This week we've been doing an assignment in Second Life, a virtual reality world where you create an avatar and move through a virtual environment. Although I've had fun creating my avatar, and dressing her like I would a Barbie doll, moving around in SL is rather difficult. Every time I sign in I'm sent a message from SL that I don't have the correct computer components for SL and therefore won't see some of the graphics. Well graphics are the least of my problems! Since I don't have the right computer components, I'm not able to teleport properly, return to my 'home' site, search and find areas that we were supposed to for this assignment (Virtual Hallucination Island).
It takes excellent hand-eye coordination to function inside SL as you are walking and moving and flying and turning----good thing we can walk through walls because I've run into a TON of them!! I'm still going through all the steps we're supposed to take for the assignment but so far I've been able to create my avatar, change her appearance, navigate around SL (I end up in Korea a lot), teleport to different sites, and visit places like Hallucination Island which is incredibly weird and a little scary. I'll write more about that once I've finished my assignment.
Until next time!
tm
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Augmented Reality
Last week we read about augmented reality and its impact on education. Even though I'm not sure I understand completely everything about AR, I do believe that it would be a great educational tool. As I mentioned in my discussion, I think it would help math students who are studying geometry. That was always a hard subject for me so I would've loved a way to get inside a shape and see it in 3D in order to understand the space and area concepts.
My son is studying architecture in college and I think that programs like Revit and 3D Homebuilders help them design realistic buildings that are viable in the real world. Without being able to add in the 3D quality drawings would seem flat and boring.
Another facet of AR that I find very interesting is the idea of coding. Objects are coded and read by smart phones that have a bar code reader. Linking objects together would have many benefits, such as helping businesses track their inventory, but also cause problems in the way that it would basically erase our privacy and open up information to anyone, anytime. AR, while a step forward in the use of technology, is still a long way from becoming the 'norm'.
My son is studying architecture in college and I think that programs like Revit and 3D Homebuilders help them design realistic buildings that are viable in the real world. Without being able to add in the 3D quality drawings would seem flat and boring.
Another facet of AR that I find very interesting is the idea of coding. Objects are coded and read by smart phones that have a bar code reader. Linking objects together would have many benefits, such as helping businesses track their inventory, but also cause problems in the way that it would basically erase our privacy and open up information to anyone, anytime. AR, while a step forward in the use of technology, is still a long way from becoming the 'norm'.
Monday, March 7, 2011
Intercultural Collaboration
In the last class we discussed intercultural collaboration and how emerging technologies would be useful. I really enjoyed the discussion with Dr Aoki. I think emerging technologies for collaboration are helpful in connecting students from any classroom to share ideas, and discuss how they're each using technology throughout their education.
At the beginning of the semester we were fortunate enough to have three students from Japan join our class and discuss mobile technology and how it's being incorporated in their university. It was so surprising to learn that they don't use technology the same way we do. Collaborating with those students helped all of us understand the differences.
Many collaboration tools are free, such as Skype, Google Docs and MeetingWords. Students can even take advantage of the "3 for Free" and create an online classroom in Elluminate.
Towards the end of class last week I made the comment that instructors can't really use the lack of money as a reason not to use collaboration tools since budget cuts and other limited resources make the perfect reason to research ways to have students collaborate and learn how other students are using technology (or not). Integrating technology into education is easier than ever right now because there is so many free, easy to use programs.
At the beginning of the semester we were fortunate enough to have three students from Japan join our class and discuss mobile technology and how it's being incorporated in their university. It was so surprising to learn that they don't use technology the same way we do. Collaborating with those students helped all of us understand the differences.
Many collaboration tools are free, such as Skype, Google Docs and MeetingWords. Students can even take advantage of the "3 for Free" and create an online classroom in Elluminate.
Towards the end of class last week I made the comment that instructors can't really use the lack of money as a reason not to use collaboration tools since budget cuts and other limited resources make the perfect reason to research ways to have students collaborate and learn how other students are using technology (or not). Integrating technology into education is easier than ever right now because there is so many free, easy to use programs.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Internet Privacy
This week we're reading about Internet Privacy---quite frankly, I think this is quite the oxymoron. By its very definition, the Internet (a world wide network of computers) is not the place to be if you want privacy.
When I first discovered the Internet, I was afraid of it and what it could do. I didn't want my personal info out there for everyone to see or have access to in case someone wanted to steal my identity. But over time I got used to the scope of the world wide web, and while I'm still a little leery of it, I am much more comfortable using it, and try to keep my information as private as possible. I recently realized that the e-portfolio I did in my first semester of this program is posted on the Internet and if you Google my name, my address, phone number, and every job I've had for the past 15 yrs is there for all to see so I need to access the remote server where it's stored so I can remove it. That has been much easier said than done.
