Kekahimea in Second Life

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Final Blog - LTEC 647E

“Learning with Emerging Technologies - Critical Trends”  That is the UH Manoa Course Catalog title for 647e.  The brief description does not begin to explain what Dr. Bert has ready to unleash upon his students.  The semester was a surprise from beginning to end.  The expanse of course material, the resulting inter-connectedness of it all and the amount of work required - all a surprise.  And although my personal performance in the class was markedly below my usual ability to complete requirements, I still learned about many new ideas and technologies.  The class was a valuable addition to my CV in these studies.

The first real surprise was the tasks we students were given in selecting the case study material we would collectively pursue during the course.  My initial reaction was that we were taking the class to learn about about emerging technologies that we know little or nothing about.  Are we really the best decision makers for the class curricula?  (As an example, at the time, my imagination could not see the nexus between learning technologies and machine learning - why was it even on the list?  (Now, I think I am beginning to see.  Let’s combine big data with computer driven course curricula adaptation to modify subject matter delivery in a student customized manner.) 

The next BIG surprise was the amount of classwork due each week.  Knowing that the semester was my busy time at work - I mean, my REALLY busy time at work, I cut back to just this one class.  I still couldn’t manage to keep up with the blog postings, reviews, readings, etc.  I focused on the group work and then the individual work.  I admire my fellow students who were able to keep current.  I honestly don’t know how you did it.  Kudos to you all!

There are two modifications to learning activities that I would make.  I would remove the requirement of the video introduction.  I did not fulfill this requirement, initially because of time.  But ultimately because of my personal aversion to making these type of bios/intros.  Anyone who looks at my profiles on FB or Twitter will see that I submit very little personal information. [I was appalled to see that my Resume, a part of my digital portfolio from an earlier class, is now a permanent part of the internet which I can not remove]   I don’t mind a conversational introduction, but I really don’t like the written ones.  I only write resumes because I need to work and don’t have a choice!

The other change I would suggest is that we present our artifacts in class.  I think it would be worth the time and the effort to allow the groups to explain a little more in-depth what their findings and conclusions were.  Many groups put on 2-3 minute limits for the artifacts.  That constraint was counterproductive often times.  The artifact requests from the teams were inventive and imaginative and I wish that we could have shown them a live demonstration also.

I would recommend this class to my colleagues.  In fact I have done so already.  The recommendation comes with a warning regarding the amount of coursework involved.  But the class is well worth the effort and in the end I look back at what I learned with a great deal of satisfaction.    

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Week 14 - TCC 2016

Expectations were high - Expectations were surpassed!

Although I started with high expectations for TCC 2016 given my past experience, I didn’t anticipate that those expectations would be surpassed.

I was surprised with the difference that the use of Social Media - Twitter in this event - would make in conference participation.  I did not imagine the impact this would have when Dr. Bert introduced the concept in class.  To me, one of the greater weaknesses of e-conferences is the lack of community that F2F events engender.  At a F2F event you meet fellow students/professionals interested in the same material.  You get to know the people seated next to you or have conversations with participants during lunch breaks. Often times, there are receptions each day after the conference.  And presenters get to see the attentive (or sometimes not so attentive) faces in their audience.  But at an e-conference, participant interaction is limited mostly to viewing a list of people who have “entered” the e-room to listen or to hearing cohorts ask questions or chat.

However, with Social Media the building of a community significantly increases.  I used Twitter and in doing so was kept informed, on a real time basis, of other’s expectations and reactions to ongoing presentations.  Soon I began to follow the comments of participants and found their mini-reviews to be very helpful.  I am sure that presenters appreciated the comments and words of encouragement from the many tweets.  And the Conference use of Twitter kept us all currently informed.  Still not the full F2F experience, but much more valuable than I ever would have guessed.  Twitter wasn’t a distraction at all!  I’m sold!  Next year, I will need to try out the “Cafe” experience and see how this impacts that community feeling.

