Second Life: Baptiste Breguet Goes to School!

I've been on SecondLife for about two years now and seen it's many ups and downs. I've built houses, changed my avatar's skin, body type, even clothing. He's learned how to play the piano, ballroom dance, and even speak different languages. He can also turn into a cat. These are all things I've never been able to do ... yet, at least. ;-)

I have never, however, used SecondLife for educational purposes. 

On SecondLife, I've been known as Baptist Breguet. While I have always considered SecondLife as a learning experience, I've never considered it a learning experience like in a typical classroom.

I've done a lot of reading about this subject as of late - when I saw the original assignment, I had to swallow a grain of salt and realize that I'm not the smartest person in the world. 

SecondLife is cool - don't get me wrong. I've just recently come to despise it once its grid became the Windlight grid - it slowed everything down, and I shuttered my house building business that had become somewhat profitable.

I digress - I found a great article that spoke to me in one simple sentence - "Virtually all college students have had experience with games. Games represent active, immersive learning environments where users integrate information to solve a problem."  This is such a great thing to say - and a brilliant analogy. I've said it on many discussion boards - learning CAN and SHOULD be fun! SecondLife certainly crosses this bridge. Plus, putting a classroom behind a locked door in a building can make it great for an uninterrupted lesson - and even more "lifelike" if the participants have microphones.

SecondLife could (and I use that word cautiously) be the wave of the future in education - but they really need to work out all the connectivity issues and slowness to ensure that happens.

Classroom 2.0 - You Live Where?

"Geography is irrelevant, learning is not." 

Clarence Fisher, presented "Classroom 2.0 or You Live Where?" made this remark during the 2008 K12 online conference, and truer words in relation to the web and it's impact upon education could not be spoken!

While education (and even the classroom itself!) used to be about preparing kids to work where they live, things changed dramatically when the classroom shook hands with the Internet and the world wide web.

Recently, I was discussing the impact that Web 2.0 has had on education - and how many teachers, while recognizing it's "cool factor," can rarely successfully integrate that factor into their classrooms. Fisher presents not only how to do this, but why it is truly relevant to today's world. (And, being a man of his word, the entire presentation is available online - in a handy dandy iPod format! )

To me, the most relevant thing Fisher said during this lecture - and the most simple, really - was that we, as educators,  have to stop telling students to regurgitate information, and instead encourage them to be creative and think. We need to examine our pedagogy.

He's not saying to not teach the curriculum, but our relationship to that curriculum needs to be constantly examined and it's true value determined. And moreso, understand that our world went from being just what we can see in the classroom to being world-wide. Our students have many open doors - using Classroom 2.0 to help show them those doors is the educator's newest challenge.

Twitter - It Can Actually Be Useful!

So I'll admit, I got on the Twitter bandwagon quite awhile ago, and got pretty tired of the constant updates (and updating!) so I just kind of let my account go to the wayside. In short - I found it interesting, but not interesting enough to keep up with on a regular basis.

First, I suppose I should explain exactly what Twitter is. Basically, Twitter is kind of like MySpace, kind of like Blogger, and kind of like del.icio.us. Confused? Think of it as a social networking site where you can keep up with your friends or professional contacts and a short information blip that they can post as often as they'd like. A sentence here, a new sentence five minutes later ... you get the picture.

So, with all that in mind, I will admit that I was wrong about Twitter. I don't hate it. I actually see it's positive uses - at least in a classroom setting. Socially, I still think it's kind of like the annoying child tugging on his mother's dress when she's on an especially long phone call - annoying, but not punish-worthy.

In particular, I found two Twitterers that had websites that I find valuable - and I'll keep checking their Twitters to see when these sites are updated. The first Twitterer - TechJulia - writes the TechJulia Blog. It's newish, fresh, and something that I can see myself professionally emulating in my current position at my job.

Secondly, Education is another Twitterer that I will definitely follow! This person's blog - The Internet Writing Journal - will certainly be one that I check back on as often as possible.

So, Twitter ... you've won this round. You've got my attention ... at least for a bit longer. ;-)