(MOO: What to DOO)

NETEACH Nook
------- ----
Your typical classroom. It's beginning to feel a bit more lived in, and
someone managed to put up at least one nice decoration: a world map with push
pins showing where NETEACHers have connected from. So far, there are pins in
Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Australia, Greece, UK, Brazil, Israel, Canada, France,
Germany, and all over the US.
You see Teacher's Desk, Big Table, Bulletin Board, Beanbags, Fireside
 Bearskin, Kitchen Table, and Wading Pool.
You see Yoshi, Smoody, Mehitabel, archy, and Gregor standing about.
You see LCD Panel.
Obvious exits: out

Gregor puts a transparency on the screen...
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             Welcome to NETEACH-L's MOO discussion sessions!

             (with much appreciation to schMOOze University 
             and its fine players, programmers, and wizards!)

               Please note! Our sessions are always logged.
      By participating, you give permission to Greg Younger to allow 
    access to the transcripts for research purposes at his discretion.
    Before using any part of our logs for research or publication, please 
      obtain the permission of Greg Younger at youngerg@colorado.edu

                For a transcript, please see our web page:
              http://spot.colorado.edu/~youngerg/netmoo.html

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trumpets blare in a flourish.
Mehitabel says, "Let's charge for the transcripts."
Gregor says, "I think we can skip the intros... we all know each other here..."

Gregor puts a transparency on the screen...
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                           ***MOO: What to DOO***

  Whether or not you have actually used MOO with students, surely you 
  can imagine some ways to use it to complement the ESL classes you are 
  teaching. After hearing from some experienced MOO instructors, we'll 
  break up into smaller groups to brainstorm MOO activities for ESOL 
  students. We'll then get back together to share and evaluate the best 
  activities we developed in the small group discussions.

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Yoshi switches the connection.
archy loves the pomp and cercumstance associated with these services
Gregor notes, "Of course, I'm really playing all this by ear... if we broke up
 into groups tonight, we'd be talking to ourselves!

Gregor puts a transparency on the screen...
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At the last session, a few teachers who had used schMOOze with their 
students reported briefly on activities which had worked well for them:
---------------------------------------------------------
Frizzy says, 'I've used schMOOze to hold conferences with students.  I logged
 them (with permission, of course), then sent the log to the students via
 e-mail.'
Frizzy says, 'This summer, I had a group of students do role play at schMOOze.
  They had a political debate (one was Bob Dole, another was Clinton, and one
 student logged on as God!).'
Gregor says, 'I have briefly experimented with students for collaborative
 brainstorming........  two (or more) students in the same virtual room 
 brainstorming a topic and logging what they say. They can then look at their 
 conversation later and piece together what they need to make a next draft.'

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Gregor, as you can see, plans to spam you all to a painful death tonight.

Gregor puts a transparency on the screen...
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In order to get our discussion started, we asked:
         'Which functions of MOO would lead to language learning? 
                  What technical capabilities of MOO can we exploit?'
Here are some of the answers to that question:

1)  Students can keep a record of their conversation. 
2)  students can practice typing actions.
3)  Students in non-English-speaking countries can easily get in touch with
     ns's.
4)  small group discussions for later analysis
5)  Students can participate in games like scrabble, the grammar maze, etc.
6)  Simulations - might be good for doing the RT enactment, especially when
     working across cultures.
7)  Students with relatively low listening skills like Japanese will have less
     difficulty in communication than in spoken language.
8)  Students can move around and interact with objects on the MOO
9)  students can brainstorm before a writing task
10)  students can interview each other during information-transfer tasks
11)  Simulations can be more meaningful since objects can be programmed to
      disrupt them, like a fax message happening after twenty minutes of 
      discussion.

