Tag: EDCI 336 (Page 1 of 2)

I went to the Nether!

December 3, 2020 / Carla / 0 Comments

I went to the Nether!

So I have been watching this video about making machines with redstone and I figured I’d try making the first one for this week’s post.

However I instantly ran into a problem because I need an observer to make it and to make an observer you need Nether quartz

Okay, new goal! Get a working Nether portal. I have actually been mining really close to two busted portals but I didn’t realize what they were until a couple weeks ago. So I figured I would break down the worse off of the two so I could rebuild the other.

So I salvaged what I needed and headed to the more complete portal!

Then I was ready to try it out, but I didn’t have any with my flint and steel. So I had to spend time running around to get that. But THEN I was ready! I stocked up with weapons, food, extra flint and steel, materials to make a shelter if need be. And I tried to start the portal but ended up setting myself on fire.

Then I decided to check out the bricks that were lighting up and bits of stuff were flying off of. A quick search revealed that there were crying obsidian and needed to be replaced for the portal to work again. Thankfully I still have more obsidian from the other broken portal, so I hacked the crying obsidian away and replaced it. Now I was ready to start the portal.

Yeah!! But the night cycle was about to start and I had no idea if that would affect things in the Nether so I decided to sleep and go in the morning.

After one last gear check I was, once again, ready to go through the portal

This video is pretty long and is basically me going to the Nether and being freaked out by the weird noises I was hearing and doing a mad dash for the closest materials I could mine. Eventually I come back victoriously and make my long awaited observer!

Alas, my time was up and I needed to stop playing Minecraft and move on other things. Maybe next session I’ll have everything that I need to make my sugar cane factory machine. But for now I’m happy that I took an unexpected trip to the Nether tonight.

Until next time?

EDCI 336 Final Class

December 2, 2020 / Carla / 0 Comments

Final Class reflection

For our last class we discussed games in education and did a bit of a wrap up for the course.

I was especially interested in the topic today because it ties in so closely to my free inquiry. I was actually inspired to play Minecraft for my inquiry because it is part of a program for the summer camp I worked for last summer. I was working as a sub for that camp so I didn’t need to know anything about Minecraft but it made me want to try it out. I suppose I was just blown away by the idea that a game this popular could be educational. I wish we could have had the chance to connect with the teacher from Colquitz who runs a Minecraft lab. From what I heard in class they are doing some really interesting stuff with the game.

We also got together in Google docs to brainstorm games that we have seen and/or experienced in classrooms before. When it was pointed out that these were mostly math games I felt a bit silly for not noticing this before. It makes sense because math (at elementary levels) is an undisputed topic, and probably easy for game companies to deal with translation, internationalization, and localization of these types of game so they can find a larger audience (because profit).

I like the video that was included in the slides about Minecraft being the ultimate educational tool

I really think that games in the classroom is going to become more and more common, especially seeing large companies like Google and Microsoft making pushes to get into schools.

However I do agree with what was said in class about how games are currently used as reflection, review, or practice and maybe not as a teaching tool. There is much more to this topic than what we covered in class and there is a part of me that thinks this will be changing quite a bit during my teaching career. Games in classrooms is definitely something I will be keeping my eye on during my degree and once I start teaching.

I found a skeleton spawner!

November 27, 2020 / Carla / 0 Comments

I found another mob spawner, so I started by carving out a bigger room for them. Then, I got bored with that and I cracked and turned on coordinates. I’m not too sure how much help this will be but I’ve been looking into how to more reliably get materials in the game and knowing your y-axis coordinates seems to be helpful for that.

It does feel a bit silly since I went through all the trouble of making the locator map, but I’m still happy I have that. Also the locator map is actually a much smaller portion of the world map than I was expecting.

Now I’m trying to mine in the y-11 area, I hope that makes sense, of the world. It is pretty low but I have dug deeper in mines so It wasn’t too big of a deal. Turns out the suggestions were correct! I’ve been finding gold, iron, coal, and diamonds and that was just one mine. I think I’ll travel around a bit to my other mining sites and go back to the y-11 areas to do some more digging.

Also with the coordinates on I can not jot down the locations of my various bases which is going to be so helpful!

Teleporting black death octopus

Unfortunately as I was digging down I ended up breaking through a wall and looking out over the water/lava canyon and across the way was this ominous black creature with purple eyes. Then, SURPRISE it teleported over to me and I tried to run away, not sure what I was thinking since this thing just teleported to me but there it is. Obviously running didn’t work and I ended up getting killed by this thing. So, naturally, I Googled it. Turners out it was an Enderman something I should have been able to kill, so now I know for next time. However, I did remember to make sure I went back right away to get my loot before the 5 minute timer was done. I had to coerce the Enderman out of my mine, but somehow I was able to avoid getting killed again and got back to all my precious materials before they disappeared . I saw this as a win, I’m progressing with gathering materials and I’m going to be following along with this video to make some fun things in my world!

