MOOs
In their article “Using the Web to Extend and Support Classroom Learning”,
Regina F. Bento and Alberto M. Bento discuss how to enhance higher education through “three types of web usage: a) using a web browser to access materials and resources; b) using web-boards and chatrooms for interaction; and c) using familiar wordprocessing and presentation software to create and post on the web one’s own documents and presentations” (Bento, Abstract).
Among the many types of educational learning techniques, there are also MOOs. As Frank Odasz notes in his article “Collaborative Internet Tools” MOOs are “object-oriented MUDs”, MUDs being multiuser domains. He further explains that MOOs “have been used in educational settings and evolved from a game called Dungeons & Dragons.” MOOs are text-based, although newer versions offer the possibility for graphics as well, and require special software and server. “Classroom applications can include online role playing, similar to improvisational theater, and group interaction around a story line. Interactive fiction allows the reader to make decisions as part of the process of reading the story, affecting the direction of the story” (Odasz).
In an extensive article Silke Von Der Emde, Jeffrey Schneider and Markus Kotter relate the results of their trial in which they used MOOs to help them teach foreign languages, respectively, German at a college in New York, and English at a university in Germany. The use of Moos seemed to improve the efficiency of the learning process. As the article concludes “In just two trial semesters, those students with the least developed language proficiency in the virtual exchanges-third-semester students of German-showed that they could complete in the target language many sophisticated tasks that previously were expected only in upper-level seminars”(Von Der Emde, Schneider, Kotter).
MOOs as well as all the other tools the computer and the Internet can offer for education, are designed to improve and diversify the methods in which students can learn.
Response
By reading these articles, I realized how many tools for education are at our disposal.
Especially students from industrialized nations can take advantage of the computer and many of its uses. With the development of the Internet and the World Wide Web, the opportunities are even greater. The diversity of the teaching and learning methods only benefits the students in their path to completing their education. As Frank Odasz writes, some of the tools that are used are: E-mail, Internet Mailing Lists, Newsgroups, Bulletin Board Systems, Web Conferencing, Internet Relay Chat, MUDs and Moos, IPhone and Internet Radio, Desktop Videoconferencing, and VRML Chat Systems.
So then, why is it that the American students for example, are so academically behind other nations’ in many disciplines? Perhaps we, as a society, get used to everything we have, and take things for granted, which also is being resembled in the way we go about our education.
On the other hand, I am sure there are many students who take their education very seriously and become some of the best professionals in the world in their fields.
It would be a great thing if we could somehow help other parts of the world, to improve their access to technology and the many advantages it could offer for education. Many kids in the world go without seeing a computer, not to mention all the different tools that come with the use of the Internet. The extremes, where some kids have teachers, computers, and internet to help with their education, and the kids who have nothing, are too far apart.
In conclusion, I think we as a society have to make sure that our kids take advantage of every possible resource for their education, but also not to forget the ones that are forced to accomplish the same goal of getting educated through much simpler ways.
Works Cited
Bento, Regina F. “Using the Web to Extend and Support Classroom Learning”.
College Student Journal Dec. 2000:603-8. WilsonSelect Plus. FirstSearch.
Macomb Community College Lib., Warren MI. 3 Mar. 2006
Odasz, Frank B. “Collaborative Internet Tools”. Learning and Leading with
Technology Dec. 199/Jan. 2000:10-15. WilsonSelect Plus. FirstSearch. Macomb
Community College Lib., Warren MI. 3 Mar. 2006
Von der Emde, Silke. “ Technically Speaking: Transforming Language Learning
Through Virtual Learning Environments (MOOs)”. Modern Language Journal
Summer 2001:21-25 WilsonSelect Plus. FirstSearch. Macomb Community
College Lib., Warren MI. 3 Mar. 2006
