Week 7: online classroom and post on a virtual world
Some news:
- I read and I again learned quite a lot. Everyday I learn something new! Some sites I was aware of but not everything from Ko and Rossen, Chapter 6: Building an Online Classroom.
Try Twitter: I already have an account. I mainly use (and so far) it in reference to worldwide news and to post some “controversial” political events.
- I viewed Pilar Hernandez’ video on Building Community in Your Online Class . Pilar is such a good speaker: very informative video with plenty of good advice to improve. Always and always.
Post: ➸ Is Second Life truly useful for an online community? I took a workshop on this subject a few semesters ago. Lots of work to implement this online tool. I heard of an Italian teacher in the US who is doing all of her office hours via Second Life but teaches on site. Not teaching an online class yet, could this be an excellent or good or o.k. option for students as an interactive way to communicate with teachers? Second Life does require a good understanding of “technological / digital” work to be able to navigate easily. I tried it by creating an example of an online communication tool with my students but the problem for me was that there was a multitude of chats on my screen coming from Second Life members from literally all over the world. I could never delete these comments for more than 5 minutes at a time. There must be a trick to get rid of that.- Comments on other blog posts via Pedagogy First! All done this week of Oct. 22nd, 2012.
- Bonne chance / Good luck ! ➼ Teaching an online concept for my discipline level 102 to Anglophone students: dictation for an intermediate level (foreign language); not graded, just a test on grammar and vocabulary. *Note: I assume that the students already have some basic concepts on grammar + vocabulary. First, they listen to the dictation. Second, they write. Good concept to teach what a dictation is for students who never wrote any dictations in the past in their own language. Dictation for students in New York as a preliminary test:
- http://org-www.tv5.org/TV5Site/dictee/dictee.phpredirection=classement&id_dictee.
- Completely lost or just for checking answers, go to: http://org-www.tv5.org/TV5Site/dictee/dictee_3.pdf
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Hi, Daniele. I also went to the Second Life workshop not too long ago. You’re right, I totally forgot that other people who’s online in Second Life can communicate with anyone who’s online as well. That would create a disruptive environment, wouldn’t it? Hmm…maybe, there are other tools out there besides Second Life that would make it so that you can hold office hours but also have the stimulating visuals to go along with it where it does not necessarily involve video conferencing.
Yes, I sure hope so but I still think that it is a lot of work and according to the “Teaching online a practical guide book,” it does require about 20 hours (at least!) to know well what you are doing….But I have seen some very fancy examples of Second Life with some excellent audio background information with the teacher talking to the students. Pretty neat. A true colorful cartoon and very intricate too.
As a matter of fact, there was a TV program about Second Life a few weeks ago on KPBS. My next life, I will do that!
I think the idea is OK. I would say it was a great idea, but I would also figure that the Second Life environment would be a bit distracting. Kinda like the playstation home application for PS3 game systems. Other than that, I think it would also give a more “school like” feel. The illusion of being able to interact with your class mates up close makes online learning feel less cold.
Another thing. Wouldn’t communication in class be a bit of a challenge as well? How could you expel someone from the class if they are talking over people constantly?
Yes, I am not sure about that..: I guess I have to do some research and see how to delete these people, who are talking constantly. Frustrating and distractive. Another Second Life workshop on the way for me next semester!
Oui, it is an endless opportunity to interact in a “lively and picturesque” way with students. Up to now, I got a headache playing with it because I don’t know all the tricks yet. My school has downloaded that program in the language lab. I should give it a try again.