Such conversations on the horizon move me!

This tonight in a discussion on the social networking wiki of the horizon project between students on opposite sides of the globe:

katttrinaa writes: question It's not all about MySpace and Facebook. Explore the possibilities of the tools used in social networking for the purposes of your wiki. Tools, tools, tools! emphasize the tools! what do you mean by tools? Posted Today 12:30 am - [delete]

casey12350 writes: re: question things such as bulletins, groups, blogs, friends, pictures, movies, reviews, features, profile, status, personal interests...tools are what makes social networking exciting for students to use. by tools, i mean that you don't need to say, "myspace and facebook shouldn't be used in school because they would be a distraction." you need to examine what makes students want to be involved with social networking.

Note that we allow IM speak in the discussion areas although not on the final wiki product. I wish that educators could have such concise, full, meaningful discussions on these topics. Truly the students continue to teach me!

And no sooner had I hit post than I can across this discussion occuring between student peer reviewers, expert reviewers, teachers, and students on a group that has been struggling - massively multiplayer educational gaming. This discussion hits at the core of this topic in a profound and amazing way.

To ignore and not teach peer review and discussion strategies is to ignore the power of wikis.

Peer review

	mades writes: Peer review Hi, I am a student at Lower Canada College, recently our class was selected to peer review your projects. I really enjoyed reading your article on “massively multiplayer educational gaming.” However, although it contained some key points, and interesting facts; I found it to be lacking some content. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed the idea of creating links. Moreover, I think it would be very interesting and interactive if you included some multimedia or audio clips. In addition, I was very pleased with your grammar and structure. However, there are some areas which need improvement. For instance, I have come across a few run on sentences, and a couple words need capitalization. Nonetheless, I have to say I found the diagram to be very helpful, it added dimension to the text. After reviewing you discussion board I am pleased to say there seemed to be negotiation, yet, there seems to be a lack of discussion, furthermore, your project requires more delegation. From what I have noticed, after reviewing your history and discuss board, there seems to be a lack of collaboration throughout the project. Although am I not aware if there are specific requirements for each student, it is my understanding that one student seems to be more on task, and responsible then the other members of the group. Although your project contained dimension and diagrams, I think it would be very interesting if you would be able to create a link to an example of a multiplayer educational game. Before I finish my response, I would like to ask you a few questions, which I came across while reading your article. The first being, do you find these games are helpful, interesting and to be a good learning process? In addition, do you believe the saying “if you hear it, you will forget it?” and last but not least, what do you find is the best way learn? By listening, seeing, or getting involved? Thank you for taking the time to read my suggestions. I really enjoyed having the chance to read your article, and i found it to be very interesting. I hope you take into concideration my adivce, I beleive it will help your project a lot. Posted Apr 25, 2007 7:34 pm - [delete]
	keroppi writes: re: Peer review Dear Mades, Thanks for the comments. I think most of us are just "lost" because we dont exactly know much about MMEG's but are experts in MMORPG's. *Shrugs* Posted Apr 27, 2007 1:51 am - [delete]
	julielindsay writes: re: Peer review Thank you for your very considered and detailed response to the student's work. keroppi, you could at least start with a discussion about the difference between MMRG and MMORPGs? Posted Apr 29, 2007 12:28 pm - [delete]
	kellychris writes: re: Peer review The review was very detailed and will help with the overall structure of the wiki. As for the MMEG's, they are not much different than MMORPGs in many ways - have you thought of doing a diagram, using a drawing or mindmapping tool, to show a visual of similarities and differences? Given that many of MMORPGs require significant collaboration and team work, you might suggest how these ideas could be transferred to MMEGs. While doing this, you might look at the development of art and entertainment as it becomes more "open source" thus allowing all levels of developers to have a try at game development. How might this impact things like copyright law or laws between countries when it comes to information exchange. Keep up the good work. If you have any questions, let me know. Mr. C Posted Tuesday, 12:54 am - [delete]
	brightideaguru writes: re: Peer review I think that this is an incredible issue that needs to be expanded on the main page and hits at the heart of the understanding and misunderstandings of MMEG's. I think that a comparison and contrast could perhaps be added as a subtopic (heading 3) under the current news and actually some of the great information here should be pulled to the main page. Also MMORPG's should be mentioned on the social cultural impact analysis page as well. Posted 1 minute ago - [delete]