It may seem a bit late for this, but I think it’ll be fun to make a few of these builds.

Until next time!

Week 11: Distributed Learning Discussion Blog Post

November 24, 2020 / Carla / 0 Comments

This week in class we talked about blended, online, and multi-access learning environments. Last March when classes went online I was very concerned about being able to maintain focus in a distance education environment. I have been in a distance ed situation before and was extremely frustrated by it the first time, but I am happy to report that as rocky as the midterm transition was it ended up being okay. In fact, I completely attribute being able to complete four summer courses to the fact that everything was online. The course load was so condensed that I basically woke up, did school work, ate sometimes, then went to bed. That being said, I still prefer face-to-face classes. Lets plot out the pros and cons:

Pros:

Being able to take on more courses than should be humanly possible

With no commute and asynchronous classes there is more flexibility in scheduling

Studying and attending class at home

I have a dog with severe separation anxiety so being able to stay with him all day helps his mental and physical wellbeing (he will chew on walls/doors/metal door handles when left alone so the lower vet bills have been nice)

Spending less money on food/coffee

Since there is no travel to class or staying late at school to study overall cost of dining out has gone down.

Breakout rooms

I get a chance to talk to more variety of classmates

Working on Docs

Since we are all on computers already it is easier to share a doc and work collaboratively

Cons:

Feeling like it school work never ends

There is less of a separation between “school time” and “relaxation time” because the physical space is the same for both activities and there is always more work you can put into an assignment.

Constant headaches

Between my eyes being on a screen and my headphones clamping onto my tiny head I have been getting headaches daily at this point in the term.

Focus is easily lost

My mind easily wonders in Zoom classes so I’ve gotten a supply of squishy balls/other shapes to keep more focused during classes.

Forgetting to go outside

There are days that I just park myself at a computer and stay there for hours. Thankfully I have a dog that needs walks, so I get reminders but I still miss going out some days.

Missed connections

There is less chance to make connections with people over Zoom, this goes for fellow students, teachers, and guest speakers.

Less chance to ask for clarification

I find that there are fewer chances to ask for clarification and have more voices in class discussion. There are people who are just less likely to speak up over Zoom. As someone who likes to ask and hear others questions on a subject I am really missing those interactions.

We also touched on Synchronous and Asynchronous learning

For me, and the cost of education, I really like the idea of watching recorded lectures and meeting as a class for more discussion and theory about subjects. I think it is reasonable to ask students to watch a lecture and attend a synchronous class, especially if the lecture and class are manageable time lengths (say 60-90 minutes).

Overall, I am still not a huge fan of online classes. However I do see how some subjects can still be taught effectively over platforms like Zoom. I really hope that in Fall 2021 we are back to face-to-face, or at least a mix.

Also, the robot person thing looked really cool and I wish we could have seen that in person.

Until next time!

Things actually worked out!

November 21, 2020 / Carla / 0 Comments

I think I have been doing this wrong this whole time! I know it has only been a couple weeks but starting my Minecraft sessions by watching some tutorials and planning out what I want to do has resulted in a much better experience. Not that my goals have been very extreme but I have to start somewhere I suppose. So for this session I wanted to collect sugar cane, to make paper, and redstone and iron, to make a compass. With paper and a compass I can make a locator map which I am hoping will help me out in this game. I have seen sugar cane growing around my newest house/cave, because there are water sources nearby. From the videos I watched sugar cane only grows by a water source and you are supposed to harvest it on the second, or middle, block. I’m not sure why you are supposed to harvest it that way because the video didn’t explain it but I did it that way and now have a bunch of sugar cane! I think I might try and start growing it next week, but we’ll see. For the redstone I have two choices, I could try to dig down where my new base is and hope to find some, or I could try and find my way back to my first base. Since I wanted to try, again, to get back to my first base I decided to give that a go. I have tried to venture out to my first Minecraft home/base a few times already but I ended up going deeper into the mountains and snowy area, apparently my sense of direction in Minecraft is pretty bad. Yet, during this session I was able to find my way home! It was great to be back and grab some of the redstone for my compass. But first, I wanted to kill some zombies from my zombie spawner room. When I died I started off at level one again so I wanted to regain some lost ground. Maybe next week I’ll explore what levels do in this game. Anyway, after I killed some zombies and planted some seeds at home I was ready to make my locator map but then I realized my mistake. Worried that I might die and not be able to find my loot within five minutes I only took a small amount of my paper (made from the sugar cane) with me. So now I needed to somehow get back to my newest base. I really didn’t plan this out very well.

