Virtual Learning Environments

Monday Night 6/29 Minutes

 

Welcome to Fractor’s World

Naea: how are you doing this fine monday evening

brooklynmg: i’m great….we just grilled out so i’m full and happy

brooklynmg: haha

Naea: haha

brooklynmg: how are you guys?

alswid: im jealous

alswid: haha

Naea: yea i’m starving, after this to dinner

JonnyPancakes: hey guys

brooklynmg: hey hey

Zmitm398: Hey everyone

Naea: hey

JonnyPancakes: how’s it going?

oly: hey

oly: ok – i added that newspaper

oly: it oges to the fractor website

brooklynmg: i saw that earlier today, i like that

Naea: oh cool

brooklynmg: how did you make it link?

JonnyPancakes: nice touch

Zmitm398: I was here ealier and saw the newspaper and dog. Love them both.

oly: when you build there are a lot of options

oly: oh yeah

alswid: is there a paperboy? haha

JonnyPancakes: did you guys see mky link for gamesforchange.com?

brooklynmg: i did, that is great

oly: you can go to my world on the chair across the wall too

brooklynmg: i think that can be really helpful

JonnyPancakes: yeah, it has a ton of social action games

JonnyPancakes: so, who are we missing?

brooklynmg: i think just stephanie

brooklynmg: but she mentioned she might be a little late

oly: man we need some chairs in the house

JonnyPancakes: haha

brooklynmg: i was just thinking that

alswid: haha for next time.

brooklynmg: we all look mad

brooklynmg: haha

JonnyPancakes: my knees are solid gold

Naea: lol

alswid: i know, with the hands on the hips

JonnyPancakes: i dunno if bending is possible

brooklynmg: you are looking great – golden man

oly: i took the short 5 minute tutorial and it really helped

alswid: ill have to check that out

Zmitm398: same here

Naea: yea i took that as well

brooklynmg: me too

Naea: lots of good info

JonnyPancakes: so let’s first decide on an overall feel for the world….

oly: and the more you are on the more coins you get

brooklynmg: ok

JonnyPancakes: start off simple

oly: you can buy cool lil gadgets

JonnyPancakes: what kind of place shall we make it

Zmitm398: I spent about an hour earlier on here building in my own world

JonnyPancakes: an indoor environment?

JonnyPancakes: and outdoor playground?

brooklynmg: i like outdoor playground

alswid: me too

brooklynmg: or neighborhood 

JonnyPancakes: me too

Zmitm398: me too

JonnyPancakes: enighborhood is hard i think

alswid: neighborhood-esq

oly: the cool thing is we can add other worlds to portal to

JonnyPancakes: but doable

JonnyPancakes: yeah, portaling is neceessary

JonnyPancakes: perhaps we can make an offshoot world for a few specific things

JonnyPancakes: like make this the main hub

oly: if you go to metaplace central there is a coiuple worlds that use that technique

Zmitm398: The playground should be our base, then we could add portals

JonnyPancakes: and make topic specific worlds

JonnyPancakes: yeah

JonnyPancakes: greed

brooklynmg: that would be good

JonnyPancakes: agreed

oly: exactly!

JonnyPancakes: ok

alswid: sounds good

oly: with links to the web

Zmitm398: yes

JonnyPancakes: so then we need to figure out 3 or 4 specific topc to cover

oly: and maybe video/photo

JonnyPancakes: absolutely

Zmitm398: and other learn zones

oly: exactly

JonnyPancakes: a library could be fun too

alswid: thats a good idea!

JonnyPancakes: interactive, of course

Naea: lol i was just about to say that

oly: i think we should split things up to make the work load manageable

Naea: they have them in second life

brooklynmg: did you see that library in 3d squared’s world?

JonnyPancakes: yes

Naea: virtual library

brooklynmg: i thought that was cool

Zmitm398: I agree

JonnyPancakes: we need to assign responsibilities

brooklynmg: ok

JonnyPancakes: so first…

oly: let’s split things up to make it easier to deal with

JonnyPancakes: we’ve decided on a playground for our hub

JonnyPancakes: that’s done

Zmitm398: so have we determined if more than one can be signed in to the world to build?

