Monday, October 30, 2017
A Loss of Motivation
This past week, I spent a ton of time in Minecraft. I mined a bunch of things and spent about five hours crafting and building. I was very proud of myself, and felt prepared. Then, in class, all of our inventory was erased. It's not like I can't remake it, and it's not like I lost anything real. But I did lose the hours I put into being prepared. It's interesting to me, because it's made me not want to have to repeat all of the things I had previously done, and I haven't wanted to go back in world. I haven't been in Minecraft since class on Wednesday. I'll pop in tonight to fight off monsters and hope to collect some items. Perhaps my motivation will come back then, but it's interesting how losing things that I created, even virtually, caused an emotional reaction. Probably all for the best, or I would've been sucked in and not spent the time I needed to somewhere else. More thoughts to come after re-entering Minecraft tonight.
Friday, October 20, 2017
Why Practice is Important: Getting Lost, Catching Fire, and a Crafting Table Discover in MinecraftEDu
I spent three hours in MinecraftEDU last night. Wow...it's very, very different from any other video game that I've played in the past. Here are my initial "quick-thoughts" and list of things I discovered:
1. It is easy to lose your way.
2. You have to actually hold your mouse down to repeatedly hit in order to break things.
3. ASWD is great for moving; I absolutely hate, hate, hate that my mouse moves the camera angle.
4. You can get lost underground. It's also pretty dark down there.
5. When digging, it might be a good idea to make sure you can get out of the hole...
6. F5 changes your viewpoint. I can't decide if I like 1st person or not.
7. Did I mention that it was really easy to get lost?????
8. There are random villages with people...huh, wasn't expecting that one!
9. Experimenting with the building grid lets me make all sorts of usual things.
10. If you step in lava, you will light on fire. If you throw a pig into lava, it will disappear.
11. I got lost a lot.
12. Having a husband who plays lots of Minecraft is helpful for cool ideas about how to mark your spot so you can find it again. Too bad that husband wasn't around the first two hours of game-time.
13. Squids are in the water and if you poke them with a stick, they will give you ink.
14. Apples and seeds can come out of trees, it's not just wood.
15. Apparently, there are train tracks under the ground...and spider webs...and bats. What?!
16. If you aren't careful, you can break the barrier keeping the lava contained, and have it spill into things.
17. Climbing to the top of trees is very useful to look at the scenery, and try to figure out where you are!!! Unfortunately, I was still lost...
18. Sticks can break things. Putting random planks of wood together made a crafting table. I'm assuming I can build much more elaborate things in that.
19. In retrospect, when you are lost, maybe don't spend an hour trying to find your special plot of land again.
20. This is going to be pretty fun after I get a better handle on the program!
More Minecraft thoughts to come. It's tempting to do a lot of play in here, but I need to get back to all the other projects coming up for my other classes at the moment...I'll just have to reward myself with it later when I check things off my assignments list.
1. It is easy to lose your way.
2. You have to actually hold your mouse down to repeatedly hit in order to break things.
3. ASWD is great for moving; I absolutely hate, hate, hate that my mouse moves the camera angle.
4. You can get lost underground. It's also pretty dark down there.
5. When digging, it might be a good idea to make sure you can get out of the hole...
6. F5 changes your viewpoint. I can't decide if I like 1st person or not.
7. Did I mention that it was really easy to get lost?????
8. There are random villages with people...huh, wasn't expecting that one!
9. Experimenting with the building grid lets me make all sorts of usual things.
10. If you step in lava, you will light on fire. If you throw a pig into lava, it will disappear.
11. I got lost a lot.
12. Having a husband who plays lots of Minecraft is helpful for cool ideas about how to mark your spot so you can find it again. Too bad that husband wasn't around the first two hours of game-time.
13. Squids are in the water and if you poke them with a stick, they will give you ink.
14. Apples and seeds can come out of trees, it's not just wood.
15. Apparently, there are train tracks under the ground...and spider webs...and bats. What?!
16. If you aren't careful, you can break the barrier keeping the lava contained, and have it spill into things.
17. Climbing to the top of trees is very useful to look at the scenery, and try to figure out where you are!!! Unfortunately, I was still lost...
