B!G on Respect – Sandbox Rules

The B!G on Respect campaign continues in our Sandbox. Running a sandbox, or public building space, in Second Life may seem like a daunting task. Users must respect each other’s space and abide by the rules. One of the things that makes our sandbox a great place to socialize and work is the level of respect each user gives one another. Our new slogan, “B!G on Respect,” will stay posted in the sandbox to promote a high level of courtesy towards our fellow Second Life resident.

B!G on Respect – Sandbox Rules

The B!G on Respect campaign continues in our Sandbox. Running a sandbox, or public building space, in Second Life may seem like a daunting task. Users must respect each other’s space and abide by the rules. One of the things that makes our sandbox a great place to socialize and work is the level of respect each user gives one another. Our new slogan, “B!G on Respect,” will stay posted in the sandbox to promote a high level of courtesy towards our fellow Second Life resident.

B!G on Respect – Sandbox Rules

The B!G on Respect campaign continues in our Sandbox. Running a sandbox, or public building space, in Second Life may seem like a daunting task. Users must respect each other’s space and abide by the rules. One of the things that makes our sandbox a great place to socialize and work is the level of respect each user gives one another. Our new slogan, “B!G on Respect,” will stay posted in the sandbox to promote a high level of courtesy towards our fellow Second Life resident.

Web 2.Ideology

In my Web 2.0 Learning Community meeting this morning, I mentioned some of the driving ideas behind those web 2.0 apps we’re finding so useful in our classes that are actually changing the way we teach and learn. I believe they are important elements in the foundation of a polychronic classroom and any assignment or project that uses this technology.

1. Creation
2. Collaboration
3. Community (Space/ Time)
4. Interaction (Fun)

Create your own textbook. Invent new ways of working – online or off, from home, the road, the office. Build a virtual classroom or better yet: a virtual campus. Draw your own illustrations, make your own models, or have your students do it…. all of it! We are users but we are also creators. Some of us write code that allows others to create pictures or stories. Learning happens when we make use of information. The cycle of – here’s the info, write it down, now repeat it back – is over! Make the student find the info, document it publicly, and then actually put the info to use.

Collaborate with students. Share experiences. Contribute to the collective conscience – share your knowledge. Add value, add purpose, add something! We are at a key point in history where every individual has the ability to contribute to a larger goal. Ideas, knowledge, and opinions are being shared without a price. Add a letter, a word, or a page… We’re building – and your students should be too. My students should be working together to give me PowerPoints, not the other way around.

Web 2.0 is about Community. About connections, about Space: Virtual space, private space, myspace, your tube. Mine, yours, ours. We learn what we know from WHO we know. Time online, in RL, on the road, on the phone, the polychronic! Responsible users are questioning the spaces we exist in, the space we release our information into – Is it private? Who can see it? We set permissions based on community relationships and establish relationships based on our level of interactivity. We move very fast on some things and extremely slow on others. Some of my students could probably move through one semester’s worth of content in one month. Others may need a few extra months. We must reevaluate our semester/quarter system and install something more individual – more Multichronic! We must not confine ourselves to learning in one place. Connect the dots between spaces by blurring those boundaries.

Interaction is Fun. The value of our time on earth is measured by our pleasure, pride, accomplishments… satisfaction. These things drive our games. We play to have fun, to be pleased. To win, to brag, to be better, to win again. To be satisfied with and share our research, productivity, outcomes, goals, and levels. We block our most miserable experiences out and cherish those that we enjoyed. Your students will do the same. Challenge them.

Web 2.Ideology

In my Web 2.0 Learning Community meeting this morning, I mentioned some of the driving ideas behind those web 2.0 apps we’re finding so useful in our classes that are actually changing the way we teach and learn. I believe they are important elements in the foundation of a polychronic classroom and any assignment or project that uses this technology.