JonnyPancakes: now we need the portal worlds

oly: how many total are there if us?

oly: are htere of us

alswid: um, i can check the wiki

oly: typing sucks

JonnyPancakes: haha yeah

JonnyPancakes: this is a bit tedious

brooklynmg: i think we are missing stephanie, mark, michelle and ozan here

brooklynmg: so 10 of us?

Zmitm398: Mark is here

brooklynmg: i think?

JonnyPancakes: ok, so let’s brainstorm about portal worlds

brooklynmg: oh sorry

Zmitm398: thats me!

brooklynmg: you’re right

brooklynmg: haha

JonnyPancakes: nice dancin!

alswid: there are 11 people

oly: i think 2 per portal?

Zmitm398: sure

oly: and maybe all on the main?

brooklynmg: so what will the different portals be for?

oly: with one managing?

JonnyPancakes: yeah

brooklynmg: so i understnad where we’re going with this/

JonnyPancakes: this will be the main hub

JonnyPancakes: 1) library

JonnyPancakes: we need a few others

brooklynmg: cafeteria?

oly: well, aren’t we trying to match fractors ideas?

JonnyPancakes: good idea!

brooklynmg: bike shop?

JonnyPancakes: we can cover issues like starvation

JonnyPancakes: and things like that

brooklynmg: good call

JonnyPancakes: in the caf

oly: cafeteria = starvation

Zmitm398: nice

alswid: that is a really good idea.

alswid: kind of ironic

JonnyPancakes: and how to make asian chicken salads

alswid: but good.

alswid: haha

JonnyPancakes: delicious ones

brooklynmg: haha

Naea: hahahha

alswid: recipes love it!

JonnyPancakes: good

oly: bike shop = energy conservation

JonnyPancakes: so a caf with recipes

JonnyPancakes: yeah

JonnyPancakes: Great idea!

JonnyPancakes: so 

JonnyPancakes: 1) library

JonnyPancakes: 2) caf

JonnyPancakes: 3) bike shop

JonnyPancakes: nurses office

oly: yes!

brooklynmg: cool

oly: world health issues

JonnyPancakes: ok good!

alswid: dealing with heatlth issues

JonnyPancakes: so we have our portals

Zmitm398: That is good

brooklynmg: excellent

oly: YAY!

Naea: some sort of weather center for natural disasters?

JonnyPancakes: exactly

oly: good one

JonnyPancakes: ohhh

JonnyPancakes: good

oly: we can add more if we find it becomes easier

JonnyPancakes: what can we do for that?

JonnyPancakes: school paper?

oly: hmmm

brooklynmg: maybe that can be the “paper boy”

JonnyPancakes: newspaper office?

JonnyPancakes: yeah!

JonnyPancakes: good call

JonnyPancakes: perfect

alswid: newsstand?

oly: even better

brooklynmg: that works too

Naea: yea

JonnyPancakes: and then paperboy for that

JonnyPancakes: good

oly: it could be here

oly: and the newspapers could link out

Zmitm398: yes

JonnyPancakes: excactly

JonnyPancakes: great idea

alswid: that is awesome!

brooklynmg: i think 3d squared has a newstand we could use for reference

Zmitm398: Wow, great ideas for only being on here for 3 mins

oly: oh yeah

JonnyPancakes: they will all link out… the site i linked to has tons and tons of scoial issue games broken down into category

JonnyPancakes: we can post tons of links to it

oly: we can get things out of google marketplace or something like that

JonnyPancakes: and the games are kinda fun

oly: for objects

Naea: HAHAHHA

JonnyPancakes: yeah, we should def RSS feed some social issues

oly: i can’t stop dancing

JonnyPancakes: global

JonnyPancakes: hahaha

Naea: thats funny

oly: there i stopped!

JonnyPancakes: haha

alswid: okay, so do we want to volunteer for the portals?

oly: i wonder if we can twit outta here?

JonnyPancakes: hmmm

JonnyPancakes: maybe

JonnyPancakes: ok

JonnyPancakes: so wanna assign portals?

