Winding Down......or Not!

Mikenfushdos and ram, riding off into the virtual sunset.......

This blog represents many of the activities and adventures I have had while working through a course called Teaching and Learning in Virtual Worlds.  As the course winds down, I wonder where I will go next?  Will I continue working in virtual worlds as a way of teaching elementary students?  Will I continue working in World of Warcraft to go to new and higher levels?  Gibson, old friend and Mikenfushdos, the warrior shaman...........will they ever cross paths again?  Ponderings of a learner and teacher.  

So how weird can it get?

Ok, so maybe I have been in WOW a bit much the last few weeks.  Hey, why not...I am a level 20 now, and feel pretty good about that!  I have had help from my personal heroines Olive, Esme, Grandpachris, and somewhat notoriously, an avatar named professor akashari (I think that was it) which was one of the more interesting moments.  Ok, so here I am battling some creatures in Redridge Mountains somewhere, and suddenly out of nowhere.....(well, isn't that really what the cloud is all about anyway?).....this avatar comes in, asks for me to add to a group, and then proceeds to smash the villainous creatures single-handedly by himself....or herself?  Okay, well level 85's can do that to probably just about anything.  Here I am a lightening bolt away from death every minute or so.  Now I have this magnificently strong ally with a "nuclear-like" killing wave that just knocks enemies down with a single blast.  Meanwhile, I die a few times and this avatar is racking up the loot I collect from the leftovers he/she destroyed.  Not that I minded so much, but then I had this wierd moment...what if they are tapping into my coins and somehow can take my strength from me without even me knowing?  Wow, (no not WOW), but wow, a stranger is my ally and I am having some distrust.  So then I find my backpack is full, and I tell this person I need to sell some stuff because I cannot collect the loot....then neither can he/she I suppose.   Out of nowhere (again, yep...the cloud....) comes this spaceship thing, he/she says climb aboard.....Geez, now I'm being abducted...I felt like a kid when a stranger drives by with an open door.....really!  So yes, I get in.  Stranger Danger!   And off we go...two avatars on a highway to hell.... (ACDC.......good song, needed to use it here...)  What!   We stop at a trade station, he/she says "sell something....!  So I do....now I wondered...are they getting that money too?  How much control did I just give this person?  They patiently wait, we hop back on the spaceship...back to the battle zone.   We finish up the quest.  I say, "nice work!"  He/she says..."What do you mean?"  "Thanks for helping me? I say.  "Oh, sure, NP" is the reply.   You can friend me if you want".  Bye.  And off he/she goes!  Was I trusting or what?  I honestly felt very strange during this moment....like nervous and concerned that somehow my info was getting hacked......very strange indeed.....and that's how weird it got this week for me!

PS  Too wierd for pictures......bummer, post with no pictures...like cake with no frosting.....   ME.

A Little of this, a little of that........

Mikenfushdos, fearless warrior shaman, continues on his quests as he achieves Level 16.....a force to be reckoned with now....will he ever meet Gibson, suave SL avatar who scuba dives, parachutes, and zip lines through jungle kingdoms and flying dragon-filled floating islands?  And then there was Grandma's party...Gibson did so well, he forgot to pick up Grandma for her own birthday party!  A visit to Poem's this week and working with her students from Uruguay on their English: Gibson, the volunteer concierge in the virtual hotel lobby......How could on avatar ever do so much in one week?  Virtual Worlds, of course.  Limitless energy, many lives, broad horizons.......How shall I use what I learned for my elementary students?   Open Sim, Jokaydia.....more to explore...........