Currently It's Emerging Tech

I'm trying to keep up to date with my emerging tech course, I'm finding that it is tough at times. We are discovering and playing with so many "toy's" right now, that it's hard to find that happy medium of keeping up with what's required. I still think we are discovering what technology is more important then others. I am working on my new podcast, as well as doing research for my group project, blogging, twittering, and trying to stay active in SL. The group project thing is a bit more work then I expected, because there is not a lot of research based information out there on Collaborative Learning and Wiki's. It's good that we have a work day this week because I think we all need some time to research and meet on our own right now. I plan on being productive this week, so let's see if I can keep up!

My 1st Podcast

I just finished my first podcast and I'm pretty happy with it. For it to be my first time, I think I did a pretty good job communicating with the listeners. I have a problem with being too picky, and can be a perfectionist at times. So I found myself doing one take about 10 times a piece. Steve said that he did his in about 5 total takes, that amazes me! He does have the gift of thorough communication with him being in the field of ministry, so I can't be too hard on myself! I know that you're suppose to just let it flow but I find that to be difficult, I just think before I talk too often. I wish I could have used my sound effects and sounds a little more effectively, but we get to do a second podcast in a few weeks. I should be more comfortable, and the second time around should be less stressful.

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Scavenger Hunt

I completed my scavenger hunt on Tuesday in Second Life and it was as fun as it was challenging. I nearly completed the hunt before class started and then did a little searching while in class. I reviewed Tiffany's blog on the scavenger hunt and she expressed how difficult it was to find #'s 8 & 9. I found it difficult to find them as well as they were located underwater and in the sky. My effort towards finishing the scavenger hunt then led me to explore new islands and change features on my appearance and before I new it...I was being distracted in class. This is what happens to me in real life with gaming, and it is why I try to stay away from gaming and other addictive technology! I can admit, I do not know when to quit sometimes which is why I try to stay away from my potential addictions. I wonder if this may be a future problem for gamers if trying to work in an online environment? There was a research article that was published this past summer on the addiction of gaming and teens. I'm going to look it up and see if I can blog on it sometime this semester. Anywayz...

My hunt was completed during the week, I'm not quite sure where to post my snapshots though? I sent out a twitter mass message to see if anyone knew but didn't get a response and the files are too big to send through e-mail. So some feedback would be good from any of my classmates in cyberspace! Was it just me, or were the most difficult flags right under our noses?

My Technological Theme Direction

I have been pondering what I am going to do my theme on for a while now. I have a passion for art and design, I've been applying this passion by combining it with the use of technology as of recently. With that explained, I had a talk with Dr. Z. about what direction I should take with my theme and he gave me some inspiration to run with. I want to teach a topic that I have experience and a passion for, but I am not a supporter of teaching graphic and visual elements to an online audience. I say this because I am a visual and I would have a touch time just following a long with a text book that should be read, and assignment layouts that have due dates every other week with no visual support and guidance. I need to interact with my instructor and have examples demonstrated to be effective for me to learn. I could learn graphic elements online, but the knowledge would not be as effective as it would be in a classroom environment for me.
What has inspired me is teaching in a virtual world environment, Second Life is a good example of the capabilities and effective learning that can take place with my topic. Being able to show examples and visual displays in a 3 dimensional setting, or play movies and slide shows are all possibilities. I'm still getting acquainted with SL, so I know I have a lot to learn. But I have a lot of inspirational juices flowing with this subject matter. I look forward to developing it.
I have listed a link below is one that I am reviewing for my podcast. I think it should be beneficial as it addresses how to podcast for education and corporation.
http://www.learningcircuits.org/2005/jun2005/0506_trends

Exploring w/Emerging Tech

We had a fun and active class in Emerging Technologies this past week. I followed through with being active in Second Life and I've been working on my avatar, I've looked a bit crazy at times. There were times when I tried on come pretty funky looking clothes and I also got stuck in a womans figure for a while lol. With some of the avatars that I've seen though, that's not so crazy in SL. I'm just trying to get comfortable with working with the software for now. My professor Dr. Z., had the class get set up with Twitter. It's a short blogging device, I can see how it can come in handy in the world of updating news. I downloaded the icon shortcut to my desktop so that I would not have to log in on the web every time. It worked for a couple days, but now it's telling me that "no tweets are available" and I can't access it at all. I'll try to work these bugs out with in the next few days.

Second Life

Today I finished flying around in Second Life and trying to manage the tutorials. I'm not the most patient man in the world, so I started experimenting with the tools and options before the tutorials were complete. It is so strange, because I find myself interacting with people in the virtual world similar to the way that I interact with people in the real world. I am not one to go up and strike a conversation with anybody, and I often avoid it at times with strangers. I find myself trying not to bump into people, and not "stair" at them if they have on odd attire lol. I was reading my classmate Sarah's blog and she had a lot of frustration with getting to know the software. I had similar problems, but I like the trial and error methods so I just kept testing tools out. Sarah was saying that through her frustrations she can see the value that the software can have on the educational and training fields and I agree. If I'm interacting the way that I would in the real world in this virtual world, I think that learning can also be just as effective. I have some more flying around to do, so I'll be posting on additional findings again soon. In the meantime you can take a look at Sarah's blog and give her some feedback about what you think: Sarah Rad

Google Body?

Students at the University of Stanford and NASA have teamed up to build a virtual tour and look inside of the human body. The way that this procedure works is looking at the body from a 3-dimensional perspective, it was originally designed for medical students to become more comfortable with working on "virtual" patients before they start working on actual people. The project has developed an interest with merging with Google (as if google doesn't already run the virtual world), but the merger would be similar to Google Maps only a look inside the human form. Take a look at the link to read up on the procedure. The date listed is from June of 2007, but I caught this story on the Channel 7 news on Friday night. I decided to "Google" the title of the story and this was one of the first hits that came back lol. It is the same program, so review and let me know what you think if interested. Click here to view the article.