JonnyPancakes: or shall we work on them all

Naea: what are they again?

alswid: library

JonnyPancakes: it might be good to have everyone’s input in the portals though

alswid: cafeteria

brooklynmg: i agree

Zmitm398: can we do a rotation?

JonnyPancakes: nurses office

JonnyPancakes: newsstand

oly: maybe we can put them on our page and see since there are some of us missing

brooklynmg: plus, i think it will be better since some people are better at the building aspect

JonnyPancakes: ill post the portals on our blog when we’re done

oly: i like building

JonnyPancakes: yeah

oly: i spent 2 hours last night playing

JonnyPancakes: e all need to work on the portals

Zmitm398: initially assign, then rotate thru

brooklynmg: so that way if we’re all working and contributing to all of them, we’ll get more accomplished

JonnyPancakes: yeah, it’s fun

alswid: i haven’t tried it yet

Zmitm398: ok

alswid: okay, that works

JonnyPancakes: ok

JonnyPancakes: good…. so let’s spend this next week building this playground

JonnyPancakes: and work on the portals in the following weeks

Zmitm398: That sounds good

brooklynmg: so how are we each contributing to the playground?

alswid: okay, wait

JonnyPancakes: we need to make the hub impressive

oly: let’s make sure to have a sign up sheet so we know hwo is doing what

alswid: so is the newsstand going to be in this portal and link out?

JonnyPancakes: like a wiki I imagine

alswid: or is it seperate?

JonnyPancakes: we all add and make edits

JonnyPancakes: toward a common playground theme

JonnyPancakes: can we download additional objects?

Naea: ok

oly: yeah 

Naea: yea we can

JonnyPancakes: ok

JonnyPancakes: then we’ll need to do that too

JonnyPancakes: so let’s plan to have the playground done by Monday

JonnyPancakes: if we all work it won’t be too hard

oly: i really think we should have some type of assignment as we go so things are always getting done

Zmitm398: I plan to log in a little each day

brooklynmg: should we be working on the game aspect of this, too?

oly: i know the playground but how are we going to map that out?

JonnyPancakes: i just dont know how we can assign this part though

Zmitm398: That way I can see the changes and coninue to add

JonnyPancakes: everyone needs to do a little at a time and build and add off other people’s work

JonnyPancakes: like a wiki

brooklynmg: ok

JonnyPancakes: I think…

alswid: ok.

oly: ok

brooklynmg: another thing i think we should be doing is 

Naea: yea that sounds good

JonnyPancakes: i really cant think of a way to assign specific tasks in this

brooklynmg: researching some sites for vlolunteer/social action

JonnyPancakes: the game part i think comes last

brooklynmg: ok

JonnyPancakes: let’s build the hub world first

JonnyPancakes: then get the portals done the following week

alswid: kk

Zmitm398: yes the hub is first

JonnyPancakes: we can assign specific portals for that for each person

Zmitm398: this is our key starting place

JonnyPancakes: but we’ll talk about that next Monday when the hub is finished

oly: so playground then

oly: main hub

JonnyPancakes: I think so

JonnyPancakes: does that sound good?

Zmitm398: yes

alswid: sdounds good to me

oly: sure

brooklynmg: yep

Naea: ok

JonnyPancakes: ok cool…. so our goal for next Monday is getting this world done

Naea: oh no

JonnyPancakes: if we all do it it won’t be too hard

JonnyPancakes: haha who died?

Naea: what happened

oly: you can faint

JonnyPancakes: hahaha

brooklynmg: lol

Naea: hahaha

alswid: thought that woudl work..

JonnyPancakes: i wanna faint!

Naea: well thats weird

JonnyPancakes: haha who has a dog!?

oly: i think maybe i added that

oly: or stephanie

Zmitm398: I have a dog for real, not on here though

oly: can’t remember

ElleMcCarthy: does someone mind posting the entire convo when we’re done? i missed the first few minutes so im not if we’ve decided on the portals yet too.. or just the playground as hub

brooklynmg: so jon, do you want to post our convo & recap on the blog?

Naea: they have u ad one if you do the tutorial

alswid: i can do it

Zmitm398: No elle, you should be here on time… JK

brooklynmg: ok, thanks!

alswid: on the blog or the list serv?

alswid: r both?