18. Sticks can break things. Putting random planks of wood together made a crafting table. I'm assuming I can build much more elaborate things in that.
19. In retrospect, when you are lost, maybe don't spend an hour trying to find your special plot of land again.
20. This is going to be pretty fun after I get a better handle on the program!
More Minecraft thoughts to come. It's tempting to do a lot of play in here, but I need to get back to all the other projects coming up for my other classes at the moment...I'll just have to reward myself with it later when I check things off my assignments list.
Thursday, October 19, 2017
A Real Sense of Accomplishment, Veterans, and Shenanigans
In class this week, we had a virtual "Show and Tell" to showcase our developing building skills. I created a "car" which ended up looking a bit more like a pickup truck with no sides. It had a screen where the windshield should have been onto which I imported a YouTube video about not texting and driving. Theoretically, I could use this tool for student drivers to have a more realistic experience of watching what happens in first person when you text and drive. Doing this project brought me a great sense of accomplishment. Even though I created a non-physical object, it felt real to me. I invested time, used creativity, and tried to be thoughtful in my design. I had a sense of ownership over something that doesn't actually physically exist. This reinforced the idea that learning, real learning, can take place in meaningful ways in a virtual setting. Prior to this class, I had been trying to think of ways to create "hands-on" learning in a virtual setting, but I didn't know what kind of tools were available. I am so thankful for the exposure to more e-learning tools that can provide me with a place to interact with objects in a way that creates a similar internal and external response as what I would have experienced in a F2F setting.
Our class also had a guest lecturer who talked about utilizing SecondLife to enhance the job skill and application/interview process with adults who have varying disabilities. I was so happy to hear that military veterans were utilizing these services. Oftentimes, veterans have difficulty assimilating back into civilian life. Classes are provided (TGPS) for the transition, but disabled veterans often have more challenges. Sometimes the injury occurs during deployment and is accompanied by long stays in the hospital. Mental health issues may not surface until later, and while there are lots of support services, some people feel uncomfortable utilizing them. The potential for anonymity in SecondLife could help veterans suffering from PTSD or other mental health issues reach out for help when they might not otherwise ask. It may even be possible that due to the circumstances of their end of service, they may not have had access to the same tools other military members had when leaving the military. Mentoring is a big part of military culture, and the program partnered folks with other disabled professionals to encourage and provide hope and assistance. I think this is a fantastic resource for disabled vets, and I will certainly be telling my military friends and community about it.
In my LTEC 602 class, we're developing a website for teaching about AR/VR. I thought it would be nice to bring my colleagues into OpenSim to show them what it's like for part of our project, teach them how to make avatars and move around, and explain simple building. Unfortunately, my one team member couldn't get Firestorm to download on her laptop. My other teammate and I spent about an hour teaching/learning/goofing around in OpenSim. It was a great way for me to solidify my building skills by teaching them to someone else. I told him about how I lost my art sculpture in the ceiling (which magically reappeared in my inventory and maybe never totally disappeared in the first place). I then took him on a tour inside the COE building to show him how you have to be careful when you build things because they can show up in different areas. For example, there are random building squares that have gotten lost during practice builds in class and are just randomly floating in the air inside the building. We walked into one of the rooms, and that's when the shenanigans started. We decided that it would be hilarious to put a portrait of Dr. Peter on the wall in one of the classrooms. So I showed him how to do it, and we decorated it, learned how to put type on a prim, and took photo evidence. It's actually still up on the wall for the time being (and I really, really, really wanted to put them on all the walls, but I practiced a tiny bit of self-restraint). Even in these shenanigans, we were able to build, collaborate, and discover...all part of the learning process. It was a good reminder to me too that other students, my potential future students, may want to have their own shenanigans in the virtual world, and hopefully I can have as good of humor as I'm hoping Dr. Peter will have. 😉
Our class also had a guest lecturer who talked about utilizing SecondLife to enhance the job skill and application/interview process with adults who have varying disabilities. I was so happy to hear that military veterans were utilizing these services. Oftentimes, veterans have difficulty assimilating back into civilian life. Classes are provided (TGPS) for the transition, but disabled veterans often have more challenges. Sometimes the injury occurs during deployment and is accompanied by long stays in the hospital. Mental health issues may not surface until later, and while there are lots of support services, some people feel uncomfortable utilizing them. The potential for anonymity in SecondLife could help veterans suffering from PTSD or other mental health issues reach out for help when they might not otherwise ask. It may even be possible that due to the circumstances of their end of service, they may not have had access to the same tools other military members had when leaving the military. Mentoring is a big part of military culture, and the program partnered folks with other disabled professionals to encourage and provide hope and assistance. I think this is a fantastic resource for disabled vets, and I will certainly be telling my military friends and community about it.