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Gregor says, "Yikes!"
Yoshi sits back and make himself comfortable to be prepared all the spams.
archy says, "r.t. enactment?"
Corwin gets out a knife and fork to eat the spam
Corwin says, "real time"
Gregor [to archy]: I think he said that meant Real Time
archy nods
Gregor says, "OK, now as to the resulting activities we came up with:"

Gregor puts a transparency on the screen...
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As a group, we came up with several ideas which could work well with a 
little further development:

   - small group discussion work, keeping a transcript for later analysis
   - role-playing newspaper reporter and interviewees
   - role-playing a historical event or a current event in the news
   - role play notional/functional language situations:
            ...request for help from a librarian,
            ...requests for clarification in a business meeting
            ...agreement or disagreement in an argument

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Yoshi feels happy with his new 20inch monitor.
Gregor says, "archy, I'm glad you're here because perhaps you can tell us
 something about the technical feasability of our ideas tonight."
archy nods
Yoshi [to Gregor]: What about being able to meet people around the world and
 enjoy talking real time?
Mehitabel says, "Is tsia here for the session?"
Corwin's thought of some expansion/details for one or two of these .. but no
 new ideas
Gregor [to Yoshi]: I certainly think that's one of the coolest features of
 this medium... but for class purposes, on a tight schedule, I'd like to try
 to come up with some more structured class activities.
Yoshi doesn't know.
Gregor [to Mehitabel]: Who?
Mehitabel says, "Tsia. Read her desc."
Corwin [to Mehitabel]: Tsia's just arrived 
Yoshi [to Gregor]: I see, thought you were talking about activities in general.
Gregor [to Yoshi]: Well, that too. :o) But that's easy. "Students, connect to
 the MOO. See you in an hour."
typetypetypegiggletypetypetypegiggle
Yoshi laughs at the cunning teachie.
Gregor grrins.
Gregor says, "Has anyone visited virtual writing centers at other MOOs?"
Mehitabel says, "My students once were writing a paper on American humor, and
 they came here to interview Americans."
Gregor [to Mehitabel]: What prep did you do beforehand?
Yoshi says, "OK, let's concentrace on class activity this time, but I still
 feel we need to discuss how to incorporate individual activities here into
 classrooms."
Gregor nods to yoshi.
firefly [Guest] slides in, ready to NETwork.
Gregor [to firefly [Guest]]: Welcome back!
Yoshi says, "Hi again, firefly."
Corwin [to Yoshi]: I have an idea for incorporating the interview/reporter work
Mehitabel says, "I had them think about what things were funny in their
 countries, Tv shows , etc."
firefly [Guest] says, "Hi everyone"
Gregor [to Mehitabel]: So some speaking/listening was part of the activity?
Corwin [to firefly [Guest]]: Hi!
archy waves, but admits to being on the phone
Mehitabel says, "My students were very interested in the origin of Polish
 jokes."
Corwin chuckles
Gregor [to Mehitabel]: Did they find an answer to that question here?
Corwin says, "The origin of jokes at minority groups in countries around the
 world"
Mehitabel says, "No, but everyone told them not to tell jokes like that."
Gregor [to Mehitabel]: What was the followup? What did you do after they MOOed?
Mehitabel says, "THey quoted the people they spoke to here in their
 compositions."
Gregor likes Corwin's suggestion too.
Yoshi nods with Gregor.
Gregor says, "This is the type of thing I'd like us to come up with at this
 session... concrete lesson plans."
Corwin [to Mehitabel]: like your idea.. must be able to link with things on
 the net like Letterman's top 10
firefly [Guest] says, "In Iran Polish jokes are Rashti jokes about the people
 from Rasht. What'srigin of those jokes I wonder."
Mehitabel [to Corwin]: I don't understand.
Corwin says, "sorry I mean humour generally... "
Gregor [to Mehitabel]: Before they MOOed, had you worked together to
 brainstorm questions to ask Americans in schMOOze?
