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Adrienne Michetti

Where Everybody Knows Your (Screen) Name: Online Games as "Third Places" - 52 views

    • Adrienne Michetti
       
      This is, I think, why I'm more keen on today's social networks than I am on games -- games do not provide deep emotional support.
  • "bowling alone" hypothesis (Putnam, 2000), which suggests that media are displacing crucial civic and social institutions
    • Adrienne Michetti
       
      Putnam - need to check this article. Interesting; not sure I agree.
  • ...80 more annotations...
  • According to Putnam, time spent with relatively passive and disengaging media has come at the expense of time spent on vital community-building activities.
  • The evidence to date is mixed
  • A core problem on both sides of the debate is an underlying assumption that all Internet use is more or less equivalent
    • Adrienne Michetti
       
      SO True
  • It would be more plausible and empirically rigorous, then, to consider how specific forms of Internet activity impact civic and social engagement as a result of their particular underlying social architectures
  • combining conclusions from two different lines of MMO research conducted from two different perspectives—one from a media effects approach, the other from a sociocultural perspective on cognition and learning.
  • By providing spaces for social interaction and relationships beyond the workplace and home, MMOs have the capacity to function as one form of a new "third place" for informal sociability much like the pubs, coffee shops, and other hangouts of old.
  • loosely structured by open-ended narratives
  • They are known for their peculiar combination of designed "escapist fantasy" and emergent "social realism"
  • from two research projects: one an examination of the media effects of MMOs, the other an ethnographic study of cognition and culture in such contexts.
  • the conclusions of both studies were remarkably aligned.
  • the assumption that the most fruitful advances are sometimes made when congruent findings are discovered through disparate means
    • Adrienne Michetti
       
      Love this quote.
  • demonstrate the "effects" of game play vs. no game play.
  • first project was a traditional effects study
  • second project, a qualitative study of cognition and learning in MMOs (
  • ethnography
  • sociocultural perspective
  • as a way to tease out what happens in the virtual setting of the game and how the people involved consider their own activities, the activities of others, and the contexts in which those activities takes place
  • a reasonable level of generalizability (random assignment to condition in the first study) and contextualization (ethnographic description of existing in-game social networks and practices in the second)
    • Adrienne Michetti
       
      but I wonder why he chose these games -- this is not specified. Only their success in US and abroad?
  • brick-and-mortar "third places" in America where individuals can gather to socialize informally beyond the workplace and home
  • the exaggerated self-consciousness of individuals.
  • In what ways might MMOs function as new third places for informal sociability?
  • virtual environments have the potential to function as new (albeit digitally mediated) third places similar to pubs, coffee shops, and other hangouts.
  • in this section we analyze the structural form of MMOs that warrants this "third place" assertion.
  • eight defining characteristics of third places
  • there is no default obligation
  • To oblige any one person to play requires that explicit agreements be entered into by parties
  • the default assumption is that no one person is compelled to participate legally, financially, or otherwise.
  • Unless one transforms the virtual world of the game into a workplace (e.g., by taking on gainful employment as a virtual currency "farmer" for example, Dibbell, 2006; Steinkuehler, 2006a) or enters into such agreement, no one person is obligated to log in
    • Adrienne Michetti
       