ElleMcCarthy: hah sorry! i got stuck at hte pdf 2009 conference! my bad

JonnyPancakes: ok

JonnyPancakes: so you will post the convo

JonnyPancakes: I’ll recap the portals

alswid: yupp 

JonnyPancakes: if you guys get a minute

Zmitm398: I will do the email for everyone

Zmitm398: just copy and paste right?

JonnyPancakes: check out the games on that site

oly: will do

JonnyPancakes: they’re exactly in line with what we’re doing

brooklynmg: definitely

oly: cut and paste, yes

Zmitm398: thanks

JonnyPancakes: and strangely and depressingly fun

brooklynmg: haha

Naea: lol

JonnyPancakes: social action games are huge downers

JonnyPancakes: and im pretty sure u cant win

brooklynmg: yeah, the one i saw today regarding prop 8

oly: how to make them fun…

brooklynmg: and an elephant who can’t get water or something

brooklynmg: very depressing

JonnyPancakes: i was an south american farmer with my family dying because my crops were failing

JonnyPancakes: hahaha

JonnyPancakes: yeah

alswid: oh no

brooklynmg: ha

JonnyPancakes: thatr was the game

JonnyPancakes: haha

JonnyPancakes: but whatever

alswid: its very oregon trail…when everyone dies

alswid: haha

JonnyPancakes: yeah!

brooklynmg: totally

Naea: haha i’ll have to check it out

JonnyPancakes: it’s actually exactly like that

JonnyPancakes: funny you say so

JonnyPancakes: ok

JonnyPancakes: so action items:

JonnyPancakes: build home world

JonnyPancakes: check out gaming site

JonnyPancakes: and let’s get this Hub done by Monday

JonnyPancakes: sound good?

brooklynmg: yes

Naea: sounds good

alswid: yup

oly: did we ever figure out if only 1 person at a time can be building?

JonnyPancakes: hmmm

JonnyPancakes: I don’t know

brooklynmg: i’m willing to try logging on after this

brooklynmg: if someone else wants to also try

oly: i can too

JonnyPancakes: ok

Zmitm398: me too

JonnyPancakes: let us know tonight on the blog if you can

brooklynmg: i don’t think it will be a huge deal, though, since we’ll all probably log on at different times anyway

brooklynmg: ok

oly: true

brooklynmg: i will

JonnyPancakes: it would be cool if we could get some seesmic postings too

JonnyPancakes: i’d like to meet you guys

oly: i posted after last night’s explorations

alswid: okay we can make that another action point

alswid: for the weekend

alswid: *week

JonnyPancakes: ok, that would be great

JonnyPancakes: well…. good work tonight I think

alswid: absolutely

brooklynmg: yeah, i think we’re off to a good start

alswid: im gonna post the minutes to the blog.

Zmitm398: ok

brooklynmg: you guys are great

JonnyPancakes: agreed….

JonnyPancakes: ill see you all online,….

oly: oh, i think you can show a you tube clip from your avitar

Zmitm398: I’ll send the emal

alswid: ill see you all on seesmic! happy fourth!

brooklynmg: see you all next week!

Naea: ok bye everyone

There is more to being present online than just having a web page or a facebook account, or posting videos on youtube or seesmic. Those are all actions that take place while present online. To truly be present we have to live online as though we’re living in life, without differentiating “online” and “offline” or “real” and “virtual”. To truly be present we have to understand that the internet, the web, social networking sites, and whatever else we’re doing online is causing us to exist in a multitude of ways and places simultaneously. 100 people could view my facebook profile and cause me to exist in 100 different places at the same moment. But in order for that presence to be a true representation of me, it needs to be an active representation. To exist online, we have to actively exist online. In other words, in order to be present online, we have to update. For example, I haven’t used my Xenga account in nearly seven years, my friendster in five years, myspace in two years and its been a few weeks since I’ve looked at my facebook. Although each one is still an open account and still exists and is present on the web for all to see, does it mean that I am present? In a manner of speaking it does, but that is not the real me, it doesn’t represent my present presence.  Our physical presence is still limited by our real time selves and not to sound too poetic but as we age and mature we may only show a shadow of our former selves. But online that presence can be preserved timelessly. That is why I say that in order to be truly present we have to understand that our online selves exist in a very real sense.  In order to truly exist and be present we all just need to update our profiles. So, in short there are about six Henry McDonnell’s floating around in cyberspace because I never bother updating or deleting my old profiles.

