My first VLE
I work for a huge global company, Siemens. My first VLE was there web-based training system. We are required to do classes in “legal compliance” and “financial risk assessment” and other complete snoozers. In addition to the horrible subject matter, the training was just like PowerPoint slides with a narrator reading aloud what is on the slides. The only interactivity is clicking to go to the next slide. I hate to think how much money they invested in this horrible training.
Then came Blackboard with which we are all familiar. So I won’t blab about that. However, my next VLE was taking classes Second Life. I LOVE IT! Last year I spent the whole summer giving myself a Second Life education – I learned to build & script. I also took a class in role-playing and other SL “social’ skills. I’m now what is called “a class junkie” in SL.
I like learning in SL so much that last January between semesters, I completed “teacher training” so I can start teaching classes myself. I still have to complete my “practice” teaching with a mentor but i’ve already been offered a job teaching for them. Woohoo!
There are many interesting things happening in education in SL. There are some great mashups happening. One that I found very interesting that i want to explore more is Sloodle. Also, the list of universities offering classes in SL is growing exponentially which really excites me. I can see myself spending my days teaching in SL instead of sitting in a cubicle working for The Man.
Last 5 posts by Theresa
- Guerilla Marketing (Reading Response) - July 21st, 2008
- Dazed and confused - June 24th, 2008
June 30th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
I agree with the previous writer about the history of online learning. I am 25 and in my short life I have see a lot of change in the technology realm and thus in virtual learning. I remember doing state training on really basic boring seminars. Yes power point was about the closest thing I remember these learning’s be like that. The readings really seem to sum up all the key issues that make a virtual learning environment work. There needs to be a since of presence thus SL has avatar’s that a person can make their own. They can make homes and virtual lands. I never realized how important presence was. I mean we try to get away to a different world but even then we must be something or someone. It may be an escape to a world and a person we cannot be but still we need to make presence.
Laws and freedom make SL work. There is a lot that is tolerated yet we seem to be bound by a physical world that of SL graphics.
Of course the communication is key as well. Maybe for learning this is the most important. SL has greatly expanded my knowledge of how teaching can be done and has helped me learn as a student.
I just wanted to quickly point out where this discussion I think is going and touch a little on what I took from the readings.
June 30th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
I’m 31 years old and have also seen technology become such a huge part of education and life in general. I remember typing in programming codes into the computer in grammar school. I also remember using email for the first time in college in 1995/1996. Our professor used to get on us about checking our email and we would groan and moan about it like it was such a difficult task. My first online class was here at the New School and it took a lot of getting used to but in a short time I got the hang of it. I really think that VLE’s are amazing. I think that its unbelievable that we can connect with so many others and be able to learn in an environment where people come from some many places and bring about so many different points of view. These new tools will just continue to evolve and get better and better. Our children will have the opportunity to connect in so many ways and thats such a great thing. They will no longer be sheltered. The whole world is at their fingertips – literally.
July 7th, 2008 at 8:42 am
Theresa – glad you have you as a project partner! I’m a newbie to SL and to be honest, it’s taking some getting used to…but when I try to explain what we’re doing in SL to my skeptical friends and family, I do stress that SL has all these great capabilities that more and more people are opening themselves up to exploring. As Mariany24 says, sometimes people are reluctant to try new technologies. (Btw, your comment about email in college circa 1995/1996 made me LOL!) As far as my own higher education, I can’t remember a time without email! For my era, the big thing was getting your own computer for the first time when you went off to college…Dorms had just started wiring for ethernet, and the coolest thing was setting your AOL Instant Messenger away messages so all your friends and classmates would know if you were at class, in the student union, at rehearsal, blah blah….
July 11th, 2008 at 2:24 am
learning shift