Online learning environments

This class has given me exposure to online places I never knew exsisted. The online environments that are available to facilitate learning come in all shapes and sizes. One of the learning places, if I may call it a place, that stands out is Fanfiction. The site offers a safe place to practice English reading and writing abilites. There is that chance that a piece written may be reviewed by someone and the advice offered may be less than flattering. The review process is where alot of the learning takes place. Most of the reviews offer very helpful advice to the writers. There is the buffer of the distance of cyberspace. However that is defined in the minds and hearts of the authors who use the site to write. The distance creates a safe place to practice English writing skills for many non primary English speakers and writers.

If I had the opportunity to instruct an ESL class or design ESL curriculum, the instruction would include a online learning community, such as Fanfiction. Online communites offer many new learning opportunities that an in-class face to face setting can not. Many students that are not willing or able to ask questions in a formal classroom setting participate in an online community environment. Let me demonstrate how this could benefit students utilizing the Fanfiction site and/or Blog communities. With regards to how this could benefit an English as a second language class let me provide a brief description. The make up of a class of ESL students in Ogden Utah is both men and women. Theses students most likely finished maybe the 6th grade in their home country. Most of the students are between 35-60 age range. Their exposure to computers is also very limited. To offer an online environment as a supplement to in class instruction for ESL would be invaluable. The opportunity to expose ESL students to other students also learning to read and write English would be a powerful learning tool.

What I have observed with the ESL students is the lack of practice of the skills learned in class. To offer an online environment where students could read and practice their writing skills would reinforce the concepts taught in class. This learning environment would also engage the students into a world they have never known. Introducing the class to computers and the online world of opportunites. The computer skills students would be learning would help them to assimilate into culture of computers and computing. Our world of computer use from a simple task of signing in at the dentist office to online banking. The world of computer technology and the use of computing is leaving some people in cyberspace dust.

Our population in Utah of non English speaking people is growing by leaps and bounds. That is not likely to change. In fact, the growth rate of non English speakers is rapidly increasing. Many of our schools are failing the NCLB from underserving the non English speaking students. To better serve this population in a cost effective method the online learning environments should be utilized. The use of Fanfiction, Blogging and other similiar learning environments could be use to faciliate the practice of English reading and writing skills. The community that developes offers a safe place to learn and help others to learn. The students become the teachers of others, which reinforces the concepts that they have learned.

The skills gained by the ability to use the computer as a learning tool helps with the process of cultural assimilation. Rebecca Black (2002) called this concept cultural hybridity. Miss Black continues to present the concepts outlined in her paper Access and Affiliation on the conference curcuit. I tried to locate a follow up to her study or completion of the paper with results but could not find it. Her ideas to incorporate sites like Fanfiction into curriculum for what she calls ELLs ( English language learners) is a population notion. Rebecca Black (2002) states ,"that the online sites provide multiple means of access and scffolds a affiliation of students who in many ways are marginalized within the mainstream school community." One of her main questions in her paper is, in what ways does this site promote literacy learning and pratices in areas where many school-based literacy programs have not succeeded? If these sites were incorporated into the curriculum the textual artifacts could be used to gage the progress of writing and reading skills. Black (2002) states that a focus on textual aspects of the community emphasizes the texts themselves as information-rich artifacts for anylysis in providing evidence of linguistic, social, and cummunal development over time. Henry Jenkins (1992) also stated that fan culture is a complex, mulitdimensional phenomenon, inviting many different forms of participation and levels of engagement. Black ( 2002) concludes that part of the appeal of this space for ELLs, among others, is that fans who do not feel confident enough in their English and or writing ablities to compose and post fictions are still able to meaningfully participation within the fan community.

Based on the solid foundation of studies and the current interests that are generated with this learning tool more instruction should utilize this medium. With the current emphasis on meeting the NCLB guidelines and budget constraints faced by many school districts the instructional tool of online learning communites offers a valuable solution to these challenges. Interests in this area of learning will continue to be explored. The research will offer evidence of the value of instructional designs incorporating online learning tools.

Lineage Game

Post a description of your character's name, race, class, weapons, appearance, etc. to your blog. Also, which creature was your favorite? Did you die frequently this week? What was the most embarassing way you died?