A clear advantage of an e-conference setting over a F2F event is the cost savings and the resulting increase in participation.  Personally, I could not afford an annual journey to Hawai’i to attend an F2F conference.  I’m sure that participation levels would plummet if the conference was a “real world” event.  In a real sense, the e-format democratizes this learning event.  People from all different socio-economic levels can participate and “gather” from all around the world.  And, this year I experienced almost no technical difficulties in participating - no dropped connections - no chipmunk presentations.  So we can all participate and sound as if we are in the same room!  Very nice!  

I didn’t think that TCC could exceed earlier experiences, but I was definitely wrong.  Using Twitter during the conference took it to a whole new level.  Looking forward to TCC 2017 

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Week 13 - The Pre-TCC Blog

Being a “veteran” participant of TCC I have my expectations of TCC 2016 set and they are pretty high!

Admittedly, I’m writing this blog well after the fact.  The Conference has come and gone.  But this is not my first TCC, and assuredly not my last.  I remember well what I was anticipating when I saw the TCC listing on the class schedule/syllabus.

TCC offers a wide variety of presentations within the three day schedule - more than can possibly be viewed “live”.  And because I don’t live in the Hawaii time zone, some of the offerings will be quite late in the night for me.  But, TCC offers all presentations in a recorded format. This is a welcome opportunity to be sure to catch presentations of interest at a later time.

This year we are asked to participate in the social media aspect of TCC.  Not having done this in the past (especially with Twitter - which quite frankly I just don’t “get”) I don’t recall the usage of Social Media at TCC before.  My expectations for this facet of TCC are quite low.  It seems that FB-ing or tweeting during the conference will be almost distracting and I am not sure the point.  Open mind Kimo - open mind! 

I anticipate the usual long-distance online technical difficulties with broadcasting so many presentations from such diverse locales.  The chipmunk voices and dropped transmissions that plague these type of e-gatherings are to be expected, but can still be a little off-putting.

E-conferences don’t have the feeling of community, albeit short-lived, that real world conferences do.  There is something about smiley faces and applaud icons that just doesn’t muster the same effect as being in a room full of attentive (or not so attentive) participants lending support to their cohorts through raucous rounds of applause.  But, this is not isolated to TCC, it is present throughout this e-format.

But, my overall expectations remain high.  I have learned much in the past and expect that I will also this year by participating in TCC 2016.  

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Week 11 - Wearables

Imagine a wrist wearable that indicates correct intonation and pronunciation when speaking a second language.

Today it is possible to purchase small pitch monitors that allow you to tune a musical instrument with pitch perfect accuracy.  These guages have displays similar to the photo above.  But what if the technology could be taken even further - a monitor of language pronunciation and intonation.

My wearable would be for use in teaching second languages - in this instance ʻOlelo Hawaiʻi.  As one speaks, there would be a color coded dial - red, yellow and green.  Green indicates proper pronunciation and yellow and red indicate variance from proper pronunciation.  Additionally, there scrolls across the bottom of the display a written rendition of what the wearable “thinks” you are saying.  This helps the speaker to know that he/she is not speaking a similar sounding word, but the one intended.

The device could also vibrate at varying strengths to indicate variance from proper enunciation, so that the wearer could read passages from instructional materials without have to also watch the monitor.

A device like this would be very good for practicing second language speaking when an instructor is not present to correct. 

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Week 10 - Bring Order to Chaos - Streamlining Twitter

The goal of this effort was to streamline my Twitter account - itʻs hard to tell if I succeeded - at first glance!

So when looking at a Twitter account, there appears a list of tweets that your account has received with the only apparent ordering being a chronological sort.  You could easily start to lose important tweets or overwhelm your resources if you donʻt introduce some type of organization.  For me the first step in organizing/streamlining was a premeditated decision to be selective in choosing who to follow.  Before choosing to follow someone, I looked at their profile and some of their previous tweets.  Sometimes this meant Googling the organization as part of the vetting process.  Sometimes, I found dissappointing results for a subject search - no potential feeds.  Or sometimes perfect groups to follow except they had issued a tweet in several months or years!

I followed the parameters of the streamlining exercise and found overnight that I had more informative tweets than I could possibly read in a day, unless I was to become obsessed with Twitter (as some of my relatives seem to be!) but my list of tweets is related almost exclusively to my areas of interest and I cn return to them later for the links they provide to useful readings or other information.

