Notes from today's meeting with Peter (Starbucks)

GA Job work

1. Might have to follow up with Margit/Deborah (training). Wait for Peter's response
2. Follow up with Ari on our workshop on the SL workshop on the 8th…
3. Reminder in April: COEDSA (9th), CESA (14th)
4. Have a table out in the College of Ed: week of the 21st (11:30 AM) ( 27th evening 3:30-4:00. Prepare - Flyers for the table/banner/improve signage
5. Advisory board meeting: April 7 (10-11)
6. Revise map - Replace pictures with Second Life screenshots/hut structure for the classrooms. Screenshots of Mark's group's hale. Spoke wheel path around the island. This should be done before I leave.
7. King Kamehameha land markers for navigation/teleport signs/outrigger (similar to RL in Hawaii)
8. Write up -Propose a code of conduct for the island, privileges of where they can build. This should be done before I leave. Email Peter revisions and suggested privileges.
9. Before I leave - Prep work April 8th, temporary router set up with Malia's group (8th) for training
10. After Ari emails the announcement, forward the email announcement regarding training to COEDSA, Siobhan (email Peter
11. Email Yoko about announcement as well.
    

690 tasks

1. Conference proceedings (6-7 pages); separate from journals
2. Journal articles 10-15 journal article (look at which one I want to submit to
3. I need to review academic journals in the edtech field. 3 most recent issues of a journal to get a feel, qualititatve/quanititaivte, k-12 or higher education, in other words, what's their theme/preference?
   
4. Give Peter a 690 update on April 7th (this means work on it before I leave!!!)
   

To do list this week...

1. COE open house movie. highlights - 10 minute video by next time… (before April 1)-Do a Screenflow video of COE island and new signs. Coming soon… Fall 2010), and comparison shot old building versus coming soon new building…
2. Double check with COEDSA . wired projector Internet access, where it's going to be...
3. Send a notice to Nick, we want to try out the jeopardy board for Fall 2010 and for COE open house...
4. Tell Peter whether I can come April 14. Tell CESA, April 14… email Milli
5. Advisory board - Redo the mockup. Incorporate photos into mockup
6. COE SL open house - Speakers - Teaching as a career. why I choose to go into teaching, highlights going through the teaching program at COE, practicum, advice for people considering a career in teaching… Alumna experience perspective (ME), GET FIT, Curtis Ho
7. - Promote: modify notecards. - Marketing: Ask Si and Nick about connections to target audience... Talk to Nick and Stephen about how they found about the UH COE council
   
8. Email Elle back
9. Send Peter email about meeting about 690 and redoing mock up over Spring break
10. Write blog post for readings for ETEC 750 tonight
11. Change dentist appointment date
12. Look at Peter's PPT's
    

Meeting with Peter today

Hi Everyone,

Today, I met with my adviser one more time before I submit my article to AECT. I really am surprised at how quick he actually reviewed and critiqued my article. I emailed it to him at midnight and he had it reviewed by 7 AM in the morning. Here are some of the suggestions he made.

1. Change the title. It's now Identity and the Education Community in Multi-user Virtual Environments.
2. I need to email 2 different types of abstracts to him. The short 75 word one and the 1,000 word one, that I will eventually submit to AECT. When I actually do register for AECT, I need to choose the AECT/SL special interest group as the category.
3. Change the opening header to "Introduction." Change a few words within that particular paragraph. At the end of that paragraph, add information from Sam's case study. (If I cannot find the case study, email Peter). Include information about other classes taught at the University of Hawaii such as Barbara's class, Diane Nahl's class, and the other psychology professor he mentioned.
4. Change the second section's title. Call it "Problem/Need for study."
5. Take out the entire next section called ETEC 649.
   
6. Call the next section Methodology.
7. The next section after that would be called Analysis and Findings.
8. In this section, put in quotes that states how I came to this particular conclusion.
9. Include statements from the Diehl and Prins study about general Second Life users.
10. Label the next section Conclusion and Implications.
11. See other comments for details

I need to get all of this into Peter by tomorrow. I cancelled my massage. Have to get at it later during the week. Hopefully, I'll have enough time to complete my readings by then for tomorrow's class. Oh, and download the pictures from Faye. And NO meeting on Thursday with Peter.

Aloha,
Rebecca

P.S. - At a later time and date, rearrange your survey questions into a graph, match them up to your research questions and then change them accordingly. Consider possibly turning them into Likert scale questions. However, that would make your study a mixed method study. Not sure if I want to do that.

Goals for today

Hi blog,
I just met with my adviser Peter this morning for 690. I got a lot of good advice from him and I'll try to get my article to where it is suppose to be. He made a good point about creating a graph with 4 columns: Statements, Research questions, survey Questions, and Answers. And I will incorporate this into my analyzation of the data I received.

I am having a hard time with my dissertation though. I want to study one thing, but keep getting asked the same question over and over again: why is this (what you are studying) relevant? In return, I would have to ask, "Does relevancy really matter in these studies? What if you know that what you are studying is relevant but can't explain why? What if that point of relevancy won't exist for another few years? " Just rambling. I like what I am studying, it's just putting my finger on it's relevancy or putting it into words is hard for me. Frustrated again. Should have I stuck with something safer? Something I knew that I wouldn't necessarily be interested in, but would not provide so much frustrations?

I have a meeting at 3 PM for the Second Life committee. I am sure that will go well. In the meantime, I am going to clean my room. And then work on my 690 article either after the meeting or tomorrow.

