I've Always Wanted.......

I have found my favorite part of Second Life, getting to be whatever and whoever I want!!! I have always wanted to be the rocker chick with piercings and tattoos, the girl everyone is afraid of but secretly wants to be! In Second Life I can be that girl, Cinderella, wear a man's suit, ANYTHING.

I did a lot of experimenting back and forth with weight and height but left those aspects relatively the same as they were defaulted. Here is a before picture.
At first I tried to keep it kind of the same as before to be somewhat similar to myself. I then realized, why?! I don't want to be me, I want to be the me I actually want to be! I went for the rocker chick look. Second Life labeled it "gamer girl, " although I feel like the fishnets make her a non gamer but whatever! I experimented with switching my hair color but could not figure it out! I moved the bar back and forth and saw little change--I must have been doing something wrong. After working on that for a good twenty minutes I decided to just pack it in and open it up to you all asking for help!

Here is the after.

So for all of you Second Life pros--if you have any suggestions as to why my hair color wouldn't change I'd be happy to take some suggestions.

Entering the Lion's Den

Quest Three led me to the Lionheart Orientation Island. This island went through the basic steps of Second Life, but also some of the menu options and details that are vital to surviving in the virtual world. This time around I worked on a computer on campus and that made a world of difference. The program ran faster, the screen was bigger, and it was just an over all better experience. I recommend this to anyone who is able to.

I really enjoyed the free gifts we were able to get. Free things are great! I also appreciated the instruction on how to change my clothes. It took a lot of instruction and a little help from a classmate--thanks Chase! I wanted to have a crazy outfit, but I settled with something pretty simple.

I also learned a lot about how the mouse works in Second Life. During class I was kind of confused about how we were supposed to sit down, touch things, etc. This provided a video-like instruction like we have had in the other quests but made me do the task right at that time. I had to grab the beach ball and set it on the table, I had to sit on the green ball and watch myself dance like a crazy person. I was confused why I was dancing around, I didn't read the entire instruction--that clarifed that one really quick.

I really enjoyed working on this quest. It was helpful to go through the two orientations, and it didn't seem as difficult as the previous two. Maybe that is because I am getting better?

Self Reflections

AHHHHHHHH! I kind of just want to scream and curse and yell and run around, that is how much Second Life frustrates me. It has been one thing after another, BUT I have figured out why I don't like it. 1) I am probably one of the most impatient people on this planet. SL runs beyond slow on my computer, my avatar lags and doesn't move in the right direction and then I get mad and click some more and then it freezes...the cycle never ends. 2) I am not good at it. Plain and simple, I am not good at running the arrows, not good at finding things, not good! :)

As it is 11:30 on Sunday after break, I realize now that this whole thing isn't going to come easy to me. Wish I could rewind and go back to last Sunday when I had an entire week to just relax--maybe I should have been practicing and playing on SL...hindsight is always better right? Well, now that I am playing around I have been improving. I don't know how much the videos helped as much as experimenting. I seriously struggle with the basic step of moving from point a to point b. I don't care that I have to admit this, that's the first step right?! It has been a very frustrating couple of hours though (yes this quest took hours, I'm slow). It took me 20 minutes to find the darn amphitheater, but when I did I ran around that place like it was nobodies business!
See here's the amphitheater! Can I video tape myself running around like a crazy person?

This quest got me to thinking about my personal methods of studying. We have established that I am not good at Second Life, but one of the reasons I am not good at it is because gaming doesn't really interest me. I was going through the motions and doing all of the required things, but not really GETTING into Second Life. I must admit, I do this with many of my classes. I will be student teaching next semester, my brain is LONG gone. So, this in turn got me to thinking about my own students. They could be super interested in the new video game that came out at midnight the night before, and here I am teaching them about Abraham Lincoln--how boring! Just like I am not interested in their fancy new game, they are not interested in my subject--now why would I be disappointed in them. It doesn't seem fair!

