Reflect on Second life experience – Week 14 Blog Post

In Second Life terminology, an experience is a set of avatar interactions created by one or more scripted objects.  With an experience key, creators can build their experiences so that a user only needs to grant avatar permissions once for the entire experience rather than separately for each scripted object within it.  These permissions allow the experience to animate your avatar, attach items to your avatar, track your camera, control your camera, teleport your avatar, and alter your movement controls.

The open-ended environment of this virtual community is part of SECOND LIFE'S appeal and charm, and there’s ample opportunity for kids to flex their creative muscles (though the tools to do so are somewhat clunky). Visitors will find socializing, entertainment, games, and abundant opportunities for learning (sit in on a classroom discussion, run a business, and learn to play an instrument). Plus, they can buy, sell, and develop land; build structures, and shop. Avatars can even fly! Certainly, there’s nearly as much to do in this world as there is in the real world. But that’s what also makes it a dangerous environment for kids. Without the safeguards that were in place at Teen Second Life, teens are more likely to wander into -- intentionally or unintentionally -- adult-themed areas or overhear inappropriate conversations or chat with someone who isn’t who they claim to be. Yes, it’s an engaging, creative place full of endless possibilities. But left unchecked or unmonitored, that may also present the biggest concern.

Second Life allows for great expression and creativity and customization of ones avatar. The freedom is endless in Second Life. The creator of SL has as his signature in the SLforums a quote by Mahatma Gandhi "You must be the change you wish to see in the world. " Second life is user created. 99.9% of what you see in world was made by a member. There is no game to second life but there are many games in second life. Anything you can dream, you can build. Well at least you can try to build it,lol. Second life is the closest thing the the met averse I have seen. They recently made joining completely free. You only need pay a fee if you wish to own land. No the graphics aren't cutting edge, but the creativity and imagination behind what you find in world is top notch. It's not for everyone, but you will never know if it is for you until you try it. And even if it is not what you expected second life gives you the tools to make it what you want it to be. It is definitely worth checking out.

Mobile E-Learning – Week 13 Blog Post

Mobile Learning (mlearning) is a revolution in e-Learning. Learn everything about the trends, the advantages and many more from our top eLearning authors.

Most organizations are now open to the idea of taking advantage of the increase in smartphone and tablet use in the workplace mobile learning for eLearning delivery. This increases the availability and accessibility of training for the employees, who can now utilize their time learning even when out of office. But the increasing use of mobile-enabled learning content creates a set of challenges for eLearning developers. Here is how effective mobile learning design can be the first step to successful mobile learning delivery.

Here are some mobile learning design strategies to deliver impactful learning through mobile devices:

1.      Design innovations.
Mobile learning courses should be built with a design that ensures easy navigation as ease-of-use should be the priority. Even if the courses are textual, there should be an effort to keep on-screen text minimal by employing design strategies. For instance, when creating an informative course for an organization, explanations about the various safety laws that govern a country were imparted as simple interactivity of click-to-reveal within the image. Not only did it lessen the OST, but enhanced learners’ interest by giving them “something to do”.

2.      Interactive diagrams.
To make learning more interesting and provide real mobile learning designers can introduce various graphics into the courses. In addition to generic images that lighten up the screen, informative graphics provide impactful learning opportunities. For instance, for learning courses that explain the procedure of evacuation during an emergency, we utilized an interactive diagram outlining the procedures in a sequential and logical manner. It not only facilitated effective reading on mobile devices, but also increased the recall ability of the learners.

3.      Acronyms.
This may need some creative thinking, but acronyms can be included to help learners remember with ease and for long. The acronyms can also be made interesting by adding clickable details, which help in gaining learner interest and make the content suitably detailed. In the case of concepts crucial to the learning outcome, this can be an interesting way to increase learner interest and enable them to remember and apply the knowledge at the workplace, whenever necessary.

4.      Embedded video.
With increased technological development, mobile devices can now support a lot of different media elements. This has created a number of options for mobile learning designers. The inclusion of video in the courseware can add to the interactivity within the courseware and make it more appealing to the learner. If the courseware is text-extensive, the video element grabs the learners’ attention and retains it for long. Mobile learning courses that have a short video at the beginning of the program can help learners understand the scope and relevance of the learning material.

5.      Mobile assessments.
Most eLearning courses include assessments that can reflect how much the learner has learned as well as retained. Mobile assessments of various types can help instructors, as well as learners, analyze the learning effort. Most mobile learning courses can be accessed through different devices and the learning impact becomes huge when assessments are also accessed on these devices. The scores and progress can be automatically synched, and the learner can resume from where he left.

