After writing the reflection on the group work assignment tonight have decided to do some more research into how to faciliate a group more effective or find ways to encourage more learning espisods in the next group work assignment. Even though I am a trainer I think it takes a great deal of skill to encourage “social learning” in a group. Hopefully by the end of the Masters I would have acquired these skills.
I know I Know this was ages ago but am finally catching up with all my Blog posts so bear with me.
On March 27th -29th March The Virtual World Best Practices in Education (VWBPE) was held in Second Life. Jokaydia the learning community I am involved in presented a session which I was lucky to be part of the panel. “The islands of Jokaydia : Creating Communities of Practice in Second Life”. In this session panelist talk about the various learning communities which they were creating as well as describing their involvement in Jokaydia. The second part of the session was a tour of various locations of Jokaydia (not dissimilar to the road trips that Jo Kay aka Jokay Wollongong runs on a monthly basis in Jokaydia) and a practical lesson on building. I found this experience invaluable not only because I got to be on a panel for the first time but also made many contacts in particular a Lecturer from Scotland who teaches graduate students about virtual worlds she is not only a great sounding board for ideas but has provided me with a different perspective on how virtual worlds could be used for educational purposes.
References:
Virtual Worlds in Best Practice Conference in Education Wiki
http://wiki.vwbpe.org/index.php?title=Main_Page#Presentations Accessed March 2009, May 2009
Virtual Worlds in Best Practice Conference in Education Blog http://www.vwbpe.org/ Accessed March 2009, May 2009
Jokaydia Blog
http://jokaydia.com/2009/03/25/jokaydia-at-the-virtual-worlds-best-practices-in-education-conference/ Accessed March 2009-May 2009
I must admit I thought observing a learning community would be much easier than it really is. The first problem I have found is sometimes when there is an learning event I am unable to attend as I have other commitments (mainly work) as many of you may have read in my previous blog entry I am studying a group in second life. Like most people I can only attend these events in my spare time (which seems less and less these days) as I cannot down load second life on my work computer and have a play/or be part of the learning interaction. the second problem is That I have been easily distracted by the other things on second life namely going to parties have learnt a lot about how people interact on this medium but not really helping with my assignment. Thirdly finding time to read the readings so I can situate my experiences intotheoretical framework. Has anyone else had these problems so I am alone in this dilemma?