Aloha,
Rebecca

Today

Hey blog,
Today I watched the Super Bowl and hardly did any work on anything. Oh I did clean my bathroom. Hooray for me! LOL. Well this is what I plan to do for the next 3 days.

• Prep for Wednesday's class. I need to bring in something to talk about. I think I'll go over strategies I used to prepare for my prospectus and comps. Also, prepare to talk about other studies that are similar to mine, research so far, etc...
• Email Peter about my article I plan to submit to AERA.
• Send out SL Valentine's Flyer with corrections, both in-world through groups and on any particular mailing lists I am a part of.
• Do my taxes.
• Work on my transcription work for my GA job.
• Start reading the book club book.
• Cook dinner
• Schedule massage
  

See you tomorrow!
Love,
Becca
Becca

SL Valentine's Day Social and Conference Paper

Dear blog,
I was planning to submit my new draft of my article to Peter on Thursday. However, I am almost done and wanted to work on it some more so I plan to submit it today. I think Peter is busy for the most part on his vacation, so I think a few days late won't matter too much. I think Peter should enjoy his vacation :)

So today I plan to submit my article draft today. Also I need to work on the flyers for the UH Second Life social and work on what I plan to do for the workshop on relationships in Second Life that will be held during the social. I feel a bit bad too because I keep bombarding my colleague Yoko with ideas about the social and this is her first time chairing one of these things. I hope I don't come on too strong.

Aloha,
Rebecca

Working on readings.

Dear blog,
Ok, so I ended up cooking on Sunday, but I did work on the 690 article at the same time and got somewhat of a draft done. Today, I need to do my blog post for 750 class tomorrow and some transcribing work for my GA position. Some of my classmates have to submit their prospectus tomorrow, but I am wonder if I have to do that as well since I already passed my comps. Hmm... guess I'll have to look at the syllabus again.

Love,
Becca :)

Update on article

Yesterday, I worked on arranging my survey data for the article and did analysis on two of the students who took my survey. Wrote the first two paragraphs of the article in the meantime. Now I am doing the rest of the students today and plan to complete my analysis of all students by today. If write up is not finished by today, I plan to go to online church on Sunday and then use of the rest of the day for writing. No cooking on that day. I need to get this done by Monday!!!

My, the days go by fast!

Dear blog,
The last time I wrote in here was last Thursday. Honestly, the days have gone by so fast that I barely remember what I did those past days. However, it's crunch time right now. I have a meeting with my boss on Wednesday, so I need to get some transcription work done and visit at least one college to get screenshots at. Also, I need to download the readings for Wednesday. I plan to read them tomorrow and write a response by tomorrow in this blog. Plus, I still haven't set aside time to work on my dissertation. Thankfully I backed up all my articles and writings on my external, so I think I am good to go. Oh and for 690, I need to analyze my survey results. Whew!
I'll fill you in tomorrow on how I am doing.
Love,
Becca
P.S. - Our Second Life island arrived last week Wednesday or Thursday. Hurrah!!!

Met with my advisor

Dear blog,
I met with my advisor, Peter Leong, in world in Second Life today to discuss the goals our 690 class. I told him my main goals was to publish more in order to become a more viable candidate for hire after I graduate. Currently, I only have 3 on my CV and I would like to add more to that number.

What was funny was that our talk eventually segway-ed into talk about my GA job as well. However, for the 690 class, I presented Peter with 3 ideas I had in regards to articles that I could write with him. These ideas included articles about

• What Sam and I did last semester in regards to weekly meetings in Second Life.What we accomplished and how we set it up: the island’s code of conduct, monthly get-togethers, workshops, etc…
• The process of designing an island.Either co-write an article with Peter on how we implemented the design process OR create a literature review article on how other academic institutions designed their island.Possible problem: there may not be enough literature on it, so I would have to interview island designers themselves or visit the other islands and take note of their design myself.
• Other issues in Second Life, not necessarily related to my dissertation, but are mentioned in other articles I am using for my dissertation. These include the process of designing 3D environments for immersion, interaction, and integration; how environment design differs among different subject areas; or strategies for teaching virtual environments (I already wrote a lit review in Marie Iding’s class on this, I could possibly expand on this in an article).

After talking with Peter, we agreed that the first idea I could possibly do on my own with Sam. The next 2 I could do with Peter, but he did mention that I needed to focus on some other items first. These included....

• Analyzing the results of my survey that I distributed at the end of the summer last year to the students of the ETEC 648 class. I could possibly turn this into an article for publication and use it as a pilot test for my research to include in my methodology. The write up would feature an analysis of survey at the end of class within an extended abstract 750-1000 words only, a look at the initial research questions, quick analysis of what I discovered. In other words what did the research questions answer as well as NOT answer.
• Finding similar literature on environment design. In other words, designing spaces in the virtual world that would promote interaction, socialization...

As for my GA job. Here's what I need to do.

• Collate resources from our summer 648 class including the students' annotated bibliography,
  
• Train COE faculty on how to use Second Life
• Finish up transcription work.
• Organizing another round COE recruitment mid to end of semester
• Clarify with Sam about how we will distribute prims once both islands are connected (we will probably have our own prims to ourselves, but just needed to clarify)
• Set up initial advisory board meeting. Find people who would want to be part of our committee. Maybe post an announcement on the COE Facebook or Twitter.
• For the board meeting, I need to visit other University sims and take screen captures of these sims and provide a brief description of how they are designed. I need to put these screen captures and descriptions in our virtual design blog.