I think one of the most important ways to engage students online or off is with play. Gaming promotes collaboration. I’ll try to answer two question with one answer here. We had reading this week about Collaboration and  on the World of Warcraft… I’m almost ashamed to admit that I have wasted a great number of hours in the past playing that game and have first hand experience with its collaborative potential. In the game there is a type of grouping system called a guild, which is a hierarchically based organization of players who help one another in the game. The purpose of a guild is to share resources, information, and manpower for more difficult parts of the game. In fact, the creators of the game designed the most difficult, funnest and most rewarding parts of the game to be only accessible by large groups of players. Many guilds form specifically to access these portions of the game. A guild is formed organically by normal players, one player finds ten other players to sign a charter, and the guild is formed. From that point, the players can all invite new users. However, guilds have a command structure with a clear leader (the original creator of the charter or another player designated by that user), the guild leader then assigns ranks and manages memberships within the guild, providing privileges to those who actively participate in the guild and revoking memberships to those who do not participate. One of the main functions performed by the guild is an in game support group for newer users. In my experience, guilds generally have a mix of newer users and veteran players. Veteran players will most often assist their newer less experienced members with helpful information or resources they need to learn the game. This collaborative necessity is a not a recent development though. In the golden age of arcade gaming (I miss the 80’s.), there was a game called Gauntlet, it was an action adventure game that became so difficult as one progressed through the levels that it was impossible to beat with out assistance. It was a four player game with each player taking on the roll of a different type of character (wizard, warrior, elf and valkyrie) each with different strengths and weaknesses. As an arcade game it was open to anyone who wanted to place in a quarter and start playing, and four complete strangers would often be paired up and working together to accomplish a common goal.

The lesson learned from collaborative gaming is that collaboration can be fun and differences can be overlooked because a common goal is being achieved, Highsmith talks about the importance of the latter.  This can easily be transferred into an educational environment, both online and in the classroom. The wonderful thing about video games is that they are constructed experiences and no matter how much freedom is given to the user (like in World of Warcraft), the core experience and content can still be manipulated by the designer/programmer.

I have never contemplated the meaning of “presence” except in its literal sense, meaning that if you are at x location at the current moment, that is presence. Or if you compare something from your past to something now, that establishes the present. So literal and one dimensional! In terms of virtual presence, critical thought can come into play. Establishing a presence through virtual environments takes a little more time to construct than being at x location at the current moment. Thinking about this type of presence makes me realize that it goes deeper than the way most people think of it, if they think about it at all.

While I am still getting used to Twitter and Seesmic, I have the strongest virtual presence on Facebook. Since I’ve had that account for years now, I have accumulated many friends, photos, messages, applications, etc, that have made me an active member and very present to others who can seek me out on Facebook and access a lot of information about who I am. So presence in the virtual world, in my belief, takes longer to achieve than simply walking into a room and bam! your presence in known and established immediately. With the immediacy of physical presence, however, come the extensive limitations with it. We can’t walk into a room with 537 photos and messages from others, or with our 700 friends on Facebook. It is only us. Therefore, virtual environments provide a much stronger platform for extending our presence to many people through one direction, and quickly at that. This is how I have come to analyze my presence when comparing physical to virtual.

Engaging one another at a virtual level depends on the motivation behind it. Of course we are all logged into the class blog and wiki, and the other platforms that enable strong communication with one another, but we are also required to do this. This requirement ends up being very beneficial to us, however, because we are able to communicate in a number of ways. We can talk and record ourselves, we can write/type out ideas and comments to one another, and we can send simple status updates through twitter if we just want to be quick. Comparing that with an online class environment like Blackboard, we have the flexibility of reaching each other in different ways. It definitely cuts out boredom with clicking on the same link every day that takes you to the exact same location, where you use the exact same method to communicate with the class each time. 