1. Creation
2. Collaboration
3. Community (Space/ Time)
4. Interaction (Fun)

Create your own textbook. Invent new ways of working – online or off, from home, the road, the office. Build a virtual classroom or better yet: a virtual campus. Draw your own illustrations, make your own models, or have your students do it…. all of it! We are users but we are also creators. Some of us write code that allows others to create pictures or stories. Learning happens when we make use of information. The cycle of – here’s the info, write it down, now repeat it back – is over! Make the student find the info, document it publicly, and then actually put the info to use.

Collaborate with students. Share experiences. Contribute to the collective conscience – share your knowledge. Add value, add purpose, add something! We are at a key point in history where every individual has the ability to contribute to a larger goal. Ideas, knowledge, and opinions are being shared without a price. Add a letter, a word, or a page… We’re building – and your students should be too. My students should be working together to give me PowerPoints, not the other way around.

Web 2.0 is about Community. About connections, about Space: Virtual space, private space, myspace, your tube. Mine, yours, ours. We learn what we know from WHO we know. Time online, in RL, on the road, on the phone, the polychronic! Responsible users are questioning the spaces we exist in, the space we release our information into – Is it private? Who can see it? We set permissions based on community relationships and establish relationships based on our level of interactivity. We move very fast on some things and extremely slow on others. Some of my students could probably move through one semester’s worth of content in one month. Others may need a few extra months. We must reevaluate our semester/quarter system and install something more individual – more Multichronic! We must not confine ourselves to learning in one place. Connect the dots between spaces by blurring those boundaries.

Interaction is Fun. The value of our time on earth is measured by our pleasure, pride, accomplishments… satisfaction. These things drive our games. We play to have fun, to be pleased. To win, to brag, to be better, to win again. To be satisfied with and share our research, productivity, outcomes, goals, and levels. We block our most miserable experiences out and cherish those that we enjoyed. Your students will do the same. Challenge them.

Web 2.Ideology

In my Web 2.0 Learning Community meeting this morning, I mentioned some of the driving ideas behind those web 2.0 apps we’re finding so useful in our classes that are actually changing the way we teach and learn. I believe they are important elements in the foundation of a polychronic classroom and any assignment or project that uses this technology.

1. Creation
2. Collaboration
3. Community (Space/ Time)
4. Interaction (Fun)

Create your own textbook. Invent new ways of working – online or off, from home, the road, the office. Build a virtual classroom or better yet: a virtual campus. Draw your own illustrations, make your own models, or have your students do it…. all of it! We are users but we are also creators. Some of us write code that allows others to create pictures or stories. Learning happens when we make use of information. The cycle of – here’s the info, write it down, now repeat it back – is over! Make the student find the info, document it publicly, and then actually put the info to use.

Collaborate with students. Share experiences. Contribute to the collective conscience – share your knowledge. Add value, add purpose, add something! We are at a key point in history where every individual has the ability to contribute to a larger goal. Ideas, knowledge, and opinions are being shared without a price. Add a letter, a word, or a page… We’re building – and your students should be too. My students should be working together to give me PowerPoints, not the other way around.

Web 2.0 is about Community. About connections, about Space: Virtual space, private space, myspace, your tube. Mine, yours, ours. We learn what we know from WHO we know. Time online, in RL, on the road, on the phone, the polychronic! Responsible users are questioning the spaces we exist in, the space we release our information into – Is it private? Who can see it? We set permissions based on community relationships and establish relationships based on our level of interactivity. We move very fast on some things and extremely slow on others. Some of my students could probably move through one semester’s worth of content in one month. Others may need a few extra months. We must reevaluate our semester/quarter system and install something more individual – more Multichronic! We must not confine ourselves to learning in one place. Connect the dots between spaces by blurring those boundaries.

Interaction is Fun. The value of our time on earth is measured by our pleasure, pride, accomplishments… satisfaction. These things drive our games. We play to have fun, to be pleased. To win, to brag, to be better, to win again. To be satisfied with and share our research, productivity, outcomes, goals, and levels. We block our most miserable experiences out and cherish those that we enjoyed. Your students will do the same. Challenge them.

Paid to Learn

AP Article
Learning is supposed to be its own reward, but when that doesn’t work, should students get paid to do it?

