[IDT] Workshop 4 Part 2
Spending so many hours over the past six days has defiantly made me better in both my computer and Second Life program. The progression came by having to complete assignments that involved team work, being timed, and a level of competition. The result has been an increase in my confidence to quickly look up credible information and be creative with the SL program.
There were a lot of fun times on the IDT project. I really enjoyed the company of my team mates. No tension was present and everyone was able to compromise.
That in itself is something to be considered as fun. But looking back at the first days when we at Chicago were just getting use to the program showed much fun too. Those initial discoveries and mistakes (making things too big or freakish) brought a lot of laughs to everyone.
After talking to the scientists in Tanzania and trying to copy what they are doing there on the TSL program, I have learned a couple of things about the work The Field Museum tries to support. The first is some of the education required to work on these excavation sites. The second would be that were they worked is called the ‘matrix’. And third would be the fact that they really enjoy and love their careers, despite not providing a huge salary, are their passion and that they can travel the world pursing it.
I think there are some noticeable differences between the way the other teens and I were instructed and learned on SL as compared to in a actual setting, common in a classroom or lecture session. One advantage was the fact that we, as a team could break away from the rest of the group of kids and coordinators. This made it easy to do things such as dig for fossils or build entire natural settings. This would obviously be an expensive and time consuming process. But I think many disadvantages were apparent as well, and they need to be resolved as more activities and the SL program as a whole getting more advanced. One noticeable one was the ability for the teens to break away from the assigned activity and thus not have to participate or be accountable for their passiveness. Another was the fact that the communication between NY and Tanzania was often times rough and time consuming to resolve. But I think these are problems that will no doubt be fixed as the years go on.