Mehitabel nods.
firefly [Guest] says, ""Are you talking about interclass long distance
 meetings?"
Mehitabel says, "The question they had to answer was: How does American humor
 reflect American culture?"
Gregor [to firefly [Guest]]: Mehi was telling about a class activity.
Mehitabel says, "THey came here to try to find the answer."
Gregor says, "What are some other topics we could send students into the MOO to
 investigate? Let's use the board to write a few down."
Gregor cleans the blackboard with a soapy sponge...
Corwin wondered about using the more interview transcripts idea from last week
  to focus on pronunication work and redoing the activity f2f
Gregor [to Corwin]: Would you expand on that?
Corwin says, ""i'll give a topical example locally, if tht's ok?"
Gregor says, "Please do."
Yoshi listens.
Corwin says, "there are 4 main cadidates for Chief Exec for Hong Kong post
 97.."
Corwin says, "get students to research the background of one candidate.."
Corwin says, "produce a bio of key events/experiences in note form"
Corwin says, "hand to another group who will be the journalistys and prepare
 questions.. in MOO brainstorming"
Corwin says, "in class language work on interviewing"
Gregor [to Corwin]: The reporter group gets together in a MOO room to
 brainstorm questions?
Corwin says, "hold the interviews in the MOO"
Corwin nods to G
Corwin says, "use the transcipts to look at pronunication work..."
Corwin says, "like linking , stress intonation"
Yoshi [to Corwin]: What about the rest of the members in each group?
Gregor says, "Does the reporter group meet with one "candidate" at a time?"
Mehitabel [to Corwin]: That's a good idea, but we couldn't do that in an ESL
 setting.
Corwin says, "pair them up..."
Gregor [to Mehitabel]: We could with the US presidential campaign going on.
Corwin [to Mehitabel]: why not?
Corwin nods to G
Corwin says, "or CEO's of topc blue chip Co's"
Mehitabel says, "Because they have no interest and no basic knowledge of US
 politics."
Corwin says, "chnage roles of ireporter candidate"
Gregor's got a different set of students. "Some of mine pay more attention to
 the election coverage than I do."
Corwin says, "do it for job interviews or any person that inetrests them..
 doesn't have to be political"
Corwin says, "sorry for the typos"
Mehitabel says, "Job interviews are good."
Corwin says, "the skills are transfereable..."
Mehitabel [to Gregor]: Mine are interested in make-up.
firefly [Guest] says, "you're talking real people for them to interview"
Corwin says, "reading through a bio and seeing where the gaps are in the
 skills needed for the job"
Yoshi wouldn't be able to choose politics as a topic for his students either..
Corwin says, "or controversial background experiences  in the bio"
firefly [Guest] says, "that was a question. real people?"
Corwin says, "based on real people.."
Gregor [to Mehitabel]: Have them research and roleplay interviews with Estee
 Lauder and Calvin Klein. ;o)
Corwin says, "could be scientists anybody.. depends on studensts background
 and interests"
firefly [Guest] says, "Students interview students then?"
Gregor [to firefly [Guest]]: Yeah, roleplaying.
Corwin says, "yes but they must research a real person's background'"
Corwin says, "after the pron work"
firefly [Guest] says, "Could we get any real people to talk with them online?"
Corwin says, "do interviews f2f to practice speaking"
Gregor [to firefly [Guest]]: Sure, if you know any real people. ;o)
Mehitabel says, "Sure."
Mehitabel says, "I almost got a semi-famous author to come here."
Corwin [to firefly [Guest]]: that would be ideal but I think difficult to
 manage unless they want to interview the President of the Uni/College
Mehitabel says, "But I like the idea of a real interview rather than role
 playing."
Corwin nods to mehi
firefly [Guest] says, "I'm thinking it would be more interesting with rela
 people."
Mehitabel says, "Everyone has a talent. For example, the students read up on
 rafting and interview Gregor."
archy has no talents, only skills
Corwin [to firefly [Guest]]: I agree but getting them..
Gregor says, "I do too. I'm wondering about trying to MOOicize some activities we