      and this is why, in my opinion, you will never see games in school. The game cannot be the Third Place because school is a Second Place.
  • Yee's (2006) interviews also reveal that individuals who game with romantic partners or family find that such joint engagement in the "other world" of MMOs allows them to redefine the nature and boundaries of their offline relationships, often in more equitable terms than what may be possible in day-to-day offline life
  • the relationships that play-partners have with one another offline are often "leveled" within the online world
  • an individual's rank and status in the home, workplace, or society are of no importance
  • appeal to people in part because they represent meritocracies otherwise unavailable in a world often filled with unfairness
  • conversation plays an analogous role
  • "In all such systems, linguistic interactions have been primary: users exchange messages that cement the social bonds between them, messages that reflect shared history and understandings (or misunderstandings) about the always evolving local norms for these interactions" (p. 22).
  • third places must also be easy to access
  • such that "one may go alone at almost any time of the day or evening with assurance that acquaintances will be there"
  • accessible directly from one's home, making them even more accommodating to individual schedules and preferences
  • barriers to initial access.
  • "What attracts a regular visitor to a third place is supplied not by management but by the fellow customer,"
  • "It is the regulars who give the place its character and who assure that on any given visit some of the gang will be there"
  • affective sense
  • As one informant satirically commented in an interview, "You go for the experience [points], you stay for the enlightening conversation.
  • engendering a sense of reliable mentorship and community stability.
  • Oldenburg argues that third places are characteristically homely, their d�cor defying tidiness and pretension whenever possible. MMOs do not fit this criterion in any literal sense
  • In neither of our investigations did the degree of formality exhibited by players within the game bear any relation to the degree of visual ornamentation of the players' immediate vicinity.
  • Thus, while the visual form of MMO environments does not fit Oldenburg's (1999) criterion of "low profile," the social function of those environments does.
  • Oldenburg (1999) argues that seriousness is anathema to a vibrant third place; instead, frivolity, verbal word play, and wit are essential.
  • The playful nature of MMOs is perhaps most apparent in what happens when individuals do bring gravity to the game.
  • the home-like quality of third places in rooting people
  • Participation becomes a regular part of daily life for players and, among regular gamemates such as guild members, exceptional absences (i.e., prolonged or unforeseen ones) are queried within the game or outside i
  • create an atmosphere of mutual caring that, while avoiding entangling obligations per se, creates a sense of rootedness to the extent that regularities exist, irregularities are duly noted, and, when concerning the welfare of any one regular, checked into
  • Are virtual communities really communities, or is physical proximity necessary?
  • Anderson (1991), who suggests that geographic proximity itself is neither a necessary nor sufficient condition for the emergence and preservation of "community."
  • Social capital (Coleman, 1988) works analogously to financial capital; it can be acquired and spent, but for social and personal gains rather than financial
  • operates cyclically within social networks because of their associated norms of reciprocity
  • bridging social capital is inclusive.
  • This form of social capital is marked by tentative relationships, yet what they lack in depth, they make up for in breadth.
  • On the one hand, bridging social capital provides little in the way of emotional support; on the other hand, such relationships can broaden social horizons or worldviews, providing access to information and new resources.
  • bonding social capital is exclusive.
  • social superglue.
  • it can also result in insularity.
  • shows that bridging and bonding social capital are tied to different social contexts, given the network of relationships they enable.
  • Virtual worlds appear to function best as bridging mechanisms rather than as bonding ones, although they do not entirely preclude social ties of the latter type.
  • One could argue that, if the benchmark for bonding social capital is the ability to acquire emotional, practical, or substantive support, then MMOs are not well set up for the task:
  • While deep affective relationships among players are possible, they are less likely to generate the same range of bonding benefits as real-world relationships because of players' geographic dispersion and the nature of third places themselves.
  • Despite differences in theoretical grounding and methodologies, our conclusions were remarkably similar across complementary macro- and micro-levels.
  • It is worth noting, however, that as gamers become more involved in long-term social networks such as guilds and their activities become more "hardcore" (e.g., marked by participation in large-scale collaborative problem-solving endeavors such as "raids" into difficult territories or castle sieges), the function of MMOs as "third places" begins to wane.
  • It may be, then, that the structure and function of MMOs as third places is one part of the "life cycle" for some gamers in a given title.
  • In such cases, MMOs appear to enable a different kind of sociability, one ostensibly recognizable as a "community" nonetheless.
  • However, our research findings indicate that this conclusion is uninformed. To argue that MMO game play is isolated and passive media consumption in place of informal social engagement is to ignore the nature of what participants actually do behind the computer screen
  • Perhaps it is not that contemporary media use has led to a decline in civic and social engagement, but rather that a decline in civic and social engagement has led to retribalization through contemporary media (McLuhan, 1964).
  • Such a view, however, ignores important nuances of what "community" means by pronouncing a given social group/place as either wholly "good" or "bad" without first specifying which functions the online community ought to fulfill.
  • Moreover, despite the semantics of the term, "weak" ties have been shown to be vital in communities, relationships, and opportunities.
  • is to what extent such environments shift the existing balance between bridging and bonding
  • In light of Putnam's evidence of the decline of crucial civic and social institutions, it may well be that the classification "lacking bridging social capital" best characterizes the everyday American citizen. T
  • Without bridging relationships, individuals remain sheltered from alternative viewpoints and cultures and largely ignorant of opportunities and information beyond their own closely bound social network.
  • it seems ironic that, now of all times, we would ignore one possible solution to our increasingly vexed relationship with diversity.
Martin Burrett

CoSpaces - 38 views

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    "A superb platform for creating 3D virtual reality environments to view on your mobile device. Choose from the bank of 3D models or upload/search for your own. You can create sequential scenes like a presentation which is great for story writing or even teaching. Create virtual museums or even a digital class display of pupil's work to share with parents."
Randolph Hollingsworth