With the addition of my interest and by folowing certain feeds, useful ads now appear for other feeds - a few of which I have selected.  I continue to be wary of selecting too many feeds and becoming overwhelm with information.  The most important lesson learned continues to not behave like the proverbial kid in a candy store and to be thouoghtful in selection.

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Week 9 - The OER Experience

The power of infographics is in distilling large amounts of information into concise, eye-catching poster-style presentations.  The challenge with infographics is creatively and accurately summarizing that information while maintaining valuable instruction and without losing important detail.  The subject matter I chose dealt with a well developed language learning resource, the Center for Open Educational Resources in Language Learning (COERLL).  I found it very difficult to bullet point this resource given the variety of approaches and material they employ.  And then, after summarizing the resources, I found it equally as difficult to present the material in a creative and engaging manner.  This was true even given that I was using the infographics app called “easel.ly.”  

Easel.ly provides, without costs, a myriad of templates to help the novice designer.  Most are developed to compare or present numerical statistics for the presenter’s subject material.  But, this was not the nature of my subject matter.  I wanted only to present a synopsis of the Center’s resources and approach to language learning.  After reviewing all of the free templates, I was able to find one that could be modified to present a decent poster.  I had to remind myself that I was creating a poster and not a blog page.  It is hard to read my infographics at a webpage size – but that is not the intended size.  As a poster, I think it would be quite readable.

One of the dilemmas with an infographics poster is to what degree should they “speak for themselves.” I have presented at one symposium where each participant had a poster.  The posters were open to the public for the entire day, although the presenters were allowed to stand with their poster during a one hour period only. Several evaluators judged the posters – some while the presenter was absent and some while the presenter could explain in more detail what the infographics displayed.  All of the winners had posters which stood well on their own, but also served as tools to guide a quick verbal synopsis by the presenter.

It was interesting to use this Open Educational Resource to discuss an Open Educational Resource.  As with many OER, there is the free limited version and the deluxe fee-based version.  The dilemma with OER can often be how is quality maintained without some type of sustaining funding being obtained.  How long will organizations without benefactors be able to provide resources cost-free.  I found a number of OER that were downsizing the free offerings or transitioning to fee-based services entirely.

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Blog Week # 8  Privacy and Emerging Technology 

Issues of Big Brother listening in aren’t new - the relationship between government and the right to privacy of it citizenry is a basic theme of our revered Constitution.  At the same time that the FBI/Apple controversy rose to the status of national headline news, an equally disturbing government interference in its citizen private lives was taking place in California.  And although that government-ordered invasion of privacy did not involve new technology, it clearly illustrated the threat that Big Brother can pose to our daily lives.

A California state judge ordered the State Board of Education to release the personal information of over 10 million students - their names, social security numbers, addresses, school performance and health records to private groups. This information was gathered under color of law - a law that ensured it would be kept secure.  But, it was a law written at a different time, by a different administration.  And it was a law approved by the public because they trusted their government - they trusted that government - to keep its word.

But there’s the “rub”.  The government you support today, the government you believe in today, may well not be the same in a decade or even an election cycle.  Witness our presidential candidates this year.  Honestly, could you have imagined a decade ago that this would be the potential pool from which we would be choosing the chief enforcer of our federal laws next year?

And so in the case of the FBI and Apple, the government - more specifically one agency of our government which is not directly answerable to the public - demands that the “key to the kingdom” be first forged and then handed over to it to use at their will.  But “only in this one case - or similar cases - or any case it deems similar” in its sole discretion.  And that agency invokes a law - the All Writs Act - that was intended as a gap-filler when our legislative branch was silent.  The FBI doesn’t do so because there are exigent circumstances, or because this is a minor issue unlikely to merit the resources of our Congress.  The FBI does so in order that the legislative process can be circumvented - so that the People, through their representatives, can not let their voice be heard.

