2015... I'll be 32 years old!!!!!

iN2015

The video paints a fantastic view of what our future holds. I would say that it's a good follow-up video to watch after I've visted the COTF. The idea of having a touchscreen that that controls, connects, creates and contain all that we need for our daily activities is something that would really make our lives a whole lot easier. Everything at the touch of our fingertips.

If there were any fears, I'm just afraid that it'll make us too lazy to experience the real thing for ourselves, to actually move from our comfort zone to get things done. I'm sure alot of us have watched the movie "Wall-E". Life on the Axiom was good, but for over 700 years, humans grew to be so dependent on machines and touchscreen operated floating chairs that their feet and hands grew smaller while their bellies grew bigger until they could no longer stand!

Of course, this is an extreme view, but I feel that as much as we make use of technology to facilitate our learning and make our daily activities more convenient, we should rememeber that we must actively use these technology in a way that it improves our mind as well as our physical well-being. Gosh... this feels so abstract to express....

2015 and ME....

I think that this experience in the course has managed to keep me updated with some of the latest technology offerings NIE has been trying out. Perhaps, to aid us in finding out what we want to use, NIE can conduct talks or even large scale exhibitions to showcase the latest technological offerings to let us decided what is the best tool to use.

However, I think onus falls on us to find out more about what we can use to help us in our teaching. We know what we need the most and we can't force into our lessons something for the sake of using it.

Learning in 2015 will be more student centered since technology as seen in the video is in the hands of everyone, from the young to the eldery. It has been shown to be able to possibly take place at anytime, anywhere in the video. Teachers will become more of a facilitator rather then an instructor and our job will be to encourage and help students unlock the information rather then spoon feed them.

Right... that's quite a bit for now... Here's a little somethign for the future... (fears for the future? this is something to take note of before it really happaens~!)

OH YAR THE COTF...!!!!!!

Transporter Room from Star Trek.
I hope the COTF has this... then no need to take bus or train....

I just wanna say i wish my house was like COTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's like Star Trek come to life!!!! (minus the transporter room and the holo-deck, but what the heck!?)

It UMPC was really working like a tricorder which seemed to let me control and "connect" to everything around me. I love it!

But the UMPC would really be more useful if its smaller though. I'll look weird walking around with it, and I think I'll cry if i dropped it. Ugh...

Here's the MOE link to COTF if u wanna undertand more about it again,
http://www3.moe.edu.sg/corporate/contactonline/2005/Issue07/big_pic/bigpic.htm

p/s: I won't want to be tracked to see if I did my homework....

Second Life in Education - A Peek...

I guess this would be one video everyone would have found but it sure gives us a good insight into what future second life might lead to!~





I suppose that if it's really as awesome as it seems, it will get alot of us sucked straight into the world of second life. I still feel that it is a double-edged sword though. Cos we won't know if we are opening up a can of sardines or a can of worms. But the ability to go so many places at a touch of a mouse is incredible.

Question... will we lose touch with reality? We watched the Matrix and we've seen that with extremely advanced technology, will the things we touch, smell, see and hear be just "wool pulled over our eyes?" (quoted from Morpheus in the Matrix) We'll need to be able to discern between what's real and what's fiction. Learning is fun but is it the truth? With the internet, there is an ever increasing need to verify the validity of the information posted there. Even though Wikipedia is an ever growing vault of knowledge, it is not 100% accurate. So is there a possibility that we what we learn is not what really is?

Gosh... that's a whole chunk of stuff that I've rattled on about...

And as put up in my previous post, I think it's worth looking at this blog

http://sleducation.wikispaces.com/

In addition this is a little slideshow i got off the above website to summarize what they have been working on!

View Upload your own

Quick Intro to Second Life

This is a quick insight into Second Life!!! Duran Duran's in Second Life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And Havard's actually got a campus on second life!!!

Ohhhh and here's a sight on edcational events found in second life!

http://sleducation.wikispaces.com/

Enjoy the video!

Gaming... Serious Gaming... Seriously?

Check this out peeps. Some Insight onto what we've been talking about...


Serious Games



Consolarium on BBC News - Gaming in Education

Gaming in Education, Education through Gaming

I feel that incorporating gaming in education is a novel and fresh way of approaching the lesson. The fact that my group and I found this week's activities more fun since I could play games instead of racking my brains to enter stuff into the wiki at the "wiki-station" is testament to the fact that most of us would rather play then use our brain to deal with doing reports.

By providing this new platform from which the curriculum is taught, we attempt to change not only the student's perception of studying as something that takes up their play-time, but the public's opinion of gaming as something that takes up the kids' study-time. To marry both, would be a dream come through for teachers, parents and kids as everyone wins.

Jus like a trainee pilot trains for his first flight in a simulator, a student can attempt to apply what he or she has learned in the game. The opportunity cost of making a wrong decision, is simply to "die" or "fail", only to rise again to try the same activity over and over again until it is perfected. Nothing is lost and plenty of experience is gained, honing the child's abilities, strengthening their wings for the real world.


How to choose and use appropriate computer games in the classroom
(http://schools.becta.org.uk/index.php?section=tl&rid=1859)

The are of course minor points to look at in the use of computer games in the classrooms. I've gone to three stations so far and to be honest, I only like 2 of the games I've played. Everyone has his or her preferences, the reason why there's so many genres of games available. With such a wide spectrum to choose from, it is essential that we choose the right games for our kids. This will not only affect how receptive they are to the lesson via the game, but also how much information they are actually able to internalise from playin. That is, if they decide to play the game at all.

From the article, we see several issues raised regarding the use of gaming. I believe we have covered alot of this in our discussions. So I would just like to propose the set of keywords to look out for when selecting games for educational purpose:

1. Relevance - Is the game in line with the curriculum to be taught?
2. Cost - No money no talk. Enough said.
3. Ease of setting up - Does it take up half a room just to set up a system to play?
4. Appeal - No one is going to even want to play your game if it's not to their liking?
5. Suitability - Is the game for the right age group?
6. Ease of Play - Is it too simple of too complex? No on wants to play something that is too difficult to complete. Kids want to win.

MEET our needs?

After the last week's lessons and reading through some of the wikis of my fellow classmates, I feel that it is essential that we really have a firm understanding of the various approaches before we embark on making use of them. With the concept of MEET in mind, as the prof has put forward in the latter part of the lesson, a poor fit may result in the lesson being just something fun, intersting but ultimately non-value-adding.

Even while coming up with our own lesson plan, it was difficult to actually find something which actually "fits" the concept that we were trying to present. Of course, this being an excercise has allowed me to understand the importance of prescribing the right medicine. The concepts which can help to improve understanding can also become a stumbling block to learners - a double edged sword.

As of now, I'm still trying to stomach the different approaches and concepts! Ugh! But everyone's putting in the effort to make this easier so hopefully it helps!