Building Basics in Second Life

This is a screenshot of a SUPER simple basic build in Second Life. This object is actually called a prim, which is any object built in Second Life.  This is a simple picture that I created from images that were given to me in my inventory.  I tried to make the image a little more artistic be putting three images into one canvas, kind of mimicking a photo reel. I also chose to make the image brighter than it originally was.  Finally, I chose to make this image for sale.  This way, other avatars can purchase this picture to have in their inventory, hang in a building or gallery, or give to someone else.

Although there was no true purpose behind this build, besides to get some building basics under my belt, it allowed me to dive into object building, get my feet wet, and learn about what types of things I can change when it comes to my object.  What I found is that you can literally build ANY object you want.  In the tutorial I watched, the speaker showed shoes that she had created! You can take one object, or prim, and continue to build onto it with other prims to create hats, castles, or even cars!

Even though my building capabilities are pretty minimal at the present, it is encouraging and even exciting to see all of the different kids of things that can be built starting with one simple prim.

Blow Up the Grade Book?

The content in this video is extremely relevant right now in our schools!  My colleagues and I have been having discussions revolving around homework, grades, and due dates a LOT recently.  I have to admit that my personal opinion has teeter-tottered a lot lately.  I grew up with things like homework, grades, and due dates.  I worked hard at those things because it was expected of me by my mother, and I was too afraid to disappoint my mom or my teachers.  So, I figure, I did it, why can’t everyone else do it.  Duh! That statement is no longer my opinion!

After working at a Title I school for six years, it is very clear to me that not every student is the same.  Furthermore, what motivates one student is very different than what motivates another student.  With that said, I have seen almost everything fourth grade student in one year be motivated by a game.  My partner teacher and I came up with a game idea to motivate our kids in math.  We recorded ourselves teaching a math lesson that the kids watched individually while working through the math books we used.  This allowed for a lot of reteaching when necessary.  After the students finished one math lesson (or level as we started calling them), they got to move on to the next “level.”  Some students (our higher level math students) were able to get through multiple lessons or “levels” in one day, which really allowed for some enrichment later on for our higher level math students.  We kept track of the students on a game board that was created to be similar to Mario World.  Each student was a certain character and as they finished “levels,” they moved their character on to the next “level.”  This was a very rough version at our attempt to create a game in connection with math, and was definitely a work in progress.  However, we saw every student engaged and pushing themselves in ways we had not seen before.

This led us to talking a lot about homework.  I agree with the speaker, Dr. Haskell, that homework basically only shows us which parent is more involved in the homework, and what that parent knows, not the student.  Many schools in our district have started going away from homework, as it is not doing what we want it to do.

Allowing students to have choice empowers them to make their learning more their own.  They can pick and choose which assignment they want to complete at that given time period and when they want to complete it (with no due dates). This teaches students that the learning is THEIRS and they are in control of it.

When I stated earlier about how I learned growing up worked, so why not continue doing it that way is a very ignorant statement to make.  Times have changed.  People have changed, requirements have changed, influences have changed, and learning has changed, so we MUST change with it, or we will keep spinning our wheels and get nowhere.

My Alt, My Avatar Reflection

I feel that I need to begin this blog with a disclaimer…I believe in the power of technology and the influence it can have in education.  However, I am also a strong believer in that too much is not good for anyone.  I have seen so many young kids lock themselves in their rooms with their technology and not come out to interact with the world.  I think this can be detrimental to both the person and our society as a whole.  I believe everything must be balanced.

I have to say, when Jeremy Bailenson talked about the statistic of children between the ages of 6 and 16 using digital media on average for 7 hours per day outside of school and that that has increased from 2005 to 2010 to 10 hours per day, I was shocked but also not really shocked.  I was shocked because that is a LOT of time, especially when it is OUTSIDE of a school day which is about 7 hours of the day! I was not shocked however, because that is how our world is anymore.  We are always connected and this includes our children.  When it came to him sharing that of these hours, two of them are spent using an avatar, I was also shocked.  That’s a lot of cumulative time spent being “someone else.”  I understand the excitement and the fun of creating an avatar, and living in a virtual world like one, but I believe it should be in moderation, especially when it comes to children.  With that being said, when using virtual worlds and avatars with my students, I believe it is imperative that I make the time spent in those worlds informative, educational, and worth-while, as they are already spending so much time in these worlds.

Tools like Avatar Kinect create a Transformed Social Interaction, because a person can in a way “filter” their words, behaviors, and actions to what they want people to see instead of what they might actually be.  This could be a benefit for my students in that it would help them “think before they act.”  Furthermore, when Jeremy Bailenson started talking about Augmented Gaze with TSI, it really spoke to me.  I have always been huge on eye contact, and am really good at making it both when I’m speaking and when I’m listening.  I truly believe that it helps the learner soak up more information and learn more when he or she is making good eye contact.  Like Jeremy said, in a physical classroom, you can only make eye contact with one student at any given point, but in a virtual world using an avatar, you can make eye contact with every student 100% of the time if needed.

If what Jeremy stated about mimicry is true, that if someone is mimicking them they will look at them more,  listen to them better, learn better, trust them more, and believe they are more creditable, then yes, I believe that there is educational value for avatar mimicry.  When a student trusts their teacher and believes he or she is credible, they tend to take him or her more seriously and actually WANT to learn from him or her.  Again, I believe that eye contact is important in education and if someone is mimicking someone and is therefore making more eye contact and listening better, then they should in turn be learning more.

After watching this speech by Dr. Bailenson, and relating it to the education of my students, I believe that virtual worlds can play a large part in their education and be very successful.  However, I strongly believe that it should be in moderation and be balanced with other means of learning.  The more and more I learn about virtual worlds and using avatars to navigate those virtual worlds, I get really excited about how to use this with my students, but I have to remember to balance it out with other means of learning.