We had our last class on Monday.
At the beginning of this subject I was very wary. Although I realise that technology is increasingly being used in businesses and now, training and development (the career I wish to work in), I do not really embrace new technology unless forced to. After being forced into using new technologies, this even includes moving from a CD player to an ipod as happened mid this year, I am always happier and can see the benefits once they have been demonstrated for me.
Victoria was very patient and I believe the class as a whole did not have much trouble being introduced to the new technologies of netvibes, delicious, uts online and blogging. There were some who picked up on it earlier than others. I feel I was able to adapt to this blogging thing pretty well, however netvibes was rather difficult.
Therefore in one of my final blogs I would like to say that I enjoyed this subject more than I thought I would. It makes me consider my opinion towards our e-learning subject for next year.
I am still going to attempt the extra assignment for module three which is due on Wednesday, must remember to post it on a separate page. Im planning to finish it on Monday or Tuesday night.
Signing out,
Amanda Newton 
This week we had a guest speaker come in and talk to us about a new computer program called second life. I had only heard about this program through this subject and i was confused to how it worked so i was very interested to find out more.
Our speaker explained the uses and advantages of using this program, focusing on training and development in the workplace. Such advantages include it being in real time, being able to receive the same information and being cost effective for the organisation.
I was very hesitant in accepting this technology, however the speaker showed us what could be done as he explored the areas in second life using his person who was an online version of himself. We went in and had a look at a few of the small training courses availiable in his world (or island) such as one for people with mental issues which provided the person being trained with examples of what it would be like to have the mirror talk to you and the floor to disappear etc.
If i remember correctly i think he said that by 2011, 80% of people will be using second life.
Someone in our class mentioned their interest in using this program for the module 3 assignment and Victoria we are allowed to do so. I do not think i will. While this is a very interesting program i am not computer literate enough to use something like this unless i need to.
However im glad we had the opportunity to learn about it. I do believe that in the future many organisations will be using it for training purposes so look forward to using it one day.
Havent posted for a while.. need to write more posts. have to be more reflective. our assignment for module two is due this week. On Friday. Suemin has set up our wiki really well with an introduction to what blended e-learning is. I do not think my current case study is strong enough, i think i need to find a stronger example.
im using this topic for an assignment in strategic HRD.. so yay.
