annef's blog

I chose to review the article “The ‘New’ Virtual Consumer: Exploring the Experiences of New Users” by Lyle R. Wetsch.

I chose this article because it discusses the experiences of new users for software such as Second Life.  Not only would this be an introduction for myself, due to the fact that I have never used a program such as Second Life, but it would also give me a preview as to what my students may experience if I would choose to use Second Life in my business education curriculum.

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the experiences of first time users of Second Life and how businesses can use this information to gauge their marketing techniques within the software.  The author created a study using business students from an internet marketing course and monitored their experiences in Second Life, starting with the creation of an avatar.  Students were required to use a weekly blog to describe their experiences within the software.  The author also created his own avatar to monitor students.  Students were encouraged to use Second Life as they normally would, not focusing only on the business/marketing aspect.  The results showed a variety of mixed emotions and experiences of the students during their Second Life experiences.  It showed that past experiences in gaming software makes the use of similar software much easier.  The participants did have mostly positive experiences when experimenting with company based avatars and products.

A similar activity could be used in a marketing education, introduction to marketing course.  Students could use avatars to review different marketing techniques they experience while in Second Life. Taken a step further, you could also assign specific marketing techniques to individual students in order to gain better classroom discussion.

Companies could use a similar technique by having employees in the marketing department create avatars and monitor other users impressions of the company’s marketing techniques without the users being aware.  This would allow for a more honest opinion of the user and more opinions.

I found this research to be extremely valuable.  The author was able to identify challenges the students faced, which would help him with implementation techniques if he chose to conduct the course again in the future.  I also found the idea of the students’ blogs as the monitoring to be genius because it allowed more for self-expression. 

Wetsch, L. (November 2008). The “New” Virtual Consumer: Exploring the Experiences of New Users. Journal of Virtual Worlds Research, Vol. 1. No. 2.

The presentation I summarized was entitled Cloud Computing and your Data Warehouse by Todd Papaioannou a VP Architecture and Emerging Technologies, http://www.slideshare.net/drluckyspin/cloud-computing-and-your-data-warehouse .

The presentation discussed cloud computing, gred computing, utility computing, and buzzwords.  The author defined cloud computing as “a mechanism for delivering scalable business services that execute on a decentralized computing fabric composed of commodity software and hardware”.  Some benefits described with using cloud computing included:

• Faster, because the infastructure is on demand, the ability to use snapshot (clone, go and repeat)
• Cheaper-reduces capital needs and the barrier to entry is lower
• Better-focuses on core business

The author discussed the idea of private clouds;  which is the use of clouds for internal virtualization.  Private clouds are excellent for sensitive date, provide better performance, and allow for easier environmental control.

An alternative use for clouds, known as Teradata software was also discussed throughout the presentation.  The author gave examples of how Teradata could be used.  Teradata allows for self serive provisioning, self service data management, web based download of data, and automated data governance.  Some of the benefits of  Teradata including: testing, porting, cloud backup, expanded market,  and faster POCs.

1. How could you create a similar experience for any business education curriculum and/or course?

• To recreate this in a business education course I would base the course on collaborative learning.  I would combine the use of wiki’s and google docs for all in class work and assignments.  Students would be split into teams and would have the choice of using either technology, based on their preference.  Regardless, I would have access to their work so that I could monitor changes and make comments.

2. What do you think is a strength of his scenario?

•  The biggest strength I found throughout the article was the collaboration among all involved.  It helps to show that its more than just the one teacher for that one class that believes this method is effective.  Especially for the business concepts, it helps to show application such as in the community.

3. What do you think is a weakness of his scenario?

• One of the weaknesses is the multitude of resources necessary to implement it.  Not just financial resources to have the technology available to all, but also the human resources to monitor and operate it.  It may be difficult to start initially but once the kinks were worked out, it may be easier to run.

The overall theme of this chapter was utilizing the tools available to you to the best of your ability.  All teachers are expected to maintain their licenses and to bring in the best tools for their students to use in learning.  Both of these can be accomplished through professional development.  As business teachers we have additional certifications in areas that involve technology, so it is a necessity that we stay on top of the technological game.    The authors discussed a specific conference that allowed the teachers to apply what they were learning.  There are extensive professional development seminars that help us to learn first hand abou these technologies.  The challenge comes in picking the appropriate ones.

The use of Blogs and Podcasts are two options teachers have for improving the educational tools use to instruct both ESL (English as a second language) and LEP (limited English proficient) students.  Chapter 8 discussed further the was to use these tools most effectively.  Blogs can be used as a communication tool between the student and teacher.  The use of technologies that involve writing allow the student to think out their responses before answering.  Podcasting provides a similar function by allowing the student to hear what they are learning in English while processing the information.  The students are also able to listen at their own pace. 

