SL Cohort News & Discussion Recap - Week 2

[Fleep]

Hi all,

A brief summary of Week 2 of the Second Life Cohort meetings for the Connectivism course, full transcripts/archives at: http://chilbo.wikispaces.com/SLCohortMeetingsTranscripts

Changed Meeting Location

• We've discovered that the Connectivism Reading Room is a more convenient place to meet for our weekly discussions.  All future discussions will be held in the Connectivism Reading Room in the Connectivism Village at:  http://slurl.com/secondlife/Madhupak/16/70/66
  

Connective Village Map

• The Connective Village Main Gate is located in world at:  http://slurl.com/secondlife/Madhupak/28/87/65
  

Add Your Blog

• Members of the cohort want to read each others' blogs and websites about the Connectivism Course, so we've started a page on the wiki.  If you aren't comfortable editing the wiki or don't want to take the time to mess with it, just reply to this email with the blog name and address where you are posting your CCK08 related content, and we'll add it for you.  Add your blog to the wiki at: http://chilbo.wikispaces.com/SL+Cohort+Blogs
  

Claiming a Home/Office

• Home/office buildings are available for members of the cohort to use for the duration of the course.  To move into a home, just pick one that looks empty and move in!  No need to sign up!  Why have a home/office?  If you don't already have a home in SL, it can be a good place to change your clothes, practice your object manipulation skills, and have semi-private conversations.  You can also provide more information about your interests and who you are so your classmates can get to know you better.  To claim a home, visit the residential area of the Connectivism Village at:  http://slurl.com/secondlife/Madhupak/129/53/57
  

Tool Demonstration

• Fellow classmate Graham Mills gave an excellent demonstration this week of his StoryMachine tool, which helps visualize nodes and connections in 3D!  His sample is located in the Sandbox area of the Connectivism Village, and he also has provided us with a FREE copy of the tool in the Spare Room.  Take a look at Graham's work in the Sandbox at:   http://slurl.com/secondlife/Madhupak/51/46/64
  

Discussion Recaps

Tuesday, September 16, 2008 
Full Transcript at: http://chilbo.wikispaces.com/connect_091608

In Attendance: Fleep Tuque, Wainbrave Bernal, Olando7 Decosta, Kita Coage, Alice Burgess, Jeff Kurka, Graham Mills, Margarette Fouroux, Rudi Rieko, Conaway Bing, Daffodil Fargis, Birdie Newcomb, Telmea Story, Blanche Maynard, Sine Rennahan, Tristana Trafalgar

Notes: Interesting discussion about whether not Connectivism is a theory, and which aspects of the theory we find most interesting. Some choice quotes from the discussion:

    * Wainbrave Bernal: [...] I'd like to add that there is an EMERGENT quality to the number of connections made within a given learning system that makes this a powerful concept
    * Telmea Story: I lke the fact that what we are doing in this course may be defining and verifying some aspects of connectivism
    * Blanche Maynard: in my view, connectivism isn't new, but technology allows it to be done at a much more larger scale
    * Jeff Kurka: I understood that as connections become more complicated we begin to use new methods....and technology is one that helps us in understanding more complex understanding

In the second half of the session, we toured the Connectivism Village area and Graham Mills gave us a demo of the terrific StoryMachine tool, which helps visualize nodes and connections in 3D! We would like to do some group project work in Second Life as homework assignments.

Thursday, September 18, 2008
Full Transcript at:  http://chilbo.wikispaces.com/connect_091808

In Attendance: Fleep Tuque, Birdie Newcomb, Spiral Theas, Yvonne Anthony, Arielion Clawtooth, Hilde Hullabaloo, Clump Voom, Alleara Snoodle, Kim Link, Salina Sukra, Sail Wozniak

Notes: Many people had not done all of the readings for this week, and the link to the Course Outline did not seem to be working, so we teleported down to the Connectivism Reading Room and held the discussion there. Some highlights from the discussion:

• A discussion about the possible gendered differences between how male and female brains make connections (Yvonne Anthony: I wonder whether male brains and female brains connect in the same way)
• Solo activity - that some learning/knowledge making is NOT done within a learning network. (Spiral Theas: but there is also a need, at certain times, for just straight reading and solo work.) (Salina Sukra: Reading is ITSELF.. its own. valid.. EXPERIENCE.....)
  
• The rest of the conversation focused on dissecting the five major implications for educational theorists from Downes' Learning Networks and Connective Knowledge paper about _what knowledge is_ and _how knowledge is formed_. 
  

Since we often end up down in the Connectivism Village anyway, it seems to make sense for us to start meeting there to begin with instead of in the Shrubbery Amphitheatre. A discussion table has been placed in the Connectivism Reading Room for this purpose.



The next discussion is scheduled for Sunday, 9/21 at 5PM SLT (PDT/-7GMT) in the Connectivism Reading Room.  Hope to see you there!

- Chris/Fleep


Chris M. Collins (SL: Fleep Tuque)
University of Cincinnati Second Life Learning Community
Second Life Ambassador, Ohio Learning Network
Co-Chair, Second Life Education Community Conference
UCit Instructional & Research Computing
University of Cincinnati
303G Zimmer Hall
PO Box 210088
Cincinnati, OH 45221-0088
(513)556-3018
chris....@uc.edu
fleep...@gmail.com

UC Second Life:  http://homepages.uc.edu/secondlife
OLN Second Life: http://www.oln.org/emerging_technologies/emtech.php
SLEDcc 2008:  http://sledcc.wikispaces.com

[Sia Vogel]

I have an account in chilbo wiki (I thought), but it is not allowed to place something there. May be I don't understand what to do in a right way. My blog is http://siavogel.edublogs.org/ The name is World Wide Wiser ans it is all about CCK08.

 

greetz,

Sia Vogel

 

2008/9/19 Fleep <flee...@gmail.com>

[Fleep]

Hi Sia,

Sorry I'm behind on my email, just got a chance to add your blog to the wiki at http://chilbo.wikispaces.com/SL+Cohort+Blogs.

To edit the wiki, you must create an account on http://wikispaces.com and then request access to that space.  I try to approve them as soon as they come in, and I apologize for the inconvenience.  Unfortunately, public edit wikis are quickly defaced by spammers in my experience, so this is the best way I've found to keep them clean.

For others in the course, if you don't want to edit the wiki to add your blog to the Second Life Cohort list, fill out this short webform and I will add your blog to the wiki:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?key=pHSojRbSnGxd68AcbGzgDdQ

Thanks and I'm enjoying reading the blog posts about our group!

All the best,

- Chris/Fleep