Journal Article 5
Real-life Migrants on the MUVE
Stories of Virtual Transitions

By Ross A, Perkins
And Cathy Arreguin
Learning and Leading with Tecnology
May 2007


Muve is a multi-user virtual environment. Developed in the 1970’s Muve allows participants to communicate and work together with their “avatars” to create environments that can be explored or built at will. An avatar is an animated character controlled by the user.
One of the more popular Muves is Second Life created by Linden Labs, with hundreds of thousands worldwide users. It has caught the attention of educators, who see great possibilities. Universities and colleges use the main grid to teach traditional and distant learning classes. There are grids sets up for different age groups. One of the most popular with educators is the grid set up for 13-17 year olds. In this grid a teacher can go in and set up islands, then give her students instructions on what to develop on each island. They can recreate a time, event or lifestyle from the past, or develop what their own world would look like.
Second Life is one of the easier programs to use. With a little help and some practice students can be developing their own “worlds” in no time. Some of the assignments that have been successful are to have the student go in and develop a timeline of a particular event such as WWII. On the time line the student can recreate places and objects from that time frame that the average student would not have the ability to see or experience. They can use their avatar visit another student’s world and ask questions on how and why they came to the designs that they used.
Students who have used second life in their education experiences have claimed a new wider understanding of the world around them, and social causes. They also feel a sense of control over their own learning. This seems like an amazing teaching tool and has endless possibilities for students.


Question: What are some of the advantages to using this program?

Answer: The program has endless possibilities. A good educator can come up with a wide variety of different aspects to use it for, History, Math, Social Studies and Literature to name a few. The best part is the student is completely in charge; the project can be as in-depth and detailed as the student wants. Like in any assignment the level of effort will vary with the students, but most teachers who have used the system have been amazed at the results they see in their students work.

Question: How safe is the system?

Answer: Whenever a student has access to the computer and through it the world, safe guards need to be in place. From my understanding of the system it is restricted system. Restricted in the sense that only people who the educator or teacher has approved can have access to the “island” or materials set up for their group.

Journal Article 4
Digital Games in Education:
The Design of Games-Based Learning
Environments
By Begona Gros
Journal of Research on Technology in Education

The main idea in this article is that teachers need to incorporate technology into their classrooms in order to have their students prepared for the digital world they will inhabit. Children learn about the virtual world when they are quite young thru video games. While video games can be used as teaching tools, most games are based on violence and mystical themes, which is not always desirable.
In recent years the development of educational games has increased in the educational field but not in the gaming field. With the advancement of technology it is now possible to accurately simulate situations that a student in real live could not normally experience. It should be pointed out that there are two systems simulation and gaming. In gaming the child reacts to the program but is not part of the program. In a simulation program the student becomes a part of the system and interacts more with the program. This technology has endless possibilities in almost every subject a student would be involved. In America the educators tend to look at the structural characteristics of the game, instead of the content and skills. The research for educational purposes of computer games is not well established, some believe because of the lack of academic creditability.
Computer games began development in the late 1950’s. In the beginning educational computer games were developed with the idea that learning was achieved by practicing certain game skills by repetition. The second generation of educational computer games addressed the cognitive learning approach. This approached identified that people come to the game with individual skill levels and experiences. These games were developed to be specific to certain learners. The next generation of educational games looked at the broader use of the games, it looked at the social aspects of the games and developed the position of the facilitator, whose job it is to direct the use of the game and identify it’s use in the classroom.
According to this article there are seven main types of games:

• Action games: These games are mostly first generation and are reaction based.
• Adventure games: The player must complete a list of test to advance to the next level (virtual world)
• Fighting games: These games involve fighting against either another player or the computer, and usually have no educational value.
• Role-playing games: The player assumes the characteristics of some person or creature.
• Simulations: The player becomes more involved in the game; they must achieve a goal to advance to another level.
• Sports games: A reenactment of an actual sport.
• Strategy game: These games recreate a historical or fictional situation and the player must develop a plan to achieve a particular goal.

Many of the games developed now can be a combination of two or even three of these categories.
It is surprising the amount of time student spend on computers outside of class is the same for boys and girls. While boys are thought to spend more time playing computer games, there actually is not a real difference until they reach the ages of 14-18. Since gaming is thought to help with computer skills, there is concern that girls may not be developing the computer skills to keep them competitive with boys, and ready for a computer based work-force. In response to this concern companies have tried to develop games that would appeal to the female audience. Games directed toward girls or ones with non-violence themes have not done well in sales with the exception of Sims and Barbie Fashion Designer. In recent surveys, both genders claim equal knowledge of computers and time spent on computers.


Question: Is it possible to develop a game that will be attractive to both genders?

Answer: From the information in this article the answer is a yes followed by a no. There are games on the market, Sims for example that has aspects in them that are set up to attract both genders. The game has the ability to design and build houses and buildings, and to set up businesses all of which should attract males to the games. While at the same time it has the people and the decorating of the houses, buildings and businesses that should attract females. While the game does attract both sexes the way they go about playing the game is different. Females tend to spend more time developing their people and the buildings they create than actually becoming involved with the simulation, while males want to get started with the simulation.


