Tagging breakdown

I find it telling that of the 40 posts on this bog, we only bothered to tag (or"label" as Blogger calls it) the first two.

Second Life Interview

When I read this week's lesson on Second Life, I sent off 5 questions to a co-worker who does a job similar to mine. We both support academic technology faculty at a university, but he works with artists, musicians, actors, and dancers, and I work with scientists, psychologists, philosophers and writers. In addition to being a stand up guy, he is or at least was a Second Life nut going on 2 years.

Erik: What is your history with SL? When did you start using it, what were your habits, etc.?

Ryan: I created a Second Life account in February of 2005 to evaluate the software. Initially my interests were in building structures and owning land, but soon found that the social interactivity was an attractive arena for creative expression. I spend a lot of time creating scripted dialogue that pokes fun at the environment and the way people behave (social commentary).


Erik: What do you like most about SL?

Ryan: Expressing individuality - in what ever form I choose to take.


Erik: Do you think SL or something like it will play a bigger role in the future? Will most people have a second life?

Ryan: I would imagine that the VR environment will become more prevalent as the interface becomes more immersive. As a professional tool, as an educational environment, as a recreational destination. Where Second Life is currently lacking is interoperability with the internet. At some point when these two environments merge and you're able to interact with your other web services (email/myspace/facebook/browsers/ftp space) it will have a broader appeal.

Erik: Have you ever helped anyone use SL in teaching, seen someone else do so, or observe things that you thought would be good for some of the teachers you work with?

Ryan: I haven't convinced any faculty that it's more than just a social environment. But I see many possibilities for Second Life as an instructional as well as a design tool. Virtual art galleries, theatrical set design, costume design, conference calling. I've even witnessed live music performances in-world.


Erik: What is the craziest thing you have ever seen or done in SL that would be rated PG-13 or lower?

Ryan: I've been 4 "people" at once and swayed conversation by speaking from multiple perspectives. And also I've been in 4 separate locations having conversations and experiences at the same time.

Project Management Lessons

I’ve learned some valuable lessons this semester while working on my IMU. One that stands out is the concept of project management. Erik touched on this in an earlier post. I found myself at the mercy of several issues beyond my control. A particularly unexpected one was when the two instructors that were in charge of supplying the IMU’s content informed me, weeks after I had given them the projected timeline and schedule, “Oh by the way, we’re both going to be gone next week for the such and such conference. I guess we should have mentioned that earlier?” I’m rarely at a loss for words, so I’m pretty sure my full minute of silence confused them. LOL! It all managed to work out, but I’m pretty sure they found themselves hustling a little more during the last 3 weeks to get the remaining content to me. Their absence during that week was also a factor in the video scheduling issues, and they really did go out of their way to “make it right.” Although I did build some wiggle-room into the project’s schedule, I realize now that it wasn’t enough for the scope of this particular project. So, lessons learned include:

• Create timeline with major input from team members (insist that they consult their calendars! Full disclosure!)
• Secure professional videographer if at all possible (this was major content and the end result just wasn’t what I had hoped for)
• Realize that “stuff” happens. It did with my personal life – husband’s surgery this semester - so just roll with it and do the best you can with what you’ve got. And it’s okay to ask for help!
  
• Beware when someone starts a sentence with “Oh, by the way” or my most un-favorite of all time “Just so you know…” I think "Brace yourself" would work equally well in these instances. ;)
  

All things considered, I’m pleased with the end result of the IMU and so are the instructors. We all have ideas on some things we can improve, so we’ll be working on that during the summer.

On a personal note:
As the semester ends, I find myself in a semi-confused and slightly sad state wondering what in the world I’m going to do with myself next week when I have no lectures to read, assignments due, papers to write, APA styling to check or blog entries to post. Oh, right, there’s my day job, but hey, I’ve been doing that all along anyway, so that’s nothing new. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’ll miss you all. I’ve enjoyed reading everyone’s blog entries and learning about your specialty areas in instruction and technology. Congrats to all the soon-to-be graduates and I hope to see the rest of you in some other ETL courses! Have a great summer, everyone. –Joy

Review and Evaluation

I just finished my peer review and was thinking that this process was worthy of a blog post itself. We are winding down the semester and everyone is feeling busy and there is pressure to get thing done. These factors would, I admit prevent me from getting feedback about materials if it weren't a requirement for the course. Evaluation is something that I firmly believe is important to the process. It is something I've learned through experience and education.

But admittedly, it is the first thing to go as far as time lines are concerned.

I guess what I'd like to learn more about is not why evaluation is important or even how to conduct them. I would like to learn strategies for making them an inherent part of the process rather then something that is perceived as a detachment in some way, particularly in projects such as something like this. In this class we are lucky to get feedback form an instructor and a peer, but in real life it doesn't seem so easy. Does anyone have a good system, such those pages that asked to be ranked or whether or not they were helpful. Do these types of strategies make things easier, or do deadlines do a number on these efforts as well?

Edgar's IMU

Edgar's Instructional Module Unit
http://elearning.exelglobaltech.com/etl/educ266/IMU/index.htm

Fun with Camtasia’s Quiz Maker

I’ve used Camtasia over the years, but I’ve never had a chance or occasion to play with its quiz and survey feature. Well, thanks to Don (of the DJV blog) for introducing me to this feature. Don posted a Camtasia Quiz for his “other” competency a month or so ago and when I saw it I was impressed and inspired. Naturally, I had to try this out for myself. ☺ It turned out to be much easier than I expected. I’m not even sure if there was a learning curve – everything was right there and all I had to do was enter the quiz content, make some rendering choices, and there it was!

Initially, I was unsure how I was going to create the quizzes for the IMU. My client was leaning toward using our learning management system since it has built-in assessment tools. This would have been fine, but I needed to be able to link to it and have it accessible to be viewed for grading purposes. So when I saw the Camtasia example, I was thrilled that it seemed so do-able. Even if I end up using our LMS once the IMU is actually implemented, I’ve learned a new Camtasia skill.

My efforts with these quizzes were very simple, so I plan to play around with the features to learn what else it can do. One thing I really like is the flash output of the end product. It looks very slick, plus it actually works the way it’s supposed to. It looks like it took some programming know-how to make it happen, but I know differently. Therefore, I give it 2 thumbs up for ease of use and rapid creation of online quizzes.

Graciela's Beta IMU

Hello All,

This is the link to my IMU:

http://www.kundalini-yoga.us/beta/website

It is very basic but complete. Comments are welcome.