I decided against Marion's advice not to be a knight. I chose to create a Charismatic/Intelligent/Strong princess. We agreed to name our characters something that a class member would recognize. My was named Asil, Lisa spelled backwards. The race was white. The hair was dark. I had a sword. I made several attempts while in Singing Island to gather enough furs to trade for more weapons. I gathered a bunch of candles and lamps. I thought those might come in handy. My favorite creatures were the little bunnys. I did not have the heart to ever even attempt to take one for food or trading. I did get a deer with my sword. I did not like playing this game. The game is violent. I did not mind too much killing the wild pigs. One got me when I was not paying attention. Honestly I played for maybe two hours. The fun part was walking around and talking with the characters there to assist the made up character. I had one person ask me how to get to Hidden Valley. I think it was Bing-Howe. Our group that met to play invented Knights and they were all hanging out in Hidden Valley. I stayed in Singing Island. I kept playing and watching the others playing in Hidden Valley on the big screen. Thanks to Marion for setting up the lab and the big screen to watch on. I noticed the group had all gone down to the dungeon to battle the badies. I noticed a Satanic symbol in the dungeon. I will not have any contact with anything that involves utilizing such things. That's when I stopped playing and left the group to continue. I did not tell anyone one my thoughts regarding why I quit playing. I'm glad that I did not have the space to download the game at home. I will not be playing again. It was fun playing as a group. It was great to have the other students at the Logan campus logged on also. I liked the concept of mass media gaming. There were serveral students who coordinated to go after and defeat various foes. Marion was very generous with dolling out equipment, such as shields and armor for others to use. Marion had played several hours and gathered quite an arsenal of items to distribute. There was alot of coaching also going on from others who were more famililar with this type of game. People were very willing to be helpful in Hidden Valley. That was not the case in Singing Island. When asked a question to others passing through, they did not respond. They just teleported to another location. I think they were looking for people they knew. Not being rude, just on a mission. Interesting experience.

In what manner are identity and trust related? To what degree can trust be established with anonymous or pseudonymynous individuals?

I've been thinking about the concept of trolling and the people who feeled compelled to troll. What motivates people to want to be deceptive about their identity? Are they not happy with who they think they are? Or, do trolls find enjoyment stirring the pot? If we think about the motivation behind the trolling concept, the context of the places trolling occurs has to be taken into consideration. For example "Cheryl" was offering wedding planning advice from a very formal frame of reference on one of the newsgroups. Cheryl stated the if you can't afford a " formal" wedding then one should not marry. If she was trolling, Why? What would motivate someone to troll with wedding advice? Was Cheryl really Cheryl, or Charlie wishing she was Cheryl? Did Cheryl just get dumped by Charlie? Or did Charlie dumped Cheryl? Of did Cherly dumped Cherly? Or, Charlie dump Charlie? WHO CARES!!!
The idea that someone has that much time on their hands is pretty silly. Maybe trolling is theraputic to the trolls. It helps them expend energy in a somewhat safe format. It does not solve their problem, whatever that may be. It does give them a place to express themselves albeit, weird and difficult to understand.
I like the idea of using the Killfile to set these messages aside. I think the sound effect of "plonking" someone is funny. It's better than some other ways to show displeasure with someone. Having a system admin. to report spamming and so forth is also of value. Some people find greater reward by being asked to leave then playing nicely. What I find really amazing is the time some people invest with online communities. When I was read the postings from Anonymous Coward I searched for this posting only. I was surprised at the time this person spent posting. Sometimes five to eight hours in a row based on the messages logged. Amazing amount of time and effort. Why? I personally have other activities that I enjoy doing and other committments during the day. I also need my sleep.
The online consuming behavior prompted a class disscussion last Tuesday. We were having a disscussion in class regarding a student's brother. This students brother was very adapt at having online conversations and could interact very well online. In face to face interactions he is lost, reserved and does not interact well with other people. Some members of the class stated that this is a problem. When online interactions take primary importance in a persons life and they don't learn how to have face to face contact. Others stated that the online contact with others supplimented face to face, not taking the place of ftf. Balance is the key to anything. By the exposure I have had to the different online communites some people are off balance, in more ways than I care to comment in my opinion. People will continue to be off balance, because we are human. Some people will level out, and some people will not. No matter how often they get
" plonked".

IRC assistance

Handy website
http://www.newircusers.com/ircchat.html

Finally, write a brief piece describing the way in which social interaction is different in the MOO than in other environments we have studied. How do

This exercise reminded of me of my job when I lived in Oklahoma. The programs we used called for commands. Other co-workers would get frustrated when the system would not except the commands used. I also thought it was like a big puzzle and enjoyed solving the puzzle. The games we have been playing are similar environments. Commands are needed to move through the gaming enviroments. I enjoyed the challege of Zork1. My daughter Alicia also played the game. We also played together. Which was really fun. I had to drag her away from her advanced game girl(boy). Once we sat down and began, the game had her. We played together going up and down the chimney, I forgot I had an object I needed to drop. Alicia came up with really good ideas for better play. The troll go me. Alicia is in the canyon now still on her travels. I like that fact that you have to think. The newer games are too distracting to me with all the animation going on at the same time. I feel the same way about chat rooms. The conversations are going back and forth really fast. People are talking about different topics all at the same time. I logged in and out so fast. I don't enjoy chat room environments at all. Too confusing for me. LambaMoo was really slow. It was also weird to not see your text as you type because of the lag time. It's like a bad long distance overseas call. I'm going to get my daughter and play with her. She has more patience then I have. And better ideas about gaming in general. The artifacts placed by others is like graffiti on surfaces. It's their sign of having been there, their mark. We all like to think that we can contribute to an overall effort in some way, however small or significant. Also, it reveals something about us that may not have been known before. I would put lots of bubbles in the hot tub, so many that they are all over. Why, because I like bubbles and I think other people would too. We always hope that we can interact with others who have similar interests. Or maybe we can introduce something new to someone else and make that connection that was not there before. Or, share a deeper understanding of each other by knowing a little bit more about a person.

