Week 4 - Blog Posting #8 -Reflection on Blogging

Week 4 - Blog Posting #7 -Second Life

 I first experienced Second Life during Month One of the EMDT master's program. I was hooked from the start. It was a great way to gather with other master's students and be together without actually being in the same state or region for that matter. I joined the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Island group and have spent the past three months learning how to build items, communicate with others, and contribute to the Second Life community. I think it's a fun, useful, and sometimes addictive way to collaborate and interact with colleagues. Multi-User Virtual Environments, or MUVE sites, have great cross-cultural potential and are an amazing resource for exploring real world locations or times in history which have long since passed.

Some of the locations I've visited are:

Alice in Wonderland - amusement park. 61,92,22 (PG)

The Cologne Cathedral - recreation of the famous World Heritage building. 225,128,42 (PG)

David Rumsey Maps - antique maps displayed in a unique way. 3,116,75,55 (PG)

Goethe Institute - Germany’s cultural institute. Learn German for free. 74,147,25 (PG)

Great Wall of China - stunning recreation of The Great Wall and Asian Islands. 131,15,24 (PG)

ISTE Island - a place for educators to network and learn about real education opportunities in Second Life

LanguageLab - teaches English to students from forty-five countries. 74,111,56 (PG)

Renaissance Island - representation of a Renaissance village. 93,90,27 (PG)

USC Marshall - allows students to operate and manage their own businesses, own rental property and meet in classroom environments. 14,110,25 (PG)

Virtual Bucharest - recreation of the capital of Romania. 132,182,22 (PG)

Virtual Native Lands - is three islands showcasing the diversity of Native American culture. 212,34,22 (PG)

Words in World - language academy for English and ESL. 158,149,27 (PG)

**all descriptions and locations referenced from SecondLife.com

     Some other applications can be found at my group's collaborative site: The Cobra Training Academy.  We worked hard to develop a training resource site for teachers to quickly access tips when using an MUVE, specifically Second Life. 

     Critics and educators have balked at the idea of using an MUVE site for education due  to the ratings and vulnerability issues for students and minors. Areas can be purchased and developed with limited access and training for students is promoted to inform them of the warning signs of a location or participant with less than honorable designs. Responsibly guided and challenged, the idea behind MUVE sites can be a huge motivator for students. They learn to interact with others socially both locally and multi-culturally, collaborate on projects, create a personalized environment, express themselves freely through varied means of communication, and begin to understand the real world around them a bit better through this type of simulation. 

Resources:

http://www.cobratrainingacademy.com

http://www.secondlife.com  (**You can find me on SL as Jen Shieldmaiden)

http://www.iste.org

Week 3 - Blog Posting #6 -Communities of Practice

     This week I was reading about a standard practice among programmers. It’s called pair programming. Two programmers work as a team to provide timely results with a minimal number of errors. The pairs switch and take turns writing code and checking each other's work. Breaks are taken every twenty-five minutes. The team works to "examine logic behind the code and check for mistakes." Programmers have used this process for years. Why isn't this type of teamwork seen in other industries? Doesn't social media promote this kind of teamwork albeit on a mass scale? 

Resources:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/20/jobs/20pre.html?_r=1&ref=technology

Week 3 - Blog Posting #5 -Social Media

     How does social media impact our lives, bring us closer together, help us become more successful, and work smarter? People connecting with and drawing power from others online which takes power from corporations and puts it in the hands of the individual. (Bernoff) Businesses are scared of opening up and sharing ideas. In the meantime our world has become transparent. Collaboration occurs across corporations to work smarter, faster, and more economically toward a common goal. How do you see a return on your investment in social media?  

     Social Media means Social Business, and the same resources used to re-think customer environment interaction can be used in the classroom. Here are some tips from Jason Falls' blog Social Media Explorer:

“Is there something interesting I can do about our location to make it fun

or interesting for people to just hang out there?

Can I provide something for my customers that they can share with their friends?

Are there people in my business that are natural conversationalists and social butterflies? Can I put them in constant contact with our customers?

Am I standing in the way of letting my employees enjoy each other’s company? What can I do to put them together in interesting and fun environments?”

     Change is now.

Resources:

http://www.blogworldexpo.com

http://www.damniwish.com

http://www.teachertube.com

Li, C. (2008). Groundswell: winning in a world transformed by social technologies. 

Joel, M. (2008). Six Pixels of Separation: Everyone is connected. connect your business to everyone. 

