Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Friday, February 25, 2011
Can our dreams of becoming teachers be realized in this economy?
Have you ever wanted something so badly, but it just always seems to be out of your reach? I have and still do! Since I was a child I have dreamed of becoming a teacher. I didn't go to college after High School like many of my friends did, instead I started a family that I stayed home and raised.
In 1998 I went back into the workforce as an Office Manager for a computer store, where I dealt with the various school districts around us on a daily basis as I quoted them computer labs and other peripherals. I continued to work at the computer store for about five years before I decided that I would never be able to grow at my current place of employment and I wanted something more out of my life. It was then that I thought about what was really important to me along with my hopes and dreams. I thought about my children and their education. It was then that I took my first step and decided to go back to school to get my degree in education.
I began that journey in the Summer of 2003 and I worked very hard to keep my grades up while taking care of m family. I even started volunteering at my children's school with the parent teacher organization, which I later became treasurer and president of. I also became a Girl Scout leader for both of my daughters Girl Scout troop. It was a very rough ride, but in December 2007 I graduated with my BS in Early Childhood Education (P-4).
It was at that time that I began my job search for a lifelong career as an elementary teacher. I began by substituting for all of the local school districts. After a year of doing that with no nibbles I took a job offer at a local NBC affiliate in their Accounting department to help my family meet their financial needs. I continued submitting applications and resumes for job positions that became open throughout the various school districts, but never received a phone call to interview for any of them.
In February 2010, my position at the television station was eliminated and the very next day I received my divorce papers in the mail. It was a very hard month, but my children and I decided to move from the only home they had ever known in Arkansas over 2400 miles away to Oregon for a fresh start. We have been settling in here for almost a year now and I have gone back to school to get my Masters in Education Media Design & Technology, which I will graduate with in July of this year. I am still submitting applications and resumes to various school districts hoping and praying for a teaching position, but have yet to see a response or even a glimmer of hope in that direction.
In our current economy I am not holding my breath for an education job due to all of the budget cuts, employees who aren't ready to retire, and being in that over 40 age bracket that sometimes isn't considered with all the younger graduating hopefuls. Everything has become so political and if you don't know the "right person" then your chances are even lower. I am not so much set to teach elementary school anymore as I once was, but then again breaking into secondary education or even online education for that matter these days is just as difficult. Especially if you have absolutely no teaching experience besides just your internship and substituting. So how does someone get their dream job these days with so much against them??? That is a very good question and one I would love to be able to answer. I just keep trying and pray that one day I will be able to fulfill my dream of teaching.
I have been told by my friends, colleagues, and other educators that with all my technology background and willingness to try new things that there should be multiple opportunities available to me. Being out of work for a year now I have looked at taking a position just about anywhere and everywhere. However, it seems that I am over qualified for many of the accounting or office positions I have taken in the past or that they are afraid to hire me in fear that I will leave if a teaching position should become available. The economy has been hit hard making it difficult for us all. This has been a very hard road to walk down, but I am determined to follow it through until I finally do reach my goal and dream of teaching somewhere in what was once a great land of opportunity for us all.
In 1998 I went back into the workforce as an Office Manager for a computer store, where I dealt with the various school districts around us on a daily basis as I quoted them computer labs and other peripherals. I continued to work at the computer store for about five years before I decided that I would never be able to grow at my current place of employment and I wanted something more out of my life. It was then that I thought about what was really important to me along with my hopes and dreams. I thought about my children and their education. It was then that I took my first step and decided to go back to school to get my degree in education.
I began that journey in the Summer of 2003 and I worked very hard to keep my grades up while taking care of m family. I even started volunteering at my children's school with the parent teacher organization, which I later became treasurer and president of. I also became a Girl Scout leader for both of my daughters Girl Scout troop. It was a very rough ride, but in December 2007 I graduated with my BS in Early Childhood Education (P-4).
It was at that time that I began my job search for a lifelong career as an elementary teacher. I began by substituting for all of the local school districts. After a year of doing that with no nibbles I took a job offer at a local NBC affiliate in their Accounting department to help my family meet their financial needs. I continued submitting applications and resumes for job positions that became open throughout the various school districts, but never received a phone call to interview for any of them.
