Happy Halloween!!!

So I subscribe to Common Craft. (you remember the wiki film) And I felt that this would be something fun. I needed something fun to keep sane this week. It's been a long one. I hope this brings a smile to your face. I look forward to reading your overviews.

Next Post So Soon?

Well I know this is usually a weekly post I wanted to add a link I found at the BBC World News site. The article "Universal avatars bestride worlds" describes how one day you will have a virtual self that you can take to any company that has a virtual world. This would help promote virtual world growth. One of the current set backs is that every new virtual world you join you have to take time to fill out a personal profile, then design your avatar, then you can finally get to exploring the VR world. With a universal avatar people may feel they have more free time to explore thus join more virtual worlds. One day you may have a corporate training session in a VR world with highly detailed virtual representations of ourselves. What do you all think?

Second Life Video Attempt

Well this is the first time I've posted an actual video. I hope it works. I'm posting this video because of two reasons.

1st: I'm going to be in a group that will have Second Life as our trends analysis subject. I have to tell you I'm kind of looking forward to it. =0) It might be hard to find a lot of corporate world training uses but it will not be that hard for me to speculate as to future training uses of SL based on what is in this video. So I think I have that going for me.

2nd: I'm also starting a section of my other class based on Virtual Reality and its influence education. For my groups section we need to focus on the "future of avatars" and I think this video will help my group see a couple of applications of eduction already established in the Second Life world.

If you have already seen this video its because I got it from a blog entitled "eLearning Technology" created by Tony Karrer. He in turn got it from "corporate elearning strategies and development" a corporate learning blog. If you haven't seen these videos let me know any first impressions of Second Life you might get from this video.

More News in Blogging

Relating to my blog entry "Blogging Monks in the News," I found another real world application of blogging.

This time the blog news comes from FOXNews.com, the article is "Official State Department Blog Reveals Diplomat Character, Invites Public Discourse." This article introduced me to the U.S. State Department's official blog "Dipnote." The article is a place where US diplomats overseas can post and reflect on what serving abroad means to them. It also gives these people the ability to share what they do as diplomats. I really liked the article and the blog.

It gave me the idea that blogs would be good for a free form feedback tool. Have your class (corporate or k-12) build a blog at the beginning of their tenure and have each student post impressions and improvement ideas. I know this sounds somewhat similar to what we are doing here but have the students keep the same blog site and post for every class once a week. Each teacher would subscribe to the blogs. Students could express themselves in a environment they create and are somewhat comfortable in. Teachers would be able to get an impression of the student by examining past blogs. I'm certain the US state department is trying to get as much information out of their blog as they can, at the very least the "Dipnote" blog gives feedback on a basic level. In both my classes this semester we have discussed using the tools of educators in their best possible use. I think this might be a good use for blogs.

Good Rant.

I liked this post on Ryan's blog. It expresses many feelings I have about blogging. I posted that, "I wouldn't go so far as to hate blogging, but I do hate the randomness that springs forth from anyone that cares to say something. I believe everyone has a voice but if we all talk at the same time its hard to catch the worth while stuff." I know this is a random publish in itself but I couldn't resist.