I would tell a colleague who believed the Internet is unsafe that even though the Internet is open, there are safeguards one can use to make sure that information stays secure. Students can still do research safely on the web by making sure that the sites they use for reference are legitimate, and just knowing that they shouldn't ever give out their personal information. On social networking sites, making sure their settings are set to "Private". Students have to be taught about Internet safety in order to take advantage of all the great information that's available on the world wide web---why limit them to only what's in books? And of course, there is such a thing as TOO MUCH INFORMATION (and I don't mean the kind you regret giving to strangers in the elevator)! Watch out for links that seem innocent but aren't.
I've read some of the articles on Julian Assange and watched the 60 Minutes interview he gave but I really don't know enough about what he did, or what his purpose is for continuing to do it, to say whether or not he deserves a Nobel Prize. What I DO know is that there are times when the PEOPLE have a right to know what our government is doing. That's not to say that I want people endangered by revealing certain documents or information, but simply that our government (and others) tend to believe the ends justifies the means and that's not always accurate. I think Assange truly believes he's providing a service to the people of this world simply because we have the right to know what our leaders are doing.
When I first discovered the Internet, I was afraid of it and what it could do. I didn't want my personal info out there for everyone to see or have access to in case someone wanted to steal my identity. But over time I got used to the scope of the world wide web, and while I'm still a little leery of it, I am much more comfortable using it, and try to keep my information as private as possible. I recently realized that the e-portfolio I did in my first semester of this program is posted on the Internet and if you Google my name, my address, phone number, and every job I've had for the past 15 yrs is there for all to see so I need to access the remote server where it's stored so I can remove it. That has been much easier said than done.
I would tell a colleague who believed the Internet is unsafe that even though the Internet is open, there are safeguards one can use to make sure that information stays secure. Students can still do research safely on the web by making sure that the sites they use for reference are legitimate, and just knowing that they shouldn't ever give out their personal information. On social networking sites, making sure their settings are set to "Private". Students have to be taught about Internet safety in order to take advantage of all the great information that's available on the world wide web---why limit them to only what's in books? And of course, there is such a thing as TOO MUCH INFORMATION (and I don't mean the kind you regret giving to strangers in the elevator)! Watch out for links that seem innocent but aren't.
I've read some of the articles on Julian Assange and watched the 60 Minutes interview he gave but I really don't know enough about what he did, or what his purpose is for continuing to do it, to say whether or not he deserves a Nobel Prize. What I DO know is that there are times when the PEOPLE have a right to know what our government is doing. That's not to say that I want people endangered by revealing certain documents or information, but simply that our government (and others) tend to believe the ends justifies the means and that's not always accurate. I think Assange truly believes he's providing a service to the people of this world simply because we have the right to know what our leaders are doing.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Web 2.0 How 2.0 --- My experience
Wow, what a week this has been! My team (Kim and Pete) decided to teach 'Moodle' (a course management system) by using MovieMaker. But, we ran into a lot of challenges trying to do this. Kim and I work off PCs and Pete uses a MAC. The three of us split up the work: I would find the key features of Moodle and their relevance to education, then pass that info to Kim, who would write up the script for Pete; then he would use MovieMaker to record the presentation. None of us have ever used either of these programs before and had no idea that we'd run into platform problems and not being able to download software. We all downloaded Moodle, and each of us for saw something completely different! Pete ended up staying up until 3:00 am one morning just trying to download all of Moodle's many features. I even had problems seeing the screen shots that Kim uploaded to the dropbox because they had a double extension and they couldn't be open.
This project was definitely an experience; and an example of how everything that can go wrong with technology, DID. I think this is the problem with using technology no one is familiar with---we run into problems and we don't really know how to go about fixing them. And my team did start a little late so that also limited the amount of time we had to figure all of this out. If I had to do it all over again I don't know if I wouldn't still choose Moodle because without ever having used it, I still wouldn't know what issues I might encounter, but I think I would've suggested doing the actual work differently so that we were all on the same page (literally and figuratively).
Unfortunately, I'd have to say that I didn't learn anything from this assignment--not even how to use another technology--since we all did different aspects of it. Isn't hindsight always 20/20?
tm
This project was definitely an experience; and an example of how everything that can go wrong with technology, DID. I think this is the problem with using technology no one is familiar with---we run into problems and we don't really know how to go about fixing them. And my team did start a little late so that also limited the amount of time we had to figure all of this out. If I had to do it all over again I don't know if I wouldn't still choose Moodle because without ever having used it, I still wouldn't know what issues I might encounter, but I think I would've suggested doing the actual work differently so that we were all on the same page (literally and figuratively).
Unfortunately, I'd have to say that I didn't learn anything from this assignment--not even how to use another technology--since we all did different aspects of it. Isn't hindsight always 20/20?
tm
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