Pintado, I. (2009). Connection Generation: How connection determines our place in society and business.

Week 2 - Blog Posting #4 -21st Century Skills & Lifelong Learning

"I don't think much of a man who isn't wiser today than he was yesterday." - Abraham Lincoln

     Most of my recent focus within education has been in the field of adult language acquisition. Teaching adult learners English as a second language. I found the majority of my students positive and willing to try something new even if they tended to make mistakes. Being certain that they were in a comfortable, safe environment did a lot to boost their confidence even when they mixed up their adjectives and adverbs. In 1999, I wrote an article in a Japanese magazine about the keys to learning. There were only three points that I thought were the most valid: 1. have a positive attitude, 2. don't be afraid to make mistakes, and 3. try to use your new knowledge as quickly and as frequently as you can. Now, in 2009, after watching Jeffrey Gitomer's 12.5 points to Lifelong Learning, I feel I had things right all along.
     Lifelong learning isn't about being the best and sitting on the cutting edge, it's about positive action in the attempt to learn something new everyday. For some, that means learning a new vocabulary word and using it twenty times in a day and for others it could me exploring their own city and visiting a new restaurant, trying something on the menu they've never had before. In terms of 21st century skills, I think a fresh focus on community can be applied. As collaboration and networking are the current buzzwords, who's to say that my ninety-eight year old grandmother won't drive out to Best Buy and purchase her first computer? She's said for the past six months that the only part of life she hasn't experienced is the computer revolution and she'd like to see what all the fuss is about.
     In managing my own lifelong learning, I think that the most useful tool for me has been setting up my own PLE, personal learning environment, in NetVibes. I had always gone searching for what information I needed everyday and now find it most efficient that the information comes to me. I suddenly find time to myself, and immersed in a new way of thinking, something occurs to me. Lifelong learning has increased exponentially over the years. (Field, Leicester, 2000) and now has widened to include not only the individual aspect of becoming more fulfilled as a person but benefitting society as a whole. Field and Leicester state, "The agenda conveys education for citizenship (political), seeks to widen participation (social), and emphasizes the importance of learning for economic prosperity (vocational) while recognizing the importance of individual choices and personal development (liberal)."
     What is most appealing is the thought that our lifelong learning affects the world around us. We have the ability to impact others by opening up to learning something new. It seems so simple...no, it really is that simple.  

Resources:
BuyGitomer (2008, April 2008) Life Long Learning [Video File]. Video posted to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zh6yd6wfCgU 
Field, J., Leicester, M. (2000). Lifelong learning: education across the lifespan. London. RoutledgeFalmer. 

Week 2 - Blog Posting #3 - Media Literacy

     Thoughts on Media Literacy. Thinking about the basics of literacy in terms of  communication, participation, collaboration on an individual effective level. Linguistically,  textspeak is a new and ever expanding dialect. Kids using technology today and contributing to Wiki sources are thinking that "Googling" something isn't cheating but "researching" the answer and texting someone a hint is collaboration. Literacy is heading into not only a new direction of computer screens, but groups of people separated by fiber optics working together to create and distribute new ideas while communicating in a new dialect.

"Play,  Performance, Simulation, Appropriation, Multitasking, Distributed Cognition, 

Collective Intelligence, Judgement, Trans-media Navigation, Networking, Negotiation, 

Art, Speaking, Presenting, Formatting, & Storytelling...." (Jenkins, 2008)

     As an English teacher should I be outraged at the lack of ability in my students when they turn in a paper filled with text-speak? Or should we look at the change in communication as another version of American English? I took Middle English in college and was enthralled by the mixture of German, French, and Latin which evolved into British English and then into American English.  The Brits say our version of English is lazy. Is it lazy or actually more efficient and expressive? Creole, Pidgin, Ebonics, TextSpeak. Remember BYOB parties out in BFE on the other side of town, and BFF written in yearbooks? TextSpeak started nearly three decades ago and now SMS101 is being proposed as a subject in schools and the dialect is newly accepted on tests in New Zealand schools. 
     The Urban Dictionary has this to say: "The most difficult thing about learning textspeak is developing a sense of nuance. Since it is impossible to use body language, voice inflection, pitch or tone nor can you make eye contact, other compensatory measures have been taken to fill in these communicative gaps. Typing in all capitals is considered shouting and using quotes is giving emphasis to a particular word. Going through the effort to actually type an entire perfect sentence usually indicates that the writer considers the thought to be an important one and most people do pay better attention to these."
     So in thinking of Media Literacy as a whole of the parts listed above, why not make it faster and more efficient. We're reading magazines and journals on mobile phones and books on our Kindle devices. Perhaps text speak is the key to our next level of literacy?

