I know when I first began this class it was very difficult to adapt to a new way of participating in distance education; however, the value of all the stressful beginning tasks was displayed as the semester progressed and we became a community of learners. It was very easy to parallel the tasks that we were assigned with what we were being taught–this class modeled very well which helped with the connection of our lessons to real life. :-)

From the beginning of this course, I have continued to learn something new everyday. I have broadened my knowledge of tools that are available for online learning. As a result of this course, I value the opportunities of distance education. I have came to realize that there is learning that takes place in the online setting; the value of the learning depends primarily upon the course design. There is a skillfulness in planning that links online education with successful learning. For example, with this course the skillful and well thoughout design provides us as learners the most learning opportunities.

Moreover, as a result of this class, I now have an expanded toolbox in which I can use in my future classroom, and who knows I may even teach online! :-) Nevertheless, I now realize that a class can be taught online and the objectives will stay the same. If anything, I can defend the fact that learning DOES take place in the online setting. There are a variety of ways to evaluate success within a class and productive evaluation will determine if goals are met and should inform the instructor of areas to improve.

I believe I have the tutorial working online!! I have just about pulled my hair out, but I have figured out so many things all at the same time. I do agree with Nate when he says this project is only due, it isn’t finished. There are so many things that I want to add to my project as I post things to it, but it is a building process. If you look at my blog, I have different pages of the Holidays listed on the right, and I want to use this space to add useful educational information, historical info, cool links, etc for each individual holiday and this is something that will grow as I run across more things in the future–therefore, my project will be continued after it is offically “due” in this class. Nevertheless, I am really enjoying this so far, and I feel that my co-workers have gained a lot from this experience as well.

I made it to level 5 on The Last Outpost, and it was definitely an experience. As a result of the game, I want to provide a little directional guide to help newbies in the game.

• First of all, you can type help map newbie and there is a nice chart that comes up to give you an idea of directional words you can type within the game
• If you want to see who is in The Last Outpost–type Who and hit enter
• If you come in contact with a character and you want to see what he/she looks like–type look (and what ever the name is) and hit enter
• If you want to look around type look (enter)
• If you forget your quest–type quest (enter)
• If you need to know how many points you need for your next level–type level (enter)
• Type sco (enter) for your score
• If you have lost your map and you need to have a little idea of where you are going, type exit (enter)
• If you want to see what you are carrying, type inv (for inventory) and hit enter
• If you are carrying a bag, when you type inv, type look in bag to see what is in your bag (enter)
• If you enter a bakery/shop, you can type list (enter) to see what is for sell
• If you want to buy something simply type buy (and what ever number the item is) and hit enter
• If you need to kill some food–type kill (and whatever it is you want to kill) (enter)
• Once you kill it, you can type get meat corpse
• If you want to save it you can type get meat corpse (enter), put meat in bag (enter)
• If you want to eat the meat–type get meat corpse (enter)–eat meat (enter)
• If you are in Town Square and you want to take a drink from the well–type drink well (enter)
• If you want to take a piece of clothing off, type drop (what ever it is) (enter)
• If you are wearing a cap and you need to take it off–type remove cap (enter)
• If you begin to get hungry and you have food stored in your bag–type inv (enter)–look in bag (enter)–get (what ever the food is) bag (enter)–eat (what ever the food is) (enter)
• If you are carrying a lot of extra things and you want to put them in your bag–type inv (enter)–put all bag (enter)
• If you come to a gate and it is closed–type open gate (enter)

After playing the game, I recommend storing food in your bag for your quests, and make sure to keep water handy for when you get thirsty. I would also print out a copy of the map when you first enter the game because you loose the map after a while and it becomes difficult to remember directions for your quests.

Overall, I didn’t like the game when I first started playing it. Nevertheless, this game is one that sort of grows on you. For educational purposes, I did like the fact that the entire game is text only. Personally, I feel this is a wonderful opportunity for students to practice reading. Also, reading speed increases as you play the game because you have to learn to speed read in order to have an idea of what is happening in the game. Even though the game was text only, I felt myself in the world and I would get really nervous when on a quest or fighting. This is wonderful use of the imagination and creativity.