Exposing ESL students and those students with disabilities to the widely expanding world of technology is important for all ages.  The use of technology for such students can dramatically change their learning and comprehension levels by “evening” the playing field in the classroom.  It is important, however, to test the technology before hand and research the types that can be deemed most effective for each individuals disability needs.  Especially in regards to competitive events in BPA and DECA, the use of technology allows students with disabilities to compete in events that they would normally not be able to compete in.  This can also be said for the international DECA programs with students who come to the U.S. to compete.

Chapter 7’s overall theme was Internet safety.  The copyright issues were very interesting to me because I still have moments where I have to check if I quoted or referenced something properly.  Business courses could be especially at risk of violating a copyright law in cases such as advertising and not using other company’s logo.  It is important that we take every step at setting a good example for students when creating lesson plans or using examples in class.

Website control while in the classroom was the other key point of this chapter.  Schools are responsible for taking extreme precautions when it comes to the Internet sites students access during school hours.  I am not sure if this is always the best decision.  Although the obvious sites should be blocked, such as pornography, but some sites could be beneficial for students to use during certain classes.  I believe it should be more the responsibility of the teacher to monitor the students’ Internet usage so that the students can have the best of both worlds; safety and Internet access.

The article I chose was entitled “Use of Second Life in k-12 and High Education: A review of Research” by Chris Inman, Vivian Wright, and Julia Hartman.  I decided to use this article because I think simulation games such as second life have become astonishingly popular among this new generation.  As educators I think we need to understand why it is our students find this type of technology interesting and how we can relate it to our course material. 

According to the article virtual simulations are becoming more and more popular, especially for online courses as a form of assessment.  Second Life is not a curriculum based software program, but it is a virtual world in which users create a character and can interact with other characters doing every day activities such as shopping and even going on dates.  In this study the researchers analyzed Second Life to see three main things: 1) What research methods have been applied to Second Life 2) How is it used by students and teachers 3) What are the related findings to 1 and 2.  The study showed that Second Life is more dominant in higher education situations.  There is a risk associated with K-12 students using Second Life due to the potential exposure to profanity, pornography, and other inappropriate materials.  Areas that Second Life could be incorporated include training, designing, and simulated social networking.

Chapter 6 focused mainly on new technologies and meshing them with the classroom effectively.  Students are sometimes more familiar with newer technologies than most teachers.  Obviously because we are going to be technology teachers it is our responsibility to be just as up-to-date on new technologies as our students.  In fact, I think we should be looking at the technologies that most would not think could be used in the classroom and find a way to work it into the class.  For instance, you would not think of Twitter as a tool in a classroom setting, but we use it in the class and I think it is one of the most creative uses of technology I have seen in college.  They also spoke about how businesses use technology in creative ways.  As business education teachers I think it would be a great idea to format your classroom website in a business website format.  It helps keeps your students in the mindset of the business world and is also a creative way to get them to interact on your website.

Title- 10 Things CEOs Need to know about Design

By-Future M, Leslia Brashaw

This powerpoint was about introducing the concept of design to CEOs who arenot familiar with design techniques.  The first point she wanted readers to understand is that a powerpoint presentation is not considered a designing tool, it is a medium for presenting a design concept.  CEOs also should not try to micromanage their designers, the CEO hired them for a reason and they should let the designers do their jobs.  It is also a good idea to think outside of the box when hiring a designer.  It doesn’t necessarily have to be a webdesigner or someone in your city.  Storyboards should always be used and should be done in black and white, color should be added as detailsl once the final idea is confirmed.  You should also be creative when deciding what social medias you will use to distribute your design.  Your designer should be an employee from the very beginning.

I thought this presentation was very useful.  CEOs do not have time to read large articles or scan through 100 slide powerpoints.  A 22 slide powerpoint that is broken down into 10 clearly defined points is great for a busy reader.  The information and display was also very effective.  It was also good marketing for the author’s own company, which is always important.

The topic I connected most with was the learning communities. Our recent assignment for the graduate students actually helped me to understand what a learning community was, and this text helped me to achieve that.  I don’t think learning communities are used enough in the education world, especially business education.  We spend so much time trying to such for lesson plans or curriculum that other people have developed, and yet if we had a learning community we could save a lot of time.  We talk about students working in groups to help learn from each other, and we need to start doing the same in a more effective manner.

I thought the discussion about teacher in-service was interesting.  It is important for students to have the most up-to-date teaching methods presented to them, and in-service days are a great way to achieve that.  However, I do think there are alternative ways of conducting an in-service; such as podcasts, webcams, etc.  If a teacher is not able to attend an in-service day I think they should be required to supplement it with an alternative form that discusses the same topics.