In February 2010, my position at the television station was eliminated and the very next day I received my divorce papers in the mail. It was a very hard month, but my children and I decided to move from the only home they had ever known in Arkansas over 2400 miles away to Oregon for a fresh start. We have been settling in here for almost a year now and I have gone back to school to get my Masters in Education Media Design & Technology, which I will graduate with in July of this year. I am still submitting applications and resumes to various school districts hoping and praying for a teaching position, but have yet to see a response or even a glimmer of hope in that direction.
In our current economy I am not holding my breath for an education job due to all of the budget cuts, employees who aren't ready to retire, and being in that over 40 age bracket that sometimes isn't considered with all the younger graduating hopefuls. Everything has become so political and if you don't know the "right person" then your chances are even lower. I am not so much set to teach elementary school anymore as I once was, but then again breaking into secondary education or even online education for that matter these days is just as difficult. Especially if you have absolutely no teaching experience besides just your internship and substituting. So how does someone get their dream job these days with so much against them??? That is a very good question and one I would love to be able to answer. I just keep trying and pray that one day I will be able to fulfill my dream of teaching.
I have been told by my friends, colleagues, and other educators that with all my technology background and willingness to try new things that there should be multiple opportunities available to me. Being out of work for a year now I have looked at taking a position just about anywhere and everywhere. However, it seems that I am over qualified for many of the accounting or office positions I have taken in the past or that they are afraid to hire me in fear that I will leave if a teaching position should become available. The economy has been hit hard making it difficult for us all. This has been a very hard road to walk down, but I am determined to follow it through until I finally do reach my goal and dream of teaching somewhere in what was once a great land of opportunity for us all.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Cycle 1 complete
Friday finished up my first cycle of research for my Action Research project. Now I am trying to sort through all of the data to measure whether the project was a success or failure. Then hopefully I can tell what changes I need to make, so that I can begin cycle 2. I know that there are things that will have to be done differently and perhaps even a whole different approach will be needed.
I've had suggestions from participants that I should choose one person to be in the leadership role on a weekly basis versus a daily basis to get them more acclimated with the role, have them take a more in-depth look at the various primary and secondary professions before choosing, making sure that everyone has a microphone to be able to communicate verbally in the Ventrilo server, and having daily required discussions on the discussion boards.
I see many of these as very valid points. It was hard to communicate with some participants when they only typed in the chat box versus verbally in the Ventrilo server. It was also rough during the last couple of weeks of the project with one person in the group having to be the only healer on every quest/mission because the professions were not discussed and chosen before their creation by all participants. The discussion board suggestion is a hard one because I would have loved for them to communicate more in there, but I just couldn't seem to keep them interested or posting at all for that matter. I don't know if requiring them to do it on a daily basis before playing or after playing would have helped or done more harm. That is going to be a hard call.
Many if the participants would like to see the second cycle carried over into one of the other Guild Wars campaigns like Factions or Nightfalls instead of repeating Prophecies whole storyline again. I can see the point of that as well because once you have completed it once you generally don't want to do it again. There are many factors to consider and I will be deep in thought on what should be done to make this next cycle better. If any of my critical friends or subscribers have any input or suggestions please let me know.
I've had suggestions from participants that I should choose one person to be in the leadership role on a weekly basis versus a daily basis to get them more acclimated with the role, have them take a more in-depth look at the various primary and secondary professions before choosing, making sure that everyone has a microphone to be able to communicate verbally in the Ventrilo server, and having daily required discussions on the discussion boards.
I see many of these as very valid points. It was hard to communicate with some participants when they only typed in the chat box versus verbally in the Ventrilo server. It was also rough during the last couple of weeks of the project with one person in the group having to be the only healer on every quest/mission because the professions were not discussed and chosen before their creation by all participants. The discussion board suggestion is a hard one because I would have loved for them to communicate more in there, but I just couldn't seem to keep them interested or posting at all for that matter. I don't know if requiring them to do it on a daily basis before playing or after playing would have helped or done more harm. That is going to be a hard call.Many if the participants would like to see the second cycle carried over into one of the other Guild Wars campaigns like Factions or Nightfalls instead of repeating Prophecies whole storyline again. I can see the point of that as well because once you have completed it once you generally don't want to do it again. There are many factors to consider and I will be deep in thought on what should be done to make this next cycle better. If any of my critical friends or subscribers have any input or suggestions please let me know.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
My first action research cycle is coming to a close
I wanted to take a minute to update my blog and copy over a post from my Action Research blog that updates where my research is currently at. Next week will complete my journey using Guild Wars to teach social skills. It hasn't exactly been what I expected, but then again when is any type of research exactly as you expect it to be? During this journey I created a website and forums (http://virtuguild.com/). I have been collecting data using pre & post surveys, weekly polls, forum discussions, as well as in game chat through the use of Ventrilo's voice communication program and in game text chat.
