A Second Life

Jan 14, 2009

 

To add to my excitement and the plans for next semester, I have been given what could be considered both good and interesting news for the upcoming term.  You see, I was twiddling around, as I occasionally do and happened to ask the head of the teacher training center about her plans for the future.  We had both been to a seminar earlier in the year which discussed the use of Second Life as a teaching tool.  One of the other women's colleges had purchased an island and were developing various lessons and interactive activities for students.  The head of the teacher training center was really excited and I was definitely interested in it, looks like fun to me, so we talked about it briefly.
Well, last week when I stopped by to chat with her about it, she explained to me just how education without borders had basically taken over her life and as much as she wanted to do something with SL, she couldn't until it was all over... unless I wanted to write something up on what it could be used for here.
So I did.
Cause I'm just that good.
I wrote up a proposal on how our campus could use second life, and what would make it special to our location. 
She took the proposal, added a single paragraph introduction to the beginning (saying that she asked me to write it up because I was interested in it as a teaching tool) and promptly presented it to the Dean.
It was approved in less than a day.
So, my semester is layed out pretty nice.
I get to teach a course that should be the greatest cake walk of all times... all the lessons are already planned out, the materials are there, the books are there, the students always love these classes, and all I have to do is show up and make sure the work gets done...
I get a second duty... I was appointed to an Academic Coordinator position to oversee the student's laptops.  Which should be harder to do than the course teaching... and it will still be easy.
and to top it all off,
I get to play in Second Life as part of my job.
experimenting, exploring, researching lesson ideas, figuring out how to implement it as a teaching tool, organizing teams of teachers to be trained in it, writing a manual for the teachers for using it properly.

There are things about this job that I don't particularly like.  And there are things about living so far from my friends and family that I really don't like.
That being said, this place really seems to fit me at times.
I mean, yeah the work is hard. There is so much of it and it needs a lot of focus.  And I am not always doing things that I want to.  But at the same time, I get to do so many things that I do want to, to play, to experiment, and to have fun  and I get to do it on their dime.

So to sum up, the school is going to buy an island in second life, and I get to be a huge part of it.  Like massive.  I am seriously excited.

The end of the madness

Jan 7, 2009

Well, I gotta say that 2008 was one of the most difficult years I have had the pleasure of encountering so far.  With that incredibly difficult semester behind me I can honestly say that it was almost too much to handle.  I was coming close to my breaking point and I didn't even realize it until Will gave me that glorious pampering week of doing absolutely nothing.

I do not like teaching a 24 hour teaching load under the best of circumstances (24 hours in the classroom, not including meetings, responsibilities, and preperation) and this was not the best of circumstances.  I was yanked out of my well planned well prepared computer courses to teach English classes at the last minute.  Worse, it was a level of English I have never taught before and it wasn't just one level, it was two different levels.
Yes I did get a lot of compliments, including from my big boss who told me it was nice that I was so flexible and capable and is rewarding me with a very different class for next semester.  The up coming year is looking brighter already.  Sort of.
My load of classes is now over.  and I have two weeks to get use to the new schedule before I get my two week vacation.
So what I am up to next?  Believe it or not, they have me down for teaching Business Technology.  I was told a lot of different things about this lovely plan, but the primary reason I was put into this position was that "you are just so flexible. You may be the most capable person we have for teaching this course".  In addition, I am so very good with computers (it is like some weird gift... or maybe some kind of curse) that I have been asked to take on an additional duty (with additional pay thank you very much) as the Coordinator of Laptops for the students.  That means when they have a tech problem they see me first and the IT people second.  Sounds like fun to me.
And today they had me write up a proposal for how I would use Second Life as a tool for business instruction and English instruction.  Yeah baby.  A full proposal with the educational basis and the budget necessary. And chances are really good that I will be spearheading the Faculty training to use Second Life here.  We will get our own island and everything... rockin cool!
So the madness has ended, and it begins again in about four weeks.  Perhaps not quite as hectic (I finished my Harvard class and am getting the lovely certificate that comes with it) or as time consuming (the Panto is over... no more lines to learn), but still an experience I know will be unlike any other I have had thus yet.
Here is hoping that your new year looks as bright as mine!