The FBI is a federal agency of the Executive branch.  Their job - under the direction of the President - is to execute and enforce the laws.  It is not to make the laws.  That role in government is possessed solely by our Congress - a government body made up representatives elected for varying  and overlapping terms by smaller groups of people than any other office.  It was designed in this manner so that it would remain directly responsive to the People.  We see this attempt at circumvention occurring with increasing and alarming frequency.  The collection of mega data from our phone conversations, the creation of the secretive FISA Court and the Patriot Act, and the expanding use of Executive Orders (and no, not just by the current administration).  And we particularly see it happen whenever a new technology is introduced that requires new perspectives and should be given an open forum of public debate.

Is there a middle ground?  There are, after all, legitimate safety concerns which the government is also charged with protecting.  I believe there is a middle ground.  Debate the new technologies and their correlative need,  if any, for regulation in the public arena and specifically in the full light of legislative debate.  No unilateral actions by judges or agency heads, no executive actions.  And consider leaving public entities in charge of storing the data or retrieving the data, and only under court subpoena written under our Fourth Amendment Constitutional requirements.  The government is currently holding massive amounts of cell phone data which they promise to only access if there is legitimate cause.  Wouldn’t it be better for the cell phone companies to hold that information and be in an adversarial position when called upon to release the information?  Wouldn’t it be better for Apple to hold the key to its encryption and only release a cell phones content when it is presented with a subpoena. 

It is the right of a democratic citizenry to hold its government to account.  It is healthy for that citizenry to have a small amount of distrust for its government.  Any honest reading of our Constitution will find this healthy distrust as a legitimate and natural aspect of the relationship between the citizenry and the government in a Democracy. 

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Week 7 - The Quantified Self and the Non-Digital Native

Do non-Digital Natives, those of born before the widespread availability and use of the Internet, PCs and mobile devices, have a place in the world of the Quantified Self?  Your immediate answer may be, “Well, of course!  This is a territory without borders, open to all who want to participate.”  But read carefully the study, “Long-term health outcomes and cost-effectiveness of a computer-tailored physical activity intervention among people over fifty:modelling the results of a randomized controlled trial.” (Peels, Hoogenveen, et. al.)

This study held in The Netherlands measured the effectiveness of computer-tailored physical activity (PA) intervention in order to prevent chronic illness and reduce medical care costs in people over fifty. The interventions were presented to the participants in one of two forms of delivery - by paper and on the web.  Both means of delivery resulted in medical care cost reduction and in a cost effective manner.  However, it was determined that the paper mode of delivery was more effective, retained a higher percentage of participants and was less expensive in the short term.

It was interesting to find almost no discussion of the correlation between the study’s age group (over 50 and solidly non-Digital Native) and the significant increased effectiveness of a paper delivery system.  I would hypothesize that paper delivery is not more effective for people over 50 as it is more effective for this particular generation of 50+ participants.  Within 10 years, the number of digital natives within the 50+ group will be much larger and the effectiveness of web-delivery will increase significantly.  I think that non-Digital Natives are not as comfortable navigating the mobile, computer driven Quantified Self Apps. This discomfort begins at the inception - where downloading apps can be intimidating.  Will I corrupt my computer files, perhaps opening the door to virus, Trojan horses, etc.?   How do I make notes in an electronic world?  As an example, after reading the article, “Changing Face of Healthcare: The Role Mobile Apps Will Play in Medicine” (Cooper, F.) I was most interested in the app that can produce an EKG.  Mostly because it had a sensor plate built into the phone case and a physicality I could relate to.  

There is a place for all of us Digital Immigrants in the Self Quantified world, but for the less adventurous and less digital self assured it may mean that providers need to “coddle” part of the participant pool.  Maybe special menu selections for us Digital Immigrants! 

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LTEC 647e - Week 6 - Bring Your Own Device - but please - Leave the Distractions at Home

I’m sitting in the back of the amphitheater style lecture hall in a class of a hundred plus undergraduate students learning Hawaiian genealogies.  At 55 years of age, I am considered a “non-traditional” student – and perhaps one my non-traditional perspectives is that I have made a mental note that this session of class is personally costing me nearly $80.00 to participate in.  At the same time, I observe that the majority of my classmates sitting in front of me have tablets, laptops or smart phones on their desks as the instructor details Hawaiian lineages that can be traced back a millennium and are complex and convoluted beyond imagination.  Half the students are taking copious notes – and the other half are multi-tasking.  I can see Facebook postings, YouTube viewing, and even one student is streaming a new TV episode.