This week’s readings were great, somewhat challenging to get through, but did offer up some interesting information in terms of analyzing the concept of presence, collaboration and play. The collaboration piece was especially interesting. It was almost like reading about how to function as part of a team, but also about what methods of achieving success were effective, and what methods have proven to make collaboration projects particularly difficult and ineffective. I particularly liked the Groan Zone analysis, because I think this is true of fast-paced teamwork environments. One of the most important things to consider in teamwork is the barrier of individualism that can create roadblocks for the final product of a collaborative piece of work. This has always been an obstacle in past group projects I have worked on. Knowing how to healthily express one’s ideas and contributions is the best way to communicate and reach a means to an end. I think with a virtual space, individualism can’t get as overbearing as it could in physical space.

Referring to the Computer World article, it mentions that the world moves too fast now for a text book, which takes a year to write and distribute (at the minimum).  Rather, the wiki, as an open format, allows educated users to create and constantly update a textbook that always keeps pace with the rapid progress of modern society.  While I applaud Professor Kane’s bold use of new technology and his readiness to adapt his teaching style to accommodate technological advances, I think relying on any single method of teaching, no matter the circumstance, limits the class in many ways.  I think one of the main benefits of technology is that is allows us many options for how we learn.  Using these varying options in conjunction with one another, similar to the way we’re doing so in this class, is the best way to utilize technology.  It also helps to diminish one huge flaw of online content and of the wiki in particular.  How valid is the information?  How trusted are the sources?  When we have “the masses” creating textbooks, is it a sacrifice of speed for quality?  Or, in these fast moving times, is speed a function of quality. 

Hi, can anyone access this link?  I can’t load it up. 

Training Kids With Skills For Participatory Culture.” ProjectNML.org. <http://www.projectnml.org/node/308

I tried googling project nml.org and I find “The Minnesota Project, but I don’t know if this is the same.

Thanks!

Hey Everyone!

Thought I’d get us started talking about this week’s disccussion topic.  The syllabus brings up the question, “How does this environment affect the exchange between teacher and student, between student and student?”  I know there are teachers among us who have touched on this a bit in previous posts, and I believe it was Mark who made the point about the online instructors at the New School being “coaches,” so I thought I’d continue in that direction.

The Hunsinger, Wellman, and Koku reading I think sums it up best when they say that, “There has also been some move away from teacher-centered models of learning to student-centered models” and I see what they mean through VLEs I’ve been a part of.  Heather Havenstein’s article about the Wiki says that it “means I am more of a guide to them than a lecturer,” which sums up my experience as well.  I think that the relationship has become much more interactive in that regard; the teacher lays out the platform and is there to help guide the student through the process, but rather than coming across as a lecturer, I think the format allows students more time to formulate their thoughts and questions and interact with their instructors in a more intelligent and reciprocal way.

 

            What is presence?  More than just what you get on your birthday (insert drum roll here) it is your being.  It is where you are, and who you are when you get there.  The problem with presence comes with the Internet.  Is it possible, with the help of a server, to be somewhere, and not be there at the same time?  *Fox News* showed us during it’s election coverage this year that it is possible through holograms, but what about for the common folk?  Our solution is the avatar.    Online chat rooms and private ims have evolved into second life (and other like applications), which makes our presence known not only through our sign in names, but through actual people that we can create and give personality to.  The building of an actual, physical telepresence like that of second life turned cyberspace into just space,this turns actions into meanings, and builds the cultural framework that Legget talks about.  And it is this that creates a network.  A network is not just a server.  It is a place where you can share in creation, and transfer information.  It is a place where everyone involved has a vested interest in what is happening within it.  It consists of those who are committed, voluntarily to a common goal.  Virtual teams over a network must be more committed and more organized that those working together in something like an office environment.  And, as a leadin to my next point, these things can sometimes be practiced and demonstrated through play.

