Cynthia's+Page

=__**Welcome to Cynthia's Page! This page is dedicated to my technology assignments. The page follows the earliest post to the most current at the bottom of the page. Enjoy!**__=



Hi! I have Open Office, but I got to thinking that some of you have Word, so I have uploaded a copy of the paper in both formats.

Cynthia- Again, this is a very interesting topic that I look forward to learning more about! I thought your paper was very well written. Good job and keep up the good work.

Kassidy

Cynthia, I think this is an important innovation that I would love to incorporate next school year. Like all school districts, we too have extreme budget cuts. So this is ideal to still expose the students to a multitude of places without even leaving the building. I look forward to hearing more about this innovation. Jolandra

Cynthia, I really thought this topic is interesting and would be very beneficial to my years teaching US history!! I will have to try it in Psychology and Sociology. Erin

Hi Team!

Here is my Week Three paper and my Mind Map. I am not sure if I have these diffusions categorized correctly, so please feel free to critique...nicely. =0)



Ok...not happy! This doesn't show my Mind Map except in an outline format. I will have to figure out how to post a link to it. Please just view the outline for the moment.

Thanks,

Cynthia

Hello Team!

I am submitting my storyboard. Please know, that I am not very good at outlining. I never have been. I gather information that is relevant, review it, place it in a folder, and I start at the beginning and work from there. Therefore, what you are seeing is my data compiled into a layout of the possible finished product. I have to convert videos. I have to pull the research study information and add appropriate pictures, and I have to finish studying the dissertation that has piqued my interest in this subject. I will update my posts as the weeks progress; however, please excuse the roughness of this first posting. If you go to the reference page and click on the links, you will get a general idea of my resources and their importance in the project. Please let me know if you cannot open the PowerPoint. I just downloaded a free trial of the 2007 version because Open Office Impress tends to not want to convert into the right type of file without losing everything. =0)

Cynthia

Cynthia, I think this is a great start to your project! Once you have the ppt complete, you could save the file as a media file and use MovieMaker to make it a video. I thought the task would be difficult but it was so easy once I played around with it! Hope this helps! Erin

Cynthia- I think once you get the missing information into your powerpoint you could/and will have a very interesting powerpoint to share with fellow educators. Good start so far.

Cynthia, Good start. I really like the set up. The idea of a movie playing inside of the monitor was very unique. I looked for something like that without luck. I think once you add your links, pictures and add the multimedia element, you will have a excellent presentation. Check out this website. http://www.speedofcreativity.org/handouts/ It has several resources that may be useful for your project. I really want to learn more about virtual fieldtrips. I look forward to more to come. -Jolandra

Hi Cynthia, I agree with our group members. Good start! I would consider looking at the success of using virtual field trips in rural communities. From your innovation's paper, you mentioned a study in Mississippi. Do you know if the study took place in a rural location, such as much of the Mississippi delta (e.g., Indianola), or in a more urban community, such as Jackson, Mississippi? From my own experience teaching in a rural community in Mississippi, exposing these students to field trips virtually will better prepare them for many of the national tests which may make references to areas they may have never seen. I am really curious to see your next move. ~Angela

Thank you Team, for your kind comments and resources. I will be working on this and updating posts as I make progress.

Cynthia

Hello Everyone,

I apologize for the tardiness of my posting, but circumstances prevented otherwise. I have added to my storyboard to indicate the timeline for the innovation-decision process for virtual field trips. This was a little bit of a task for me because there is not a set date the first virtual field trip was invented...or there was not one that I have found thus far. I noticed in my research that articles started being published in the mid to late 90's and became more popular in the early 2000's. I have made notes and I just created another slide with the dates. I want to note that I am in the middle of converting video and then I will take out the bullets and the text and have more media and just a flash of various terms coming in and exiting the presentation. It will not be a "mostly text" presentation when it is finished. For now, I am still juggling resources, so please excuse the messiness of the presentation. This is just my scratch pad, so to speak. Any information, suggestions, etc...are welcome!

