Have you ever thought how you learn best? Is it through watching or trying things? Do you like having someone showing you first or do you prefer to have written guidelines? While evaluating the course in Internet Cultures we where asked whether we managed to learn through the different VLEs. Whether we managed to communicate through them with our colleagues. But it is important to know how one best learns. What suits him better when is introduced in something new. What is that thing on his character that makes him best learn? I was making those questions on myself and to some friends. A friend then suggested to try a questionnaire, which after choosing answers, lets you know how one learns best. I tried it and i found it very interesting. You have to try it too and tell me your results if you want to. By the way mine is:
* Visual: 3
* Aural: 6
* Read/Write: 9
* Kinesthetic: 10
You can try it on this site : http://www.vark-learn.com/english/page.asp?p=questionnaire
Don’t forget, after having got your results go and see what each one means. The site has other pages where each characteristic is described and shows how exactly do you learn and what you should and shouldn’t do.
We are in the middle of the course in the IOE and there is a mid-course evaluation about the different kinds of VLEs and the activities given each week. My comments about the questions given are the following:
For the first scale of the question, this kind of communication, either from the blackboard or the blogs, has not been the easiest for me. I used the blackboard for the first time five months ago but i still find it quite difficult to handle. What i mean is that this way of discussion is asynchronous and sometimes i lose the right order of the discussion. I am expected to sign in three or four times a week but although i do it every day, i can’t find it easy to read all the responses and understand what the point is about. Someone else can intervene in someone else’s answer and as a result the discussions may not lead to a certain way.
Moreover, you have to click on the first answer given, then to the next, and finally i tend to forget what the first question was about.
Also, as some people have already mentioned, what will happen when we cannot access the blackboard any more? Should we photocopy the answers given? This would be a great waste of time.
On the other hand, i haven’t used the blog for communication purposes. There are some comments on which i try to give a response but that’s all. I have used lots of videos since they give a different view on the blog and make it easier for some people to understand what the topic is about.
Next, as far as the readings and the pace of the module are concerned, i have to say that i am really satisfied. The balance between theory and practice has been just fine. As i mentioned in our discussion in Second Life on 10th of June, in my first online module, the readings and the activities where so many that i couldn’t really keep up. Every week i spent so many hours reading articles they gave us, that i was really stressed. In this module the pace is great. What is more, the readings are so interesting and informative. I really enjoy reading them since they are written in plain language and i am not stressed at all. We where given lots of time to familiarize with the blogs and we were allowed to have any content we want. The residentials have been very useful. I met the other colleagues and this made it easier for me to read and comment on their blogs. It was good that the residentials took part in two different days and i would recommend that there should be, at least for next year, another residential so as to help those who still feel that they can’t cope with their blogs, or any other matter they might be having.
Days and weeks go away so quickly! I didn’t realize that it is already Saturday and have written nothing in the blog. It must have been a full week because to be fair i didn’t think about it at all. I visited the blog today and i was surprised to realize that i wasn’t thinking of my audience at all! I think i must have gotten away from the pain barrier of having a blog and having a terrible need to write something for the audience. Of course there are days that i have nothing at all to write about. This is due to the fact that so many things happen that there is no motivation or inspiration left in order to share something with the readers.
Anyway, i hope everyone had a great week and i wish a beautiful Sunday to all of those who have finished their exams and are free to enjoy the beautiful days of summer …
And something different from my whole blog. Let me share with you this great video, the kid is superb!
It has been a really busy week. I did not have enough time and motivation to write something in my blog. It is not so easy to update it every week. This is why i hadn’t written something until today.
This week we had a meeting in Second Life (SL) with the classmates from the Internet Cultures module. It was our first meeting. It was not so easy to have a proper discussion since everybody was speaking and someone else might interrupt and there was no coherence in the discussion. There were many problems.
Lets take it from the beginning though. Not everybody from the course managed to be there. I don’t know the reason but i can guess. They might not have a proper internet connection at their homes, not a great computer to run SL , not enough time to get to grips with SL, they might be doing something else at the same time and finally maybe not very confident to use SL and have such a ‘face to face’ meeting. I hope in our next meeting there will be more people.
So, in the beginning we sat in a certain area where we could have a proper discussion since in the same place where we met, there were other groups and we could hear their discussions too! After we sat, we introduced to each other and we started talking about the whole experience of having an avatar in SL and doing things in there. But this was not a discussion. Everybody was telling his/her opinion and it was difficult to catch up. Moreover, i wanted to tell my opinion too and so i was writing as fast as i could. As a result, i was doing so many mistakes but no one seemed to care since they were struggling to write their opinion too.
Except for this i had problems with my picture. My graphics card is so old and my computer does not meet with the minimum requirements of SL. So, there were times in SL when i could see nothing else but myself and if i moved a little bit i would see everything in my screen move up and down. It was very upsetting but what else could i do?