Hence, it can be concluded that mobile learning has moved on from the nascent stage and that there is a vast choice for mobile learning developers that can create impressive mobile learning design to make learning impactful as well as interesting. The learning design and technology used to deliver mobile learning need to go hand in hand for the success of mobile learning delivery.

Reference: http://elearningindustry.com/impressive-mobile-learning-design-first-step-successful-mobile-learning-delivery

Simulations in e-Learning: The power of experiential learning - Week12

Having simulations in any learning section helps the learner to tackle the real time scenarios which help them learn faster and the knowledge provided during the learning session with simulations help them remember the lessons for long time because overall it becomes an experience rather than just learning . 

There are varieties of learning games which helps in stimulating the scenarios for learners. 

digital specializes in gasification design, implementing embedded, collaborative, simulation and immersive game experiences for clients, including The Walt Disney Company, Yum Brands, Cisco Systems, Genentech/Roche, and other organizations. digital staff includes game developers from Electronic Arts, who help our instructional designers align game theory and gameplay with instructional design to better engage the “game-based generation”.

Embedded games are sometimes called “casual” or “extrinsic” games. These games allow learners to engage with the content in a fun way, while reinforcing the learning objectives through play. Embedded gaming strategies can include drag-n-drop, sequencing, matching, trivia, etc.

digital develops custom embedded games or you can use our Direct-to-WEBrapid content authoring tool within our proprietary, learning management system, Knowledge Direct, to create interactive eLearning using Microsoft PowerPoint.

Embedded games are a simple way to include game-based learning in your organization.

Game Based Simulations

Digital Interactive is a strong proponent of the “Learning by Doing” model, pioneered by Jean Piaget. For a game-based simulation, Digital’s instructional designers apply game design and modeling. The simulations enable learners to apply their knowledge and skills in a simulated environment.

To create more engagement, Digital’s unique Story Arc simulations combine story and simulation to create engaging problem-based learning experiences, where learners can live out the experiences, as they would in the real world.
Digital has designed and developed Story Arc simulations for Disney, Yum! Brands restaurants, Hilton Worldwide, Symantec Corporation and many others. For the Florida Virtual School, digital designed the Virtual Frog Dissection game for middle school students. 

Reference: http://www.digitecinteractive.com/game-based-learning-simulations/ 

Virtual World & Virtual Reality – Week 11 Post

Virtual reality is making a big comeback, and virtual worlds are being rebranded as virtual reality right and left. There’s nothing particularly wrong with that — immersive virtual worlds are a natural fit for virtual reality.

But virtual reality is more than just virtual worlds with extra immersion. “Immersion squared” or — with audio — “immersion cubed.”

There are some key differences that experience designers need to be aware of.

1. The 3D effect is natural

The user doesn’t just come to identify with their avatar on a screen — the user actually is inside that avatar, inside the virtual world. No extra cognitive leap is required to think of the virtual world as a real place.

2. Forced first person view

The camera can’t loiter around the avatar’s shoulders, or fly around, or zoom in on in-world objects or displays, or hold still for pre-made animated scenes. Any unnatural camera movement not only destroys immersion, but increases vertigo and could make users nauseous.

The forced first person view also makes the entire virtual experience far more subjective, since the user is right in the middle of it. Things are flying at you, not at the avatar.

3. No distractions

With a traditional viewer, a virtual world is only a click away — or a flick of the eyes away — from a Web browser, or an email inbox, or whatever is on the user’s desk or elsewhere in their surrounding physical environment.

While wearing a virtual reality headset, you cant look away, or have the physical world distract you. There is no break to the “flow” of being in the immersive environment.

4. Isolation

What this lack of distraction can also lead to is isolation. You feel as though it’s just you and the virtual world — and the things in it — and it’s harder to ask for help, except to someone else who is also in the world.

5. Vulnerability

When playing a scary video game or watching a movie, you can always glance away from the screen to the living room around you to reassure yourself that you’re not in any actual danger from the on-screen monsters. The same applies to traditional virtual worlds.

The intelligent, modern part of your brain knows that the virtual environment is just that — virtual — but the primitive part your brain where your fear responses live isn’t smart enough to tell the difference.

With virtual reality the safety net of the external visual cues gets removed. It’s just you and the virtual space.

Reference: http://www.hypergridbusiness.com/2014/08/5-key-differences-between-virtual-worlds-and-virtual-reality/

Podcasting – Week 10 Post

The word “podcasting” is a portmanteau combining the words “broadcasting” and “iPod.” In case you have had your head in the sand recently or don’t keep up with popular technology an iPod is a portable music player produced by Apple Computers. Apple was lucky/smart enough that their brand was wrapped into a term for a new technology much like the Sony Walkman becoming the popular name for a portable radio/cassette player or inline skates being called “rollerblades”, which is brand name for a company that produced inline skates.