The first week was kind of a get to know the other participants in the group and a chance to get everyone setup with their Guild Wars character as well as familiarize them with the game interface and quests. I lost two participants during the first week because one felt she was too experienced with Guild Wars to be a part of the research and the male participant just vanished into thin air after answering all the first week challenges. That brought us down to six participants, although during the second week we had another male who asked to join us in the research and was more than happy to catch up to where we all were.
The first week was kind of a get to know the other participants in the group and a chance to get everyone setup with their Guild Wars character as well as familiarize them with the game interface and quests. I lost two participants during the first week because one felt she was too experienced with Guild Wars to be a part of the research and the male participant just vanished into thin air after answering all the first week challenges. That brought us down to six participants, although during the second week we had another male who asked to join us in the research and was more than happy to catch up to where we all were.
The second week began the quests and missions to play out the whole storyline of Guild Wars. These continued up until Wednesday of this week when we completed the last mission of the storyline. There are now five quests that will be completed to round out the storyline for everyone. Every week I setup topics to post on in the forums and a weekly poll with a question for the participants to answer. The hardest part has been to get everyone to answer the questions and polls in the forums. They are generally eager to participate in the game itself, but not much on the writing or answering of questions. They all did participate in the pre-survey I conducted before we began and I am hoping they will all answer the post-survey questions next week at the end of this project.
What has been a surprise with your results?
There have been some unexpected twists and turns along the way needless to say. Guild Wars only allows for 4 members to be in a party for most of the beginning quests and missions. This forced the group to be divided up in order to accommodate everyone, which made it more difficult for me to see all of the interaction that was going on in each group at all times.
The party size then moved up to 6 during week 3 and eventually to 8 members for weeks 4-6. During the first day of six members allowed in a party I divided the groups up by their profession/class in the game trying to make the parties more effective. This unfortunately backfired on my research in a way because it ended up being 4 guys in one party and 4 girls in the other party.
The reason I say it backfired is because there was more communication during the 2 quests and mission completed between the guys that day then there had been in the past 2 weeks. That was kind of a twist, although now that I think about it perhaps not completely unexpected that the guys would feel more comfortable communicating in Ventrilo and Guild Wars together than with the girls in the same group.
The following day I split the groups up half and half to see the differences in the interactions. It was somewhat better than before, but still did not work out as well as putting all the guys together. The following week when we began working as a complete group of 8 it became a lot more difficult in some aspects. I think this may have been due to the group size being too large for effective communication between all the members.
I also found it difficult to get members to volunteer to lead the quests/missions. Some were more eager than others, but I wanted everyone to have the opportunity in order to see the strengths/weaknesses of their leadership role and look for ways to improve upon it. The teamwork has become better as we have progressed from week to week, but I feel it was still better in the smaller groups than when we merged everyone together into the group of 8.
What tweaks are you making for your next cycle of research?
At this point I am somewhat at a loss as to what to do for my second cycle. The whole point was to see if using Guild Wars could lead to teaching effective social skills like leadership and teamwork that are needed in todays workforce. Yet I am seeing a pattern of the males being more comfortable working with other males instead of the females in the group and that the smaller groups actually work together more effectively than the larger groups do. This is quite the conundrum for me and leaves me somewhat baffled as to where I should go from here. Do I say it failed and try something else or should I perhaps try another approach? As I am drawing near the end of my first cycle these are questions that I am asking myself, so that I can prepare for my next cycle.
What is the overall participant’s response?
