voyeurism

learning about river basins in a geography lesson, using Second Life

similar to last month's post, here's another video which suggests how Second Life might be used to help novice geographers develop phenomenological primitives (diSessa, 1993) regarding contour-represenations and topographical variation, in order that they might more effectively manage the cognitive transpositions between two- and three-dimensions.

the video quality has been intentionally blurred. subtitles have also been added.

Technorati Tags: assessment, cognition, education, expert, geography, learning, maps, Pathways, Second Life, Singapore, Six Learnings, Starling Project, TLLM

contours and geographical understanding with Second Life (student voices)

here's a complementary video to one i posted in March, and includes excerpts from the post-session interview with the students. the video quality has been intentionally blurred. subtitles have also been added.

Technorati Tags: assessment, cognition, education, expert, geography, learning, maps, Pathways, Second Life, Singapore, Six Learnings, Starling Project, TLLM

contours and geographical understanding with Second Life

here's a video which suggests how Second Life might be used to help novice geographers develop phenomenological primitives (diSessa, 1993) regarding contour-represenations and topographical variation, in order that they might more effectively manage the cognitive transpositions between two- and three-dimensions.

[update: if you'd like to hear key excerpts of an interview with students that followed this session, they're now available :-) ]

Technorati Tags: assessment, cognition, education, expert, geography, learning, maps, Pathways, Second Life, Singapore, Six Learnings, Starling Project, TLLM

two more students in Singapore talk about Second Life

the one hundred and eightieth episode of ventriloquy is an interview with two thirteen-year-old students in Singapore, who share their thoughts about Second Life.

this 76.0 MB download is complementary to episode 178. like the students featured in that episode, they were from a state-funded school, who had their first in-world session lasting an hour. the students were co-interviewed by my colleague from the Ministry of Education, and myself. the introductory session represents the initial steps in helping students in Singapore appreciate for themselves the affordances for multi-disciplinary learning that Second Life affords.

two students in Singapore talk about Second Life

the one hundred and seventy-eighth episode of ventriloquy is an interview with two fifteen-year-old students in Singapore, who share their thoughts about Second Life.

they were part of a group of twenty students from a state-funded school, who had their first in-world session lasting an hour. the students were co-interviewed by my colleague from the Ministry of Education, and myself. the introductory session represents the initial steps in realising a dream i have cherished since May 2007 - namely to help students in Singapore appreciate for themselves the affordances for multi-disciplinary learning that Second Life affords.

please do join me in this 73.9 MB download, which has its roots in this post from August, and this earlier one from February :-)

[update: episode 180 complements this episode]

"Design of Interactive Learning Environments" talk on An Introduction to Second Life, National Institute of Education, Singapore (part II)

this is the concluding part of episode 142, which is a recording of the discussion which ensued after an introductory talk i gave to a class of Masters candidates at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

it is a 20.3 MB download.

Show notes:
- ease of implementation in schools
- knowledge acquisition versus application
- the role and relationships of corporations in education
- learning environment design

"Design of Interactive Learning Environments" talk on An Introduction to Second Life, National Institute of Education, Singapore (part I)

the one-hundred-and-forty-second episode of ventriloquy is a recording of a talk i gave to Masters candidates at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, here in Singapore.

i was invited to talk about Second Life, by my friend and colleague Ast/P Steven Zuiker, who runs the course (MLT 808 Design of Interactive Learning Environments) with Ast/P Beaumie Kim.

because of the duration of the talk, i have broken it into two parts.

this first part is the talk itself, and is 21.2 MB in size.

Show notes:
- outline of talk
- Second Life basics
- the story of my (avatar's) birth
- chronology of significant events in Second Life
- types of learning environments
- resources for educators

Additional reading:
- Eric Langhorst's 8 May 2007 entry (Second Life Skeptic - Am I Just Not Seeing the Potential?) Speaking of History

sharing session on podcasts, at MOE's geography coordinators' meeting

the ninetieth episode of ventriloquy is a recording of a talk i gave to geography teachers, during their annual coordinators' meeting organized by the Ministry of Education (MOE), here in Singapore.

it's essentially a combination of two earlier conference sessions - represented by episodes 58 and 80 - in which i share my thoughts on how podcasts might be used as pedagogical tools in general, and in geography education in particular (referring to a project that my colleague William Yeo and i undertook last year at the Nanyang Junior College (NYJC)). it's a 16.9 MB download :-)

on a side note, yesterday was also the launch of the serious game Peacemaker, which is a simulation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. as for the game that my colleagues at the National Institute of Education's Learning Sciences Lab, and i, have been developing - Space Station Leonis - will be piloted in three secondary schools in Singapore starting this month. over the past week, i've been busy conducting briefings with the students, as well as training sessions for the teachers, to familiarize them with how the game might be used in citizenship education.

Show notes:
- the views of NYJC students who took part in the podcast project
- the teacher's perspective on the project and sample audio extracts of students' work
- Peacemaker

podcasts as a tool for alternative assessment

the eightieth episode of ventriloquy is a recording of a presentation on some preliminary findings from research into podcasting as a means of alternative assessment.

specifically, between July and August this year, my friend and colleague - William Yeo - used the production and subsequent critique of student-authored podcasts in his geography lessons on demography, with his students at the Nanyang Junior College.

he shared our findings today, at the conference of the Southeast Asian Geography Association. here's the PDF of our presentation.

if you enjoy this 12.2 MB download and would like to hear from some of the students who were involved in the project themselves, do also check out episode 68 :-)

Show notes:
- Opening remarks
- Lao Tzu and podcasting
- Presentation outline
- Introduction to the intervention
- Introduction to podcasts
- Objective of the intervention
- Methodology
- Part A: podcast production
- Audio samples
- Part B: podcast critique
- Sample critiques
- Preliminary discussion

Bridge, reflected

some truly deep points were made by one of my geography teacher-trainees - Peng Kaixing - in his blog entry today.

the deceptively simple Bridge merits our time and contemplation.

Technorati Tags: education, landmarks, place, Vygotsky