alter personas

I have been intrigued with the names people have chosen for second life- I see so many Jungian archetypes there as to be unfuuny. BUT also it has been brought home to me this week, the parallel nature of some of these activites. I have had one of my granddaughters for a sleepover and we worked on selecting names for ourselves if we were to be Disney Fairies.

I suspect that many second life avatars are really Disney Fairies.Do they ever age?

the considered choice of technical platforms

i am conscious of the constraints and affordances of any platform you use to work with others in an educational way. Doesn't matter whether or not it is digital or manual. SO choose wisely- is this piece of digital technology able to be accessed, understood, interpreted by your group of learners?If not, then why are you choosing it?

surface or deep online environments.

I am interested in the discussions on groups and blogs- have listened to the last meeting. I think that George Siemen's comments around what style each environment encourages is so apt- the groups tend to short chatty pieces, while the blog both allows for and encourages longer, moire reflective work. As for where the "community" happens, I suspect that Sarah's idea that the blog groups that spring up spontaneously around a shared interest have more motivational pull and real purpose for existance than the managed ones- I guess my comment to Rachel on the hospitality blogs is to do with that. They always seem to me to be thinly disguised advertising.

Willie

Discussion groups

I am currently a member of 6 different discussion groups- all have education and/or politics as their focus.

Those connected with an identified course tend to be rather more both facilitated and moderated than the others. Summaries etc appear that help you keep track of things and pose development questions.

Those that are interest groups have a very loose and flexible structure. I think with them the idea that you have the interest at heart i.e. "passion"- is taken to mean that you will make sense of all of that for yourself.

My son belongs to 3 discussion groups that are open and unfacilitated and he says that often he finds it very frustrating that threads seem to be left hanging.(I did ask him why he didn't do something about it, but that was not well received!!!!)

Moderation is an essential aspect of all these groups. the moderator checks posts and comments for libelous/vulgar etc contributions And in one group, requests for membership are put out to all members.

politics discussion group

This is an open discussion group on US politics that anyone can join and where messages from new members are moderated.

I found it quite difficult to find open groups really- many that interest me seem to be closed. I wonder if the Blog is taking over from the open discussion group.

I do notice though that webpages such as the e-portfolio page will often have what amounts to a discussion for people who are trying technical things in the application.

Also the Communities in platforms such as the AkoAotearoa one must surely be discussion groups.

scratching or is it hunting?

you can look at Nan's Blog for several interchanges about teacher,facilitator,moderator. Is this one the hunter?

Goodday.

Some days just seem like this don't they? some of us wandering with heads out of view, some scratching around on the baseline. An ideal online day is one in which all the images match all the perceptions, or is it? Which of these creatuires is the teacher? which the facilitator? which the moderator?