Since I am no quite to the end of my first cycle it is hard for me to get a definite picture of the overall response from my participants. However, from the lack of posts in the forums I would say that they prefer to communicate more orally than in written form. I feel that some of them tend to leave abruptly at the end of some of the missions/quests depending on who was the leader that night, especially if the participants died a lot and there wasn’t as much communication between members of the party. I will know more about their overall feelings towards the project once it comes to an end next week and I have looked at all the data from the surveys and polls.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Research in Guild Wars
I began my Action Research project in Guild Wars last week, but with the holidays we are a bit behind schedule and trying to get everyone situated. We had some problems with participants and the Moodle interface I was trying to use, so I have setup a forums to use instead. Last week we completed the pre-searing quests in Guild Wars getting everyone to about level 7, so that we were able to enter post-searing this week. We are basically following the Guild Wars storyline completing the various quests and missions that lead us through them.
Pre-searing only allowed us to work in groups of 2/2, then the first several quests/missions of post-searing only allowed for groups of 4/4, we have now entered an area where we can work in groups of 6/6 and will eventually come to the point where we can work in the max group of 8/8 that Guild Wars allows. This causes us to have to split up in groups, but I feel this is a good test of leadership and teamwork skills because it allows different people to work together and share their skills with the group.
I have noticed that so far there isn't a whole lot of teamwork going on as everyone is trying to adjust to the members in their group and excited about the various quests/missions. There is more solo work going on within the groups than actual teamwork, which unfortunately results in several deaths/revives that would be necessary if they worked together. My goal with this project is that they will eventually realize that they can accomplish more when working well together than they could alone or by running ahead without their team members. We are coming to the close of week 2, so we shall see how it turns out.
Pre-searing only allowed us to work in groups of 2/2, then the first several quests/missions of post-searing only allowed for groups of 4/4, we have now entered an area where we can work in groups of 6/6 and will eventually come to the point where we can work in the max group of 8/8 that Guild Wars allows. This causes us to have to split up in groups, but I feel this is a good test of leadership and teamwork skills because it allows different people to work together and share their skills with the group.
I have noticed that so far there isn't a whole lot of teamwork going on as everyone is trying to adjust to the members in their group and excited about the various quests/missions. There is more solo work going on within the groups than actual teamwork, which unfortunately results in several deaths/revives that would be necessary if they worked together. My goal with this project is that they will eventually realize that they can accomplish more when working well together than they could alone or by running ahead without their team members. We are coming to the close of week 2, so we shall see how it turns out.
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| VirtuGuild.com/forums |
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Bias in Gaming
I'm an avid gamer. It's kind of my thing. After a long day at work or school, it's great to come home and play a first person shooter or MMORPG. What's unusual about my gaming is that I am a 41 year old mom who generally plays with my teenagers and their friends. I don't do this because I am trying to bud into their friendships or lives, it is because it is something we have been doing together as a family for about 12 years now and we enjoy the time together.
It all started when I worked at a computer store as the Office Manager there and they started an after hours LAN gaming center where people would come in and play Counter Strike:Condition Zero (CZ). I really had no interest, but the guys there insisted that I try it out. I really enjoyed the adrenaline rush it gave me and the conversations with friends while playing. Being new to that type of thing really messed with me in the beginning and believe it or not all that movement gave me motion sickness, but after awhile that subsided and it was just a lot of fun!
What started then has stayed with me over the past 12 years and I have continued to play CZ and even have my own clan that I started a couple of years ago. I have made many friends online playing this game and others (Call of Duty, Left 4 Dead, Killing Floor, Guild Wars, Dungeons & Dragons Online, Runescape, SilkRoad, etc...) Just a few days ago I received the new Call of Duty: Black Ops that was just released. We have been playing it for days during my spare time as a family and we love it. What I don't like about it and most of these other first person shooters is that these games are bias. Why do I say that? It's simple, the people that make these games either assume that only men play them or don't care about the women who play, because all the characters are ONLY MALE.
At least when I play one of the MMORPGs, I can select a female character to play, but when I switch back over to play a first person shooter I have to play as a MALE or not at all. What's wrong with this picture. A 2009 study showed that 60% of gamers are male and the other 40% are female (http://www.theesa.com/facts/pdfs/ESA_EF_2009.pdf). Do those 40% not matter? Apparently not, since there was an online petition (http://www.PetitionOnline.com/l33tgrls/petition.html) started many years ago (around 2004) to add female skins to the game Counter Strike, which now has 969 signatures, mine being one of them. Do you think that they have added any female characters to the game? No, they have not! This as well as the newly released COD:Black Ops are one of the many reasons that I say there is a definite bias in the gaming industry, especially when it comes to first person shooters.
