By Any Other Name
It’s been a while since had the chance to blog regularly. Hopefully I’ll be able to get super organised in this last week of hols and have a relatively relaxed term! I said, hopefully…
I did a small makeover here at this blog. I’ve changed the name from The Rise of Reflection (which just wasn’t sitting right with me for I don’t know what reason) to Wanderings and Wonderings. I’ve also changed the header. All the pictures were taken within a 5 -10 minute walk from my house. I’m pretty lucky to live in the place I do!
So, if you are reading this through a reader, stop by Wanderings and Wonderings for a quick look and let me know what you think. I’ve added a few things to the sidebar too so if you think they are too distracting please let me know.
I think that the ability to change your identity - or parts of it - is one of the great things about Web 2.0. If something doesn’t suit you anymore, you can alter it. Of course there is value is maintaining an identity and for this I make sure I use my real name everywhere, but that doesn’t mean I can’t change the titles of things or pictures etc etc. I love that!
Twitter Abstinence Syndrome
Found this cartoon via a link from Langwitches. LOL.
Astounding Ourselves
Here are some quotes for this week. I have these ones pinned to the corkboard on the wall beside my fridge so I read them on a daily basis.
“What lies before us and what lies behind us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Just trust yourself, then you will know how to live.” - Johann Wolfgang van Goethe
“If we all did what we were capable of we would literally astound ourselves.” Thomas Edison
Related posts:
Deep and Meaningful Quotes for Monday
Alright March, do your worst…
It’s amazing how out of touch I actually feel after two very busy weeks which have kept me away from Twitter and my blogs. Two weekends of visitors, then one away in Melbourne, Year 7 camp and some really hectic days at school have meant that this is my first post in ages! I also have to admit that I’ve had to hit ‘Mark All As Read’ in my reader. I looked at all the feeds and wondered if there was any I could get rid of so that my unread feed numbers stays down a bit, but I ended adding some instead! Aagh! 
Right now, watching the Sunday night movie, I’m reconnecting myself to the world that has become such a normal and integrated part of my life that I really notice it when I can’t get to it or interact with it properly for a few days. Of course, I am still in the minority as far as educators in general go. This was part of a conversation that Sue Tapp (@sujokat) and I had when we met face to face at the Port Fairy Folk Festival a couple of weeks back. Here’s the photographic proof! It was lovely to meet Sue and to also be invited by her to a Bloggers Feast in May. (I may not be able to make it though as it’s a Tuesday night dinner and I live three and a half hours from Melbourne, which is a bit far during the week!) I just love that this network is becoming real too, as well as being something that exists only on my laptop.
March hasn’t finished yet either, despite the fact that I am now technically on holidays. I’m off to Melbourne tomorrow night to rush around catching up on a couple of things on Tuesday, and then I’m off to Adelaide for three days for some training on the Professional Standards for LOTE Teachers (I will then come back and in turn train LOTE teachers here in Vic). Then, staying with friends for the weekend and competing in Run For the Kids. Well, the only competition I am really entering is to actually finish the race running as much of the 5.76 km course as I can. I’ll have a friend with me so see how I go!
I am really looking forward to next week as that is when I’ll have some time at home. I want to get some really decent planning done for Term 2 so that I can actually reclaim my weeknights and weekends. That of course, remains to be seen though.
Hello again to those of you reading. Thank you for staying with me. My wit and wisdom, in all its glory, will return shortly…
Blogged with the Flock Browser
Quest Atlantis: 3D Learning Environment
I have just finished my first training session for Quest Atlantis, a virtual world built for students and teachers. Or, as it says on the QA site:
“Quest Atlantis (QA) is an international learning and teaching project that uses a 3D multi-user environment to immerse children, ages 9-15, in educational tasks.”
Myself and my fabulous colleague Anne Mirtschin are doing the 4 session training course together and will then look at implementing it in our school.
From what I have experienced so far, Quest Atlantis looks and functions quite similarly to Second Life which I have used a bit but not extensively. QA seems to be much easier to use which is good. There are about 13 of us doing the training course and the facilitator had us all on a Skype call so she could guide us around.
More of a description from the QA site:
“The core elements of QA are 1) a 3-D multi-user virtual environment, 2) learning Quests and unit plans, 3) a storyline, presented through an introductory video, novel and comic book, that involves a mythical Council and a set of social commitments, and 4) a globally-distributed community of participants. The narrative helps to establish continuity among the QA elements and helps to bridge the fictional world of Atlantis with the real world of Earth, an act of interpretation by each individual child.”
Quest Atlantis has been around since 2002 and has apparently got a strong following of students and teachers and has been written about in many places. It’s an ongoing project of the Indiana University School of Education. Over the past four years about 15,000 children from four different continents have participated in the project.
I think this will be a really great learning and teaching tool. I’ve got a couple of homework ‘missions’ to complete so I can get my personalised avatar before my next session next Tuesday night. I flew and swam, walked and ran. There was a chat function that accompanied out wanderings through and where we could read and post cries for help!
Here’s a link to a video that shows you what QA looks like ‘in world’. (Was having trouble embedding the You Tube video).
Is anyone else using virtual worlds with their students?
