Sunday, April 08, 2012

One Week Down Two to Go

It's been a week of intensive computer time. I'm living on my anti-inflamatory to keep my hands from hurting too much. One thing I'm finding a challenge is dealing with the non-linear method of learning. I'm in two sections Academy and Teacher Camp. I complete the preliminary quests in The Academy which opened Teacher Camp. I was working in there and at one point I went back into The Academy and discovered that a bunch of new quests had opened up. Working in both areas at the same time is a challenge.

So far I have earned 4 badges, 16 achievements, and 2 awards. Not bad. I've explored different kinds of games-simulations, action etc. I'm getting a refresher in copyright and Creative Commons information. I've also been exposed to new online Web 2.0 tools through the Tech Integration badge. Next I plan to tackle the Immersive badge. I'm in Second Life but I don't do much there-partly because of graphic card issues. Tablet PCs do not come with the most advanced card. I had finally gotten things adjusted but last login required I do an upgrade to the SL software and I was back to being a blob. Thanks to Miss B-a fellow quester I found Imprudence which isn't as rich as the SL software but it is working for me.

I'm just at the beginning of learning how to create my own quests. I saw the overview of how they are set up. Next up is learning more about Universal Design (UDL)-that will make work happy since we had a whole day workshop about it. Work is picking up the whole tab and I promised my supervisor that I would have something ready to show at our staff meeting in June. No pressure. Thought I would use the summer to work on the project. Oh well.

I've sent out an email to my co-teachers asking what their favorite resources are for the topics I'm planning to work on. No replies yet except from my supervisor. I think I may go futher afield and take advantage of those Google Docs we learned about and create a form to be sent out statewide to collect information.

Heading back in for the UDL quest. I'll keep you posted as I continue working in 3Dgamelab.

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