In what manner are reputations and trust incentives in and of themselves? Are reputations any more important in facilitating cooperation online than o

In what manner are reputations and trust incentives in and of themselves? Are reputations any more important in facilitating cooperation online than offline; why or why not? Et cetera.


Reputation and trust are incentives for all of the online auction house sellers. Ebay that was studied by Resnick (2001) and also by Kollock (1975) discusses this idea indepth.
In order for a seller to sell on Ebay they must first prove that the transactions will be reliable. The sellers must build their reputation and trust via the online feedback system. The reputation and trust that are built are directly related to if they sell product and how much the seller can list an item for. Both Kollock (1975) and Resnick (2001) reported that a seller with a good feedback rating can command higher prices for their goods sold online. A seller must build their reputation by providing good services to the buyer. The buyer must receive the goods in a timely manner. The product must arrive undamaged by good packaging. The product must not have been mis-represented by the seller. The feedback system for products sold and purchased seems to be working very well for the most part on Ebay. I have purchased items on Ebay. I purchases a wall clock for 9.99 plus shipping and handling. The old saying you get what you pay for was true in this case. The clock works fine and looks great too. It was not made in Germany as the brand name would imply. The seller did not present the clock as made in Germany. I made that assumption by the brand name. I paid 9.99 for a clock. I received a clock worth 9.99. No problem. Are these transactions any different then buying and selling at the local Walmart?
If I am not satisfied with a purchase at Walmart I can return the product at any Walmart in the country, usually without a receipt. Can the same be said for an online purchase? No. If I was not happy with my clock I purchased on Ebay how would I have recevied my money back? Could I have received my money back? How much time and effort would I have to spend to receive my money back? Reputations and trust for me as a purchaser are more important online than offline, based on customer satisfation. I have no problem returning an item to Walmart, big problems for returning an item purchased on Ebay. I did not even consider when I purchased the clock on Ebay if I could return the item. I did not even think about it. Why? It was cheap. The less investment a customer has in a product the less likely it will be returned. If you then take into considertation the time and effort involved, the more effort the less likely of returns.
What about the feedback form, did I complete it?
It has been some time since I purchased the clock but I remember not completing the form.
When I was viewing the items for sale on Ebay I did not take the time to read the feedback regarding the seller I purchased from. Although I agree with both Kollock ( 1975) and Resnick ( 2001) regarding the value of the feedback system for Ebay and other auction houses for building reputation and trust for purchasing. There are people like myself who purchased an item for not much cost or investment and did not bother to rate the seller. If in the future I was to purchase a high dollar item you can be assured that I would rely on the feedback system before the purchase was made. Based on the numbers reported by Kollock (1975) and Resnick (2001) the odds would be in my favor from reports of positive comments. I would procede with relative confidence and Ebay away.

Fanfiction

Frustration, I had just finished a posting and the darn site was down. So again

I had the best time understanding the value of this community. My thoughts have changed since I read two stories my daughter printed last spring. They were a bit sexually oriented. Well at that time a put the kabosh on Fanfiction based on my limited knowledge, two stories from Anime. Little did I know how fun and educational the community of Fanfiction is. I should have said, " Great you are writing and reviewing and learning from other people." Alicia my daughter learned how to format the story, the plot and the characters. She then changed her story based on the advice from the reviewers, very helpful. The site is very popular because, it's fun to use your creativity. Having the ability to twist the plots, make new characters, add new plots and write poems from the charaters point of view. Lot's of authors write songfics. Songfics are songs where the lyrics are related to the story. For example, one my daughter read was Jingle Bells where the lyrics were changed to fit into a story about the characters doing strange things.

The following authors and their related URLS are from the movie and TV show catagories.

CiaraMorgan wrote about Gone with the wind http://www.fanfiction.net/u/656015/

JkLvratSbWy wrote about Breakfast at Tiffany's http://www.fanfiction.net/u/545767/

Abbi Grant wrote about Andy Griffin Show set in Star Track http://www.fanfiction.net/s/1840553/1/

I also wrote a story under The Andy Griffin Show http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2100031/1/

I have not received any reviews. I have reviewed the above stories and asked if they would review mine. I look forward to writing Chapter two