ReganHarding

Its been a long time....

2007-10-07T01:50:00.000-07:00

not since I've rock n rolled.... but I've blogged...

but I like it :)

I must admit, I had a slight panic when I saw this blog had been linked to my name from another blog..... how many months ago was my last post??!!

What I have been doing a lot of, is commenting and social networking within other blogs.... responding to provocative and interesting posts and hearing what other very interesting people have to say. And I'm totally OK with that.

For me, returning here is kind of like discovering that cool sweater at the back of my wardrobe, or solid comfy platforms hidden behind the school shoes or good-formal-function-yet-uncomfortable heels..... just waiting for that right time and right place....

Who knows when I'll return to post again.... but its here.... and once again LearnScope has a lot to answer for in terms of inspiring people!!

Myspace and suicide

2007-04-28T01:10:00.000-07:00

I'm a user of Myspace and have some 'friends' who readily admit to mental health challenges. I often find it difficult to manage my communication and responses to their messages, blogs and comments that signal vulnerability and despair.

What I have found is that often people appreciate the opportunity to have someone 'listen'.... watch words of support appear on their screens..... and be cheered by a friend they may never have had.

Suicide is often the last step on a pathway of alienation and loneliness... focus on the reality that social networking sites can provide a preventative forum for this - enabling young people to initiate and sustain friendships and relationships they otherwise may not.

The media has spent disproportionate time focusing on the negative aspects of internet use and online chat and networking sites. Time and resources could be better spent emphasising the value that collaborating and communicating with the human beings behind the screens and the web can provide. For example, highlighting the reality that Lifeline has created its own Myspace.

Sure there are potentially dangerous sites and connections to be accessed.... a responses could be to flood the web with positive and supportive spaces.

Future Focus...... 2057: The world in 50 years

2007-04-23T21:37:00.000-07:00

"The greatest revolution is the invisible one...."

This program somewhat makes up for the previous one - discussing the virtues and excitement around the digital journeys we are embarking upon. Intuitive, interactive and flexible models of technology, modelled on human beings, were explored in 4D worlds..... holographic images created around babies' learning pathways.

Very exciting stuff and presenting technologies much more attractively to the general population!

Future Focus - New Cyberworlds

2007-04-17T16:18:00.000-07:00

Hmmmm..... shows like this remind me why I typically avoid the television and prefer to find my own reading and viewing materials online. Future Focus - New Cyberworlds, the program shown on SBS last evening, seemed to be fear-based in focusing on wealth and weapons, addiction and advertising. A (Ned Ludd) bulwark exposing virtual worlds and marketing 'bent on changing the way we live'.

Games can be engaging and intellectual pastimes, providing forms of learning that allow keen and willing participants to become familiar and comfortable. Many of the principles behind this kind of game-learning are supported by research in cognitive science. Its a pity no mention or exploration was made of this.

Instead, I felt encouraged as a viewer to feel sympathy for people who surrender time to online worlds. This could have been achieved within 10 minutes of the program - the 60 minutes seemed to be towing the same line with little or no exploration of the merits of virtual worlds.

Technology IS changing everything.... our world... our students... ourselves.... our research..... our learning. This needs to be embraced, not feared and certainly not opposed. Hopefully we'll see more balanced explorations of virtual worlds...

Perhaps that's up to us, as explored by Foreman in 'Game based learning:how to delight and instruct in the 21st century':

Academia needs to drive the "why", governments need to drive the "how", and industry needs to drive the "what", so that they can produce the market and the technologies to make this easy.

Virtual worlds....on the doorstep

2007-04-16T21:52:00.000-07:00

My first life is busy enough ..... why am I signing up for a second one?

This year I am excited to be a part of the NSW Learnscope Leadership in E-Learning 'Virtual Worlds' team. We have yet to commence our quest, however I've spent much of my 'spare' time exploring and searching just what it is that I might be up for.

I'm a South Park fan and was last night delighted to watch the boys lose themselves in the World of War Craft.... tonight, on the very same channel, I intend to tune in to Future Focus - New Cyberspace Worlds, as it explores SecondLife and other virtual worlds. I am as much interested in the social commentary as the first-hand experience....

All I know is, that technology is rapidly changing the way we teach, learn, recreate, socialise and think, and that I am committed to educating myself within this digital decade. I choose to do so not through an awareness that I may be left behind, or a fear that as a teacher I will be left for dead...... but because of a desire to flourish rather than flounder..... dream instead of dread.....