SL

The podcast about the learning in Second Life inspired me greately. I realized that I need to get more acquiainted with it. The idea of virtual projects isn't new, but to here that someone tried it and it worked means to bring the theory close to life. I'd really like to try some of the virtual study experiences in SL. Derek wrote about body organs virtual study. I'd love to explore outospace, for example.
Dr.D told that SL creates virtual copies of realplaces. I wonder if there is a virtual St. Petersburg. If there is such a place, then it would be great to use it in my project.

Picture retrieved from: http://prblog.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/secondlife_1.jpg

Web 2.0

The article seemed to be a bit complicated and didn't give me a clear understanding of Web 2.0. I looked for some other explanations and went to Dr. Z's page. Here is the link that leads to different definitions of Web 2.0 and explains differences between Web 1.0 and 2.0
http://webdesign.about.com/od/web20/Web_20.htm

Dr.Z has a wonderful power point presentation about the web 2.0 gadgets
http://show.zoho.com/public/leighzeitz/Gadgets.ppt

Picture retrieved from: http://www.webmakerslounge.com/images/posts/web20revolution.jpg

Second Life and Science Fiction

I don’t know when Second Life appeared. But a read about it in one of the Russian modern science fiction book. The author gave there one interesting idea about people’s appearance. Young kids preferred the bodies of grown-ups; people with some physical defects chose strong with huge muscles bodies, women changed their figures for the perfect ones. Everyone was trying to look like an ideal person. But these ideals were told by the mass media. As the result, those people lost their visual individualities and looked the same, as the pictures in the journals or famous actors or singers.
This book was translated into English. I enjoyed reading it!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labyrinth_of_Reflections http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergey_Lukyanenko

Teaching millenials and baking bread

Yesterday we had an amazing class. We discussed really curious topics about Digital natives. And I continued this discussion with my roommate when came home.
Here a re the facts that attracted my attention:
· DN are multitask doers
· The pace of their life is really very fast
· They are team workers and collaborators
· They can’t make their own decisions
· They mix personal things and business
· On the other hand, they value their private time
· They are flexible
· Nonconformists are perfecting in 21st century skills (and it’s not a new thing in the whole world. Nonconformists seem to be more persistent, active, searching, discovering – they are rule-breakers. They are the ones to find something new!)
· Modern generation asks a lot of Why? Questions. In my opinion this is the result of new teaching methods and the reason for the development of collaborative work (constructivist model) at the same time
· G-generation has great expectations
· Millenials are impatient
· Net-generation kids don’t know how to work with the books, read and follow the written instructions
· If a child feels shy to communicate to a person face-to-face, he/she puts on a mask. Little kids would participate in the puppet theatre. Bigger kids would communicate in the Second Life. Digital technologies provide a perfect mask, give the students psychological safety and the chance to express themselves without feeling embarrassed.
· We talked about family relationships. Children can discuss some topics with their parents through computer. Nowadays families are more together not in the sense of spending time together, but parents always know what’s going on in their children’s heads, where their children are, and what they are doing. There is a constant mental interaction. Internet makes the world smaller. Even a phone call makes a great difference. I call my mom, and both of us feel OK. I felt being thrown out of my life when I came to the States and my cell phone didn’t work. Vkontakte (Russian version of the Facebook) provided the connection with the world again.
We also talked about including all senses in the teaching process (sound, motion, picture, taste). It’s one of the main principles in pedagogic. The new thing is that new technologies allow us to do it more effectively and faster. It is like baking bread many years ago and nowadays.

St. Petersburg

My topic is St. Petersburg for kids: history, culture, and traditions. I want it to be fun for the children to learn about such a big city in an entertaining way. This link provides me with the whole bunch of information about St. Petersburg. It also contains pictures, and links to other websites.
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Petersburg
Virtual tours: http://www.saint-petersburg.com/virtual-tour/
Virtual tours (videos): http://www.saint-petersburg.com/video/index.asp

Blogs

This week readings convinced me that the idea of using blogs for the educational purpose can work. Different links provided me with the information of evaluating blogs, and implementing them into the school curriculum. The new generation of the Digital natives spends a lot of time using the internet: chatting, blogging, sharing photos, music,videos, creating quizzes, interacting and acvtively exploring the new world of possibilities. This world has its own rules, because the community of people is engaged. One of the articles was discussing the netiquette rules that prevent rude words and deeds towards others. Internet helps new generation to grow active and interactive learners that demand the new look at the present day jobs.
Picture retrieved from: http://popsci.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/how20blog_badge_1.jpg

Tales of a Classroom Blogger
The Tethered Generation
Creating and Connecting//Research and Guidelines on Online Social and Educational Networking
WebLogs in Higher Education - Blog

Walking in the Forest

While I was signing up for My Space, Twitter, U-tube, Second Life , Facebook and Vkontakte more and more questions appeared. Now I know that if I want the whole world know about me, they will. I can post my pictures, videos, comments on the ideas I find interesting. That's so amazing! Such knowledge really makes people powerful! Now I'm obsessed by the idea of meeting my friends from Russia in the Second Life. But I don't know well yet how it works. Probably, I need some help from a person who feels free using the Second Life. It seems to be such fun!

I feel as if I'm walking in the huge forest of information. I want to know the names of all plants, birds and animals, and their habits. I know that there are other people in this forest. I just need to know the paths. There is so much work to do! Definitewly, this forest attracts me!

My First Post

Hi! This is my first post ever! Isn't that amazing?

I go to UNI. And now I know how to insert links and pictures. Thank you, Dr. Z!