Much of the activity I observed included streaming videos, wireless activities that use considerable bandwidth and place a large burden on the genuine needs of students using the University’s wireless network.  Undoubtedly, many of the students may have been creating their own Access Points (AP) in order to get online.  Were they compromising the University’s security system or disrupting its delicately balanced engineering as suggested in Nicci Fagan’s blog in EdTech, “Welcome to Bring-Your-Own-Access”?  Quite possibly!  How much of my tuition goes to maintaining that network, I wonder?

Most of the time, I thought if those students want to spend their money on a class they’re not going to fully focus on, what concern is it of mine (we will forego the whole issue of taxpayer funding of higher education for now.)?  They can watch non-related videos to their heart’s content and post Facebook for a full 80 minutes if they choose.  It doesn’t impact my learning.  But, I found it did.  It was a distraction – analogous to “Second-Hand Smoke” as Clay Shirky writes in “Why Clay Shirky Banned Laptops, Tablets and Phones from His Classroom.”  Seeing all of that visual stimulus in front of me, over-hearing students whispering about what they were posting, etc. made it very difficult to focus on the instructor’s lecture.  (Not to mention that I have Auditory Processing Disorder which means that it is very difficult to filter out background noises, such as whispering. ADP affects between 2 to 7% of the population).  A study cited by Shirky discusses research that clearly indicates that neighbors of multitasking students scored lower on tests than those that did not have multitasking neighbors.

But, it may not be possible to stop the inevitable.  So, maybe we should try to make lemonade out of this lemon.  One means, in which the potential ill effects of BYOD can be ameliorated, is to include their use effectively in class (see page 37 of Johnson, Becker, et.al. article in the NMC Horizon Report).  Although requiring considerable effort, an app could be developed for the aforementioned class in Hawaiian genealogies that would aid the student in keeping notes on the voluminous lists that the instructor was displaying on her PowerPoint material.  Additionally, the midterms and finals were all handwritten and ran about 10 pages. Developing an app for that would have reduced the workload for the instructor considerably.    

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LTEC 647e - Week 5 - Collaboration - Let’s Work Together While We Are Thousands of Miles Apart

One member lives Mainland, the others scattered throughout Oahu and the group has one week to create a Virtual Reality artifact.  No time to meet F2F and no established Workspace on the internet.  So, how did we collaborate in such short order to produce a product that we were all satisfied conveyed our knowledge of VR and would fulfill the Case Study rubric?  We assigned a team leader – on this occasion, me – and a protocol for getting the project done.    We met via Skype – no visuals, just audio – and discussed the project.  We determined the aspects of VR which needed to be covered in the short film.  We decided that the short time available could best be utilized building on material previously designed by another cohort in Dr. Pete’s Virtual Reality class and gained the permission of those students to use their virtual world as the setting.  I made a quick screenshot film and distributed it to our group for comment and scripted the dialog in the same manner.  Each group member chose the section they wished to explain and each made a recording using their smart phones.  The sound was incorporated, some title and credit pages added – and then the film was sent back to each member for comment and approval.    This form of collaboration worked well with the short time we had available to produce the artifact.    Had more time been available, the project could have been less leader-driven and more group-driven.  I think as we learn how to interact more via remote access tools, we can have more group member participation and the need for a central leader will diminish.

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LTEC 647e - Week 4 - Reflections on Augmented Reality

I have been intrigued with the possibilities of Virtual Reality in the long distance learning of second languages – specifically ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi - the Hawaiian language.  I used the popular M.U.V.E. platform Second Life to design an interactive Hawaiian language learning environment for my UH Mānoa Honors project. However, one of the highest hurdles in using Second Life is the need for the participants to learn the complicated means of navigating and interacting “in world.”  Often, the promise of a truly unique learning experience is not sufficient to entice the learner to expend the time and effort required orientation.