            In the “Play Ethic” we learn that “play is fun that fulfills an evolutionary task.” Play gives us “optimism that helps us triumph over life’s inevitable challenges.”  It allows us to try things and experiment in a way that doesn’t really put us in danger.  Play helps us practice the things that real life doesn’t give us the opportunity to practice.  Real life games give us a glimpse into human nature.  A lot of corporate offices have used games to build trust amongst its employees (although maybe not in the current economy where it doesn’t really matter)  Even as children (I’m sorry the development psychology is coming through here) imaginary play is crucial to our development, and with the internet, we have just found the modern day alternative to the imaginary friend.

 

I know we all just left metaplace, but I wanted to just write down my thoughts about our meeting now while they are fresh in our minds.  I found this to be a really effective use of all of our time.  It took about a half an hour to do what would have taken days if we were just using posts or even e-mails.  Everyone was really talkative, and the fact that you could see whose mouths all of the conversations were coming from made it pretty easy to follow.  Im really looking forward to exploring what else we can do within metaplace.

I hope this is the correct place to post the blog part of our group assignments.  So far, we’ve set a meeting date on Metaplace for Monday, 6/21.  Most, if not all, of the group has created avatars, so I think we’re off to a good start on this project.  I’ve spent a good deal of time navagating Metaplace.com, and I think it has so much to offer Fractor and the goals of our project!

SAlthough we are all students in a VLE right now, and since I already posted on my own first VLE expereinces,  I figured that I would post something regarding VLEs as a teacher who has used them for a few years in a high school setting. The schools in which I have instructed over the past five years have been anything but technologically ‘gifted.’ Both schools, one in an upper middle class region in Chicagoland (Park Ridge, to be specific) and one in Suburban NY (Coastal CT) with a highly varied student body and little to no computer support (Alex went there, she can back me up on that…).

There were approximately 2500 students in each school, with less than 200 computers easily accessible to students at any given time. Most of those computers sit in labs that are specific to task, funded by specific grants and overly protected by teachers who are very afraid of derelict children stealing mouse balls, which happens almost never. I knew, however, that most of these kids had access to the Internet outside of the school.

I returned to teaching in 2004 after four years of editorial work in media and telecommunications/wireless trade publishing. While it wasn’t really my area of expertice when I started, the collaborative models of early wireless technology fascinated me. I was also the associate editor of a magazine having to do specifically with Internet telephony–an area that is still, almost ten years later, the cutting edge of communications technologies. Anyhow, I returned to teaching with the idea that there was no way students wouldn’t need those types of communications skills. Specifically, I knew they needed to be able to figure out how to work and communicate without a physical presence with those whom they were collaborating with.

I started using discussion forums from TurnItIn.com, an anti-plaigarism site that our school subscribes to in order to help students and teachers figure out how to properly cite and use sources. These forums are ok, but require a decent amount of moderation. The more gifted treated them as a resource, the more saavy and sarcastic treated them as yet another place to be a smartass in the classroom. As a teacher, I toed the line in between!

The first real collaborative projects I did with my students, a Junior AP Language and Comp course similar in scope and curriculum to a college writing 101 course, were Wiki pages designed and regulated by students on Huckleberry Finn. For advanced students the book did not provide too much of a literary challenge and I felt that the students could easily design pages based on a template I put together as an exemplar. I paired students up between classes (I had two classes and put a student from each class on a given chapter). The students had to delegate the work and figure out what needed to be done by the given deadline. Results were mixed. This was in 2006 and MySpace was huge… and students first started using it, on top of emails, to get the work done and to communicate. The first batch wasn’t so hot…but by the third they were actually something of which to be proud. Several students from that same class ended up doing ITunes podcasts of our weekly vocabulary lists. Great stuff.

Fast forward to fall of 2008 and my students are very comfortable doing this same assignment, but still find it far easier to work on pages alone than to really collaborate. I can see where Metaplace and chat programs might help iron out these problems. I’m still really trying to figure out a more effective Blog strategy for large classes, as they quickly become tedious to write and edit and read when there are 30 students in a classroom. I find we can easily spend entire class periods after a tiny posting assignment is due going over posts with students. I guess that’s good and bad!

I also like the fact that kids pull out their cell phones and iPhones to make posts to the blog. Talk about getting kids on your side–”I had no idea I could do that with my phone!”