"2mrw & 2mrw & 2mrw 

crEpz n dis pety plAs frm dA 2 dA 

2 d lst silabl of rcrdd tIm 

& al our ystdAz hv lItd f%lz 

d way 2 dsty def

...tis a tAl tld by an ejit, ful of snd & fury 

sgnfyn nutin."

"To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow

Creeps in this petty place from day to day

 To the last syllable of recorded time

 And all our yesterdays have lighted fools

 The way to dusty death. ...it is a tale

 Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury

 Signifying nothing." 

(Macbeth, Act Five, Scene Five)

     Perhaps some feel that having Facebook, Ning, MySpace, SecondLife, and Twitter along with a handful of other Web2.0 tools (operative word being tools) have no place in the classroom. But how will we be able to instruct the next generation completely without using these tools as simulators. By doing so we teach them how to grow and adapt within our media-rich environment. Pilots go through hours of instruction with modules of training patterns in a virtual environment, as do the military, in preparation for leading and collaborating when a real life situation occurs. Shouldn't our students be doing the same? 

Resources:
Edutopia
http://www.edutopia.org/poll-text-messaging-writing-skills
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2008/sep/16/academicexperts.languages
Jenkins, H., (2008) Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century. http://digitallearning.macfound.org/atf/cf/%7B7E45C7E0-A3E0-4B89-AC9C-E807E1B0AE4E%7D/JENKINS_WHITE_PAPER.PDF
NetLingo
http://www.netlingo.com/acronyms.php
Urban Dictionary
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=text+speak

Modern Cheating

     I cheated on my ninth grade Latin final. My best friend, Sharyn, sat in the row next to mine and she helped me get through that exam. It's interesting to think about now since I have such an affinity for languages. I could have passed on my own. For some reason, Latin was more of a social class for me and the traditional exercises and bookwork just didn't appeal. I loved the dialogue practice and the Latin banquet at the end of the year (we dressed in togas and ate roast pig at long tables). Thinking back on that experience and what caused me to cheat and thinking about school today. In some classes the lessons, bookwork, practice, and instruction haven't changed much. In others they've changed drastically. So, in response to a couple of comments I received about cell phone cheating in the classroom, I found this article to be enlightening and the comments about the article even more so. http://tinyurl.com/ktvnyu

     We, as educators, can allow the use of technology and monitor it effectively, if we start creating assessments that are more interactive, unique, and challenging. And I also believe that we, as teachers, are to lead by example. Teachers are a cut above. They are performing feats of leadership, strength, flexibility, democracy (i just typed democrazy and laughed out loud because it feels like that sometimes) and instruction. We are creating the community of tomorrow. Anyhow, check out the link...it does make for interesting reading.

     (And no, I wouldn't cheat again. It's sad that I don't know anything beyond a, ae, ae, am, a, ae, arum, is, as, is...I can, however, recite every single preposition in alphabetical order, as well as the first eighteen lines of The Canterbury Tales in Middle English. Helpful at winning bets, I can tell you.)

The Tinkering School -Gever Tulley (2009, July)

Week 1 - Blog Posting #2 - Learning 2.0

     My nephew is thirteen and he has never owned a computer and has never learned how to type. He's got a mobile phone and every game system available but has never had a computer or Internet access available to him at home. I wonder sometimes if that makes him less vulnerable or more so. Less vulnerable to the dangers that lurk out on the Internet and more vulnerable because of his lack of ability in utilizing the information superhighway. What exactly is he missing out on by not owning a computer? With technology changing so quickly these days and net-books becoming more popular than laptops, a tablet to be released later this year and mobile phones that now create graphics, shoot films, publish blogs, and do social networking is it just the idea of the computer that's necessary?