Although podcasting first found popularity within the techie set, it has since caught on with the general public. Log on to one of several podcast sites on the Web, and you can download content ranging from music to philosophy to sports. Podcasting combines the freedom of blogging with digital audio technology to create an almost endless supply of content. Some say this new technology is democratizing the once corporate-run world of radio.

Podcasting is a free service that allows Internet users to pull audio files (typically MP3s) from a podcasting Web site to listen to on their computers or personal digital audio players. The term comes from a combination of the words iPod (a personal digital audio player made by Apple) and broadcasting. Even though the term is derived from the iPod, you don't need an iPod to listen to a podcast. You can use virtually any portable media player or your computer.

Unlike Internet radio, users don't have to 'tune in' to a particular broadcast. Instead, they download the podcast on demand or subscribe via an RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed, which automatically downloads the podcast to their computers. The technology is similar to that used by TiVo, a ­personal video recorder that lets users set which programs they'd like to record and then automatically records those programs for later viewing.

In this article, you'll learn how podcasting works, discover where to find podcasts and how to listen to them. You'll also find out what tools you need to create your own podcast and how to promote it, as well as hear what industry analysts have to say about the future of this burgeoning technology and its counterpart, video podcasting.

Reference:

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/internet/basics/podcasting.htm

https://www.entrepreneurs-journey.com/230/what-is-a-podcast/

Blogging – Week 9 Post

Blog, short for web log, an online, regularly updated journal or newsletter that is readily accessible to the general public by virtue of being posted on a website. Blogs typically report and comment on topics of interest to the author, and are usually written and posted using software specifically designed to facilitate blogging; they include hyperlinks to other websites and, often, photos, video clips, and the like. The most recent entry by the blogger is posted at the beginning of the blog, with earlier entries following in reverse chronological order; comments and other responses to the blog by readers are often posted after each entry. 

Although some bloggers have (or have achieved) prominence and expertise that makes them as influential in politics and other areas as established journalists, reviewers, and critics (some of which maintain blogs themselves), many bloggers reach relatively few readers and discuss matters of largely personal interest. Blogs also have been used by politicians, businesses, and others to keep voters, customers, and the like informed on matters of common interest; they can function as a significant alternative to television, newspapers, and other mainstream media, especially in nations where the media are controlled or censored by the government. Bloggers have at times broken important news stories or marshalled public opinion on a matter of public interest.
Online journals first appeared in the early 1990s. The development in the late 1990s of software that made updating an online journal easier and the subsequent rise of websites that specialized in hosting blogs spurred the rapid growth of blogging in the first years of the 21st cent., and by the mid-2000s there were millions of blogs on the Internet. By the end of 2010, however, social networking services such as Facebook and microblogging services such as Twitter had superseded blogs in some areas.

This is a BIG one that so many people overlook. Before you start blogging, take a look at your schedule – work, family, exercise, all of it. How much time do you really have to dedicate to your blog? If it’s an hour a week, that’s great, but it’s unlikely that you’ll publish 3 posts per week in that hour.

It’s important when you start blogging, to be consistent, so don’t make the mistake of putting too much pressure on yourself. Here’s my recommendation… Set the goal of writing one post per week and if you find that’s too easy, then try for 2 posts per week. Depending on your topic and your persona, that may be more than enough.

Reference:

 http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/blog.aspx

https://theblogpress.com/blog/5-questions-answer-start-blogging/

edWeb

edWeb:

edWeb is a social and learning network which helps provide lot of information in various fields. It helps students learn new things which are out there with very detailed explanation. The people who post on this networking site are faculties, teacher and librarians shares their views with others.

edWeb is a place where educators who are looking for different ways of improving educational qualities and improve teaching can get together and share their knowledge with others to help them enhance their knowledge and teaching abilities.

Everyone in today’s world are trusty for knowledge and they want everything on the go, this platform provides just that and more. This platform allows the educators to get together on the social network, conduct web seminars and engage in more diverse conversations to provide and share knowledge with each other.

Here are few things this portal provides:

• Focused exclusively on professional collaboration in education
• Provides outstanding free professional learning programs
• Has privacy options to support educators’ needs
• Is not blocked by schools/districts
• Provides easy, yet robust Web 2.0 tools
• Provides the personal training and support that educators need to move forward faster with technology