1. How can you share your VR world at the Maker Faire on Dec 3? Be specific. How will you succinctly describe the process of developing VR content? How will a passerby experience your VR world? What can a participant take away from our booth that would help them develop their own VR content? How will you communicate the bigger picture issues you investigated? E.g., what is reality? How do we develop/recognize biases?The best way to present my VR world is to simply bring the program and Vive for people to try. As the producer of the Schizophrenia Simulation, I will describe my role in the development process and the specialists I needed, but leave the explanation of the actual development (coding) to my Programmer since he was responsible for that part of the process, and is therefore very knowledgable about the specifics. A participant can take away the basic ideas of how to begin his/her own VR world - the programs he/she can use, the skills he/she will need, and a sense of a reasonable timeline needed to create a working world. I think the best way to communicate the bigger picture issues I investigated (Schizophrenia) is through talking and an informational board/poster. At the end of my simulation, the user is presented with a definition of Schizophrenia and phone numbers to call if he/she is or knows someone who is in a mental health crisis. But I think it would be really beneficial to have a poster that goes more in depth about the illness. I believe reality is the physical world we live in - where there is gravity, consequences for our actions, real people with real emotions and thoughts. Virtual Reality cannot be defined as actual reality because it lacks the realness of the earth. You cannot smell flowers in virtual reality or touch another person. We can recognize biases by acknowledging the fact that there is always bias in everything. It is not possible to produce anything without at least a little bias, and it's important to recognize this fact and not allow it to cloud or judgement when forming opinions on things. 2. Provide a brief summary of Dewey’s ideas. Where in the VR project do you see Dewey’s ideas being implemented? Where could they be better implemented?Dewey's main idea was to stray from the typical textbook-to-test learning by instead having students do hands on/project based/interdisciplinary learning. The standard textbook learning merely gives the illusion of learning, and creates lazy students; whereas, Dewey's philosophy to learning encourages students to learn critical thinking skills and the opportunity to apply their learning to the real world. The main concept of Dewey's ideas is that students should learn HOW to think as opposed to WHAT to think. Dewey's ideas are implemented in the VR project because we were given the skeleton of the project, but given full freedom to develop and produce our own VR worlds. The specialists were never taught by our teacher how to excel in their field, but were instead expected to learn on their own by watching Youtube tutorials and asking fellow students. Dewey's ideas could be better implemented in the beginning of the project - when it's first being introduced. An important part of Dewey's philosophy is that students should know why what they're learning is important, and I cannot remember explicitly being told that piece of information (though the overarching importance of VR was communicated). 3. Provide a brief summary of Pink’s argument about motivation.What would this look like in the school setting?Pink's argument singled out three key components to motivation: mastery, autonomy, and purpose. People are motivated to do certain tasks because they want to get better at them - this is presented with musical instruments. People practice playing music for hours for the sole purpose to get better at it. Seeing progress after hard work is a fulfilling experience, and is therefore incredibly motivating. The second key to motivation is autonomy: the idea that people work better when they are allowed to work on their own terms. This makes sense to me because being able to work how/when you want means you'll be fully invested in whatever it is you're doing. If a writer, per say, was required to publish one article a week, his/her creativity would be limited because he/she would have the pressure of time on his/her shoulders. Whereas if the writer were able to work without the time constraint, and to simply produce an article whenever he/she pleased, the article would in theory be more creative and well-done. The final cause of motivation according to Pink is purpose. This is the most self-explanatory: if a person sees a purpose for what he/she is doing, he/she will be more inclined to do the task, and do it well. These ideas could easily be implemented into the school system by making sure students understand the purpose of their work, are given the structure needed for learning but not so much that it diminishes creativity, and the opportunity to get better at tasks through critique and multiple drafts. This is why project based learning is so effective - because it encompasses all three of these components for motivation.
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What celebrations do you have for this week?This week my programmer input the 3D Model of the antique key and programmed it to open the door. It was incredibly exciting because now my virtual reality has an end result. It has an ending, and now we just need to input the puzzles in order to get the user to that ending. Cognitive dissonance is when you encounter a situation that is contrary to your world view of how things "should" work. When this happens, your brain will struggle with how to make sense of this contradiction and you can feel stressed, frustrated, and possibly depressed. Describe a time you have experienced cognitive dissonance during this project. How did you deal with it?I consider myself a very easy-going and flexible person, but with these skills comes the great need for communication. This week, there was a miscommunication on the standards expected of the producer's budget spreadsheets and rubrics. I was under the impression the budget plan I submitted hit all of the criteria it was expected to, but the grade I received for my spreadsheet reflected otherwise. I was very frustrated because the new criteria that my spreadsheet was being graded for was not communicated to me, so I had no opportunity to fix it before it was graded. I expressed my frustration with the miscommunication to my teacher, and we made a deal to allow me to fix my spreadsheet for half points. We (the teacher and all the producers) also discussed how we can avoid this situation in the future in order to make a more pleasant project process for everyone. How did your opinion of hashtag activism change/shift/evolve over the course of the week? Which one of the readings did you find most convincing?Before this week, I was unaware there was even a term for social media activism, and therefore didn't have much of an opinion on it. However, after reading various articles on hashtag activism, I believe it is a very good tool for creating community, spreading awareness, and most importantly - giving voice to the otherwise voiceless. Social Media and hashtag activism allow ordinary people to express their opinions, share their stories, and connect with others dealing with the same situations. The second article, "#HashtagActivism - Turning Whispers Into Shouts and Fighting Stigma With Story" had the most influence on my positive views of hashtag activism because the article listed several stories of campaigns solely done on social media, and discussed all of the positive actions that came out of each hashtag.
