Exploring in Second Life

While flitting around in Second Life (and I say this because I flew almost everywhere, so much quicker!), I discovered that I could maneuver very easily if I kept my avatar in the rear-view position. Since I’m used to rear-view gaming POVs, I preferred this option. Since I’ve been in Second Life before, I’m used to all of the controls and different viewing options. I hadn’t really messed with the snapshots before, but I found that the hardest thing to do when taking photos was to get my avatar in the position that I wanted to. Even though the controls are fairly straightforward, sometimes it was hard to get into the perfect pose, so I could get my background and my avatar in the shot. Eventually, I found my signature, interesting photography pose: sitting on top of buildings. There I am in my favorite snapshot, atop the capitol building, with the moon and stars in the sky. Lurvely.

Iowa Island was smaller than I had anticipated, but it was a great place to run around and explore. It was also cool to think about how people from our state, and even school, were the creators. I especially loved the garden, and the lovely gazebo structure, which I “got comfy” and posed in for this picture.

I also met another person tonight while exploring the island. SL user Oliver James was from Canada, and he was exploring SL for a class also, studying social interactions in different platforms. We chatted for a while about school, and became SL friends. We plan to meet again and explore more of SL together!

I definitely feel like the mobility aspect in Second Life is important to get acquainted with. The snapshots also give us a way to document things we see, or memorable places. This could be fun for students who are writing stories based on SL experiences, and want to illustrate them! 

The post for my next quest will follow!

A Fresh Start in a New World with Flat Classroom

Earlier, I watched the keynote of the first Flat Classroom Project installment of 2010, by Judy O'Connell from St. Joseph's College in Hunter's Hill, Australia. In her video, Judy mentioned the popular film, "Avatar" and how it can be seen as a kind of metaphor for the Flat Classroom Project. In the film, Jake Sulley is given the opportunity for "a fresh start," on "a new world." "You'll be making a difference," he is told, and these words are his invitation to travel to Pandora on his mission. All Jake must do is say yes, and accept his mission. As we come to see in the film, it is not an easy one, but Jake comes to learn about, participate in, and eventually understand a different culture and group of people different from himself. He learns, however, that he and the people of Pandora, are not so different after all.

Like Jake Sulley, participants in the Flat Classroom Project are given an opportunity to participate in a new world. "The Flat Classroom Project is your Pandora, a fresh start in global learning, it's your opportunity to be world-class students, develop your world-view, demonstrate to all of use the importance of good scholarship and good digital learning." O'Connell is spot on in her analogy, in that the power of the Flat Classroom lies in students' opportunities to expand their perspectives in our world, and see beyond the walls of their physical classroom. Instead of limited interaction with students within our physical community, Flat Classroom makes meeting, communicating, and collaborating with students across the globe, a reality. Children are highly adept at using online applications, Web 2.0 tools such as social media, search engines, as well as other tools supporting creativity. Therefore, they have the perfect set of provisions to support their learning in an online, global environment.

The Internet provides an optimal platform for global education to occur because it "levels the playing field" for individuals anywhere. Using multiple means of creativity and sharing, from text, audio, video, hypertext, and other multimedia, we can show our thoughts and ideas, and give feedback to others, with just the click of a mouse. And because our students today are so used to (and good at) this high level of media creation and manipulation, it is becoming more prominent in classrooms, both traditional and online. Check out this video created by Michael Wesch (in collaboration with 200 students at Kansas State University!) about how today's students feel about changing the face of learning and the traditional "classroom."



The Flat Classroom Project supports both digital literacy skills and learning, as well as global collaboration between classrooms across the planet. In the Flat Classroom, cultural understanding becomes personal, for each student, because he or she is interacting with students from cultures outside their own. What better way to learn about another culture than to speak and work with individuals from diverse backgrounds? The result is that students become less ethnocentric, and more globally aware. By learning about other areas of the globe, we also learn about ourselves. They also work on their skills with Web 2.0 tools, as well as tools essential or online learning and communication. There may come a day where our classrooms, however we define them now, may look a lot different, in that there may be no more "classrooms" but students will host their own learning networks, through online collaboration and communication.

