week 4 Tutorial; scratch

In one of the tutorials there was an introduction to scratch and then in one of the interviews which Holly Ludgate had with Ron Smith he spoke about scratch also for education purposes. I am pretty challenged with new information. It takes a moment for me to assimilate it and determine how I can apply it to my own uses or purposes. Then a wonderful thing happened I googled and I found that people have been using scratch for second life and then all my dreams were realized. Instead of having to learn linden labs coding (which for me the learning curve has bottomed out temporarily) I can use scratch to have even more interactivity within second life and with the characters I create and animate.  I am now forever connected to my computer like a borg. Thank Apple for the IPad to relieve my lower back and carpel tunnel woes.

What is Scratch for Second Life (S4SL)?
S4SL is a new easy way to add behaviors and interactivity to your objects in Second Life. S4SL is based on a new easy way to add behaviors and interactivity to your objects in Second Life. S4SL is based on Scratch, a graphical programming language that lets you construct programs by snapping together graphical blocks. With S4SL, you can snap together a few blocks to make your SL pet interact with you using chat commands, make your sculpture change size and color, or make your house respond to your presence.

week 3 Ron Smith Interview

The interview which Ron Smith and Holly Ludgate had on fso was so eye opening. Ron Smith a teacher in LAUSD actually is using online tools on a regular to teach students in the classroom. I know it's like ok duh BriGette, but I hear so many teachers say how hard it is and how much time it takes.. yada yada yada. He was saying how he used his planning time to work on the productions which were used and then when actual class time started he had all of his content in place for instruction.  I love it!
Some of the tools which Ron spoke about I am familiar with but the possibilities which he spoke of for learning were tremendous. Most of the time I surf around looking for new tools or read blogs about these tools not really understanding the implications for learning which they may have. Here is a snippet about each.

google sketch up pro is no joke- I could spend hours on this. I saw the possibilities for learning since you can import google maps and google earth into the sketch ups.

blender- I have (played with) used before. It takes a minute to learn it. (well for me) creating your own "creature" single cell organism and creating its evolution. I have a lot of learning curve for it. Its 3d animation tool but he actually uses this in the classroom with students.

scratch-is a graphical program language with out all the coding. I am looking at how to use this for second life. Still looking at the possibilities since I spend a lot of time in my "virtual for real" world.

Ron talked about a trend in the future- curriculum design and instrucitional material on line to service students who are not confortable in the classroom. I love it especially since the population of adults which I will be involved with fits that model.