Texas A&M Meeting 1

After everything came together, the meeting with my group went very well.  The discussion we had about SL showed me that all my doubts/thoughts about SL weren't only shared by me.  My first point I brought up was how they felt about the voice feature, since when we began they were using the chat feature.  They like myself found it very strange and hard to get use to.  We discussed how we thought the kids might feel about this and we all thought it would be easier for the kids and not as strange from them.

We also discussed negatives and positives of using SL inside the classroom.  My group brought up great points on both sides.  We talked about how SL could take away social interaction between students which could be a downfall for some students.  We also talked about how it could be hard for a teacher to monitor students on SL.  Kids today are much more tech-savvy then teachers, so whatever precautions the teacher puts in place, we thought the kids probably could figure out away around it.  We all agreeded SL could defintely allow students new and exciting opportunities that they wouldn't get in a regular classroom.  We all really liked how in the article the teacher was able to change scenes for students to put them in a different stiutation.  It was so easy and quick for the teacher.

My group talked about different ways to implement SL in the classroom.  We talked how teachers could set up a "pen pal" group with another class which I know for my kids would excite them.  We also thought SL could maybe be used as a reward rather then just a teaching device.

Over all the experience went well.  We hope to meet later next Sunday.  A few of my group members had to leave a little early because they went home for the weekend and were heading back to school.  We hope by meeting later everyone will be settled for the night and not be as rushed.