Re: the learning revolution

janet cross (hceng028@EMAIL.CSUN.EDU)
Mon, 9 Sep 1996 20:58:14 -0700


On Sun, 8 Sep 1996, Bob King wrote:
> Janet, I'd love to hear more about what you think is "implementable" about
> moo play, and in general about what you see going on there! Thx. . .

Bob:

There is so much that goes on in the MOO it is hard to take apart. The
classes I teach right now are not online (no net access from school), yet
they are all dying to get there. My FYC is using Vitanza's CyberReader, and
let me tellya, I couldn't SCARE them away. No matter what I have thrown
at them, they have come back for more. What's more, some curious things are
happening with my teaching. I have always used a great deal of focused
and unfocused freewriting, yet now it seems to have a new flavor.

Last week, the convo in class (they just *had* to get into the cyber rape
issue, of course) got so heated, paralleling a flame war we might see online,
I called time out, had em all adopt an alias, told em to write for about 5
minutes re: what they wanted to say but hadn't. They wrote for twenty and I
almost couldn't get them to go home. Even the quiet 50ish Indonesian
woman. Wow. She has some pretty incredible things to write, things she
cannot bring herself to say aloud.

The following week, I had them adopt aliases again, then I collected and
redistributed over and over and over again. They didn't want to stop, until I
told em they could read all the stuff in groups and pick stuff to share with
all. We are all excited about what we are discovering.

What has this to do with MOO? These kind of exchanges occur all the time
onMOO. Not neccesarily in class. I have yet to bring my own "class" to a MOO.
That will have to wait until I have a wired class; however, I have worked and
played with many classes and teachers. As an outsider I think I sometimes get
a little bit of a different take. I get the pages when the teacher is not
looking. The kids drop by at all hours, hanging out and doing the "fun" stuff
that really matters to them. Many times the fun stuff is the stuff for their
classes. But what impresses the hell out of me is all the stuff they learn
outside of class. Some of what they learn...hmm...social skills,
collaborative skills, programming skills, language skills, truly somewhat
overwhelming to think about even listing. I have watched my own kids grow
profoundly onMOO. Not something I ever expected cause they may be geeks, but
they have well rounded offline lives. They just hauled their offline
friends onMOO with em. So much for net stereotypes. *I* have
grown and changed. I don't often post this way to the lists cause what I say
sounds so darned utopian. Most of the time I prefer to ride the horse rather
than talk about it.

There are some great sources online written by folks who go into far
more detail than I ever will about benefits of MOO (and the downer
side as well). All I really can say is that ya hafta MOO to find out. At
least for yourself. MOO outside of classes. MOO outside of conferences. MOO
socially with a curious mind. MOO when yer up. MOO when yer down. MOO
with yer SO and kidlets.

Janet

feeling a bit embareassed by her tirade but what the hey...

......................................................................
|
Janet Cross | DaMOO
hceng028@email.csun.edu | http://lrc.csun.edu:8888
cross@pacificnet.net | or
| telnet lrc.csun.edu 7777
Moorpark CC |
Pierce CC | www.csun.edu/~hceng028/MOO.html
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