 do in our business simulation classes, where students meet with the local
 Chamber of Commerce folks..."
Mehitabel says, "Or archy about buying a bike."
firefly [Guest] says, "I don't have experience. What's the difficulty of
 managing it?"
Corwin [to firefly [Guest]]: availability of people they'd like to interview
Mehitabel says, "That would have to set up well ahead of time."
Corwin [to firefly [Guest]]: but it's a challenge and worth trying
firefly [Guest] says, "Why? Becaue the guests aren't hip to MOO ing?"
Gregor says, "It might be a good idea to supply a typist to avoid having to train
 the interviewee."
Gregor [to firefly [Guest]]: Bingo.
firefly [Guest] says, "That's perfect. A Typist would do the trick."
Corwin [to Gregor]: prepared Q's.. cut and paste?
Yoshi laughs at Gregor's suggenstion.
Corwin grins
Gregor [to Corwin]: Well... that was one thing I was considering. Many of my
 stus are terrible typists..
Corwin says, "prepared answers!!"
Mehitabel says, "Like politicians."
Corwin laughs "exactly"
Gregor says, "No, that would be lame. That's why I was thinking of having a
 MOOsavvy typist on hand for the interviewee."
Corwin says, "joking G"
firefly [Guest] says, "I wonder who in the community might like to do
 this....talk with students online."
Yoshi [to Gregor]: From my experiecne of bringing students here, seems only
 the better typists really enjoy this.
Gregor says, "And have the stus type up their major questions ahead of time in
 another window so they can paste them in. It would keep the pace interesting."
Yoshi says, "Poor ones get frustrated before they begin to appreciate."
firefly [Guest] says, "My students seem interested in talking with almost
 anyone outside of the confines of our college."
Corwin [to Gregor]: yes
Mehitabel says, "No windows on our machines at school."
Corwin says, "what about stus finding people... friends of friends?"
Gregor [to Mehitabel]: With tinyfuge you could put them in a file and call
 them up with macros.
Mehitabel says, "Ah, right."
archy thinks that just about everyone is willing to talk to students at the
 right time
Yoshi [to Gregor]: That's what I'm thinking of for the next year.  Blending
 typing exercises and basic expressions for conversation.
firefly [Guest] says, "My class talked online with Claudine Keenan's in
 Pennsylvania. It was hot!"
Yoshi agrees with archy.
Corwin says, "there're more students more possibility of getting people"
Yoshi [to firefly [Guest]]: Bring them here and I'm sure they'll be addicted
 soon.
Gregor [to Yoshi]: That's an intriguing idea... I've certainly seen MY typing
 speed increase in the past two years!
Yoshi giggles.
archy's has too
Mehitabel dittos.
firefly [Guest] says, "Yoshi will they find people to talk with here?"
Yoshi has gone beyond that and have got weary fingers lately....
archy says, "as have the r.s.i. problems =:X"
Corwin had another idea for MOOing
Gregor [to firefly [Guest]]: Well, right now for example, there are 22 people
 logged into the MOO.
Yoshi [to firefly [Guest]]: Yes, 24 hours every day.
firefly [Guest] says, "Gregor who want to talk to my students?"
Mehitabel [to firefly [Guest]]: THey must have a reason for talking, i.e. an
 assignment.
Gregor [to firefly [Guest]]: There are a lot of students who log in here at
 least once a day just for the purpose of chatting to whoever's around.
Corwin nods to mehi
archy says, "unless they are naturally talkative"
Mehitabel [to archy]: But they must produce something when they are done.
firefly [Guest] says, "That's interesting. "
Gregor says, "But to ensure your class's success, I'd agree it's important to set
 a task."
archy nods. he has trouble thinking of mooing as an academic activity that
 must be graded, enem though he forces his students to prove they are here
 every semester
Corwin says, "report (on the web?)... like smoody was saying last time"
Mehitabel says, "My students recently did a comp/cont of dating customs in two
 countries."
firefly [Guest] says, "When our classes met Claudine and I were present and
 interjected questions."
Gregor says, "Last week, several people asked how they could make logs of their
