Author: Carla (Page 4 of 4)

Fourth Week Reflection

October 10, 2020 / Carla / 0 Comments

This week I decided to look into using Trello. We had talked about this app in class and I was intrigued because I am always looking at ways to schedule myself or groups more efficiently. At first Trello looked like Padlet, which I was using frequently in the summer for work. I used Padlet to work on weekly camp schedules and activities with my coworkers so we could both add in ideas where we thought they would fit best. However, after working in both apps I can see how much more powerful Trello is.

Details Details Details!
I was impressed with how much this app allows you to edit in a single ‘card’. For instance, you might have a card labeled “English 201 Essay” but you can click into that card and add a more detailed description, a checklist, a due date, or assign that card to a member of a team you are working with. You can also assign colours (Trello also includes colour blind options) to cards, so you could make all your biology assignments appear blue, but those cards will turn red if not completed by the due date you assigned them. Although I wish they applied a traffic light system to the due date so you get a warning, yellow colour change, when you are 24hrs from a due date.

I was roaming the internet looking for helpful board templates and wow is there a bunch available out there! I love being able to try out different systems because I am able to see what I like best from a variety of sources and then merge them into something that I like working with. Trello boards are no different, so I’ll be copying some of the boards I have found to see what works for me.

If you want to copy some free Trello boards here is a video of how to copy a Trello board.

I found the Trello boards in the above video through this YouTube account.

Until next time!

A Minecraft post for people sensitive to motion sickness

October 4, 2020 / Carla / 0 Comments

Photo by Nina PhotoLab on Unsplash

This week I spent more time in the world of Minecraft but with a few changes. The first session I played I had to cut a bit short because I was overcome by nausea and dizziness. I originally attributed the feelings to the large amount of ice cream I had eaten while I was playing but was worried it may have been motion sickness. After paying for a while during my second session my suspicions were confirmed, Minecraft is among the first person view games that give me motion sickness. I have had this happen with other games before (Portal and Halo to name a couple) but not all first person view games have this effect on me. To solve, or at least lower, this issue I have a couple tricks I try before giving up on a game so I tried these out on Minecraft to see if I could continue this inquiry.

First I went into settings and lowered the mouse sensitivity, this makes the movement of your mouse slower on screen so that instead of flicking all around in the field of view your “head” moves slower within the game. Less chaotic movement in the game can be earlier on the tummy sort of how going down a rollercoaster gets some adrenaline going where going down a rollercoaster while spinning would be much uhm, messier. I mentioned field of view and this is another setting that can be changed in Minecraft, and many other games. I find that a wider field of view can help with motion sickness so I increased the field of view, this is also done in the settings menu.

The last change I try to solve motion sickness issues in first person view games is my last resort change. I only do this when the first two changes still leave me nauseous and the change is the “window” the game. This is when you play the game out of full screen mode, as a window, with part of your background/desktop showing. Having the game sit within a stable image really helps me with motion sickness, but the game can feel much less immersive so I only do this if the other changes don’t work.

This photos show a game starting in “windowed” view

Video Games Made, Not Played By Flickr User Myrtle Beach The Digitel (CC BY 2.0) Photo cropped in to show screen

Here is the YouTube video I got these tips from

I’m not sure if there are other methods to solve motion sickness while gaming because these have always worked for me.

I ended up finding an abandoned village in my game, more on that in my next update!

Sign that reads "No video games until after homework is done. Capice?"

No games photo by Robert Couse-Baker Cropped in for emphasis

A good reminder, but what if my homework is video games?

Photo of tree in field — Photo Taken By Carla Scott

Third week reflection

October 1, 2020 / Carla / 0 Comments

Photo Taken By Carla Scott

This week we took a break from a typical class and had guest speaker Jesse Miller join us. Their presentation was about social media in education, and safety concerts around that. Miller was also speaking to broader digital identity, rights, and literacy among students and school staff members.

It was a great presentation partially because I had never really spent time to really think about topics they brought up, like how schools handle cell phone policies. I supposed I aged myself a bit by saying that, but when I was in secondary school students having cell phones was very rare. Having never been on the receiving end of this debate the idea of cell phones being confined to bags all class never bothered me. When Miller talked about teachers including a phone break in class it made me think of all the times when I’m feeling stuck, or can’t focus so I check my phone or watch a couple quick YouTube videos to have a sort of brain break. There are also times where I am on a roll and head down for long periods of time, but I think using timed breaks can really help maintain focus. There have been many times where I am dreading the start of a project because I foresee it taking X amount of time and its really daunting, or I don’t even know where to start. When starting is the hardest part I try thinking “I’ll just try for 20 mins and then take a break” I’m not sure why the promise of a break has this effect on me but it can be really amazing what is produced in that time. That was a bit of a long explanation but I think what I am trying to say is the promise of “free time”, even 5 or 10 minutes, can be really motivating.
I was also really interested in the conversation about boundaries and expectations being a way to empower students. I think this is a great idea and I’ve used a similar technique at summer camps with children. We set up “camp rules” that we make as a group so everyone has a say in what we want to put into and see from campers and leaders. This activity always results in more community accountability as the children seem to feel more like they are an important member and decision maker rather than a person that has to follow a list of boring rules made up by the leaders.
Now, I’m off to play some more Minecraft!

