Week 14 Using Games for Teaching & Learning

In Week 14, we talked about how gaming can effect learning and how learning can happen by using games. We spoke about games like Second Life. A lot of people stereotype gamers as lonely people who sit around playing games all day in their room without any real human interaction. However, when you game you can learn a lot of different skills like multi-tasking.

These are tasks that we use in everyday life. People who game can often hone in on these skills and it helps benefit them in their game playing. Of course, the stereotype I described before isn't all true. Gamers come in all sorts. The age of gamers is even showing an increase.

Gaming could be used in Advertising to set up different scenarios that we may face in the industry. It could help us learn to deal with problems in a more effective way.

Here is a screenshot from the game Second Life.

Week 13 Distance Education

This week we talked about Distance Education which can sometimes be called online schooling, virtual school, e-learning...well you get the picture. It is a great opportunity for those who may have a hard time getting to and from classes while still being able to better themselves and earn a degree. The class discussed how it differs from traditional on-campus learning.

You don't really get the same experience, (which is obvious). But, for all that might not be a bad thing. Though it may be hard to imagine UF football may not be important to all students, so being on campus the day before a game to feel the school spirit might not be a deal breaker for all. However, I think that on-campus education is much more than that because there are lots of things you can participate in that could really benefit your future. For example, joining a club that does lots of volunteer work looks really good on your resume. However, participating in clubs may be hard to do if you aren't already on campus.

Though for some, learning in the comfort of their own home is ideal. Maybe they are raising a child or they work a full time job, learning at their own pace and not on a typical schedule would be perfect for them.

In the future, I may even run into this type of learning in my career. The company I work for might want me to get special training in a certain area and with e-learning I wouldn't have to move or change my work schedule to learn.

The following is a link to a video that talks about someones personal journey with online schooling.

YOUTUBE Video --University of Phoenix

Week 12 Creating a Professional Web Presence

This week we talked about the importance of a professional web presence. This isn't the same as a social networking site. It is different because it is somewhere you could send a potential employer to learn about your professional career and achievements. If you were in an interview, this would be a great tool to use to promote yourself along side your resume. It would also show the employer of your web capabilities too.

I can think of a lot of way to how this could help in my career because as I continue learning I will have more experience. I could upload some of the projects I've worked on to my website and give employers or even clients an insight on what I am capable of.

This is a link to my Professional Web Presence. I made it using Google Sites. It was pretty easy to make because they offer templates in case you aren't familiar building a website from scratch.

Kimberly Giambrone's PWP

Week 11 Open Source Software

This week we talked about open source software. We all were required to post in a forum about our thoughts on how moving towards OSS would effect our society.

I think that moving towards open source software and cloud computing will become very prevalent in the years to come. Using these types of tools, offers some of the same abilities that purchase-only software offers but for free. With focus on open source software, many people would be able to use these products because they would now be available to people that may be less fortunate of having software like Adobe Photoshop which can be expensive. OSS would be a great alternative for schools or organizations that may be did not have the funding to provide all their computers with expensive software. The users could still be trained in the software and receive generally the same product.
Looking at cloud computing, it could really open up the way people think about computers. They might not need as much storage space because lots of the users information and documents could be stored in the clouds. It is really a very efficient way to store information to because it is sort of used like a public utility. You use only what you need. This would be a big money saver for schools and organizations alike.

As far as Advertising is concerned, OSS could be really helpful there as well by helping agencies communicate with their clients. The following is a link for GIMP which is a OSS program similar to Photoshop.

GIMP