Thanks,

Cynthia H.

Cynthia- Once again we are just happy to be surviving at this point. It seems like there still may be some holes to fill in, but for only week five I think you are on track to have a fantastic project. Let us know if we can help you with anything.

Kassidy

Cynthia, I think all of our projects are a work in progress, and I think you are off to a great start! All you can do is work with what you can find and that's what you are doing. Research can be a little trying but you'll find what you need =) Erin

Cynthia, I believe we are all in a process with this project. I agree with the others when they said we have to use what research is available. Don't give up. You will find what you need for the final presentation. I think once you add the videos and the other visual examples, the presentation will speak for itself. I will help any way I can as well! -Jolandra

Hey Team! You are the best! Thanks for your support!

__**July 9, 2009-Most Current Assignment Below**__

Now to the "nitty gritty" for this week....We are supposed to post an updated storyboard with the S curve for our innovation. I have some serious problems with my innovation because I am still trying to research and find exactly when the earliest virtual field trips began to take place. With that being said, I have found two links with S curves that are very relevant to my topic. At this point, rather than trying to create an S curve...while I am still researching, I would like to share the links I have found. The first link is for the adoption of virtual worlds...which is part of the database for some of the virtual field trip origins. This is the link to view the S curve for virtual worlds:

http://www.kzero.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/tac029.jpg

The second link that I found...and I saw this in several places, deals with the adoption of technology. This is the link to view the S curve:

http://www.kzero.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/technology-adoption-curve.jpg

You will notice there is a break in the curve which I found very interesting and I am still researching. These adoptions are very relevant to virtual field trips which I believe are still in the early adopter phase. I just have to continue to trace them back to the begining and I haven't pinpointed it yet. I will say that I am back to the 1990's and I am surprised this innovation was actually in place earlier in the century than I first believed.

Dr. Thornburg, I hope this is o.k. I am truly working on my project. It is just that virtual field trips are still very new and in the early stages and my S curve would have looked like a small bump had I tried to implement it into the presentation at this point. I believe if I am going to convince the school district that virtual field trips will help students learn and reduce the cost of actual field trips and destinations, I need to combine the adoption process for technology and virtual worlds as a model. I want this presentation to be extremely positive and provide persuasive resources to support the study. At this point, I can't provide a persuasive S curve on virtual field trips alone.

Cynthia

Cynthia, Consider narrowing your view somewhat. For the last part of the process, the innovation-decision process, I look at one specific case. I like that you will combinie the technology with virtual worlds; however, if you look at one particular virtual world's (say Second Life) users, the S-curve may be easier to form. Angela

Cynthia, I agree with Angela. If you pick one point to focus on, the amount of research may not be as overwhelming. You could also pinpoint which aspect of your innovation you'd like to focus on. For example, Erin focused on the sales to show how her innovation was adopted; whereas, I focused on the years of adoption to various people in society. I think even if your S curve is incomplete because it is still in the middle of the total adoption phase, it could possibly still be developed if one area is highlighted. I hope this suggestion helps. -Jolandra

Jolandra and Angela,

I am working on a project about Second Life and virtual worlds for Dr. Moller's class, but it will be from a different perspective since we have to present it as an introductory video to a professional organization keynote speaker; however, I could use the combination of Second Life and their educational virtual field trips as my focus. I could start off with an introduction to virtual field trips and then become more specific about Second Life and the educational opportunities it offers. I can see where developing an innovation can take many twists and turns...my project is becoming like that. I start off with one thing and I am ending up with something totally different, related, but different. Thanks for the advice. I think you have helped me quite a bit.

(Dr. Thornburg, I am a bit behind with the S curve, but I will post it as soon as I can figure this out.)