 So, when I began researching Augmented Reality and found that many of the effects I have been developing in Second Life might be easily duplicated using a smart phone and an AR app, I became equally intrigued. One of the Second Life tools I have been working with is the audible pronunciation of the Hawaiian word for an object when that object is touched.  Another action was the visualization of an Hawaiian proverb that included that new Hawaiian word.  These same two effects could be accomplished using an AR app and a book of “triggers” such as new vocabulary words or images.  

 The resource requirements for AR – a smart phone or tablet and a text serving as a trigger – are considerably less than those of VR – a computer with fast video processing and time.  This broadens the potential audience by requiring fewer resources.  I am rethinking the direction of my Hawaiian language long distance learning environment.

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LTEC 647e - Week 3 - Case Study Topics

The subjects chosen were from the top of my list, with the exception of the Machine Learning.  My interests are mostly in their area of long-distance learning of second languages.  Environments that illustrate the meaning of newly learned words and their use through interaction and appropriate social settings are particularly effective in teaching new language.  The use of Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality in long distance learning is promising.  Also, the skills and techniques of defining Makerspaces as they relate to the internet will be useful to long distance learners.  I am a little less sure how Wearable Technology and Machine Learning relate to my area of interest.  However exploring these topics may “expand” my perspective and allow for increased creativity.

Augmented Reality has really caught the imagination of one of my fellow students who will likely collaborate with me on a project centered on the Hawaiian language and local lore. Even though she has a busy schedule, she is diving into researching its applicability.  

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"Mature" content in SL

A few weeks ago, I came across a disturbing "ad" in Second Life. We all know that the SL environment has become increasingly filled with "mature" content over the years. Avatars available in the marketplace are often physically built to resemble Playboy and Playgirl type body morphs. One can purchase erotic outfits, including such items as black leather dominatrix clothing and whips. In the furniture offerings, one can find beds that have built in scripts that place the avatars in sexual positions and the sexually sugestive ads abound. I gather there are a plethora of erotic sims. Perhaps I wouldnʻt see these things if I werenʻt registered in SL to see "mature" content, but then to limit my in world experience to just "general" material would censor material of an unknown nature. But this myriad of sexually suggestive material is not what I encountered and found troubling. What I came across was a banner advertisement upon entering Second Life for a sim called "Sweet Pu@@y" and which showed what I believe to be an anime' style cartoon of a infant child fondling her genitalia. The depiction was graphic - the subject matter offensive and I believe also illegal as it qualified as a depiction of child pornography. The ad quickly was taken down - I assume by Second Life administration. I looked at the age requirements for Second Life and according to the SL wiki it is a minimum of 16 years (18 for "mature" content). Participants from age 13 to 15 can enter estates, but only by invitation and the estate must sponsor the participant. These age limits are difficult when one wants to design a language learning sim. Like music, the earlier a student begins the study of language, the greater the ease of learning and the more fluent the speaker is apt to be. Additionally the learning of Hawaiian in particular can be a multi-generational effort as the parent generation of today also is not proficient in Hawaiian. Perhaps we would see larger participation in Minecraft in elementary and middle schools than in Second Life, not primarily because of the learning curve for participation, but because of the age restriction and the reputation of Second Life that is filling with people who are pursuing more purient interests. I think Second Life could greatly improve its educational value if it built an higher level realm specifically relagated to education and which restricted all "mature" content in the primary and secondary levels. Young participants could be credentialed and granted passports that allow access to all of these educational estates and the minimum age could be lowered.

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Science and Math in Minecraft

Minecraft is being used in the classroom worldwide, with an estimated 20,000 students in the U.S. utilizing the gaming program to learn their Common Core Curricula.  Minecraft is being used to teach Social Studies, Foreign Language, Art, Reading, and Writing, as well as, the complex course studies of Math and Science.  

According to Jim Pike, a third grade teacher in Los Angeles, the primary challenge of using Minecraft in teaching is to “find a way to organize, implement, manage, assess, guide and provide ample learning opportunities and still keep games fun.”  Considerable effort is required beyond just letting the students jump in and start playing.  But, the success that Pikeʻs student showed in their benchmark tests after six months of Minecraft play was astounding and indicates that the results were well worth the effort.  In math his students went from an 18 percentile to 84!

