Blog #7 Week 4-2nd Life

2^nd Life

            I enjoy exploring in 2^nd Life, but I feel like it’s way too big of a world for me!  It would be great to know a certain island well and utilize it for a specific purpose in education.  Multiple intelligences are totally utilized when I can create something new and interesting on ISTE.  I wasn’t even aware that I could create until I just started messing around, and encountered an object just sitting there on the grass.  I was curious about it, touched it and picked the option build. Lo and behold, I could create something unique and colorful right there for others to see.  That alone is incentive for me to go back, because I love being creative.  I think in education, our students would be better served if they were directed to a place like ISTE to learn how to manipulate their avatar and try out their creative building ability.

            I joined ISTE, the International Society for Technology in Education.  They have meetings announced on a big board.  I would like to attend one to find out some creative ways to use 2^nd Life.

            Another fun site was KORU-New Zealand:  great scenery and marine life.  I loved going into the ocean and exploring the various sea creatures such as dolphins, whales, sea turtles, fish, Manta-Rays, etc.  In looking for animal life, I explored Aeryglow Wildlife Island also.  I think it’s great to be able to fly right next to a bald eagle’s nest. The Safari Zoo was fun because you can get up close and personal with a giant octopus and get and alligator as a pet. Etopia Eco Village was also fun to explore.  I found a great music circle where I could play all sort of instruments. It would be fun to get a group there to play together.

            That brings up the point of exploring as a group.  I think this is the way to go!  When we explored as a small group in the previous class we had, we were too much of a novice to be able to see much of anything worthwhile.  I think you have to get into it and start at an instructional island, such as ISTE, to get comfortable using the program.  Then, we as students, and our students would be able to see the possibilities much more fully.  I fell like we would have been better served to have to attend a lecture there instead of on Wimba at least one time.  Our professor said they didn’t get good feedback on that, but I feel like I would have enjoyed it more.

            Iowa State University had a great model of Bloom’s taxonomy (the revised version) that you could actually walk up and read the different examples of each step as you went.  The creating block of Bloom’s taxonomy is never so well explored as in 2^nd Life.