Why am I motivated to learn?

Another experience in Second Life has caused me to think about my motivation for learning. In my first encounter with other live beings, I was praised for having the ability to use voice chat. Of course I could do that. I had been working on it, in fact. Why was I motivated to do it?

• Voice chat is a necessary skill for participation in a Paideia seminar in Second Life; I want to participate in the next Paideia seminar held in Second Life
• I had previously tried, and failed to master voice chat, and so it had become a personal challenge
• I was able to seek information to help myself learn how to use voice chat

Now, if I can teach myself to sit in a more ladylike fashion, I'll be just about ready!

Are we aware of the reality?

The future of the planet is becoming less about being efficient, producing more stuff and protecting our turf and more about working together, embracing change and being creative.
~Neoteny, by Joi Ito
http://joi.ito.com/weblog/2009/12/15/neoteny.html

Are we doing this?

“Do not train children to learning by force and harshness, but direct them to it by what amuses their minds, so that you may be better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of the genius of each.” – Plato.

How Did I Learn Today? (Suite - Yesterday, actually)

Yesterday, I tried a learning experiment.
I created an avatar and entered Second Life (SL) for the first time.
Above is my first snapshot in SL.

The day before I had watched a video from the K12 Online Conference, explaining how new users are oriented to Second Life. Orientation in Second Life. (I don't think I finished watching the vid, because I had to go out for parking lot duty, and once I returned it was Friday after school, so I wanted to depart.) The last part of the presentation was about a graduate student's project trying to create a better orientation system for new users. From his part of the presentation alone, I learned how to move my avatar once I was in SL.

Once I had my avatar created, I ended up rejecting the idea that I had to go to orientation at all, and went to the destination I sought. It was an educational island, so on the weekend no one was there except myself. How did I learn?

• I used trial and error. 
• I explored anything that looked interesting to me. 
• I went wherever I wanted to go. 
• I took my time. 
• I tried whatever I wanted to try.

I can report that my learning experience was a good one. I was able to play 2 videos (both human and avatar characters explaining various features of the island), change my clothes when freebies were offered (just after my accidental plunge in the ocean, I suspect), explore 4 different areas on this island, experience both rain and snow, take several snapshots of my avatar, walk, sit, talk (still learning about this aspect), teleport, and fly!

I have more to learn on my next visit, but I feel properly oriented, and ready, now, to interact with others when I encounter them.

What technologies should I investigate?

Internet Public Library's 15 Things - what I would call a tutorial on basic technologies

How Did I Learn Today?

Yet another fruitful line of inquiry is this - how do I myself learn?

How did I learn today?

1) I went to the K12 Online Conference blog and found an archived presentation that sounded interesting. I viewed it on Elluminate, and listened to the VoiceThread responses that followed... Scott McLeod's presentation on leadership being ill-prepared to cope with disruptive innovations
2) I downloaded to my Kindle an electronic sample of a book Scott mentioned, Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation WILL Change the Way the World Learns
3) I logged into the Great Conversation Ning and found out that I had missed the first Paideia seminar in Second Life!
4) I read the seminar text, Kurt Vonnegut's EPICAC
5) I Check out the archived USTREAM at www.bookosphere.net/ and the photos here in the Ning.
6) I logged in late to Classroom 2.0 Live Talking K12Online, but was able to listen to the after-talk discussion. I familiarized myself with Elluminate features since I had not really used this before. 
7) I finished reading an eBook I had previously downloaded, Curtis Bonk's The World Is Open: How Web Technology is Revolutionizing Education. I had just seen that Curtis Bonk will be on Classroom 2.0 Live  this coming Thursday night.
8) I copied several events from Classroom 2.0 Live calendar onto my Google calendar to which I have a link on my professional learning community's wiki to help inform my group members about learning opportunities.
9) I read new blog posts via my feeds in Bloglines.
10) I blogged. This is my first attempt at blogging, and I am still learning!


I guess that's it. None of this was in a traditional classroom. I paid no tuition. I will receive absolutely no credit for my learning today.
What about you? How did you learn today?

Who Are The Learners?

Let's start at the beginning. Before we can figure out how to change education for the better, we might want to ask just who are we trying to educate?

Don Tapscott gives an eye-opening look at who is currently in our classrooms in Grown Up Digital. Reading this has changed the way I think about my students.

Don Tapscott's Website - Grown Up Digital

Open Access Education?

I wonder if we should be thinking more along the lines of open access education?
The video below makes a rather good case that an open access approach has helped the human race with regard to the H1N1 outbreak this year...

Jennifer Gardy's H1N1 TEDxTerry talk

The Question We Should Be Asking

What should Career Center 2.0 be like?

Preparing to move our school to a new location and new building in 2011 presents a perfect opportunity to reevaluate our education model. Time to ask a bunch of questions.

21NOV2009 Winston-Salem Journal article about Career Center move

Some questions asked and answered by Allen Manser in the video below

Conscious Learning in the Conceptual Age TEDxTerry talk