Week+Four+5366

 =**Animation and Theories of Color **=

What do you think of Second Life as a game? As a teaching tool? As a way to teach ethics and social behavior? As a way to deliver content? What do you think of the prospects for serious gaming?

I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Second Life this week. It allowed me to learn alot about myself, others, and the way I interact with others. I was hesitant to approach strangers which is much like myself in real life, but my drive to learn and gather knowledge was what motivated me to make friends and interact with them. It forced me to break out of my shell and because I enjoy communicating in written form, it allowed me an opportunity to not only learn from others but in turn, help others as well. I can see how this medium would allow students with diverse learning styles to learn in a way that fits them best. I found that some of my fellow students really got into creating things and manipulating them. Possibly they are kinethestic learners? I enjoyed communicating in the chat windows and meeting and talking to people. I am more of a visual learner. Some wanted and needed to have the sound and verbal directions for writing the script. Possibly they were auditory learners. In my opinion digital animation has something to offer for every learner and would enable them to find learning methods that meet their individual styles. Isn't this basically what we are trying to do by integrating technology into the classroom? We are trying to learn to communicate in a way that students learn today and to prepare them to live and work in a 21st century "real" world.

I also learned from reading the lecture about gaming that we have a basic instinct for seeking. There was never a point that I felt that I was playing a game this week in Second Life. Although the seeking instinct was definitely a part of the experience. I was seeking to find clothes to wear and ways to move my avatar and to create objects. I think that once you have mastered these steps, you would probably move on to additional seeking "levels" in the experience by shopping, buying land, building, and even holding a job.

Also, I thought about how Second Life could be used to enable students with physical disabilities to have more opportunities for social interaction. This week I took a wild ride in a jeep, rode in an inner tube, learned to dance, all things I don't usually have the opportunity to do. Also, the ability to create something, even in a digital world, helps a person develop a greater sense of self-esteem. Classmates were saying "Look it works!" and we were giving each other verbal "Attaboys!" These are all things that any student could benefit from. It's a shame that so many tools like Second Life that are really good and beneficial and valuable seem to be eclipsed by the fact that some have decided to use it in a negative manner. Hey, it wasn't that long ago, (maybe 15 yrs?) that I was afraid to use the internet because of all the negative things I had heard about it. Now I depend on it daily.

In Lecture 4.4 Dr. Yearwood gives many examples of various uses for Second Life. I was most impressed when I read about the US Army developing an area where soldiers are trained in social customs of the nations where they are stationed and where one technical school used Second Life to teach computer repair by allowing students to walk around inside a computer.

I also managed to create my avatar and have viewed some tutorials on scripting but am certainly not there yet. I have met 3 people since getting started in Second Life. Basically, the first two were women and were helpful to me. I lost my hair and my skirt right off the bat. One woman gave me a whole folder with various types of hair so I felt better. On my first visit I went to some sort of Christian island / resort and someone invited to sit down and view a music video but my sound was turned off so I couldn't hear it. Then she took me to some sort of New York Christian night club. The music was contemporary Christian, but the place was not what I would be comfortable in. On my next trial session, I returned to Help Island and a young man who said he was 33 yrs. old in "rl" (real lilfe) basically tried to hit on me and asked me if I had been to any "naughty" places. I explained to him that I was old enough to be his mother in "rl" and that I was only visiting there as a part of this class assignment and that he shouldn't waste his time on me. Fun times! But he was nice enough about it and quickly backed off.

It was amazing to me though to see that there is a whole virtual world out there that I was totally unaware even existed. I was also amazed by the fact that there are so many people from all over the world using Second Life. I know that people all over the world use facebook, but I think we are less likely to come into contact with them because we may be less likely to have that initial social connection. I also visited the Lamar site. Be prepared to be able to "fly" (page up) to get up to the mountain top for the conference on Sunday.

I also figured out how to create a new script but I am not sure what to add once I open it. I talked to another person and she said she had been doing SL for 2 years but had never done any scripting. I did figure out how to make my avatar dance even though I don't have a clue how to dance myself. It was great fun! I opened the Inventory tab at the bottom right hand corner and then opened the Scripts folder. I right clicked and added a New Script and then I double-clicked on the new script, but there is already a default script that appears in the New Script. I deleted that one and pasted in a new script that I obtained from a site called 3greeneggs.com It writes the script for you based on what you tell it you want to do. I told it to say "Excuse me" every time an avatar gets within 1 meter of me. I inserted the script that the site created for me but it doesn't appear to be working. Maybe if we collaborate on this project we can figure it out. I am certainly with you Matthew. I have spent several hours but it is still not working for me. I was able to make my avatar wave whenever I click on the Hey gesture, but I didn't write a script for it. I just added a new gesture.

I think it is good experience for us to know what it's like to feel "lost" sometimes. That way we can better identify with our students or with other "digital immigrant" educators who are having trouble learning new technology.

@http://secondlife.com/my/whatnext/video-tutorials/?lang=en-US Here is a link to a great video tutorial I watched on the Second Life website. It moves fast but you can start and stop it to get directions. He also suggests using 3greenegg.com/autoscript/ for writing a simple script.