In two articles written by Pike about Minecraft and Math, he emphasized strongly that the power of Minecraft lies in its freedom of creativity - its lack of structure and rules - its blank canvas.  He wrote in both articles that this creativity and freedom leads to a “cultural shift” in the classroom learning.  The childrenʻs learning becomes interest-driven.  They want to learn more, so that they can do more within the game.

In teaching Math, the building elements of Minecraft - the cubes - naturally lend themselves to instruction in area and volume.  Exercises in assembling the blocks can focus on the concepts of graphs and slopes.  One instructor used the building of varying slopes to segue into the teaching of physics (speed, gravity, momentum.)  The application of Minecraft in teaching algebra and solving real world word problems is very effective (You have 60 cubes of sandstone.  A column requires 6 cubes.  How many columns can you make?)

Teachers are using Minecraft to teach physics and engineering.  They especially include the use of redstone cubes in their lessons.  Apparently redstone conducts electricity and can be used to teach digital circuitry and build calculators, clocks, etc.  Redstone is “based on real-life Boolean algebra (whatever the heck that is - OK, I am not smarter than a fifth grader!).  The different blocks are even used to teach the concept of the periodic table - albeit based on Minecraft elements.

Ashely MacQuarrie writes in her article, Transforming the Way We Learn:  Why Minecraft is an Amazing Learning Tool, that “kids respond to this kind of learning because itʻs a creative, collaborative, entertaining environment where they are in control of their own challenges.”

The potential of Minecraft seems to be almost unlimited in the teaching of young children.  I am interest in whether there has been much in the way of studies that examine how the interplay of the game impacts student socialization and behavior.  Evidently, Minecraft is valuable tool in learning subject matter, but are there unintended consequences in the studentsʻ behavioral development?

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Minecraft in K-12

An article I read in TeachHUB.com supplied a very insightful statistic useful for gauging the potential utility of the game Minecraft in K-12 classrooms - “Something like 80 percent of 5 to 8-year-olds play games and 97 percent of teens.” (This might be more than brush their teeth in the morning!).  Harnessing that level of interest for the purpose of teaching in the classroom would be an incredible accomplishment.

Other articles that I read show how instructors are attempting just that.  Most of the learning goals that were in these readings involved teaching the traditional subjects of reading, writing and arithmetic using this non-traditional teaching tool - Minecraft.  One author, Jacqui Murray, listed the Common Core Reading and Math Standards and then correlated the Minecraft skills and goals directly to these standards. This was an effective demonstration of the appropriateness of using Minecraft in the classroom.

Common to a number of the readings (Ideas for Using Minecraft in the Classroom and Three ways to use Minecraft imaginatively in the classroom) was the use of Minecraft in teaching ratios and proportions through using Minecraft in constructing buildings. In one instance, students broke into small groups of two or three and had to measure the real life buildings of their school and scale them to a Minecraft project.

Reading skills were taught by engaging students in reading about certain locales and then recreating them in Minecraft or by reading a passage from a book and then recreating the environment as they visualized it.

Important to one instructor was the requirement that students answer a series of questions when the session was completed which discussed such things as the story behind the students building or what new approach the student used in solving a problem.  The instructor explained that this exercise was an instructional aid in building writing skills [although she added that the responses could be given verbally!] 

That instructor (once again, Jacqui Murray) provided a list of best practices which I will be saving as a checklist in my Mini-lesson.  They are:

Expect a learning curve and plan time for one.

Have students work in groups - this helps non-gamers (like me - see last blog) 

Be involved.

Set behavioral expectations.

Align goals with learning.

Scaffold non-gamers with groups (again, like me)

Update parents consistently.

Make failure fun.

Expect students to play in many locations.

After these readings, I think I know what my Mini-lesson will consist of and I am enthusiastic!

[kekahimea-blog]

CrystalGadgets

Early in our classes, we visited the glass pavilion for a vendor named Crystal Gadgets.  The pavilion is part of a larger shopping mall sim.  The sim is a very pleasant place to visit.  It includes nicely constructed buildings, teleports, walkways and even a trolley.  Music is piped in throughout the mall, except the Crystal Gadget glass dome.  And in a very realistic way, the mall contains empty shops that the lessor must not have been able to “lease” at this time.  There is an absence of foot traffic in the mall!