Anyway, someone raised the question, why are there only beautiful and healthy avatars? Why do the shops sell beautiful and young faces and bodies? Can my avatar grow up or is it young forever? Obviously, SL is a place for socializing and hanging around with friends. There are handsome and beautiful avatars because when we meet with new people we want to give a great first impression. We want to look beautiful and make as many friends as we can. Since SL offers this opportunity why not? If in real life we are not as skinny as we want, or tall enough, or beautiful or young as we would like to, why not be in SL? Nobody can check what the truth is. Oh and you can even have another shape than a human being. As a result you don’t have to be a male or female and you can be whatever you want. You can make friends from both sexes and never reveal your true identity. Very convenient.
Also, i had read somewhere that some people make opposite sex avatars in SL. A man for example can make a female avatar for himself and pretend to be a woman. As a result he can have a relationship in there with a man and see from the woman’s scope how it is to be in a relationship with a man. Obviously there are no ethic rules in SL and you can be exposed to anything and anyone, so you should be very careful of what “friends” you make and never talk about personal things and data with someone whom you do not know!
Finally, there is a question of how might SL be used for educational purposes. What i feel is that SL can be used for educational purposes but for adults only and not children. There are so many dangers that children can be exposed in there. Anyone can approach them for any purpose and they are not safe at all. And there are some areas in SL which are for adults only and children shouldn’t see.
Anyway, this is a very interesting video for Science Learning Opportunities in Second Life
There are so many opportunities offered aren’t there? Through simulation systems scientists can try and do almost anything! Even a non-scientist can enter there and learn things that in real life would be impossible to learn. Even for children it would be fine to visit such places. I remember myself as a child when we conducted experiments in chemistry or biology and i always felt that if i could see this experiments how really did happen i would learn more easily than watching the teacher doing the experiment for us.
This blog was firstly created to serve the purpose of maintaining a blog for my MA media class. It was about a month ago that i posted my first entry fully enthusiastic that i would begin something by myself and other people would comment on it. As I read from the article “Why we blog” there are several motivations for blogging. I can say that my main motivation has been to provide comments and opinions; and maybe articulate ideas through writing about social networking.
I have to admit that this is not my first blog. I had begun another one last year where I was documenting my life and expressing ideas and opinions, but I deactivated my account after a while. The reason was that I did not feel motivated enough to continue writing. I was writing things about my life but what was the point? I did not have a great audience, the more passionate ones where my two closest friends, but no one else seemed to be interested about my blog. I was feeling too unimportant and that I was spending too much time for something that was worthless. I hope it will not happen the same with this blog too!
What reasons would you give for *not* carrying on with a blog?
As I already wrote, the main reason for not carrying on with a blog would be the lack of audience. As far as I see that other people are visiting my blog I will feel confident enough to continue blogging. I don’t think that I would stop my blog if I had nothing to say. There are so many things around us that affect our lives and we can have an opinion to express on them.
Who would you blog for? What sense of audience have you got when you are blogging? What evidence have you got for your blog being used by others?
For the moment, i believe that my main audience is my classmates from the media course. We are all trying to maintain our blogs and we expect from each other to read the blogs and comment on them. From the dashboard I have some indicators that other bloggers too have read my blog. They have reached it through certain tags which I have used in order to categorize my entries. Moreover, I have used a tool called blog stats which shows the total number of people who have visited the blog and which fortunately everyday seems to increase. After I finish the course my main target will be my friends and anyone else who is interested about social networking.
What are the benefits of blogging for (i) yourself and (ii) others?
In order to maintain the blog I have to be informed about social networks. I have to develop my own opinion and express it objectively in my blog. So, I have to be an “expert” about what I am writing about or at least have some knowledge about it. So, I read and search for articles, and I use the internet in order to stay informed. As a result, I broaden my knowledge too. Consequently, as the blog will be informative and will be sticking to facts, anyone else who will be reading it, will stay informed too. They might even understand what I will be writing about in more depth because my goal is to use plain English.
I have read that some people use blogs in order to earn money through using advertisements. I would never do such a thing and my opinion is that it is not right to exploit the readers in such unethical ways.
What have been the ‘unintended consequences’ of blogging?
Sometimes, i feel that I am disappointing my audience if I haven’t written something for a week. I feel guilty because I think that they visit my blog in order to read something new and they feel disappointed when they find that I haven’t included a new entry. There is no one to apologize to because it is my own blog but I keep thinking that I should have an entry at least once a week so as they remain satisfied.
Has anything surprised you about keeping a blog?
Well, it is quite difficult to keep a blog. You have to spend quite a lot of time in order to maintain it and write new stuff every week. I thought that it would be easy to express my opinion and exciting to receive comments by anyone who would read it. The truth is that I don’t feel free to express my opinion, I am not totally excited that I will have an online journal; I have to watch out for everything I write about. I should be very careful in order not to insult or hurt someone. I should be very well informed because anyone can proof what I am talking about might be wrong. And sometimes I feel that I don’t want to share anything with anyone. I would prefer to keep it for myself or at least for my friends. Why should I spend so much time and effort for somebody else who might not even appreciate what I am writing about?
Have you suddenly made lots of new online friends?
No, I haven’t made new online friends through my blog …
Has your social life take a turn for the worse?
Of course not …
Is it all a lot more boring and mundane than you expected?
Yes it is, but no one has ever managed to become good at something without spending lots of time and effort (unless he is a true talent of course) …
