructivism requires a lot of work. What we found out some years ago that you have to provide materials and some "do" - this seems to satisfy more people. I'm a big fan of constructivism ("do-learn") and use in all my classes (now having taught 38 years....).
I like the combined blogging, wiki's and the like. I've tried with various class and have settled on more combined tools. Turns out that Drupal lets more be integrated and (surprise!) the new version of Blackboard combines tools (wiki, blog, discussion, synchronous) nicely.
Good luck to everyone.
John Bourne
Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Olin College
Professor of Technology Entrepreneurship, Babson College
Executive Director, Sloan-C (www.sloan-c.org)
Welcome!
Please can you check the wiki pages for this studio session at http://nmcpandora.wikispaces.com/ and do the preparatory work listed there.
Tomorrow's introductory session will take place at 7pm Second Life Time. This is a change to our published time, and also the time listed in the main schedule, to help reduce load on the sim.
You should all have received an invitation to join the wikispace so you can contribute to it. I will also be sending out an invitation to the blog in the next few minutes.
Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow at 7.
El & Desi.
Tomorrow's introductory session will take place at 7pm Second Life Time. This is a change to our published time, and also the time listed in the main schedule, to help reduce load on the sim.
You should all have received an invitation to join the wikispace so you can contribute to it. I will also be sending out an invitation to the blog in the next few minutes.
Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow at 7.
El & Desi.
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
A Message from Alan Levine at NMC
Received this message from Alan:
We are all excited for next week's Symposium on Creativity in Second Life. I spent some time at the new NMC Conference Center and have to say you will be excited and inspired by the facilities the team has created there-- in an hour I snapped about 70 in world photos. We expect many participants will also take in world photos.And this got me thinking that for an event where we will have so many creative types, both as presenters and participants, that like our face to face conferences, we ought to ask you all to "tag" all related media and content with our "official" tag os "slcreativity", including:* photos uploaded to flickr (I've started this at http://flickr.com/photos/tags/slcreativity )* websites bookmarked in delicious, e.g. tag your reference web sites)* presentation files uploaded to Slideshare,net* blog postings tagged for Technorati.com* videos uploaded to YouTube, blip.tv, etcDoing so allows us to create a dynamic resource for all Symposium participants, so please tag, tag early, and tag often.
Saturday, August 4, 2007
What are Immersive Classrooms?
Please listen to the following podcast that outlines our theories about immersive classrooms.
MP3 What are Immersive Classrooms? - Beth Ritter-Guth
The principles we adopt as our foundation:
1. Don't recreate what exists in Real Life;
2. Course content should never be sacrificed at the altar of technology;
3. SL Technology should never impede learning;
4. Content should always be ethical; and
5. Immersion means filling all the cracks.
MP3 What are Immersive Classrooms? - Beth Ritter-Guth
The principles we adopt as our foundation:
1. Don't recreate what exists in Real Life;
2. Course content should never be sacrificed at the altar of technology;
3. SL Technology should never impede learning;
4. Content should always be ethical; and
5. Immersion means filling all the cracks.
Welcome Podcast
Welcome to Pandora's Box! Please listen to the following Podcast!
MP3 Welcome - Beth Ritter-Guth (Desi Stockton)
MP3 Welcome - Beth Ritter-Guth (Desi Stockton)
Friday, August 3, 2007
Welcome to NMC's Symposium on Creativity!
Welcome!This week will be an exiciting journey as we explore the uses of Second Life in education. Please blog each day about your experiences; this helps Eloise and I know your needs. This also serves as a daily assessment tool, a team building exercise, and an archive of progress.
Eloise and I are available to help you at any time, so please IM us in world (Eloise Pasteur and Desideria Stockton).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
