Flounder Gigging

I have been trying various applications and tools to figure out how to share my information and items posted for my graduates course project. I chose the topic of flounder gigging based on my interests and some work that I was developing for others.  The first item is a step-by-step module on how to build your own wading flounder gigging light.  I have chosen to use slide share in combination with scoop.it to get the word out.  I will also post various links in other applications that have public access in order to hopefully share the information and get interaction from others.  For the purpose of this project I will post the various items links as a response to this blog.  So far playing with the different options I found tools like diigo had to many limitations for the free users or like scoop.it I could not create a public group with my free access. 

I have been in the Coast Guard for 20 years this September and have moved every 2 to 4 years based on the needs of the service.  I recently moved to a brand new house that was built with only 40 houses in the community.  Out of the 40 households about 60% are Marine Corp families, 10% are Coast Guard and 20% are civilians. I never really thought about the various aspects of a PLN or communities in general until we started to have these conversations about networking and communities through web 2.0.  Ok, about this time your saying ok so you live n a neighborhood but that's not connected to web 2.0.  I seemed to connect to the other Coast Guard families pretty quickly, partially because we are all in the Coast Guard in a Marine Corp town but also because we all work together at the same unit. The strange thing is that I met most of my other neighbors on Facebook prior to meeting them in person and some of the them I have still not met in person.  The thought of that blows me away.  We have a closed neighborhood Facebook group and almost all of the families are on the group.  When there are issues in the neighborhood, play groups, get togethers or even house issues since we all have the same builders it all goes on the Facebook group.  The other day I had a couple walking down the street and they asked if I was Ron Nakamoto.  They said that they had spoken to us on Facebook and my wife wanted something they were giving away but they didn't want to knock on the door just in case they were wrong.  It is amazing the boundaries or barriers we put up around us but yet we let those same barriers go when we are interacting online.  I think that we can follow the lead of the kids in our neighborhood and just go for it.  When I first arrived a biker gang of 4 yr olds to 13 years old rolled up on me and asked if I had any kids.  Every since then, the kids have no fear of knocking on my door at 7am on a Saturday and asking if my daughter can play. It is amazing how web 2.0 tools have entered every aspect of our life to include how you get to know your neighbors.

Periscope

 I clicked on a link from one of my RSS feeds that was discussing the challenges that teenage girls go through not only in the U.S. but all over the world, especially when it comes to equality in education.  This article was really an announcement for a series that the public radio was doing on a perspective through a teenage eyes using periscope.  This was the first time that I had heard of Periscope so I figure I would check it out.  The idea of Periscope is that its an application to allow you to see things through the eyes of someone else.  It can be from what a teenage girl faced daily as mentioned in the article or through the eyes of a protester in Ukraine.  The idea about it is that you are able to experience things from a different perspective. When you go on the application you can chose a scope (what they call a look through video) by going to a list or by map.  On the list version it gives you the top scopes by watchers.  As I was exploring there was a real large mixture of scopes, from a mid-afternoon bible study, to a girl discussing the unfair dress codes in school for girls versus boys, to stars on the movie sets and just people doing normal things like eating or putting on make up while scoping.  

So here is the question, is this a community.  They claim that it is a community application and in the idea of it I can see how it could create something like an idea of a community.  There is no way to create a ongoing dialogue that stays on the board unless you subscribe to the person and then you are notified anytime they come on the application. When the person is scoping, people are able to ask questions or make comments.  There is not a restriction for people to watch or discuss things with you unless you block them.  So there is not many restrictions, as there was young kids scoping to people just talking while they sit there naked.  I was surprised by this and wondered how dangerous this application could be.  Many of the serious scopers have an ongoing dialogue, one lady does it every lunch break based on a theme to discuss, they can be connected through many other social and community tools to include blogs.  I can see how this could be one aspect of a PLN and also a way to promote your blogs and other connections to get other people to join your network.  I think that one day I will sit here and do my school work while scoping to see what happens.  Stay tuned and I will let you all know when I scope.  

Technology in the Modern Military

So the last few weeks I had mentioned augment reality (AR) technology and its use and I had mentioned technology in the classroom with examples of the game minecraft with Google glasses.  While exploring some articles I came across this really fascinating but disturbing video of future of technology, specifically AR.  In this video the idea of AR taken to a higher level with it being interactive in our everyday life through inserting the ability for the AR in the eye itself.  At first I thought it was contacts but the idea is that it is implanted into your eye (Sorry not for me). 


AR to me is an interesting concept and I can really see it being useful in the classroom. In the article

The Future of Augmented Reality: Limitations, Possibilities and Hopes by Weronika Lass the discussion on how AR can be used is very interesting.  I can see how the technology can be really advanced for functional learning in the medical field and in areas like engineering. 