Engineering: Describe any concerns you have about whether the people you have hired will be able to produce a VR world that will meet your rubric's A criteria.For the most part, I am fully confident in the people I have hired. But I obviously get concerned when I see them not working during class. The first week my 3D Modelers were working incredibly quickly - creating two or three items each by the end of the week. But this week, they seem to have slowed down: two of them made one object and the third didn't complete anything this week. My programmer is working really well, and I am really pleased with his work. I believe he is trying to his best ability to get me to meet my rubric's A. English: How has your perspective on what constitutes reliable news changed? Do you think you are a more critical consumer of information? Why do you think this ability is important to your own life/country?My perspective on what makes news reliable has changed in the sense that I am more aware of the precautions I need to take before watching/reading the news. I also know the value of checking multiple sources because just simply believing one source is putting too much trust into that source and allowing the reader to be more easily manipulated. I definitely believe I am a more critical consumer of information now that I know to approach news coverage with a skeptical eye. I think having this skeptical eye towards information being given to me is definitely important to my life because there is less of a chance I will be manipulated by the media and political figures. If everyone has a skeptical eye towards the given info, the United States will benefit because citizens will be able to identify when the information has been tailored or tampered with, and will therefore be able to keep the media in check.
1. What's working well for you so far? What problem have you noticed so far in this project and how would you fix it?Everything is working really well so far for me in this project. My programmer and 3D Modelers have made a lot of progress so far and I'm looking forward to seeing how everything turns out. The only problems I've encountered so far are re-arranging tasks between the programmers and 3D Modelers as I see who is capable of what tasks. 2. What strategies do you find helpful when trying to work in a distracting place?For me, the best strategy when trying to work in a distracting place is simply to move. I need a quiet space away from people to be able to focus completely so when the space I'm trying to work in isn't fitting these requirements I move in order to get my work done. Another technique I use (if moving isn't an option) is putting on headphones and using music to quiet the background noise. But I can only use this method when the music either directly relates to the work I'm doing, or as a last resort because the music sometimes prohibits my focus as well. 3. How can words be used by those in power to influence our choices?People in power are often well respected and have a devoted group of followers, meaning their words are highly regarded and trusted and are therefore really influential. This is a technique used often in advertising when celebrities endorse products. Celebrities have power because they have people who idolize and respect them, so when they endorse a product, their fans are more likely to buy the product. Because people in power have a devoted group of followers, their words are extremely influential on people's opinions and actions.
Engineering: In class we read a pamphlet filled with predictions about the future. The most surprising prediction I read was one that said our lifespan gains 3 months every year. "Our lifespan 4 years ago, the lifespan was 79 years, now it is 80 years" (Gollub). With each year, the increase is increasing - meaning in a short matter of time people will be living long past 100 years old. That's just crazy to me that everyone will naturally be living so long. Will we ever reach immortality then?
The job fair/interview was pretty authentic in the sense that there were many levels people had to go through in order to get the job. The interviews were really casual which made them less realistic, and they occurred the day after people signed up at the job fair. To make it more authentic, I would suggest we hold the job fair at least a week before the interviews take place, and that the interviews are held in separate rooms (it was a bit noisy and unrealistic having all of the producers in the same room). I learned that I can manage a hiring process! I ran a booth at the job fair and lead 12 interviews which was a new experience for me. English: Advertising is a large reflection of our society. Not only does it target young children, but it also pits companies against each other and manipulates people into buying products. I definitely believe advertising casts a negative reflection on our society, but because basically every other country does it too, it's typically overlooked. I think there should be restrictions on advertising to children. Kids can't tell the difference between advertisements and television programming, so they are easily manipulated. I think advertising to children fosters bad behavior in kids; a child will see an advertisement for a toy on television and will most likely throw a temper tantrum to get the toy. I think there should be restrictions on television and internet advertisements to children - less advertisements and age appropriate ones. It's not appropriate for beer companies to put ads on typical child television networks or internet sites. Engineering: I am a producer for this project, and it's been all about organization this week. I've learned to look at plans with both a holistic and detail oriented eye. A holistic eye because I have had to look at my project and figure out what specialists I need and organize a schedule and budget - and work hard not to forget to think about every little piece. But this has also been a detail oriented process because I have had to take into account every moving piece in the puzzle that is my VR. I have had to think really hard about how my VR will actually run and what I need from each specialist. It's been challenging to figure out exactly how many specialists and how much time I need to give them for each task because I don't know how tedious, say, 3D-Modeling a desk, will actually be. I was really pleased though to hear people talking about how excited they are to help me with my VR project: a happy team makes for a better product. Next week I'd like to establish a solid production team and begin working on all of the different aspects since they can be worked on simultaneously.
English: This week we studied propaganda and doublespeak and it was very eye-opening for me. I've always known these two manipulation techniques existed, but I never realized how subtle they can be, how often they occur, and how dangerous they are. I realized this week how deceiving our world is, and how careful we need to be, and now I wonder - how much has this deception affected my life without me even knowing it? Why is doublespeak legal? In the case with the resource park in Kansas, the government straight up deceived the public and was only caught because one man decided to actually ask what a "resource park" was. By asking he shed light on the fact the government was proposing to put a dump in his neighborhood. This just showcases how deceiving doublespeak is and how untruthful and unlawful it is. Why has doublespeak become the norm? |
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November 2016
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