I am starting to look at my own classroom experiences differently. I am starting to think "I wonder what it would be like if everyone in my classes, including myself, became more globally aware?" Would we see each other differently? Would we see what we read about, write about, and learn about in the same way? Will my future students have a better sense of global relevancy, and how will this affect the lessons I teach and the literature I choose to share? As a future English teacher, I am focused on how my students will read and write in the classroom, sure. But now I'm starting to think, how will my students read, write, and SHARE? And where will this lead them?

Immersed in the Blogosphere

I have spent the past few weeks "surfing the blogosphere" as some may call it, reading blog posting by different writers, professional educators, and my own EIT colleagues. I haven't really gotten too deeply into the swing of posting yet, mostly because I am so busy this semester, but the blogs I've been reading have certainly gotten me more interested in the process.

Tonight in our EIT web conference on Adobe Connect, we were sharing our reactions about using social networking tools. Almost everyone has heard of or has used Facebook, and that social network was not featured in our class discussion, but we did compare the functions of Twitter and Blogger. Both of these Web 2.0 applications are used for social networking and communication, in that users can share information, thoughts and opinions with others who may be interested in the same topics. In our conversation about using both Twitter and Blogger over the past few weeks (and I came out favoring Twitter), I started to think about how these applications and their design/sharing style might appeal to some more than others.

I remember when I first joined Twitter. Nobody followed me for the first month, except for a few pity "follows" because I started following them. I didn't really understand the function of Twitter until I started talking to a couple of my friends about it. I have a good friend, Mr. Derek Grote (Twitter handle @mrgeduventures) who explained that he used Twitter to make connections in areas of professional development. He explained hashtags to me, and I thought "okay, I'm an aspiring English teacher, I'll search things like 'writing' 'education' 'technology' 'schools'" and started to make some connections there. By the time I got to EIT this fall, I was pretty familiar with the uses of Twitter. Or so I thought.

Twitter is a timeline, a record of thoughts, conversations, utterances, and shares that is always moving. Keeping posts under 140 characters, though some may grumble about it, actually makes the sharing easier. I prefer using Twitter to share links, thoughts and ideas because I am spontaneous, and I like to get my thoughts out quickly, before they jump away from me. With a single Tweet, I can share ideas with my followers, and with hashtags, I can share them with others too. Because Twitter moves so quickly, I have been introduced to TONS of new information, all rather concise and to the point (those 140 characters'll getcha). I prefer viewing my Twitterfeed on Tweetdeck rather than searching the net for blogs.

Don't get me wrong, obviously I appreciate and support the unique web application that is blogging, and I love my little Bloggy (though I neglect her sometimes). Blogger gives the opportunity to share thoughts and opinions about anything with anyone, and that's pretty cool. I mean, I don't necessarily know if anyone reads my blog regularly, but it's nice to know that I can blog regardless of whether I have 10 followers or 10,000. Blogging takes time though, because one is writing for a public post, and I am more likely to take time to organize my thoughts, and turn into a super-perfectionist, and that often slows me down. A favorite English professor of mine once told me to turn down the brightness on my computer monitor to black so I couldn't see what I wrote. "That way, you'll write the truth." I think he meant what's actually inside my head, instead of a neatly tied bundle of ideas. So sometimes I find Blogger harder to express myself on, because I feel less candid and more inclined to edit, edit, edit. Which is good, and you should edit anything you're placing in the public domain. But that doesn't really help me express myself on the go.

I think it would be interesting to offer use of either (or both) of these social networking applications to students in my classes, with the assumption that they would be approved by the administration and parents of course. Some teachers are using Twitter to engage students and keep them accountable, as in the case of these high schoolers at Roosevelt High School in Minneapolis, MN. 

