Presenting about Second Life - Necessary?
Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008 Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »It seems that Japan is about 5 years away from recognizing the power of 3D virtual worlds to teach languages. It's hard enough getting the faculty of the university to accept the ancient world of CALL. I know that computer ...
First semester’s research
Wednesday, June 11th, 2008 Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »I haven't recorded class notes recently because I am coming to conclusions for this semester. I'm preparing for a presentation and paper submission now. The focus, as it stands now, is on creating base curricula for each year based on ...
Edutainment…for English class?
Thursday, May 15th, 2008 Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »How many of you have had a great science, history or art class? Was it great because the teacher told you interesting facts, or because the text was sooooo interesting. Was it because the teacher involved you in the lesson ...
How transparent can they be?
Saturday, May 3rd, 2008 Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »Can Japanese become transparent with friends they meet on the Internet? Japanese are so interdendent and privacy stricken making me wonder if true global communication can exist beyond business. As I look for ways to "connect" my students with the ...
Factors to think about when teaching in Second Life
Wednesday, April 30th, 2008 Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »These are some of the questions going through my mind right now. Do your students like using computers? Do they have a computer at home that can access SL and run without a lot of lag or crashing? Do they have a USB ...
Chatbots in Second Life 2
Thursday, April 3rd, 2008 Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments »If a Japanese student is going to stand a chance walking up to a foreigner and starting a conversation, they should at least be able to ask 5-10 questions with the utmost confidence that what they are saying is correct. ...
Article in Japanzine - Second Life Kobe
Thursday, April 3rd, 2008 Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »Looks like my article (Alternate Universe--I didn't title it. In the Magazine it is titled Second Life Kobe: Special K goes Virtual. ???) was published in the April issue of Japanzine, a popular English magazine here in Japan. I was ...
Chatbots in Second Life
Friday, March 28th, 2008 Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »I am trying to find ways to connect my students with the outside world by utilizing virtual worlds and various communication devices. But just as is the problem with meeting people in real life, so is the problem in Second ...
Self-Esteem and Relevance
Saturday, March 22nd, 2008 Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »How important is it for us to make English learning as real-world as possible? Should we focus more on developing ways to get a higher TOEIC score instead? I came across this article which brings up an interesting point about ...