In my LTEC 602 class, we're developing a website for teaching about AR/VR. I thought it would be nice to bring my colleagues into OpenSim to show them what it's like for part of our project, teach them how to make avatars and move around, and explain simple building. Unfortunately, my one team member couldn't get Firestorm to download on her laptop. My other teammate and I spent about an hour teaching/learning/goofing around in OpenSim. It was a great way for me to solidify my building skills by teaching them to someone else. I told him about how I lost my art sculpture in the ceiling (which magically reappeared in my inventory and maybe never totally disappeared in the first place). I then took him on a tour inside the COE building to show him how you have to be careful when you build things because they can show up in different areas. For example, there are random building squares that have gotten lost during practice builds in class and are just randomly floating in the air inside the building. We walked into one of the rooms, and that's when the shenanigans started. We decided that it would be hilarious to put a portrait of Dr. Peter on the wall in one of the classrooms. So I showed him how to do it, and we decorated it, learned how to put type on a prim, and took photo evidence. It's actually still up on the wall for the time being (and I really, really, really wanted to put them on all the walls, but I practiced a tiny bit of self-restraint). Even in these shenanigans, we were able to build, collaborate, and discover...all part of the learning process. It was a good reminder to me too that other students, my potential future students, may want to have their own shenanigans in the virtual world, and hopefully I can have as good of humor as I'm hoping Dr. Peter will have. 😉
Wednesday, October 11, 2017
Literal Tears over Virtual Living
My goal in learning is to change/enhance my mind in a positive way. Today, my mind has been expanded to see virtual learning in a new way. The catalyst was in doing research for our group annotation project. I came across a site called Dreams. And it literally brought me to tears when I researched it further.
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/login2life/23638946
Dreams is a site that supports users with autism spectrum, stroke survivors, ad/hd, and other neurological differences. It provides a safe haven to explore, create, and find camaraderie with others who are part of these groups or friends and loved ones wanting to engage and learn. The island was created in honor of the Sojourner who suffered from a stroke and found new life in her SecondLife avatar, being able to be who she truly was and not hindered by her body. She has passed away, but her legacy continues, and those with disabilities or debilitating bodily functions can find a space to thrive and be free from society's stares, judgements, and misconceptions.
I teared up, thinking about all the ways SecondLife could be used that I hadn't considered because of the privilege I experience from being of able body and mind. I hope that schools can incorporate virtual learning for students who may benefit most. And I am grateful that my mind has been opened and stretched to think of ways to utilize virtual learning to the benefit of all.
Dreams is a site that supports users with autism spectrum, stroke survivors, ad/hd, and other neurological differences. It provides a safe haven to explore, create, and find camaraderie with others who are part of these groups or friends and loved ones wanting to engage and learn. The island was created in honor of the Sojourner who suffered from a stroke and found new life in her SecondLife avatar, being able to be who she truly was and not hindered by her body. She has passed away, but her legacy continues, and those with disabilities or debilitating bodily functions can find a space to thrive and be free from society's stares, judgements, and misconceptions.
I teared up, thinking about all the ways SecondLife could be used that I hadn't considered because of the privilege I experience from being of able body and mind. I hope that schools can incorporate virtual learning for students who may benefit most. And I am grateful that my mind has been opened and stretched to think of ways to utilize virtual learning to the benefit of all.
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