Cynthia- I think you and are in the same boat this week and I feared at the beginning that we were sinking, but I think we have both pulled our heads back above water. I am also having trouble with my s curve because cell phones haven't been adopted into the education world yet. But keep up the good work and let me know if there is anything I can help with.

Kassidy

__Week Seven....I think__

I am still working on several different things and it has been a busy week. With that being said, I have attached a Word document answering the questions about the strategies that would most likely be used to help the innovation of virtual field trips-focus on Second Life-be adopted and reach critical mass within my school district. There are no "bells and whistles" at this point. This is just my response to the questions. I will have to tone it down a bit to get it into the video. Too much information and not enough bullets....or rather too many bullets to use all that information. I look forward to reading your comments. Please forgive the quality of this post and my comments on the page. I can hardly keep my eyes open as I am typing this. Here it is:



More soon...

Cynthia

Hi Cynthia, I really enjoyed reading your train of thought. I am just curious about one thing: What is the lower-age limit of a Second Life participant? Angela

Angela,

That is a good question. I know the lower age limit for the adult Second Life is 18 and older; however, I must investigate the age limit for the Teen Second Life. They actually have access to some of the same areas in the adult Second Life, but they are limited to the PG areas and anything that might be offensive is blocked. I do know that Second Life is making an effort to move mature content to a separate "island" within the world, so that adults don't just come across offensive materials when they are exploring. Of course you can always teleport to wherever you want to go and that keeps you from going to the wrong place. I will check into the age limit and let you know. I have research information, I just haven't gotten through all of it yet.

Thanks for your comments!

Cynthia

Cynthia, As I am catching up on my work, I read your different perspectives and detailed research. I think the ideas are very complex. You could bullet points and break up the information by making it more list like instead of sentences. Also, delete some of the opinionated voice out of your information (ie, I think or I would). Hope this helps. -Jolandra

__**Week Eight-Critical Mass:**__

Hello Team,

Because I am revising my project to focus more on Second Life, and because I lost an awful amount of video clips due to a computer crash this week and I am still recovering from the trauma of that....I am going to post my answers to the questions directly into the Wiki. I hope to have something good to show you by the end of the week, but I have to do some hard work first. With that being said, here are my answers to the questions for this week:

I believe a decentralized approach is going to work best for my innovation due to the nature of the age limit for Second Life and Teen Second Life. This innovation would be great for all ages if captured on video and made available to the younger students, especially for virtual field trips. This is permissible, but entering Second Life with an avatar would not be for elementary school students. I have found that several middle schools have sites within Second Life, so this age group and high school students would be the centralized group to focus on.

I believe the teachers who are technologically savvy will be one group of key change agents. Also, the educational technology department would be supportive. The computer applications teachers, and possibly the history teachers would also be possible change agents. I say the history teachers because of the content. There are many areas of Second Life that recreate historical sites and can be toured just as if you were visiting them. Also, visual arts teachers would be supportive. This innovation has the possibility to be interactive. I could approach the superintendent and school board from a budget perspective to gain their support or I could approach the teachers and other mentioned above to gain their support for the learning strategies and additional resources that would be implemented with the innovation (compatibility).

I believe that Second Life has met critical mass in society. Just last evening, there were more than 70,000 people from all over the world logged on to the virtual world. The number of members is over one million. Those statistics speak for themselves, plus another article I found addresses the issue of education in Second Life and talks about the fact that educational sites are the fastest growing area in Second Life. This article was written based on a presentation given by one of the co-founders of Second Life who is also a visiting college professor.

I am really enjoying my research and there is so much information it is hard for me to narrow it down. I am already sold on the innovation;however, there are aspects of it that need to be addressed to be acceptable from an educational perspective. As far as at the higher education level, I believe the innovation has already been accepted widely. Many colleges have sites and also many professional organizations. I became a Second Life member of the ISTE orgranization yesterday. I met Scott, who manages the blog hut and the podcasts for the ISTE Island. They will be streaming the NECC conference on the island in August. It is so cool!