After watching some of the videos in the last module I realized that it doesn't have to be all or nothing. I can include gaming and history in one neat little package. The game might not be a quiz show about the Civil War, but it also doesn't have to be Angry Birds. I haven't quite thought about how I will use Second Life in my classes--I can only reflect for so long. BUT I have made a step in the right direction, I am thinking about how frustrated my students might be with me teaching them in boring ways just like I am frustrated with the "ease" of moving my avatar. A simple reflection, frustration, and anger can go a long way:)

I did manage to take some pictures to prove that I am figuring this all out:)

Iowa's Capital has got to be one of the prettiest capital buildings in our country. I saw it on Friday in person and was just amazed and being a future social studies teacher I had to take a picture of it in Second Life.

Second Life, First Impressions

Well, it has happened...I have been forced to join Second Life and play around for homework--what a chore! I must admit I was excited to start Second Life, but ultimately kind of nervous about it. I am not a gamer, and many of the things I have heard about Second Life are silly and "out there." Starting my experience in Second Life was a mixture of good and bad, but that is to be expected.

First of all, I do think that Second Life is fairly user friendly. I must admit that I struggled with using the controls and figuring out all the buttons--but I am still learning and it seems that Second Life is always changing so everyone is on the same page! In regards to our class's participation in Second Life, I think the major suggestion I would have would be for students to either meet in the classroom or in a general location if possible when starting this unit. The reason I struggled was because I got lost or left behind and then I couldn't find the class and got frustrated--etc. it was a never-ending cycle!! That might have been prevented if I would have had a little background on the program.

I did really enjoy both of the videos, they gave me a lot of background information and just made me a little more comfortable with the program. I think that when I use Second Life more I will be more comfortable--of course, that is like anything electronic so that is to be expected. I also think that it is really beneficial. In a school setting I might be a little hesitant to use it since it is so new that kids might get left behind. I think that it would be a great tool to use in a TAG room or even a Special Education class where all of the children are kind of on the same level. My hesitation comes from my experience, I consider myself an average type student and I got completely lost in the computer aspect of the game. My students might be ahead of the curve, but I am afraid that instead of focusing on the actual goal of the lesson. I hope that when I get into Second Life my mind will be changed--at this point in my experience I cannot see a lot of value for the "average" student and the "average" assignment.

I'm in the Gaming Zone

I took a little advice from the comments section and Aric left a website that gave a lot of "gaming" options. I am a fan of puzzles and card games, but since those are off limits I decided to go for a killing one! I played Kingdom Rush for a long time, my other homework was not impressed. The strategy behind this game is to protect your kingdom. I tried and tried, but failed to be good at the game. I pushed past this fact though, and reflected some of the other qualities of the game.

One thing that I enjoyed about the game was that it was really easy to understand. Now this doesn't mean it was easy, like I said above, I wasn't good at it. It was easy to do though, I think that this is important when using gaming in education. The task needs to be challenging but the object needs to be easy. Like a math problem, you want the problem to be hard but you don't want the calculator to be hard to run. One thing that turned me away from the game was the lag that it had. I'm not sure if that is because it was free? Or I was live streaming the UNI game in the background? I don't know, I do know that it bothered me.

Looking at the review the game, I found out the game at a lot to offer that I did not know. I am not a gamer so seeing that the graphics were in fact really good made me feel better. I was also amazed by the amount of levels and the details put into each one. I didn't make it very far in the game so I missed out on a bunch of these features! Although I wasn't very good at the game I was definitely in the "Flow", which Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi has come up with. I will pay someone to teach me how to say that man's name, he has hit everything spot on. Why didn't I think of that first, I mean after reading and watching that you are kind of like duh! When playing the game I wasn't self conscious, I wasn't worried about looking stupid--I was worried about moving on and getting to the next level no matter what! I do agree that time also disappears, I mean I played for what seemed like a few minutes and it was about two hours!

Honestly, I am not sure about how playing this game affected me. I don't really get into gaming. I will have to play some more games throughout the week, and maybe even search for more educational games. I can't see myself using this in my class so I am struggling to see how this really affected me. It was a fun game, it was challenging, and free (which is always a benefit). I do think that it allowed me to think critically about something that would in all other situations be fairly trivial. In most gaming situations I am not thinking about how it is changing me as a person, but today I was put that that challenge. I challenge you all to help me out, what types of games would you use in your classrooms?