Starting my free inquiry project

September 27, 2020 / Carla / 0 Comments

I describe myself as an opportunistic gamer. If the game is in front of me and easy to play I’ll try it out, but my completion rates are abysmal. It isn’t that I have no interest in finishing a game from start to finish, it’s just that I can never find the time to finish a sixty (or more) hour play through in these seemingly endless games.

Enter Minecraft, a game with no actually ending, or plot for that matter. I have never played Minecraft before because of how it is described (and the graphics) seems like no fun to me. I bounce right off of open world games, I suppose I like to have some story elements to pull me into a game. Yet, I feel compelled to try Minecraft, after all this game has been hugely successful with elementary school aged children and may still be when I start my teaching career.

First hurdle, buy Minecraft. I was a bit surprised that this eleven year old game still cost forty CAD, but that’s Microsoft I guess? I made the mistake of trying to buy Minecraft from the website and kept cycling between the product page and the purchase page. I then realized that I should probably be buying the game from the app store on my PC, which worked perfectly.

Finally I was in and, just as I expected, I didn’t get it.

I has watched a YouTube video on how to get started in Minecraft so I did as they suggested and started punching trees and collecting wood to make my first set of tools. Why? To make more tools I think? I was happy for any place to start really.

After wandering around and making some tools with my brand new crafting table all of which I made using the wood I got from punching trees, the sun went down. This is not a good thing because at night monsters and evil creatures try to kill your character in the game. I suppose this isn’t normally that bad but as a new player with no house to hide in during the night it was annoying to keep running away from things while I was trying to figure out what I was doing. When the day cycle started again I was able to look more at the crafting recipes I have access to. I’m not sure if it is normal to see the recipes I was able to look at or if this was something I turned on in game settings but it was actually nice to be able to see the different components I needed to find to advance my gear and make a building with doors and stairs and other house things. However, I wanted to do some exploring before I made anything else because I was thinking I might find a town or an abandoned town or something.
Next post I will be talking about my map exploration skills and what to do if first person view games give you motion sickness!

Second week reflection

September 27, 2020 / Carla / 0 Comments

I know it is only the second week of this course, and third week for some other courses, but I have to say that I am already finding due dates to be an issue for me. I suppose it is more about the amount of assignments and keeping track of which is due when, or when which assignment’s due date changes and then recording the new due date. This is definitely gearing me up for a high level of organizational skills.
This week we looked at copyright and open education resources which was really exciting! I think it is pretty amazing that teachers freely share lessons and activities with others, there are some sites where a contributor can price their content and that is totally understandable. I was also impressed with how much (free or priced) lesson content for teachers is available. I suppose I had always thought of lesson planning as a job teachers did outside of class on their own or maybe with a fellow staff member or two. Knowing that there are collections available is a bit of a relief and gives an almost collaborative feel to the lesson planning process. Even just seeing what is being used in classrooms at different levels is intriguing.

It was nice to chat with some of my classmates about the movie “Most likely to Succeed”. I like that we had a chance to voice what excited us and what we found to be problematic about the movie. It was really nice to hear others opinions about it even when I had thought about an aspect differently than a classmate.
Hopefully I can start posting these blogs a bit earlier in the week.
Until next time!

Setting up my Blog

September 20, 2020 / Carla / 0 Comments

Now it was time to set up my WordPress website/blog. I signed up for a blog through opened.ca, following the instructions from the 336 course website. It was pretty straightforward and I think the longest time sink was waiting for the confirmation email. That being said, I read all the steps once before even starting and I think that helped avoid any major mistakes in the signup process. Once I was able to get into the admin side of my new blog I went to the clone zone on opened.ca and got the UVic EDCI 336 template. At this point the blog was populated with a bunch of content and it was time to start customizing it. I decided that before I made any changes I would be sure that I had the first few posts ready and have a few photos ready to be in a place where I could replace the pre populated content as I changed the look. So with that done now, I am finally getting to adding my first few blogs and photos!

First Class Reflection

September 20, 2020 / Carla / 0 Comments

I had no idea what to expect from EDCI 336 when I saw it in the list of fall courses for the second year of the BEd program. I was able to read through the 336 course syllabus before the first class and that gave me some direction but I was still a little unsure about the delivery of the course. The first class definitely gave me more direction on the expectations of the class and how we are going to be interacting with other students and faculty. I am pretty nervous about this class but it seems like we will be covering some pretty important information so I hope I can keep up with everything! We also signed up to “learning pods” in the first class to give us the opportunity to make connections with the people in the course. I am looking forward to meeting with my pod during the term and seeing the different ways we each approach the course.

A little bit about me to start things off

September 20, 2020 / Carla / 0 Comments

Hi, I am Carla and I am currently attending UVic’s Bachelor of Education program. This blog will be exploring my experiences in class and on a free inquiry project where I will be playing and bungling my way through Minecraft for the first time. In my free time, I like to play both tabletop and video games so I hope that some of the problem-solving skills I gained from those activities will help. My beagle Leopold (pictured) helps keep my feet warm while I study or when I am on my computer, his companionship has been wonderful during the pandemic. Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you enjoy the content!

Loves…

Nachos
The smell of fresh cedar
Window shopping

Likes…

Comfy clothes
West coast hiking
Video games

Hates…

Okra
Wet socks
Climate change

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