W4_Reading

And here are my next 4 readings I did for Week 4 for my Action Research project. It was kind of hard to do all the readings because I had forgotten which ones I had done previously and I did not mark them so I would know either. Silly me, but here are the next 4:

Using advanced learning technologies to revolutionize education

In this blog, the Federation of American Scientists, or FAS, talked about how education is still not utilizing the new technology out there that we use constantly in our everyday life. The FAS ended up putting a plan of action to show educators just how to be able to incorporate games and technology into their curriculums to bring education out of the "test and tell" phase that it seems to still be stuck in. The blog pointed out many different speakers that were going around to talk to different educational institutions on the benefits of using the new technology and how to use it to enhance the student's learning experience.

Watching the watchers: power and politics in second life 


In this blog, the author delves into the politics and power that happens in Second Life when certain groups become a nuisance and those who step up to combat them. This parallels an article about a college that was in Second Life that held students who would go out and cause grief to other residents in the virtual world. The author then describes the different groups out there who 'police' Second Life and file abuse reports on the residents causing the issues to Linden Labs to get them removed from the virtual world. In all, this blog shows just how important it will be for a school who uses the virtual world to keep a good level of standard so things like this will not happen.


Compounding the results: the integration of virtual worlds with the semantic web


In this journal, the author talks about how the World Wide Web is no longer just a static means of gathering information anymore and that it is now moving into the 3D aspect through everyone using avatars to collaborate and share information now. The author then explains that the challenge now is to be able to find more meaning to this new and vast technology. Afterall, virtual worlds are not about what they look like, but what is in them. A virtual world can look amazing, but if there is no true engaging content in them, then meaning would be lost. I found this journal review to be very engaging and relevant to my Action Research.


Building knowledge in the virtual world – influence of real life relationships


Another literature review that talks about how the classes of today do not fulfill student's needs and education needs to adapt and evolve to fill those needs. The author of the journal specifies that a way to better students in this day and age is through the use of virtual worlds, but to do that, is to first show how the social interaction is in these virtual environments. Social interaction in a virtual world would give students the ability to learn how to implement that in a real life setting as well.