EDC 665 - Week 3 Blog

Think back now to a learning experience you have recently had- were the goals explicitly stated? If not, were they still clear? Were you aware of them as a learner during the learning experience?

Thinking back to last semester with Gary Stager, as MicroWorlds comes to mind, I had a learning experience trying to learn commands to move my virtual "turtle." In the beginning of our 4th learning adventure, I was excited to create a quilt piece of which I would later learn to attach as a quilt to others' pieces.

The goals of this project were explicitly stated. Gary told us to use MicroWorlds commands to create a quilt piece. We could do anything we wanted, as long as the piece was the same size as all the rest would be. While the goals were explicit, I did not, at times, feel like the "directions" were. Then I think, "do explicit goals always need directions from point A to point B? Or is the goal enough to supply a learning activity with its purpose?"

I grew beyond creating the quilt piece, an enjoyable activity, onto creating the quilt itself and had real difficulty. I hated the process as I struggled and realized there was no tutorial or "direction" to take that would end in my desired result.

I was completely aware of the goal the entire time, so much that I wanted to stop at nothing until it was achieved. While my quilt was sub par to a couple other cadre mates, I achieved my goal of having a symmetrical quilt piece.

Going back to my original internal reflections, I believe that goals can be stated and yet directions can be excluded from the equation. It is not entirely necessary, if the goal achieved is not the exact same for everyone, to have directions. Otherwise, the goal would look identical for all.

Gary never gave us explicit directions, yet supplied us with a clear goal in mind. Looking back, no two formulas were identical (although some alike) and no two quilts turned out to be the same either. It was a matter of the creator-- which is what I love about open-ended learning. It's also the most challenging of all learning... because without directions that are certain, there in lies the risk of failure.

Picture of Video Game... as promised!

Learning Adventure #7: MicroWorlds Video Game creation

After having watched Gary's excellent "how to" videos, I was really excited about creating my own video game. Given the limited time, I created something similar to the example and really found the tutorials to be beneficial. My final game is a pacman style version complete with points to earn. I hope to move further and add a second level to my game when time is more plentiful. What I love most about LOGO is that it tells you when something is wrong. "I don't know how to fill in the blank" ---the language is simplistic in nature, but the essence of it is real programming! I imagine that kids would enjoy the outcome of their projects and worry little about making mistakes.

It took me some time to gain motivation to work on this project, but as I watched others creating games, I became more motivated to create my own. I enjoyed the process and I am excited to move further in the more "complicated" programming. Thank you to my cadremates who produced creative version of the video game. It takes me back to the beloved PONG days!

p.s. initially when I downloaded MicroWorlds EX, I messed around with creating a PONG game. It was quite enjoyable. If only I could figure out Donkey Kong and Lemmings now!!!

See attached pictures above.

Wedding planning + Microworlds Quilt = Super Saturday

What a day. First, my fiance, Elliot... time to start referring to him by name... and I went to have a tasting with our caterer today. They had a ton of food in this room. We had lunch, and waited... and waited... and waited... for everyone to finish asking the million questions they had (wondering who wants to marry these chicks...) and we had a chance to speak to the lady in charge. We have our food all booked up and it took about 10 minutes. Mexican... in true Brandy style. Then, on over to the bakery to select our cake: chocolate, a little vanilla layer and chocolate mousse. It's very nice looking and tastes darn good. You should ask Elliot, he ate plenty. ;)

Then, hours to work on my microworlds quilt. I had some difficulties, so I consulted with Todd who gave me some great tips. Although his tips worked, some of my classmates' codes were either lost somewhere and I couldn't find them, or they were too difficult to format and fix to work with my quilt. All in all, it took a couple hours and some tweaking... and it is now posted, turtle free, to my website.

http://students.pepperdine.edu/blfoster/OMEThome/fall07/index.html

Check it out!

Next, I started helping out with the Papert room on SL for our theorist project. Things are looking great. There is a large diagram to assist in the building and of course Todd and Brent working away like little elves.... oh... I guess Brent is an Elf. Hmmm...