Cynthia

Cynthia- I think the information you placed on the wiki is good, guess what sometimes life happens and we don't have time for fancy schmancy, but the information is still good. One suggestion- On the wiki it may be easier to place all new postings at the top so they are easier to find. Good stuff my friend!

Kassidy

Cynthia, As I read your post, I am even more curious about Second Life. Your excitement is very evident :)! Prior to this project, the only time I had heard of it was an episode of CSI: NY. I am curious about how this approach to teaching will be met by the stakeholders in my school district/state. I look forward to seeing your project. It will be something that I will definitely share with others in my district. Angela

Cynthia, Great information. I was not aware of the details of the virtual world. It is amazing how many sites are available. You enthusiasm is amazing! You are encouraging me to adopt this innovation already. I can't wait to see your end presentation. What aspects are need to be addressed? Are you going to address those aspects or focus on higher education since it is already accepted? -Jolandra

Cynthia, This is very interesting information you have found. I agree that teachers and technology specialists are going to be your biggest help. They have the better reputations and are likely the ones more will listen to. Erin

__**Week Nine:**__

Hello Everyone!

I just wanted to let you know that I am not yet ready to post my final slide. It has been another crazy week. I hope to have something for you by the end of Week Nine. I have all the components, just not together yet. I did want to let you know that I have been investigating Teen Second Life and it is for ages 12-17. It is a limited area. I set up an account for my nephew and now I cannot get him off the computer! He has built or bought a car and all kinds of things. I did find out they allow educators at certain times in Teen Second Life for special presentations and that some middle schools have sites there for virtual school. SL really caters to people with disabilities and the more I know about it, the more interested I become. Now I have to narrow down my information and get it all focused.

As I head back to school next week, I have been trying to get some personal things taken care of....and I have run into some complications. I've had some health issues over the summer...but now they are doing some tests to check for a possible tumor. I don't even want to say those words. This week has been a bit rough...and I have been tired and I have not quite been as focused as I need to be. I will get my storyboard posted...but it may be a couple of days or so. (Kassidy...I realized it might be better to have the storyboard and posts at the top of the page, but I had already started the thread to the bottom....you will have to scroll...my friend....=( sorry for the inconvenience...) I will be talking with you ladies a bit later.

Cynthia

No worries on this side! Can't wait to see it! Kassidy

Hope everything gets better =) Erin

Cynthia, This sounds so much like me with my other project that is due next week. I know that everything will work out! Angela

Cynthia, I am praying for good health for you. Be encouraged that everything will be okay. I think Dr. Thornburg will understand this issue. Hang in there! -Jolamdra

Hi Everyone!

This is not what I intended when I started, but due to circumstances beyond my control...this is what I have at the moment. I plan to add some handouts and a reference page to this, but I am too tired to finish it tonight. I have asked permission from those who created parts of the video. I have added and spliced to create something that would capture the board's attention and I want to leave the details in the handout. For those of you who did not already know....this has been a very stressful quarter for me....health issues...then I lost my grandmother...and this past Monday I took my first ambulance ride to the hospital...thought it was a heart attack, but it was food poisoning....I am thankful it wasn't my heart....so...I have been the drama queen for the past few weeks. Below is the link to the video...and I will be posting more tomorrow. Please let me know what you think.

Cynthia

   

Cynthia- I still cannot find your video. Please help me find it because I would love to watch it!

Kassidy

Kassidy,

I apologize....here is the link to YouTube. The above is the embed code. Sorry about this!

Cynthia

[|Final Project]

Excellent work. You really did an excellent job at including your research. I think can see what I did wrong. Your presentations was very appealing and not bogged down with so much text like my presentation. I enjoyed your work and wish you the best! Jolandra

Great job! You provided an interactive presentation that kept my interest the entire time. I focused too much on the innovation, neglecting to really link it to education until the end of my presentation. You on the other hand, were able to make that connection your entire presentation. Excellent! Erin