Virtual Worlds - Are they deceiving our minds?

I haven't been on here for a while but after talking to a fellow teacher I thought I may add this to my blog. After discussing how the Virtual World's of SecondLife and Habbo are increasing in popularity more and more people are looking to these for meeting and finding people they like, but are they getting the true vision of what somebody looks like? Does the avatar you have create give you a new personality? After all, in Second Life you do have a new name.

Children are also becoming more aware of these websites and are using them to meet and talk with with other people virtually. Maybe ICT lessons should now incorporate the advantages and disadvantages of using such websites and Virtual World Chatrooms. I will be suggesting this at my new school in September and will update you on what happens.

After this discussion I looked on YouTube and found a great music video developed by The Guild who also have a series on YouTube discussing experiences in Virtual Worlds and the problems it could cause. It's great and if you have the time have a listen.

TheKidzKit.com

This is a new website I am looking to create to help school children learn more from ICT and the curriculum they are taught. This ranges from Key Stage 2 to Key Stage 5 in the UK only. The website will contain more information than just simple information to jog pupils memories and be more reliable than others who do not offer resources that they advertise.

This is going to be a big project and will require a lot of determination. Links will be made available to safe external websites (non-commercial) and advertisement links will be made to others (commercial).

As a big project I realise that this will take a long time to get to some sort of structure where pupils can use it to its optimum level. Therefore, I am looking for outside help to improve this and have a share in TheKidzKit.com based on the level of input given. If you are interested contact me on mtoner09@googlemail.com.

This is still in the process of being planned but if you are interested or have any questions regarding the website please contact me (Matt).

My Time @ Cynffig Comprehensive School

From January 2009 to Friday 22nd May 2009 I spent time at Cynffig Comprehensive School training to become an ICT teacher. There I met some great people in Lewis Parfitt, Mark Stanley, Hayley Collis, Sian Hughes and John Whatley. I was also fortunate to have two top set Year 10 classes who made a huge impression on me as did the Year 12 AS Level ICT group.

Before I got to the school people told me some bad rumours and stories that made me feel very uneasy about going. From now on those people will be told otherwise. Cynffig Comprehensive ICT Department has some fantastic resources and are currently leading the way in the Bridgend County Borough with their very own Moodle. This has proved to be very successful and the pupils enjoying use it especially in Years 10 and 11. This Virtual Learning Environment is also available for other departments to use and steps are already being taken to get them to use it more often. Other departments also have some fantastic resources for the children to use and, teachers with imagination to use them to their full potential.

The management at the school are constanty finding ways of raising funds to improve the infrastructure of the school and improve the standards of childrens learning. The staff at the school are very professional and are constantly looking for ways to improve themselves and the quality of their teaching. They are a big family at the school and they make you feel very welcome. At no point do you feel like an outsider.

I am sad to have left Cynffig Comprehensive School but a new chapter in my life is starting in September 2009 at Wyedean School & Sixth Form Centre. I will never forget my incredible experience at Cynffig Comprehensive School and the people I have met. I will endeavor to keep in touch with Lewis, Mark, Hayley, Sian and John to the best I can. Thank you for the fantastic experience and you will all be missed dearly.

Microsoft Popfly

This is a fantastic and free animation game creation software and mash-up site provided by Microsoft. There is currently talk about using Game creation at Key Stage 4 level in ICT and I believe that this would be very good. They can place this into a website or e-portfolio. Even if they don't use it it's a great tool to use. Try it out: www.popfly.com.

Sloodle

Just came across this now looking for different ways to construct a Moodle page for my ICT coursework in University. I find this quite interesting as the debate about how Second Life can be used for educational purposes continue. This shows how Moodle and Second Life can be integrated to create a Virtual Learning Environment with a Virtual World.

I am looking into this more and I would like to get other people's opinions on this. After a school trip my friend asked his class who used Second Life. The response was negative but is there time for this to grow like Facebook has?

If you would like to see more about this click here for the website. Introductory classes run inside Second Life every Tuesday at 1.30pm U.S. Pacific Time.

Microsoft Expression Studio 2

I have just downloaded the Microsoft Expression software from Microsoft DreamSpark and even though the Web software is the same as Microsoft FrontPage 2003, the other software packages are great. With the use of Microsoft Silverlight you can really maximise the websites you create.

Its good competition for Adobe, but its not quite there yet. After the trip to the University of Glamorgan on the 31st March 2009, Ed Dunhill of Microsoft asked the lecture hall which one they had heard of most of all: Flash or Blend. Flash came out on top.

Here is a video about Microsoft Expression Studio and Microsoft Silverlight:

XNA 3.0 & Visual Studio

Another great piece of software where you can create games for the Xbox and upload them to the community. This is mainly designed using the Visual Studio 2008 programme which you can download from the Microsoft website for free. If you are part of an educational institution in the UK you can also download XNA 3.0 from Microsoft DreamSpark.

This is great fun and I am only just starting to get to grips with it. Below is a video that shows a game created by somebody using Visual Studio 2008 and XNA 3.0 with water effects: -