Danilenko's Blog: Final Reflection 4/27-5/4

May 4, 2006

Final Reflection 4/27-5/4

I am reflecting on relief that the semester is winding down. . As usual the readings were interesting, and they made me consider how more work there is for us to really use technologies effectively to improve human understanding or capacity. A somewhat different view is that we (educators) have a long way to go to stay current with the way younger people (under 15 let's say) are using and learning with technologies. This was my first actual chance to interact with George's pedagogical agent Penelope. While it was "cool" she either misunderstood (answered incorrectly) my questions or lacked an information base to answer them. Some of her answers that did make sense were too brief to be really useful. I also found her vocal patterns hard to understand and disconcerting. I also really missed question inflection and tonal excitement. I thinks agents have to be much more sophisticated to have an impact. On another topic, I find the ideas and concepts of virtual worlds (like Second Life from Linden Lab) intriguing. People are spending real money to purchase virtual assets in the virtual world and are sometimes able to convert the virtual money to negotiable offline-world currency. I see many opportunities to develop online e-learning experiences including collaborative experiences, game like learning, and simulations. It will be interesting to see how rich interpersonal interactions actually are in the environments.

I enjoyed this class a great deal and learned much. However, I'm glad to have an upcoming break!

Posted by danil003 at May 4, 2006 3:13 PM

Comments

Interpersonal interaction is really rich especially in the virtual world. People develop interpersonal skills through this. It could be because of its convenience and accessibility. You can reach people around the globe.

Interpersonal skills in the virtual world is very useful to gain more friends. Not only for personal but even for business purposes. You can deal with people more easily if you have interpersonal skills and can even gain their trust.

Posted by: Interpersonal Skills at August 16, 2007 10:37 AM

interesting, looking forward to further input from you, its been a while you have posted anything.

Regards
gilroy fernandez
http://www.rditechnologies.net

Posted by: Houston Web Design Company at February 8, 2008 7:43 PM

Very true. However, research in the area of online trust (usually related to online classes) generally show that the faster route to trust is a face-to-face meeting in the real world. I've lived with the virtual world for a long time - first with dial-up local online bulletin board systems and then with listserv and Usenet groups. I developed friendships and some trust in the virtual environments, but they developed very slowly over time. Eventually meeting some of these people in real space contributed greatly to cementing long lasting friendships including one with an individual outside the US.

They types of successful interpersonal skills tend to be somewhat different in the virtual environments often due to the lack of social cues, body language, vocal quality, or facial expressions. It is more work to represent those cues in virtual environments, even richer environments like Second Life.

Posted by: Gene Danilenko at April 13, 2010 4:41 PM

Thanks, the blog was part of a doctoral seminar in Learning Technologies. I haven't kept this blog up to date, but was planning on blogging on my personal site. However, work and my studies sucked up the additional time. It is my goal to start up again, but AFTER I finish the last chapter of my dissertation.

I'm surprised anyone outside of my class actually read this!

Posted by: Gene Danilenko at April 13, 2010 4:44 PM