Second Life®: A New Strategy in Educating Nursing Students - 7 views

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    Abstract The purpose of this article is to discuss how the University of Michigan School of Nursing designed and implemented a virtual hospital unit in Second Life® to run virtual simulations. Three scenarios were developed about topics that represent areas that contribute to patient safety, as well as key student learning challenges. Fifteen students completed a 6-question survey evaluating their experience. Comments indicated students did identify the potential benefits of the Second Life® simulation. The Second Life® platform may also provide avenues for learning in the clinical arena for a multitude of health care professionals. The opportunity to simulate emergent, complex situations in a nonthreatening, safe environment allows all members of the team to develop critical communication skills necessary to provide safe patient care.
Stein Brunvand

SqoolTools: Free Eucational Resources that Make Learning Fun - 0 views

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    This is another virtual learning environment tool for k12 educators to use to create an online learning classroom for their students.
Dr. Sorin Adam Matei

Virtual Omaha | I Think - 0 views

  • Purdue team recreates D-Day battlefield, launches learning environment where information searches for user
  • Purdue team recreates D-Day battlefield, launches learning environment where information searches for user
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    Purdue team recreates D-Day battlefield, launches learning environment where information searches for user
Linda Lyster

Game for science - Virtual world devoted to science, technology and free educational ga... - 116 views

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    "Explore all kinds of virtual islands depending on your interests: health, aeronautics, genomics, environment, engineering and more. You'll find fun games, interesting facts and fascinating photos and videos - all on a science theme. "
Stein Brunvand

Game for science - Virtual world devoted to science, technology and free educational ga... - 96 views

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    This is a virtual learning environment for kids that has a lot of science content.
Roland Gesthuizen

Should Students and Teachers Be Online "Friends"? | Education.com - 2 views

  • “A teacher needs to be a role model, mentor, and advice giver – not a ‘friend.’” When a high school student gains access into a teacher’s network of friends and acquaintances and is able to view their family photos, for instance, the student-teacher dynamic is altered.
  • While students may be eager to find and friend their teachers on Facebook, many of them understand the implied rules and boundaries of this virtual environment. “I do understand why my teachers do not want me to add them until I graduate,” says Jegaraj.
  • sites like Facebook are social environments. Teachers guide students in a professional capacity, and being social doesn’t seem like part of the job description
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    "In the virtual world, the definition of a student-teacher relationship is hazy, particularly on social networks like Facebook and MySpace, where adults and teens share the same forums to connect and keep in touch with friends, classmates, relatives, and co-workers. Chances are, your teen has already found her teachers on Facebook and sent friend requests to join their networks."
Amy Roediger

LandingPage - 51 views

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    Shidonni is an innovative startup, developing the next generation of creative 'virtual' worlds for kids. Shidonni is providing a safe environment where kids and their parents can create imaginary worlds and animals, play games and interact with friends.
Martin Burrett

Teachers make all the difference - including in virtual reality teaching - 14 views

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    "In a few years from now, students in schools all over the world will receive part of their education in virtual learning environments. Wearing VR-goggles the students will be able to enter 3-dimensional, simulated places and situations that they would normally not have access to because it would be too expensive, too dangerous or physically impossible. Teaching via VR-technology is spreading widely and international studies predict that this will revolutionise the way we learn."
Roland Gesthuizen

YouTube - Your interactive whiteboard may never be the same again - 132 views

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    "The Edusim on an ActiveBoard or SMARTBoard turns your interactive whiteboard into a 3D interactive virtual environment ! immersive Touch"
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    Children creating a 3D environment through the Croquet program back in 2007. Students give some interesting feedback at the end of the clip.
Lauren Rosen

C. M. Rubin: The Global Search for Education: More Technology, Please! - 0 views

  • Rotation model is any time students rotate on a fixed schedule between online learning and other modalities for any given course. In the Flex model, student schedules are more fluid and content and instruction are delivered primarily by the Internet. The Self-Blend model is any time students take one or more courses entirely online to supplement their traditional courses. The Enriched-Virtual model involves students dividing their time within each course between attending campus and learning remotely online.
    • Lauren Rosen
       
