Time flies with the holidays, work, work, side projects, work, and did I mention work? Doing eLearning and virtual worlds is a blast (oops, a pun for this post). I count myself fortunate do do what I like to do. That’s both good and bad!
I genuinely look forward to Monday mornings because I love my day job and have a wonderful boss. He allows for innovative ideas to run wild (and he has his own wild ones too!) and encourages the exploration of the latest delivery tools for eLearning. And not simply those tools that are out-of-the-box eLearning tools, but any tools out there that can be used to help teach. Like virtual worlds as an eLearning film studio!
But I also look forward to weeknights and weekends for my side projects. Thus the good and bad. It’s good that I love what I do, but it’s bad because there are not enough hours in the day for all that I want to do. Most of you are the same – it’s hard to just keep up with the latest way things like Twitter can be used, let alone the zillion new things that come out daily!
However, it’s not all toil. I do have self-imposed deadlines for my projects and real deadlines for clients. But . . . the great thing about doing virtual worlds is that you can also easily play in there. To me playing is building something just for the fun of it or trying to script something silly (like a plasma engine for a steampunk zeppelin).
Here is a great example of something in which play is also a learning exercise. Ener Hax has been a champion on our Reaction Grid endeavor – building facilities and furniture so that our future collaborations can bring value to eLearning practitioners and businesses. But all furniture making and no play makes Ener very cranky. And a cranky Ener is no fun!
While messing with prims for a store showcasing furniture, Ener came upon a shape that then led down a tangent to make a jet.
The best education comes from play and discovery (think playful kitten learning how to hunt with your ball of yarn – same kitty grows up to become a fierce hunter – destroying sofa arms with razor sharp precision).
Lesson here? For virtual worlds, take time to experiment, explore, even play – you’ll become better and smile along the way. =)
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