That’s the question two Georgia schools are asking in a 15-week pilot program that is paying high-schoolers struggling in math and science $8 an hour to attend study hall for four hours a week.

The privately funded “Learn & Earn” initiative, an idea from former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, is touted as the first of its kind in the state and one of a few similar programs nationwide.

“We want to try something new,” said Jackie Cushman, Gingrich’s daughter and co-founder of the group funding the initiative. “We’re trying to figure out what works. Is it the answer? No. Is it a possible idea that might work? Yes.”

I was blown away when I heard about this! The grading system as economy… think about what that would do to a scholarship system. As it is now, you have to keep a certain grade point average to maintain your scholarship. What if scholarships were awarded post-results? What if students were actually paid for their grades… paid in scholarships.

Paid to Learn

AP Article
Learning is supposed to be its own reward, but when that doesn’t work, should students get paid to do it?

That’s the question two Georgia schools are asking in a 15-week pilot program that is paying high-schoolers struggling in math and science $8 an hour to attend study hall for four hours a week.

The privately funded “Learn & Earn” initiative, an idea from former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, is touted as the first of its kind in the state and one of a few similar programs nationwide.

“We want to try something new,” said Jackie Cushman, Gingrich’s daughter and co-founder of the group funding the initiative. “We’re trying to figure out what works. Is it the answer? No. Is it a possible idea that might work? Yes.”

I was blown away when I heard about this! The grading system as economy… think about what that would do to a scholarship system. As it is now, you have to keep a certain grade point average to maintain your scholarship. What if scholarships were awarded post-results? What if students were actually paid for their grades… paid in scholarships.

Paid to Learn

AP Article
Learning is supposed to be its own reward, but when that doesn’t work, should students get paid to do it?

That’s the question two Georgia schools are asking in a 15-week pilot program that is paying high-schoolers struggling in math and science $8 an hour to attend study hall for four hours a week.

The privately funded “Learn & Earn” initiative, an idea from former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, is touted as the first of its kind in the state and one of a few similar programs nationwide.

“We want to try something new,” said Jackie Cushman, Gingrich’s daughter and co-founder of the group funding the initiative. “We’re trying to figure out what works. Is it the answer? No. Is it a possible idea that might work? Yes.”

I was blown away when I heard about this! The grading system as economy… think about what that would do to a scholarship system. As it is now, you have to keep a certain grade point average to maintain your scholarship. What if scholarships were awarded post-results? What if students were actually paid for their grades… paid in scholarships.

OLN Week 3: Learning Communities

This year, I have been involved in two learning communities – one is the OLN Second Life Learning Community in Northwest Ohio and the other is a Web 2.0 LC hosted by BGSU’s Center for Teaching and Learning Technology.

As co-facilitator of the SLLC (blog here) we’ve discussed such things as virtual field trips, office hours, group projects and virtual visiting lecturers – some of which I was able to bring into the classroom. For example: I held regular virtual office hours last semester and was also able to have a artist from Japan speak about his work in Second Life.

I have used my Web 2.0 LC as a springboard for new innovations regarding this technology in the classroom. I’ve used blogs and wikis for both resource and assignments (remember, I teach 2D art) for several semesters and this semester I’ve decided to create a Facebook group for my class. So far, we’re only using it to keep up to date with what is going on in our School of Art, in our classroom, and with each other.

I would love for my students to be involved in a learning community. The style of exploring, sharing, and understanding that comes from the different levels of experience of everyone involved in an LC is so much different than their regular classroom study. Perhaps many of them would even learn better in such an environment (what works for us might work for them?). However, a lot of my students lack the time and/or motivation to do something beyond their already heavy class/work load.

Perhaps, the polychronic classroom would require and give college credit to student learning communities? If each student was given the chance to participate in an LC for credit, they might be able to investigate other topics of interest. Of course they have clubs for these things (like Martial Arts Club or the Comics and Cartooning Club) but learning isn’t stressed or even focused. Upper level students might even be given credit for leading a learning community.

Is this happening at your school?