hey...someone put computers in my classroom

Well this weeks topic for discussion dealt with the role of the classroom once all students are connected to the internet.

I think that the first thing that I would do, after I picked myself up off the floor and recovered from the shock of seeing a functional and robust internet infrastructure installed in t he classroom in a public school, would be to follow the newest buzzword in the educational arena and assess the level and needs of my students with regard to their skills and abilities online.

The resources that were available for us this week pointed to the needs of what I would want to teach my class- resources like Media Awareness Network and their Web Aware site point out the obvious to children about the web...that it's not a very nice place and people are often times not what they seem. This is important for children to know, but should also be part of a general and well thought out policy on access setup and controlled by the school district IT group.

I'm more interested in the kids learning from the net...not learning to fear it.

Cyber Citizen, the Digital Divide, and Equitable access sites are also full of information that is important for the students to understand, but not a part of what i would want to make my core curriculum in the class. I want the students to get the idea of cyber crime and understand that greedy record producers could be monitoring your downloading habits with a supoena in hand. That's important to understand, but again not the focus of what I would want learned in the classroom.

I think the the "if these walls could talk" video speaks volumes about where I see the challenges of the new computerized environment coming into play.

How you are doing and feeling about what you have learned this week? Did the group experience help or hinder your learning experience?

Well this was the week for the obligatory group project that is always a part of these online experiences. I've been in a few of these classes before, and it's always interesting to try to work with people that I have never met in person.

We got off to an interesting start- trying to schedule via email, and contacting each other via wiki and yack pakc. We had the usual hardware issues with failing microphones and questions as to the times we were to actually meet (was it 7 or 9 PM?)

We were hesitant, no one seemed to want to dominate the conversation (especially me..as I have a tendancy to do this) but we eventually agreed upon the logical definition of duties that the project laid out. We all took a question and agreed to find some information which would add to the project...the "above and beyond" factor.

Did the group have some confusion- yes. Did we operate optimally- probably not. Did we do some good work- I think so. I dont believe that I suffered or was affected by this in anyway that I was suprised by. I just wasnt suprised by the whole process at all. The only difference in my mind was that we used some different technologies- email, yack pack, wiki pages.

I think that the success or failure of any project comes down to the individuals that make up the team. If you are willing to put in the work to make your project a success, and if you have the ability to look at a group project as a reflection of yourself...than it's not a problem to tackle a group project. I think our team was perfectly postioned in this respect, and we did a pretty good job.

First Time - Second Life

Well, I was eventually able to make a Second Life session this week, and I think that if nothing else I am more comfortable with the software than I was before we met. I had to admit to being a little suspicious of the software as something along the lines of a Sims on steroids, and to be perfectly honest, I work on computers everyday for "real" purposes like payrolls, student registrations, and programming of alll sorts...so the idea of me creating an alternate ego for myslelf and tooling around in a Kool Aid Man costume is really not all that appealing to me personally.

I am a huge believer in the power and necessity of communication...and there is a part of me that believes that subjects in a setting like Second Life are put in a position which either inhibits this type of necessary communication, or shows people expressing themselves in ways which could cause harm to themselves in their "first" lives...through porn, exploitation, inequity, and other fun topics.

To me, Second Life just seems like something that takes away from my time that I have in my first life..which is already too darn busy. Does this mean that I think there is anything wrong with Second Life as a whole? Actually, the answer is no...I think that Second Life is a great thing, and all the problems that I described in seeing it could be found in your local library...so I'm not going to bash it. It's just not something that I think I can see myself spending a lot of time in.

As for teh educational opportunites that exist in SL, I think that they are limitless. I really liked the virtual campus environments for the University of Kentucky, BGSU, and several of the others that I later looked into. I think that a wealth of topics and information can be found in these environments and a great deal of inspired learning can go on in these environments. I think that the variety and amount of information that can be shared is an overwhelming positive of a simulation like SL, and also the format in which it can be presented - a way in which all of our senses can be stimulated. This is a great opportunity for learning which educators should not pass over lightly.

As for the dangers of this technology- I think that the dearth of communication is critical to avoid, as we dont want to make a society of folks whose only form of communication with one another is through avatar or chat session. There is also the issue of age inappropriate material in SL, as well as the problem with the veracity of the information that can be found out in SL. This isn't Fox News, so we can be sure that all the information there is true (haha.)

However , I need to reiterate that we need to temper our fears and allow this technology to play out and let our children develope critical knowledge. I'm not saying that we expose them to porn in SL, but that we not eliminate all content out of hand..this idea backfires for those who wish to ban books and ideas, and it will happen again for technology like SL if we atempt to limit it.

just some of my thoughts...thanks for listening.