Going to class at 2 a.m.
By Atiyaf. Filed in discussion, reading |Tags: first online class, MOO
Hey All,
My first online learning experience was in my junior year of undergrad. In the beginning of my undergraduate career I started pursuing a minor in communications. I ended up ditching the minor and doing a double major instead and so I took two classes online during the summer so that I would graduate on time. I only remember one class which was titled “introduction to tourism and hospitality management”. I can’t for the life of me recall the other…I guess it was thrilling.
I personally love the online classroom environment. I admit that I am one of the people Linda Harasim talks about in her article when she discusses how e-learning helps to put students on equal footing allowing those that are not the most vocal to have a say as well. I tend to be shy in classroom settings, not in life (ha) and so an online platform works really well for me. Also I like being able to go to “class” at 2 a.m. in my PJ’s. My online experience in undergrad was a little different than it has been so far in The New School’s program. There was a lot more “interaction” in undergrad. In addition to our online discussion boards we would also have chats scheduled every week where you could just drop in and talk and ask questions. It was a great way to get your participation points in quick and easy. We also had lectures that ran through PowerPoint with the professors voice attached explaining each slide. Just like if you were sitting in a lecture.
I am so excited about this class. I will confess that I know very little about (or have been resistant to) a lot of the platforms we will be using here. I’ve been trying so hard to stay away from Twitter forever despite the urging of friends, mainly because I didn’t see the point. If you guys are following me there you will see that my first post was “I am here against my will!” because that’s how I felt. And now, of course, I’m addicted and log on as soon as I get to work to see what was tweeted through the night. I hate proving people right! So annoying.
Anyway that was a rant. I am so looking forward to this class!
P.s. This may be dumb but I really don’t understand “MOOs.” I read that entire article and I still don’t get it…
Friday, June 12th 2009 at 12:04 pm |
I actually wasn’t totally clear on what “MOO” stood for either! It is obviously an acronym for a type of online environment, but it was somewhat irritating and confusing not knowing what it actually stood for. Since this was a chapter from a book, it must have been defined earlier in the text. Have you made any progress as to what it is?
Saturday, June 13th 2009 at 1:01 pm |
I tried to do some research and actually my boyfriend, who is an interactive web designer and is just as interested in what I’m studying as I am, found the answer before I did. If I understand what he explained to me, then I believe MOO basically stands for “MUD, Object Oriented.” So it’s taken the old terminology of Multi-User Dungeon (an early online gaming community) that the Robbins-Sponaas and Nolan article discusses and has added the functionality of object orientation instead of strict text orientation. Therefore, the Multi-User Dungeon now has object animated functions that allow users to move about as characters and interact with objects in the space as opposed to just a text-based MOO that allows for only language-based descriptions…Prof, is that right?
Saturday, June 13th 2009 at 9:17 pm |
Ahh thanks Katharine for that. That actually makes a lot more sense to me. I’m glad I’m not the only one that was a little confused. I came to the end of that article and was basically like “whaaaaat?!?”
Monday, June 15th 2009 at 5:11 am |
Thanks, Katharine, for clarifying that. I’ll just add a couple more points, just in case there’s any lingering confusion. A MUD is a multi-user real-time virtual world, in which players interact with each other by typing commands that resemble a natural language. MUDs had their heyday a while ago (’80s-early ’90s), back when people communicated online mostly through Bulletin Board Systems.
A MOO (“MUD, Object Oriented”) is a type of MUD. The difference is that MOOs have a programming language by which you can create and interact with objects (a room is an object; the things in a room are objects; your avatar-the digital representation of yourself-is an object). You can create characters, places, and things, and share them with others.
It’s this ability to collaboratively create and share – this path to dynamic interactions, that set the MOO apart paradigmatically. Users were co-developing their own virtual spaces, and learning how to do it together. It’s this aspect of collaborative learning that Robbins-Sponaas and Nolan, as well as Harasim, recognize as the most important factor for online networked learning.
Both MUDs and MOOs have evolved into 3D virtual reality sites like Second Life and games like World of Warcraft, and now go by the terms MMOGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Game) and MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game).