Question: Of the seven types of games listed, which would be best for an educational setting?

Answer: A game that combines aspects of adventure, strategy, and role-playing, would be the best. Adventure would require the player to achieve a goal before going onto the next level. Strategy would enable the creator to develop the game to teach or reinforce a lesson during a specific time or place in history. And role-playing to tie in with strategy, and make the game more authentic with characters from that time period.

Journal Article 3
A War of Words
By: Jim Paterson


Plagiarism is a problem in most schools, from grade school through Universities. Technology has the ability to catch students who plagiaries, one company claims to having reduce plagiarism by 80%. This use of technology is now being debated between those who support it and those who see it as an invasion of privacy, and accusing the student before there is proof of guilt. Using the technology to catch the students doing something wrong, but not showing the student how to do research the right way is not educating the student. “Technology is no substitute for good teaching.”
Over the last ten years there have been many companies that have developed software that is designed to help students learn the difference between plagiarism and paraphrasing. The software helps students search for information in a controlled style and directs them on how to cite sources, and placing their information onto note cards. These note cards can then be arranged in any order the student wants, and then used to write their assignment.


Question: Are plagiarism software 100% reliable?

Answer: According to the article the technology available today has it’s shortcomings. Some programs have been known to give false positive, accusing an innocent student and affecting their future. The software cannot have records of every book or article ever written, allowing some guilty students to get away with plagiarism. There are also the students who will plagiaries, but changes enough words so that the software does not detect the plagiarism.


Question: Should a teacher relay on a software program to teach students how to do
research?

Answer: Software alone should not be used to teach students how to do research and the difference between plagiarism and paraphrasing. Teachers should instruct the students on the difference and the best way to paraphrase a sentence or idea. The software should be used after the student understands the concepts, and then only as a research tool.

Journal Article 2
Infusion or Integration
By Kimberly Ketterer


Kimberly Ketterer PhD. is an instructional technology coordinator. Through her travels and interaction with students and teachers, she has found some confusion about the words infusion and integration and their incorrect interchangeable use. Infusion and Integration are terms that are common in educational conferences these days, but not always correctly. Infusion is defined as “An introduction of a new element into something.” An example of this could be to place a computer in a class for the students to research and write reports. Integration is defined as “The intermixing of people or items previously segregated.” An example of this could be watching a presentation that includes written text along with clip-art or photos.


Question: Is an infusion of technology equipment helpful in the classroom?

Answer: In today’s society with the advancement made, the use of technology is as needed as pens and paper were to the previous generation. All students must leave school with a basic understanding of technology and how it can enhance their daily lives.

Question: Is technology being integrated into the classrooms?

Answer: After the research done for this class, and the observations made to classrooms in our own community, I would say that most teachers do not integrate technology into their classrooms as much as they could. The few classes that I observed actually using the computers in their classes had the students go into a program that basically played word games. After learning from this class all the different aspects of technology available I am surprised more teachers don’t take advantage of all the resources.

Journal Article 1
Power of the Mashup
By Suzie Boss and Jane Krauss


A mash-up is a “hybrid application that draws from multiple sources to create something new.” Jerome Burg a teacher with over thirty years experience has taken this technology and intergraded it into the required readings of his literary students. Through Goggle-Earth and custom files that Burg created, his students are able to virtually travel with a literature character through the key locations of the story. This opens up the story to the student and enables them to get a deeper understanding. Some of the stories that Burg has made available with the new technology are Candide, The Grapes of Wrath, and Night. In the Grapes of Wrath he has added a video clip of an actual dust storm so the students get the “feeling” of being in an actual dust storm. Another function of this technology could be to let the student use Google Earth to create their own custom files from the stories they read and then discuss why they developed their files the way that they did.
Another teacher, David Fagg in Australia, wanted to use technology that his students were familiar with such as their digital cameras and I-pods and use them to enhance their learning experience. He developed a plan where the students used their equipment and researched historical sites around their hometowns. They were able to record, analyze and present information they collected through their I-pods. This information can then be shared with others in the class or even around the world.


Question: Is the technology interfering with the student’s actual reading and
understanding the story?

Answer: When first reading about this technology I related it to a movie or new video game that would “take” the student on a journey through the story. I was concerned that the student would do a minimal amount of reading and let the computer do most of the work. After researching the system it does not take the place of reading for the student, but enhances certain sections. The student reads the story and at certain places it will give them supplementary information. This information may be a video clip, a link to an on line reference, photograph or other resources pulled from the Internet. I believe this interactive technology will make reading, required literature more enjoyable for the student and they will get a deeper experience from the story.



Question: Is this technology only for older students?

Answer: While the technology outlined in this article dealt with older students who could operate the systems with little or no adult supervision, I believe a teacher could adjust the technology to fit any age group. While younger kids could not do research on their own for the I-pod project, a good teacher could develop the Goggle-Earth project for any reading age level.