It's a Flat, Flat World We Live In

"The global economic playing field is being leveled....American's are not ready"--quoted by a man he interviewed. I thought this was one of the most powerful things in his speech, of course this lead to the book completely so that is probably why. How many of us believe that because we are from America we will be "safe." Safe from competing jobs, safe from being stripped of the dominating world power, and safe from being too far behind in technology. Friedman's speech proved this wrong, people everyday around the world have the opportunity, advantage, and the means to pull ahead in the global market and (gasp) BEAT the US in something. How dare they?!

This is going to change our world, of course. I think that the "flattening" of the world will be a major event in history. What defined the Industrial Revolution? Inventions, technology, making things available to everyday people. This is what the Flat World is doing, we are giving more people the opportunity to have technology in their possession; which leads to more people having jobs in technology advancement which leads to more technology. I'm a social science major, I love processes like these, we are LEARNING from history people! There are updates from Apple all the time, just last week they announced the iPhone 4s....not the 5 everyone expected--was it a disappointment? Yes, it was for people who wanted the iPhone 5, but will millions of people still buy it? Of course, it's new and shiny--everyone wants to have the next big thing.

I love that Friedman referred to traveling East. As a future history teacher I think this is significant, people in my generation are less likely to have a negative view of the East but in our history the East has not excelled in things. I mean there are jokes about Russia being slow at everything right? Except for that darn space thing...we'll never be able to let that one down. This can't be the case anymore, they have the access to the same things we do--the playing field has been leveled. People we wouldn't expect are competing with the US and the Western countries.

As an educator it is important to remember this for my students. Not only will we be able to access things easier, so will the students. It is so easy to Google a topic and get to see the topic from the perspective of a student in that area. In my field experience I just taught a lesson the Islamic faith, I'm a Christian--I have very limited knowledge about the Islamic faith. It is important for my students to understand different cultures, I need to break down those barriers because they could be working with these types of culture in the future. Breaking down the barriers, flattening their world to make it easier for them to transition into the real world. They need to see us using the resources that are available to them. Don't waste the projector and Internet connection sitting in our classrooms, Skype with someone, get online and research a topic together, do the process with them!

I think that the effects of a flattened world are things we cannot even imagine. We are preparing our students for jobs that don't exist, how much pressure is that?! The students we are teaching today will be the next innovators in technology, and these kids are digital natives. They won't understand the impact that they are going to have on the world. I think of the Braid Paisley song, "Welcome to the Future" and how it is "no, big deal" to have these fancy things now, but really it is a big deal!

The World isn't Round? How am I Going to Explain This One?

When I think about the immensity of the Flat Classroom Project and all that it had to entail to create it and make it function I become......awed! The time and effort that went into this project really shows the dedication that it's founders have for education, and their efforts to prove that the world is indeed FLAT. Vicki Davis and Julie Lindsay deserve a medal, or a shiny plaque to put in their office--from every person involved in the project!

The idea that the world is flat will really disrupt my history classroom, it disproves so many factual things!!!!!! Just kidding, it will disrupt my classroom in a great way. The Flat Classroom Project is allowing our students to break down barriers that NO one else has thought to do before, how awesome would it be to be a student that is apart of this project. The students are changing the structure of a classroom, the availability of using the wiki allows students to work on the project whenever. School hours need not apply, ANYTIME, ANYWHERE....how many teachers wouldn't want their students working on homework at home and being excited about it. Everyone in my group is really excited to participate.

The networking opportunities are just amazing. Students are not only working on a project about outsourcing together, but they could be working on this project with someone from India. How neat would it be to be discussing the American side of outsourcing and then seeing how the Indians are viewing outsourcing. The networking can go on outside of the project as well. I gave a lesson today on the Islamic faith and culture, I have never met a Muslim person before so my content knowledge was limited. Questions arose and I wasn't completely sure on the answer, how neat would it be to jump on the discussion board and message a fellow Flat Classroomer and ask them about their daily life as a Muslim student in Saudi Arabia?

I thought that Christensen's section on preparing students to meet the demands that society has now was really relevant to the Flat Classroom Project. So many people are traveling abroad, either coming to the United States or our citizens are traveling abroad to work. It would be silly to prepare our students to be ethnocentric snotty Americans. We need to be preparing them to work with people who are not like them. We are teaching our students to be ready to work in fields that are not even CREATED yet, how do we do that? Easy, teach them to adapt, teach them to understand and utilize technology, and teach them to grow in this changing world....not so easy right? What are some broad ideas to do some of these things?