I had previously heard of Second Life, but never realized how expansive it is and advanced. It took me awhile, prior to our class experience, to get used to moving my avitar around, looking in different directions, and viewing a 3D world. I also noticed how large the program must be because every time I had it on, the fan on my laptop would run the entire time.
Our class experience helped me more. I appreciated learning about the buttons on the bottom and how to navigate to new areas. We had so many people in such a small space that I got somewhat frustrated with trying to see everyone and reading the IMs. It was fun to partner up and go to various places together. It urged us to help each other. At times, I found myself worrying more about where my 2 other group members were, than viewing what was around me. I never got the full impact of why these were educational places and what can be done there. I'm going to need to do some more exploring on my own.
I certainly like innovative ideas for education and will be reading the chapter Craig has co-written. One thing I have noticed while taking classes at National-Louis: Many of the schools we all work in are on different pages in terms of technology, Internet usage, and Web 2.0. Some of us have fire walls that won't let anyone do anything, and others are much more liberal. I would be very frustrated with my school district if I was learning all the new tools possible on the internet and my district was highly restricting me. Luckily, I'm in a district that promotes this kind of use as long as it is well thought out and safe for the students. (I do have to admit that I'm getting tired of all the parent permission slips that are being sent out to get an OK for Internet usage and work posted. Ugh!)
Our class experience was very unique, fun, and interesting in Second Life. I would have never gone there on my own. I certainly need to spend more time to explore and understand the educational potential it might have.
Great blog, Ellen! I agree with you about National-Louis and the way that it promotes many different tools that we can use on the Internet for our classroom. I think it's great that your school allows you to use those types of tools in your classroom. As of right now, I do not have Internet for my students to use and it can be frustrating knowing what I could be doing for my students. I say keep on going, Ellen! You are making a difference in your students lives! I'm sure they are all really excited when it comes to learning knew skills on the Internet. It is their world now.
ReplyDeleteHey Ellen, I was too was more worried about where my partners were rather than taking in all of the sights. I guess that is the teacher instinct in us. My district seems to have a random policy on what it blocks and what it doesn't. There are times that my students can't access some basic sites while others find some very inappropriate sites looking for the same material. I think that is just part of the growing pains of the web. I would like to see where Second Life can be used in an elementary school setting.
ReplyDeleteInteresting! I agree with the IM'ing feature. There were so many things scrolling down my screen, I had a hard time following what I was being told to do! I had to keep scrolling up the log to find what was said to me.
ReplyDeleteIf you do go back, let me know. I would be interested in seeing/experiencing what SL really is.
Kathryn
the reason the fan was running is because second life is very intense in terms of graphics. it's the graphics card that gets so hot. you should hear how loud my desktop fan gets when i'm using SL!
ReplyDeleteit IS hard to keep up with everything on the screen....there is a learning curve, and it's hard to know what to pay attention to when. even I (after 2 years in SL) still get overwhelmed sometimes.
Jen: NO INTERNET FOR STUDENTS! Oh my!
Ellen,
ReplyDeleteI agree with your comments as well. It was hard to navigate Second Life at first, but I would also be interested in continuing to explore how it could be tied into education. It is amazing how different some districts are in terms of technology usage. My school has come a long way in the past couple of years. Hopefully as some of us continue to gain more knowlege in this field, more districts will become willing to broaden their use of technology to benefit their students and staff.