 students' sessions."
firefly [Guest] says, "My students are VERY interested in expanding their
 horizons beyond Honolulu"
Mehitabel says, "I like the idea of not being present."
Corwin says, "what we need is a list of possible activities and combos of
 activities in and out MOO.. stuednts can decide topics, get resources
 (including people)"
Yoshi [to Mehitabel]: How many students were there in all when you brought
 your students here for the task?
Gregor says, "I copped out a bit by saying that it was system-dependent, so I
 couldn't give instructions to them..."
firefly [Guest] says, "Methitabel, I can see the value in that too."
Mehitabel says, "They came on their own at different times."
archy notes that logging one's session is generally best done by the local
 machine
Yoshi [to Mehitabel]: I mean, how many in total?
Mehitabel says, "maybe 12."
Mehitabel says, "But not on all at once."
Gregor says, "I've been thinking of a "writing room" similar to the MOOmail
 function, but with more than one person able to go into it at once."
archy says, "but there are some 30 guest chars, and we can always make new
 ones"
firefly [Guest] wants to hear more about the writing room.
Yoshi says, "I see.  The problem in my situation is that I have far too many
 students in all so people would be fed up with being asked similar questions
 if I give them some task."
Gregor says, "At the end of a conversation (interview, collaborative
 brainstorming, whatever) in the writing room, the students type SEND and are
 prompted to give an email address.... the transcript is then mailed to them."
archy [to Gregor]: ah....so the moo logs *short* convos and mails them off?
Corwin [to Gregor]: don't need a special room
Gregor [to archy]: Right.
Gregor [to Corwin]: Oh? How would you do it?
Mehitabel says, "That's a good idea."
archy thinks it should not be hard to do, but would ask for the email address
 *first*
Corwin says, "at other MOO's like lingua they have a moo recorder"
Yoshi [to Gregor]: Like the investigation room of the police?
Gregor nods to archy.
Yoshi giggles.
Corwin says, "it records the conv as a file"
Yoshi does too.
Corwin says, "at te end you drop the file and people can just type @mail me
 "
Mehitabel says, "Like in the .paranoid."
Gregor [to Corwin]: How do they get the file out of the MOO?
archy says, "i think we already have a tape recorder here. no mail feature"
Yoshi [to Corwin]: We have a tape recorder here too.
Corwin says, "it mails it to your email address autoimatically"
Gregor says, "Dorsey made that galah bird for recording.. is that still around?"
Mehitabel says, "We can send mail out of the moo with no prob."
Mehitabel says, "Spaz made it."
archy says, "but we don't want the dbase to get clogged with text."
Mehitabel says, "it is here."
Corwin says, "i don't know the technical side of this, only the uiser end"
Yoshi nods to Mehi.
Gregor says, "That would be a really useful tool."
Mehitabel [to archy]: It would have to erase automatically.
archy says, "after it mails"
Mehitabel nods.
Corwin says, "the log file is retained and can be mailed at any time"
Corwin [to Mehitabel]: is this a problem?
Yoshi says, "Yeah, a couple of extra verbs on $taperecorder will do that."
archy says, "i think the galia bird (or whatever) just held the transcript,
 but whatever, we can make whatever we don't have and want"
Mehitabel says, "The gen. recorder is #650."
Corwin says, "we could do it for these sessions too"
archy [to Corwin]: yes. i'd like it mailed and emptied soon
Yoshi nods.
Mehitabel says, "Immediately."
Corwin says, "what would be emptied?"
Mehitabel says, "A prop."
archy says, "the 'tape'"
archy says, "that where the recording is stored""
Corwin says, "but the 'tapes' are useful records"
Mehitabel says, "But we don't want them here."
archy says, "and dbase cloggers"
Corwin says, "maybe I'm missing the point"
Mehitabel says, ""
Gregor says, "I was reviewing some software last year called "Writer's Coach."
 It's a set of wordprocessed files with questions to elicit "directed
 brainstorming"... I was thinking that it might be nice to program something