While I will still continue playing these games because I enjoy playing them and it is something I do with my online friends and family, I can most certainly assure you that I don't condone this bias. I feel that as more and more women play these games that they should stand up and be heard. That the makers of these video games and others should really consider adding at least one female character to these games, so that the women who play don't have to always choose to play a male character. Isn't this world already male dominated enough when it comes to the workforce and pay. Do we, as women, have to sit here and allow the video game industry to also force us to play as male characters because they refuse to put female characters into these games? I know that there are a large majority of men out there that would say stop whining and don't play if you don't like it. Well that's because they aren't all having to run around as female characters because there aren't any male characters to choose. They don't know what it is like to have the proverbial shoe on the other foot.
I sincerely hope that the makers of these video games and others will take a serious look at the bias they are generating in the development of their games. If they do, I hope they will see what they are doing is wrong and start making a difference by changing this bias and adding female characters to their games. Until then I will just have to make do with what they have given me, another male character, in what seems to be a male dominated world. However, I will continue to speak freely about this bias, in the hopes that others will join me and force the game industry to take a hard look at their bias towards creating female characters in their games.
It all started when I worked at a computer store as the Office Manager there and they started an after hours LAN gaming center where people would come in and play Counter Strike:Condition Zero (CZ). I really had no interest, but the guys there insisted that I try it out. I really enjoyed the adrenaline rush it gave me and the conversations with friends while playing. Being new to that type of thing really messed with me in the beginning and believe it or not all that movement gave me motion sickness, but after awhile that subsided and it was just a lot of fun!
What started then has stayed with me over the past 12 years and I have continued to play CZ and even have my own clan that I started a couple of years ago. I have made many friends online playing this game and others (Call of Duty, Left 4 Dead, Killing Floor, Guild Wars, Dungeons & Dragons Online, Runescape, SilkRoad, etc...) Just a few days ago I received the new Call of Duty: Black Ops that was just released. We have been playing it for days during my spare time as a family and we love it. What I don't like about it and most of these other first person shooters is that these games are bias. Why do I say that? It's simple, the people that make these games either assume that only men play them or don't care about the women who play, because all the characters are ONLY MALE.
At least when I play one of the MMORPGs, I can select a female character to play, but when I switch back over to play a first person shooter I have to play as a MALE or not at all. What's wrong with this picture. A 2009 study showed that 60% of gamers are male and the other 40% are female (http://www.theesa.com/facts/pdfs/ESA_EF_2009.pdf). Do those 40% not matter? Apparently not, since there was an online petition (http://www.PetitionOnline.com/l33tgrls/petition.html) started many years ago (around 2004) to add female skins to the game Counter Strike, which now has 969 signatures, mine being one of them. Do you think that they have added any female characters to the game? No, they have not! This as well as the newly released COD:Black Ops are one of the many reasons that I say there is a definite bias in the gaming industry, especially when it comes to first person shooters.
While I will still continue playing these games because I enjoy playing them and it is something I do with my online friends and family, I can most certainly assure you that I don't condone this bias. I feel that as more and more women play these games that they should stand up and be heard. That the makers of these video games and others should really consider adding at least one female character to these games, so that the women who play don't have to always choose to play a male character. Isn't this world already male dominated enough when it comes to the workforce and pay. Do we, as women, have to sit here and allow the video game industry to also force us to play as male characters because they refuse to put female characters into these games? I know that there are a large majority of men out there that would say stop whining and don't play if you don't like it. Well that's because they aren't all having to run around as female characters because there aren't any male characters to choose. They don't know what it is like to have the proverbial shoe on the other foot.
I sincerely hope that the makers of these video games and others will take a serious look at the bias they are generating in the development of their games. If they do, I hope they will see what they are doing is wrong and start making a difference by changing this bias and adding female characters to their games. Until then I will just have to make do with what they have given me, another male character, in what seems to be a male dominated world. However, I will continue to speak freely about this bias, in the hopes that others will join me and force the game industry to take a hard look at their bias towards creating female characters in their games.
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