Testing for Podcasting

Testing 123

The Final Round

I have made it to the final project. This has been a very engaging journey. I do wish all of my courses were interactive.I am not much of a social media person or a gaming person, but Second Life allows me to be creative. I keep thinking it is too bad I cannot teach my grade level with this tool. Mostly I have been building personal type items, but I dream of building my custom made classroom. I think about how my collegues might enjoy professional development more in this setting.

I have had a lot of fun with the final project. My theme
is Van Gogh's paintings. i have tried to depict The Yellow House and The Bedroom in Arles in 3D. My intial work was building, but I wanted this space to be a lesson in analyzing art work. I am especially proud of the bedroom. My hope is that when you come into the setting, you feel as though your are in Arles and that you can walk into the "Bedroom" painting. I imagined what else would be in the Yellos House.I created a small area with a sink, stove,
table, and chairs. The furniture isn't the right period, but I like that I did it myself.


Besides the eat-in kitchen, I also created a secret hidden courtyard. It looks very green and has a beautiful fountain.

What I Learned From the Second Life Wiki

I am looking around the SL Wiki, searching for what interest me. I notice Sample Classroom Spaces. One of my dreams is to build my ideal classroom. So of course, I have to check it out.
Well I visited a few places and I liked some of what I saw.

One classroom looked very traditional.







Most of the other places resemble business meeting areas and not classrooms. The following area had features that we are familiar with in an online course.



The last site I visited was also more like visiting a business conference room, but of the three, I liked it the best.

The Fall Festival Booth

As always I enjoy creating in Second Life. This particular project touched me because i dedicated it to my Mama. She loved decorating for Halloween. I am not a Halloween fan so when she lived with me I gave her a hard time about decorating. She is gone and I miss her, but I remember how she loved Fall and Halloween.I tried to think a little differently. I still don't think I have grasped the "out of the box" concept just yet. I think as I learn more about the tools that are available to me, my mind will open up. Trying to make leaves on the tree was a challenge. thinking back I think another shape would have been better to use. I also learned that you can link only so many pieces together. I started playing with the sculpted shape to make the trunk and limbs of the tree. Those sculpted shapes hold a lot of potential. I hear there are other types of sculpted shapes. That also will be interesting to explore. I love the colors of fall. I miss that about St. Louis. In my original mental plan for my tree, I wanted the leaves to fall. I will have to look into that someday.

Exploring Second Life for Educational Purposes

I finally traveled outside of my home island. I was hoping to find areas that I could use for educational purposes. Since I am an Art teacher, I thought I would look for famous landmarks in different countries. i do not anticipate traveling out of country anytime soon so I thought I would travel in Second Life. I also wanted to find picturesque scenes that inspire.
I did find Paris and eventually the Eiffel Tower. I found it a challenge to see because it was so big. I wanted a close up picture of me on the tower, but that didn't seem possible to do.



The next place I visited was influence by Persia. I thought the rugs, carpets, and art were very nice. What surprised me is that I found an area that is meant for public education. But still, it was beautiful.

Reflections on Education in Second Life

I like the strategies given in this list. Especially, building the Art gallery and building a Historical scene. I am starting to think along the lines of how I could use Second Life as an educational tool. I visited the Second Life wiki an found a lot of interesting things to check out. The Q and A section answered a lot of questions that I have. Here is a quick version of the answers I have been looking for. I also found a series on learning how to script. Project ideas of Real Life students was very interesting. I am reading a summary of research and I have to agree with some of their conclusions. Based on my own experience I agree with their findings. One student they interviewed thought that Second Life is a good companion for BB.I think SL makes for a good online course. I consider my own course involving Second Life to be one of the mowt interesting one I have ever taken.

Second Life in Education

My Reflection: What Second Life Taught Me About Learning
I have heard about VARK and I did answer the questionnaire, but I forgot what type of learner I am. It certainly makes me want to go back and get that information again. My first thought while reading this article was whether or not they make a version for K through 2 students. I would love to know the learning styles of some of my students. This very morning I observed two of my students doing a reading activity. When I reflect back, I would guess that the little girl was a read/write learner. I would love to know what type of learner the little boy is.
Another thought I has is if there will be online classes for children of this age? Would they understand how to navigate for learning in an online environment? I speculate that they would be good at learning online. what would concern me more is their social development. I believe Second Life will come to have a significant role in education.
My Reflection: Reflection: Teaching with Second Life
Being somewhat in the Art world and the Education world, I could see Second Life being an excellent tool in both. what this article made me think about is practicing my art skills in Second Life. I recently visited a museum in Second Life. Before my visit I had not considered creating sculptor or paintings in world. I loved the curator's digital paintings. I think this would be a good way for me to get back to my own art.
My Reflection: Engaging the YouTube Google-Eyed Generation:Strategies for Using Web 2.0 in Teaching and Learning
This article was very interesting to me. I hope to use some of these suggestions. It certainly makes me think. I teach K-2 Art. That really doesn't gibe me much bases for this type of teaching, yet. I do think it is possible to incorporate these practices into my grade level and my subject. The weak link at this moment is me, but I am getting stronger. I know my students use texting on cell phones. they probably use email. They definitely play games and do academics on the computer. the only thing stopping my children from learning in this manner is lack of knowledge, funds, and equipment. My students were born ready for Web 2.0 learning.
My Reflection: SL Etiquette
I remember viewing this when I first experienced Second Life, but I have to say that they had escaped me. Most of these guidelines are common sense to me. If you conduct your life in a proper manner, then it wouldn't be any different in a virtual life.