      Models for Blended learning
  • the teacher was no longer there to "punish them" or "grade them down". Instead the teacher was there to help them reach their goal. This is much more of an environment built around success and motivation versus failure.
  • The attraction of blending online learning into schools is that online learning allows for modularity
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • unfair that a huge percentage of what teachers have been taught is irrelevant in this learning environment
  • computers are able to do what computers do well. Humans are freed up to do what humans do best.
  • Assessment needs to be based on where each individual child started and then grew to and finally ended up in a particular year, versus a snapshot once a year view of an entire school
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    Models for blended learning and how it changes the learning environment for students and educators. Discusses what works and what needs to change in our system.
Dora Hawkins

National Library of Virtual Math - Grades K-12 - 10 views

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    A digital library containing Java applets and activities for K-12 mathematics
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    The use of virtual manipulatives help students visualize relationships and applications in virtual learning environments.
Martin Burrett

Pora Ora : The Online 3D Educational Game for Children - 196 views

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    This is a MUST TRY site. It's not often that I'm amazed be an educational resource, but I am with this one. Pora Ora is a stunning educational virtual world for Primary school aged students. Play truely fun educational games which practise skills in English, maths and many other subjects. The graphics and useably is superb. Online safety is at the heart of this site. The parential admin account can set the student's account to free chat with everyone to completely locked down where they have the world to themselves and everything in between. The site has a language filter and users can report any incidents of trouble. Also, the first task requires the user to complete an online safety task. The site is free with a few premium features coming out later. You have got to try this one! http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/ICT+%26+Web+Tools
Donal O' Mahony

Whither the VLE? - 24 views

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    Facebook or Moodle - where is the Virtual Learning Environment to go?
anonymous

What are the Disadvantages of Online Schooling for Higher Education? - 18 views

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    "hat Are the Disadvantages of Online Schooling for Higher Education? Today, online schooling for higher education is prevalent across many fields. While there are several benefits to online schooling, such as flexibility and convenience, there are also real and perceived disadvantages. Explore some of the potential drawbacks of online learning. View 10 Popular Schools » Online Schooling In 2012, about a quarter of undergraduate college students were enrolled in distance education courses as part -- if not all -- of their studies, according to a 2014 report from the National Center for Education Statistics. That same data found that 29.8% of graduate students in this country are enrolled in some or all distance learning classes as well. A 2013 report from Babson Survey Research Group and Quahog Research Group, LLC, pointed out that approximately 86.5% of higher education institutions offer distance learning classes. Clearly, online schooling is commonplace. Disadvantages: Student Perspective Despite advantages, online schooling is not the right fit for every student. Taking online courses is generally believed to require more self-discipline than completing a degree on campus, a belief that is supported by SCHEV -- the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia. Because online schooling options often allow students to complete much of the coursework at their own pace, students must be motivated to stay on schedule and manage their time accordingly. Other potential disadvantages from a student's viewpoint may include the following: Less Instructional Support Although instructors are available to students via e-mail, telephone, Web discussion boards and other online means, some students may see the lack of face-to-face interaction and one-on-one instruction as a challenge. A lack of communication or miscommunication between instructors and students may frustrate students who are struggling with course materials. That could be exacerbated by the casual nature
Damianne President

ForgeFX - 3D Topographic Map Simulation Software - 3 views

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    This real-time 3D simulation illustrates how topographic maps are created and used to depict changes in elevation. A topographic map is characterized by large-scale detail and quantitative representation of relief using contour lines. Rendered in real-time 3D, it is easy to understand how topographic maps are created since the simulation shows the same virtual environment in both a 3D mesh and 2D map format.
Martin Burrett

One Ocean - 115 views

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    An amazing set of resources to explore the world's oceans in a 3D virtual environment. Swim with killer whales or drift along and watch sea turtles cruise by. You can even complete missions, including exploring the deepest place in the oceans. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Science
Marcy Russell

iCue > What is iCue? - 2 views

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    iCue is a fun, innovative learning environment built around video from the NBC News Archives. Videos, games, and activities correlated to courses in U.S. History, U.S. Government and Politics, and English Language and Composition, and more. A community of friends and learners engaged in discussion around academics, current events, and important issues. A collection of Video Cue Cards, with thousands of video clips from the NBC News archives wrapped in a tradable, interactive virtual card.
Gerald Carey

LearnNowBC - MoodleMeets - Professional Learning - 68 views

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    From the website: "Moodle Meets are free, one week online courses, or "Professional Learning Potlucks", led by experienced educators. Moodle Meet topics focus on the resources and skills needed to use technology in the classroom as well as on the skills needed to teach and learn in a virtual environment."
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