Presentations Kicked Off

Presentation kicked of this week with a bang. Four groups from virtual environments module showcased their aim to make a charity and cause go global. However, this was without a few glitches. A lot of the class are novices at using Second Life this resulting in some technical difficulties at getting the pretensions up and running. The class was a little slow to start as using technology is not always as straight forward as one would like. Many unforeseen problems can arise when working with such software, audio often can be a problem as people's connection might not be as good as others and because most of us are new to Second Life presentations where hard to set up. None the less their is also many benefits for using presentation's in a class room environment "Excellent resource that can introduce, enrich or encapsulate the material you present"(1). After some tweaking and fiddling around the students finally got a hang of it and started of setting the standard for the rest of us. 

The students executed their presentations really well. Each of them where clear and insightful. It was nice to see how each different group had collaborated and found the experience overall, but also to observe how they tackled the challenge differently. Yet I noticed something that each of the individual groups had mentioned within their presentation's, they had all made the point that the group project would have been easier if it had been in a real life class room. Although I understand why they thought this I also disagreed with the point. Although communication has been hard I don't necessarily blame this on the fact that the class is based in a virtual world and everything that is done for it is centred around technology. I would put the challenge of communication down to time. Time is the best thing you can give someone, the ultimate gift. We spend most of our lives on the go, working, eating, sleeping, walking, breathing, using all bits of energy we have. In this day and age we rarely stop. We have become so used to having everything at our finger tips when it comes to communication, its nearly always quick, fast, abrupt, no time to slow down, a quick message and fast phone call and we are done. This causes a lack of time for things, a lack of time to stop and give all your energy to one thing for even just an hour. Even when we try we have fifty taps open on our laptop, a phone by our side and one arm in a pot trying to throw dinner together. It is time we forget to dedicate to things. Our downfall with communication can not be blamed upon not having a real classroom. It was because we as people with a hundred different things to do in a day, just didn't take the time to all soulfully and mindfully give a 100% of our time, whether it was to reply, or arrive to a meeting on time. This is what caused communication difficulties and of course sometime it is just not possible to give all your time to something. But how I feel about the success or achievement of any of the projects is down to the time and dedication that each individual put into it.  Taking an on-line class has been a lot easier than going to a real life class at 8 o'clock on a Thursday evening,  Although each student has experiences their own downfalls and successes within the class I don' think this can be blamed on the fact is was because we didn't have a real life classroom. In fact I thing if we had of their would be another excuse.."someone didn't show up, they missed a meeting". It essentially all leads to the same thing, the time we have to give something. For each project to have run and achieved perfectly it would of taken an equal amount of time from each individual and sometimes that isn't possible. Although everyone has tried their hardest at making a charity go global, Going global takes TIME. 

Working online can have huge benefits for business and people now a days. With a bit of research I found some interesting Apps that provides an easy access for business meetings to take place on-line http://www.webex.com/, https://www.anymeeting.com, www.join.me. These new technology is not just connecting more business around the world but also reducing travel cost and expenditures. This also results in less time travelling and more time to do with what you like. This is also something that the class has benefited from, students are able to connect anywhere and save on transport money and ultimately save time. Another perk is been able to take the class in the luxury of your own home (or really any where you want) unfortunately, if your household is anything like mine, swarming with people, the class can end up being a family affair....

Footnote

(1) 'Presentation Software'. 2015. http://www.pdsttechnologyineducation.ie/en/Training/ICT-in-Classroom-PDFs/ICT-in-the-Classroom-PDFs/NCTE-Presentation-software-focus-on-literacy-numeracy-12-11.pdf.