This made me think about the courses I am in charge of at the Special Missions Training Center located at Camp Lejeune, NC.  Can AR be used for military training and has it been used.  One of the things we teach is close quarter combat (CQB).  CQC is a tactical concept that involves physical confrontation between several combatants. In warfare it usually consists of small units or teams engage the enemy with personal weapons at very short range, up to 30 meters, from proximity hand-to-hand combat to close quarter target negotiation with short range firearms.

"The Army is using the Future Holistic Training Environment Live Synthetic works by taking the four main areas of simulation training and turning them into one system. The US Army refers to the first of these as Live simulation (LS), which is defined as real people operating real systems in the field. The second form of simulation is virtual simulation (VS). This is real people operating simulated systems. Then there’s constructive simulation (CS), which is simulated people and equipment operating in a simulated environment. The newest area and one of the fastest advancing is gaming simulation (GS), which is similar to CS, but where the simulated world looks real to the participant, like in a game of Halo or Call of Duty." The issues that the Army is facing is bringing all of these systems together as they all act independently.  They have a pretty impressive system located at Fort Bragg, home of the 82nd Airborne and Special Forces.  Of course, like anything technology isn't able to to replace everything.  The need for real life training for the military still and will always exist.  Something that this system is not able to add (yet) is the fatigue factor, stress factor from environmental factors like weather.  Either way, it is amazing to watch as the technology advances and we see how it can be used not only in the normal education setting but in advancing and building a modern military force. 

Wrapping up the Week

This week I looked at various networking in our reading from electronic to general networking and communities.  I was interesting to discuss the differences between networking and communities and what distinguished the difference between them.  I spent this week on my classmate’s blogs a little more to see what they found interesting and blogged about.  I like the class interaction through the blogs and still having the option to also discuss things on the blackboard discussion boards.  As learners in the course we always have the option to create a discussion board on the blackboard but this is the first class that I have actually seen people do it and create a great discussion.  I have also been observing two forums (communities) for my next class project.  One I am more of a lurker and the other I have been trying to participate.  Even though both communities are based on fishing it seems to go beyond more than the subject and you actually see people expressing themselves on other subjects and trials in their personal lives.  I have had mixed reviews if I am part of the community yet.  Even though I have had people make some general comments and welcome me when I post questions I have not received a large support of help compared to other questions posted from long time members.  I have even looked at the idea of PLNs and didn’t even realize that I had one already started.  Like relationships, PLNs take time to nurture but I see it as important to have one, the question is it better to have a large PLN and have as many resources available when needed or to have a small PLN and focus on it.  I think that a large one is the way to go with PLN.  Especially, when you understand that your PLN is a combination of different aspects in your life to include work, family, personal, hobbies, etc. 

Camp Google - Virtual Education

Talking about technology at work!  I am always searching for fun things for my daughter to do, especially with school out and I do not a lot of televisions time.  I discovered Camp Google that starts 13 July.  This is a virtual education, four-week, free online camp for ages 7 to 10 but really for any kids at heart.  This program was designed by Google, National Park Service, National Geographic and Khan University. The camp will have an ocean week, space week, nature week and music week.  Learners can chose to do the entire camp or just parts and earn badges,

Collaborative Learning Spaces

Is your classroom old and boring, the typical uncomfortable chairs bolted to the ground in a lecture set up or the rowed desks and chairs?  Time for a change! Kelly Walsh introduces to research and various reasons on why your school or work space needs a change in the article Reasons and Research – Why Schools Need Collaborative Learning Spaces.   I was thinking back to my high school and undergraduate days and the classrooms were not a welcoming place but I always thought that "hey its a classroom and shouldn't be." 

Fast forward to a few years back, the Coast Guard moved to its new Headquarters building located in Washington D.C.  I had been assigned to the old building in 2003 and remembered going to work in the dark and leaving in the dark.  Only a select few had windows and the building and decor was built over 50 years ago.  The new building was built to be green with landscapes built on the roofs and the entire building is pretty much a window.  What stood out to me was when I came for a meeting that the meeting rooms were all different and set up to be collaborative learning spaces.  The rooms were all painted to create a mood based on research the designers had terminated would be welcoming  Some of the meeting spaces were set up like typical board rooms but many options were available to reconfigure the room for the need.  The decor and chairs were lively and bright.  They also set up eight large rooms for large training or meetings with some of the same type of welcoming atmosphere.  Each space had the latest technology that allowed for the presenter or instructor to really take advantage of the technology.  

Many schools or turning to this type of set up but why?  Walsh brought up some good points, one being that people are very active, participatory, experiential learning and the creation of collaborative learning spaces allows that to happen in the classroom.  This type of classroom also encourages social learning and in the end encourage connections, not compartmentalization