The glass pavilion includes both gadgets for sale and free items.  These include such items as survey taker, avatar radars, and an extensive library of prims.  There are tools to help advanced builders with multiple item movement and texture use.  One can also purchase a builders sky sandbox.  That would be a nice item if we didn’t already have our project sky box supplied.

I remember that my initial reaction to this sales show room was much more enthusiastic than it is now.  We have learned how to make a number of the items offered and now Crystal Gadgets doesn’t seem to be quite the builder’s emporium that it first struck me as.  I probably will return and purchase the prim library and the perhaps the builder’s sky box.  They are quite reasonably priced.

I went to the SL Marketplace and searched for additional Crystal Gadgets with no success.  But, I did find an inexpensive pose ball that allows for one to modify poses when avatars are seated, etc.  Probably will buy that too.

[kekahimea-blog]

Minecraft Survival Mode

Warning:  I just spent 20 minutes stuck in a stream of water in the game Minecraft and could not remove my player from the dead-end where the water flow from another stream joined in!  Whereas I will attempt to remain objective in this, my initial evaluation, it may be with  difficulty.

A little about who I am - I am not much of a “game player”.  At one time I was obsessed with SimCity and building infrastructure and municipal policies.  But I don’t play any computer games - especially those that can create anxiety - such as Halo.  As a kid, I didn’t care for Hide and Go Seek or Tag.  I preferred to build forts and go into the woods and explore - often on my own.

So, at this point I am having a little difficulty relating to Minecraft.

1.  It is game-based.  We have been participating in the Survival mode.  Creatures lurk in the woods and come out at night threatening to kill us.  I survived the first night, unlike most of my cohorts, by digging a hole and covering it over with dirt.  I waited for the all clear from other players who had lived a riskier existent outside shelter.  It would have been better perhaps to join with others and build shelter, but the communication format - typewritten chat - is inefficient and creates a huge amount of anxiety and stress.  Am I going to be eaten by monsters while I look down at my keyboard?  If Minecraft had voice communication, teamwork would be a viable option.

2.  Lack of orientation material.  It doesn’t appear that the game itself provides much in the way of tutorials. We were given some charts that indicated how to navigate.  But the navigation keys are not particularly intuitive.  Why the arrows are not used to determine travel direction baffles me (but perhaps with more play, it would become second nature).  One of our group’s players knew how to use the tools to create objects, but in survival mode, it's hard to take time to learn by trial and error.  I have read where the learning curve is not as steep as it is for Second Life.  This may be true for learning to build, but I don’t think that this holds true for navigation.

3.  The game makes no pretense at being realistic in its builds and the elements used to build.  The different elements depend on changes in mottling patterns and the worlds created are giant mosaics.  It is immediately evident the amount of work and thought that have been invested in the landscapes and buildings.  Doubtless, the creations give the players opportunity for learning many different skills, including planning, engineering, etc.  But, I may well have to take some “Dramamine” motion sickness medicine before the next Minecraft experience.  The mosaic presentation made me dizzy, verging on nauseous.

My evaluation, after only a brief exposure to the world of Minecraft, is that:

  a. It is more suitable for young learners than old.  The lessons that can be taught would seem to be simple in nature, because the worlds created seem limited by the simplicity of the elements  (I have the feeling that with more exposure to Minecraft, I will find I am wrong in this evaluation.)

  b.  This form of learning may not be appropriate for all young learners.  The competition, anxiety, stress, etc. may work well for gamers, but may shut out some children who do not enjoy such learning environments.  I think that if I had a class with Minecraft as a child, I might have dreaded it as much as I did the prospects of having to play Dodgeball in gym class.  I think this is an area requiring further study, especially as team learning is being so heavily stressed today.

  c.  I think Minecraft should include the ability to talk with players and also provide an orientation area.

Now, having written this critique, I look forward to being proven wrong on all counts after competing the next two lessons.  Shane has put much effort into his use of Minecraft and I trust it is warranted.