     There is an organization called OLPC One Laptop Per Child, created by MIT Media Lab founder Nicholas Negroponte which promotes putting technological tools, namely the XO laptop with it's Sugar operating system, into the hands of children who may never have seen a bit of modern technology before. 
     "Epistemologists from John Dewey to Paulo Freire to Seymour Papert agree that you learn through doing. This suggests that if you want more learning, you want more doing. Thus OLPC puts an emphasis on software tools for exploring and expressing, rather than instruction. Love is a better master than duty. Using the laptop as the agency for engaging children in constructing knowledge based upon their personal interests and providing them tools for sharing and critiquing these constructions will lead them to become learners and teachers." (http://laptop.org/en/laptop/software/)
     What I especially like about this operation is that the software tools are for expression and exploring. There really isn't a need to start with learning how to cut and paste, or type, or format a Word document....but rather to learn more about oneself, the world around their community and how this new technology could help them be heard. The big picture comes sharply into focus. 
     Now, refocus once again on the United States and its educational system. Fear, spread by the media about children being bullied on the Internet, sexual predators, and the dangers of waiting in a car alone while their parents shop, have put a lockdown on love. (http://tinyurl.com/n83tcs) And when there is so much fear, there can't be a truly open environment for expression; a comfortable atmosphere for learning, can there? Nowadays many children feel the tension of the possibility of the harm that may come to them through their parents. Teachers are told they are not able to use Twitter and Facebook and SecondLife or other Web2.0 tools to protect their students. Classroom doors must be locked once the bell rings. This, too, is a symbol of the state of our education system. Doors should remain open, minds must be taught how to make responsible, right choices and then left to choose for themselves. Oh, look at our new Smartboard, kids, but no one better have a mobile phone or it'll get taken away. It just doesn't make sense. It's a one step forward, two steps back approach that just isn't working. So, let's get real. Let's stop propagating fear. Let's open the classroom doors. We have to rip through the red tape. 

     Here's something about Learning2.0...let's make education the coolest thing out there. The best hobby to have, the greatest job to do, the hippest place to be. It's time for a revision, a revolt, a revolution...Watch how Web2.0 is being used every day by people in our generation.(http://tinyurl.com/mfpb59) Imagine the possibilities of the next. 

Resources:
http://www.laptop.org
http://freerangekids.wordpress.com
PBS: Frontline/Digital Nation BlogHer '09 YouTube Interviews :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3w7ukEaGiI

Week 1 - Blog Posting #1 - Web 2.0

     I first started using a computer in 7th grade, which was 1984. That's fitting, isn't it? I went to a small, private school in Orlando and there were six or seven people in my entire grade. We had computer class every week and learned to program in a simple language called BASIC. It's true. I didn't have much to do with computers or technology again until after high school as my research was mostly done in the library and my typing was done on an electric typewriter. I look back now and think that learning how to type was probably one of the best skills I acquired. Fast forward to sophomore year at the University of Georgia. I got a campus job as support staff in the computer labs called UCNS, University Computing and Networking Services. That's where it all started; my love of Mac, learning Unix, tinkering with networks and hardware, and teaching others about connectivity. It was as though I understood the puzzle that others didn't, and could speak a language that only a handful of other people knew. The Internet then held so much potential and experiencing its evolution to present day has been such a joy.
     Web2.0 is now a buzzword and more people use the word than understand it's power. In this class, many people have experienced using programs and tools that were only thoughts on whiteboards ten years ago...the beginnings of action research in the field. Now we're beginning to hear rumbles of Web3.0 and the use of holograms and virtual environments where learning and physical presence take on a whole new meaning and awaken new senses. Maybe it's seeing what isn't there, and creating a radical tangibility. We're already closer by networking, closer in communication; and the world has become so tiny that travel is nearly unnecessary. Why leave the house when we can chat with friends in Japan, collaborate with business associates in other cities and states, and do our shopping online? A tiny band of light does the work for us. We each, now, are becoming think tanks and publishing houses, and PR departments for ourselves.
     I'm a firm believer in the what if factor in education and training....what if it were simpler, what if people easily adopted the latest trend in technology because it was created by them, not just for them. What if bosses lead groups of individuals who no longer are out for recognition but for the ultimate result. What if Japanese classes in Idaho were taught by Akiko in Nagoya, Japan? What is the hold up? Trust? Accountability? Misdirection? Credentials?
     Change in technology is happening, literally, at the speed of fiber optic light. Just exploring the Apps to download on the iTunes store, or checking out the latest Web2.0 tools, and seeing educators and those in the corporate world fearlessly face this change is empowering and inspiring.


Site Sources:
Dana Swier Huff, English Teacher 
http://www.huffenglish.com
Go2Web2.0
http://www.go2web20.net/
Interactive Insights Group

http://www.interactiveinsightsgroup.com/blog1/social-media-examples-superlist-17-lists-and-tons-of-examples/