Other teachers are using blogs, wikis, and other platforms to allow students to share ideas and thoughts, as well as comment and question, on topics being discussed within the classroom. My sister's AP English class did this last year, using Googlesites to talk about different pieces of classic literature. Nate Pruett, an English teacher at Cedar Rapids Prairie High School, uses the Google Blogger to share updates with his AP class, as well as receive questions, comments, and other feedback. Check out Mr. Pruett's AP Blog

So I wonder which students would prefer? Sharing thoughts via Twitter, or Blogger? Would some students prefer the spontaneity of Twitter, being about to Tweet a thought or question now and then, with hashtags to alert the teacher and the rest of the class? Or would some rather use Blogger, and organize their thoughts into a longer, more detailed blog post? Would a lot of little Tweets equate to one  complete blog post? I hope the district I get hired in will allow students access to both of these tools, because I am anxious to see how my students would react.

As far as being active in the blogosphere, as well as the Twitter feed, these past few weeks, I have got to say that, although I felt overwhelmed at first (there are SO many things I could click and read!), I've gotten my PLN on iGoogle established and am breezing through the blogs. I think blogging can also be a very reflective tool, because I have come to understand myself better as a writer and an educator through doing my posts.

I'd love to continue waxing on the joys of social networking tools, but it is 9:30pm, and I've got a tutoring lesson left to perfect, some audio to clip, and 5 chapters of Class Warfare: Besieged Schools, Bewildered Parents, Betrayed Kids, and the Attack on Excellence by J. Martin Rochester left to read tonight. So I'll be going now, but please, share your thoughts on Twitter vs. Blogger. Who will be victorious?

To Creative Infinity... and Beyond!

“You won’t know you’re a good swimmer unless you get in the water.” Vicki Davis uses this analogy to describe students interacting with tools on the Net. As she mentions in her latest post Kids don’t just automatically “know” how to use the web and everything it offers because they are in the generation of digital natives. Sure, they have a great advantage because they live in a world where technology is in more households in America than it ever has been before. But “there is a whole world of experience out there that students will not get just on Facebook and in email,” Davis says. Some don’t even have these things at home, and are only about to use technology’s tools in school. Because of this, students need access to collaborative technology so that they can have the chance to interact with peers, with the public, to share their ideas through blogs, wikis, and websites so that they are ready to get out and interact with the world around

them! Sharing can be such a great way for students to learn, and become more confident about the knowledge they have gained.

Davis talks about schools extending the technology use for students beyond just being in the classroom. Some schools delete students’ progress and “wipe” the digital slates every year, barring the chances for students to keep their digital creations. Davis uses dropbox in her classes so that students can take anything they create, whether it is a blog, wiki, video, webpage, or some other form of digital media, with them. Davis wants her students to extend their learning beyond the classroom, and take their creations with them as they graduate from her class. What is the good of creating something a student can only use and share in school?

For students who are just starting to form identities, understand themselves and those around them, and find their places in the world, the opportunities to create without fear, and to understand the rules of creative technology in today’s world, is extremely important. I know that lots of students today use programs and websites online to create and express their ideas, opinions, and to experiment with different forms of media that they would not normally be exposed to. And that is just amazing. Helping students to understand that they can have a “place” on the Net, to be entirely their own, created and controlled by themselves alone, is a pretty powerful feeling. I’d like to do what Davis is doing, encouraging her students to create, yet understand privacy, editing, and performing at their very best. How can someone learn if they aren’t given the chance to do so in their own, original way? What kinds of tools could be introduced to students to really help them start making something “their own” and sharing it with others?

One great way for anyone to share creative content, while still maintaining authorship and credit, is with a sharing website such as Creative Commons. Here, creators (from individual creators to large companies) can submit their work and select different licenses to keep copyrights, but also allow certain uses of their creations, depending on what they choose. They can also donate work to be included in the public domain. There are a lot of different institutions that use Creative Commons, including Google, Flickr, MIT's OpenCourseWare, Public Library of Science, and Wikipedia. What do you think about students looking to Creative Commons licensed work in their projects in school? How could knowing about this type of licensing motivate students to pursue their digital creations into the future?

Really, I think students should be able to feel like they are always moving toward creative infinity....in the classroom and beyond!