10.25.06
102 – one article, two classes
Wow. That was two interesting days with the 102 kids. I sure hope they got the basic message – but… what was that again, the basic message? Maybe there was no message after all? I told them to write blog entries about the main question “Who and what is defining our learning experience when working with ICT?”. I said I’d comment on the entries. I am anxious to read what they will cook up.
What really puzzled me though was the fact that obviously, they didn’t approve of the Dibbell-text as much as I did. First time I read it, I couldn’t put it down untill I was done reading. It was glowing in my hands. I was really swept away. OK, I’ll grant that I was really into MOO back then, programming and experiencing the drift and all of it. And the 102 kids probably aren’t… errrh… yet… Some of them expressed the text was rather longish and redundant.
I think it could have been my fault. I presented the text as an “article”, which is was not. It is a chapter from a book, not a novel albeit, but still a piece of fictional story. A linear narration about a non-linear (or perhaps: multi-linear) environment. Maybe the kids expected an article-article, some scientific stuff, not a feature-article from a New York underground newspaper. I would have liked to discuss some more with them how using an “article” like that in a course like that works – did work, could work – for the use in “pensum”. After all, this course is about ICT in Humanistics, and that’s about literature, narration, reading, and all that, too.
One student said when read the thing, she thought to herself: “How could they probably be so offended by that Bungle-dude and his actions? I mean, that’s fiction all together. Bits on a disk. Letters on a screen. WTF.” But then, she admitted that after having thought a bit more about it, she probably would have been offended herself (to some extent at least) if anybody had used her avatar, which she had used a long time and a lot of personal feelings to create, shape and develop, only to see she was losing control over it.
That was a really nice comment. And a nice point of departure for discussion. It’s about control, isn’t it. All of it.
Who is in control?
kGirl sagt,
26/10/2006 kl. 00:33
Sorry Jill. I know I should have been blogging, but I’m on it now. Have a draft now at least. And about Dibbels article – I also noticed that some of the people I discussed it with in class didn’t really “buy” it, they seemed pretty confident that whatever happens online is over as soon as you log out. I on the other hand, maybe ’cause I’m not a kid, believe that we could be very much effected by any virtual experiences. So one question might be – is the generation who grows up with virtual activities, really that good at differentiating between the two worlds, or are they just so accustomed to the Internet that they don’t see “the danger”, if there is any. Many (or most of them?) of them have actually not been around long enough to have a true sense of “before and after the beginning of Internet”.
whatqnavry sagt,
26/10/2006 kl. 14:50
“whatever happens online is over as soon as you log out.”, kGirl says people may think.
But when Karin uses kGirl to enter a language learning environment, and engages in conversations to improve kGirls, say, Italian skills, Karin clearly benefits from that. And it hopefully is not over once Karin has logged out…
(Oh my, this is not a blog entry, but a discussion board reply… but ok)
kGirl sagt,
26/10/2006 kl. 17:08
whatqnavry – I hope you understand that I am personally not of the opinion that online and offline experiences coud be that easily separated. Absolutely not.
Huin....ha,ha,hi,hi sagt,
27/10/2006 kl. 01:20
I think it would be naive to think that whatever we do online is separate from what we do off line, experience is experience whether we are in avirtual or a real world….but back to the point made earlier about control….If I got anything from Dibell’s article was exactly thta, that the violating had to do with the loss of control from the part of the “raped” avatars and by association the people behind those avatars. ANd then….who and what defines our learning experience in ICT? it’s a complicated question, but I have been giving it a little bit of thought and I thing there are a few things that affect and model the experience…. We have students, a teacher, technology and time to name a few of the elements that interact in this process… I mean Technicale ther experience will be limited or expanded depending on the possibilities the software or programe used in the course, but also but how well students master the system….the more skilfull and dedicated the student is the more it will get passed th etechnical challenges and will be able to concentrate in the content of the coursse…then again learning to use the system might be part of the learning experience and therefore again, more dedicated students might have and advantage over others….which the brings in the question of time…. I mean, a semester is a limited period of time were students are expected to achieve certain goals (hence exams) that is one aspect of time….but then every individual student has control over it’s own time and naturally diferent students will use more or less time outside the scheduled classes (not to mention the ones that don’t show up). then there is the question of the teacher having a plan and some kind of syllabus to go through, but students own interest ideally would determine how much time is dedicated to different subject…..I get the feeling that ICT does give the student a certain control over the learning process…at least it provides for a virtual place where he or she can go back to even after “the lecture” as it were, is over….I mean, if it wasn’t for this blogg I would have gone home and forgotten all about this until a couple of weeks before the exam, but here I am a 1:20 am writing this….. but now I am getting tired….good night
Dr. Walker sagt,
27/10/2006 kl. 10:01
When I first read Dibbell’s article I was fascinated just like Daniel, and definitely recognised many of the questions in it as important. It’s an interesting idea that perhaps, ten years down the line, the issues that shocked people then are no longer shocking to us.
I’m not sure I agree that that’s happening though. If someone took over my blog and impersonated me on it I would be furious – not just furious but hurt and very upset that my “identity” was being abused. I wouldn’t equate it with rape, but it would certainly be a kind of violation. That’s an online identity that I’ve developed over a long time – it would be different if it were a throw-away identity, I suppose. Maybe there are more of those these days?
Btw, I’m very pleased to see you writing about this at 1:20 am, Haha
Well, i suppose 1:20 am’s not usually a great idea, but it’s great to spread out the work so it’s not all just before the exam 
whatqnavry sagt,
27/10/2006 kl. 18:20
“I on the other hand, maybe ’cause I’m not a kid, believe that we could be very much effected by any virtual experiences.”, kGirl wrote.
I think I might have been misunderstood here: “kid” is American English for “student”, and both teachers and students at colleges refer to students as “the kids”. There is no pejorative meaning in it.
kGirl sagt,
27/10/2006 kl. 19:13
See, learn something new every day! Isn’t that great?
ica018 sagt,
30/10/2006 kl. 09:51
I wonder if people’s response to the article would have been different if they had been referred it by a friend or if they had come about it themselves? I mean, once a text is given in the context of a course, then I automatically read it differently…. thinking of why I have to read it, why is it relevant to what I am studying and will this come up in the exam???