I ended up making two compasses and took them both with me on my way to find the new base. After a night of rest I headed off, thankfully I had just made the trip so I was able to recognize some landmarks and made it back to my newest base in no time, and I now know that it is due east of my original base.

And then, I did it!!! I made a locator map!!

Then I took it out, and it was okay I guess. I think I had built it up to be this game changing item when in fact it was just a somewhat useful tool. Although maybe if I look more into it I’ll understand how useful it can be. All in all I was happy that I was able to get something done and after that I decided to go down and do some mining because I still had some time. I ended up finding more redstone, gold and iron.

Until next time!

Class reflection for Nov 16th

November 16, 2020 / Carla / 0 Comments

In class we had a guest speaker, Chantelle, from BC Ed Access. This is a volunteer run organization that helps students with disabilities and their families navigate the BC school system and advocate for equity in BC classrooms.

After Chantelle did her presentation the class went into breakout rooms with some questions/prompts to guide our conversation. It was really eye opening to hear about other people’s experience in their field experience or in the past with students with disabilities or complex learning needs. I was reflecting that I was surprised about the impact complex learners had in the class I visited and how I was really impressed with how the teacher and EA’s can adapt and accommodate different needs at different parts of the day. The group I was in had a conversation about how to approach parents about issues like this that are noticed by teachers. While none of the group are teachers yet we came up with some tactics like recording everything in a binder, talking with support staff and principals, and asking the students previous teachers as a way to build up a case to help parents when they look for intervention. Chantelle ended up popping into our breakout room for a bit too and we were able to ask her questions about ways that a teacher can help parents with having a child assessed or diagnosed. It is, obviously, a very touchy subject for families but it can make a huge difference in a child’s education because a diagnosis can lead to them receiving the support they need in a classroom.

At the end of class we were given links to watch a couple of videos. The videos are a story of a student in BC who had to advocate for their own education and eventually left the public school system to complete high school at a private school. It was frustrating to hear about, but also inspiring because this student was able to find a way to graduate but I think it highlights the shortcomings of the system and a need for more acceptance of different ways of learning and showing knowledge.

Here are the videos that were shared in class

Damon Kirsebom, “When People See Me Typing”

And this is the organization that Chantelle and others volunteer and run to support students with disabilities and complex learners and their families

https://bcedaccess.com/

Starting again.

November 13, 2020 / Carla / 0 Comments

Here I go again! I started again respawning at my house far far away from my dead body. I also realized that I got back to level one when I died so that was not the best way to find that out. So I had a choice to make, try and go back to find where I was when I died or forget about it and travel somewhere else. I ended up collecting a few things around my house, making a new set of armour and heading out to see if I could find the cave I died in.

Surprisingly it worked! I was able to navigate back to where I had so unceremoniously been killed by a wizard but there was nothing there. No loot to be seen, all of the items I had been carrying were gone. One more thing I should have checked beforehand but I didn’t so I found out after being confused about the loot situation. Apparently the items you drop when you die will disappear if they are not collected promptly (you only have 5 minutes to get back) and I waited too long between plays so even though I found my cave camp, all my stuff was gone 🙁

Thoroughly annoyed I started going on an adventure to make a map! First I needed sugar cane for paper and I think I have the ingredients for a compass at my home base. I want to make a locator map so I have an easier time navigating around the world. So I started the journey to what I thought was towards my home base but ended up going wildly off course. But, I found what looks to be a pretty cool chasm with loads of materials and a lava flow at the bottom. I decided that my luck with daylight was running out and this place seemed cool so I built a place to stay the night and started digging.

After digging around for a while I emerged into daylight once again and start wandering around again, this time very very lost. The next day I ended up stumbling into a town with townspeople in it. This is the first town with people that I have found so it was a bit exciting for me. I ended up trading some leather for a emerald and ransacking the houses. Now that I’m thinking about it, I probably should have checked if that would have bad results before doing it, but it seems like the townsfolk are still friendly so I guess its okay.

Lastly, here is a video about Minecraft maps which inspired my gameplay last session.

Until next time!

Is this what rage quitting feels like?

November 9, 2020 / Carla / 0 Comments

I have been exploring my Minecraft world during my sessions and trying to sort of discover different aspects of the game as I go along. I watched a few videos in September on how to get started, and when I find something interesting I’ll look it up but other than that I’ve been going it on my own. However, I think this is when that method stops and I start doing more research into things. I normally play this game as a bit of a ‘brain break’ and start it up with the goal of exploring what I can do. However I find that I end up wandering around and digging/mining without much point to it and the last few game sessions I have left feeling like I didn’t do much.