 here that a teacher could use to store questions like that for students..."
Corwin says, "other moos have loads of these and they don't clog anything..
 they're small"
firefly [Guest] says, "So you all think it's better for students to meet
 online outside of class?"
archy says, "when you start the recorder, it prompts for email address. when
 you stop it, it mails the transcript there, and erases the prop"
Mehitabel [to firefly [Guest]]: IMHO, yes.
Corwin [to archy]: I dn't think t works that way
Yoshi [to firefly [Guest]]: Especially in EFL situation where students will
 have little chance to use English.
archy [to Corwin]: we are not other moos
Corwin nods to firefly
Mehitabel says, "We could make it work any way we want."
Corwin chuckles 
archy [to Corwin]: we can make it work that way. we can do whatever we please
 with these transcripts
Mehitabel says, "The idea is to come up with original ideas. Program what we
 want."
firefly [Guest] says, "Yoshi, I don't quite see what you mean."
Corwin says, "wahtever"
Yoshi [to archy]: But that way, one could record all the conversation even if
 someone in the room doesn't want to be recorded.
Gregor thinks he sees two issues here: 1) database bloat, and 2) a strong
 value for privacy...
Mehitabel says, "It would be a special room, I think, with many signs."
archy [to Yoshi]: which is why they are basically banned here. with a few
 exceptions
Mehitabel says, "You go in this room and you KNOW you are recorded."
Gregor says, "We've already hammered out the issue of recording for OUR research
 purposes... it's just not going to be done here."
archy says, "and besides, anyone can log their convos at the console whenever
 they want"
Yoshi [to firefly [Guest]]: I meant, if students are learning the language in
 places where the target language isn't used daily, like learnng English in
 Japan.
archy agrees with gregor's points 1 and 2
firefly [Guest] says, "Yoshi, that's why I liked having all my students in my
 class  who are all Japanese meet with Claudine's students who are all
 American."
Gregor says, "This has been a really good session, folks."
Mehitabel says, "One idea everyone should go away with is that anything is
 possible here."
Mehitabel says, "PRogramming-wise, that is."
Gregor says, "I'm getting more and more ideas about things to do with my students
 here. YOu know, my stus are business guys, older, more serious, all that
 stuff... I have been worried that many of them would think MOOing was too
 frivolous an activity... things are so playful here..."
Gregor says, "But holding business meetings here and following up with
 pronunciation work, ala Corwin's idea is really intriguing me now."
Corwin says, "and possibly re-doing a parallel task f2f to put it into
 practice"
Gregor says, "Any final thoughts before I do the end-pomp?"

Gregor puts a transparency on the screen...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                              A REMINDER...

               Please note! Our sessions are always logged.
      By participating, you give permission to Greg Younger to allow 
    access to the transcripts for research purposes at his discretion.
    Before using any part of our logs for research or publication, please 
      obtain the permission of Greg Younger at youngerg@colorado.edu

                For a transcript, please see our web page:
              http://spot.colorado.edu/~youngerg/netmoo.html

             ******     Thanks for participating!     ******

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Corwin says, "yes"
firefly [Guest] says, "I'm thinking about sending some students here on their
 own to see if the same kind of discussions ensue as in class."
Gregor's gonna get booted by evil sysops any minute here...
archy waves bye bye to gregor
Mehitabel says, "Bye, Greg and thanks for leading us."
Corwin says, "bye G .. thanks"
Yoshi waves to Gregor.
Gregor says, "Thanks for coming, everyone! I love these small sessions... we
 always get lots of good ideas!"
Mehitabel [to firefly [Guest]]: GIve them a task.
firefly [Guest] Waves to everyone
archy should eat some food
Corwin nods vigorously in agreement with mehi