Lab 2: schmooze

To be honest, this time I really got nothing but frustration. In this time in the lab, we spent almost three hours to figure out how “schmooze” works. Since it is set up as a small online college, of course, we should learn to run it ourselves. However, it’s not that easy to understand. I think the most important factor is the format, which is kind of old and makes me dizzy.

At first, I can’t even understand how to move in the campus till I got the information of each function. Then, I knew that we have to learn to enjoy the process of learning by following the instruction or orders. In this class, we had three objectives to do. And I didn’t accomplish anyone of them. I could almost get it but there are still some complicated factors bothering me.

However, what I enjoyed from it is that I like the role playing. In schmooze, we suppose to be a role that we can set for ourselves. Then, we can meet some unexpected people from other countries and have some great interaction with them. I believe it’s probably one of the characteristics of schmooze. The areas in schmooze, like cafeteria, library, and student union, are something we are quite familiar with as a college student. Therefore, I think the experience is authentic and real for us to go around the campus and do some talking and actions with other people.

Though I didn’t reach the goals, but I indeed experienced something from it. I met people, no matter they are real or set in schmooze, and had great interaction. I think the idea of schmooze is great, because the learning process is just like a game, but I suggest the format can be better if it uses colorful picture and 3D environment. That will make the participants more comfortable there and also more like the reality.