Last week a frustrating Minecraft session ended when I died in a spot that I am not really sure I know how to get back to. I went outside of a new place I had built at night and was immediately attacked and killed by a wizard. I suppose it wasn’t so much of a rage quit as it was just giving up because I couldn’t be bothered to deal with finding all the stuff I had dropped. So here is when I decided that maybe some time I put aside to playing the game should be shifted to watching some how-to videos. For next week I am going to search out some resources on YouTube or maybe some other blogs and start my game sessions with a plan. Hopefully that will give me a goal to work towards in my exploring of Minecraft.

Until next time!

Class reflection

November 2, 2020 / Carla / 0 Comments

This class we spent some time in groups exploring different resources for bringing coding into the classroom. I liked the mix of lecture and group activity used today as it gave me information and then time to try out different apps or services. I started off in a group looking at codemonkey, which is a game where you have a selection of movement options (right, left, up, down) to try and get the monkey from where they are standing to a treasure chest on the screen. One arrow is one space of movement so if the money is two steps away from the treasure you need to input “right, right” into the movement before pressing go. The experience is very beginner level which could work with some grades but the site has the most obnoxious music so that would be something to work around. Some other students seemed to really dislike this site but I could see it used well in primary grades.

Next I went to look at the topic I was most interested in which was the unplugged coding

https://csunplugged.org/en/

I like the idea of introducing a topic and having students interact with something hands on, then linking it with an activity done on a computer or tablet. This site is an amazing resource for lesson plans with printables and, as was mentioned in class, some lesson ideas come with videos of classes working through the activities. They also had cross curricular activities so students can learn the ideas around coding without knowing that the activity is promoting that. The group that I was with all agreed that this is a great resource for teachers on call. Overall I was really impressed with this site and I made sure to bookmark it for future use.

The computer science unplugged website also had activities that bridged into Scratch and Scratch Jr. so I decided to check out Scratch next. It is much more advanced than codemonkey and would require more reading skills. Scratch is made uses blocks of code in the shape of puzzle pieces that can be connected to program animations or games. This tool is something I feel would take much prep time for a teacher/TOC to integrate into their classrooms with purpose. Although I was sure there would be resources on lesson planning with Scratch so I did a google search and one of the other resources we talked about came up
https://www.commonsense.org/education/website/scratch/lesson-plans

I had never heard of Commonsense.org but it sounds like a great resource. I struggle at times to be able to gauge the lever of a grade 2 compared to a grade 4 so I see this coming in handy while I navigate the first few years of my teaching career.

Al in all I was really happy to spend time playing around with the suggested apps/websites today and talk with other students about what we liked or didn’t like about them.

Until next time!

Exploring and gettin’ lost

October 31, 2020 / Carla / 0 Comments

Every time I start playing this game I sit down, and I think “Okay, what am I doing again?”. Maybe if I were playing on a more regular basis it would be easier to progress and look up more information that would help my game play, but time is a hot commodity for me during the school year. For this session I decided to head in one direction and explore whatever I came across. I crafted a compass so I could go in a mostly, straight line. Before I headed out, I visited my zombie spawner that I talked about in my last post. So, after killing all the zombies in there I took out all the candles I had left in there because I think it was impeding the spawn rate. Then it was off on my adventure!

I headed south to explore something that I saw lighting up the sky during the night cycle. It was not very far away and when I got there it looked like Minecraft lava so of course I jumped in! Then I died. So that was a fun learning experience. After respawning and returning to pick up all the loot that I dropped I found that the sun was setting, and I needed to find shelter. However, I wanted to stay in this area, so I started digging and building up a little shelter for myself to spend the night digging/mining in. Which turned out to be great because I was able to mine a bunch of the blocks around the lava but sometimes, they would explode so I should probably investigate what was happening with that.

Once it was day again, I continued exploring south, finding caves to hide in during night to avoid getting mobbed by baddies. I almost made it to a mountain but my time was nearly up and I wanted to head back to my home base because I had a bunch of new items I had no idea what to do with.

So, I made the journey back and I found a merchant along the way, but these people only want to trade for emeralds, and I have no idea how to get those. One more thing to add to the research list. Also, I found out that you can ride lamas, but I do not know how to control them, more research, hahaha! When I got home, I carved up all the pumpkins I had to decorate for the weekend, or forever who knows.

Happy Halloween!!

Until next time!

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