5333 Week 2 Blog

     The story I looked at this week was Bear 71. It was a very interesting story told from the point of view of a bear in Banff National forest in Canada.  The story does a really good job at having you feel like you are hearing form the bear directly. The story talks about not only the obvious negative impacts humans have on bears like deforestation, pollution, and hunting. The bear also discusses some not so obvious negative impacts, and some we even feel like are helpful. It really gave me an introspective look at the fact that as helpful as shooing a bear away from a city is, it wouldn't have to be if the city wasn't there in the first place. The immersive experience really increases the amount of emotion you feel as apposed to if I read this in an article. The graphics make you feel like the park is controlled in a really futuristic "digital overlord" vibe. It really shows how soulless managing a place like that can be, even when the place is filled with so much beauty. The music plays into this with a futuristic depressing instrumental as a background throughout.The story is extremely interactive and even has an option for VR.

    I think educational benefit from this story can be very different depending on the learner. Obviously for someone who is working in the area of nature/animal conservation, It can help educate them on how the other side of the important human and animal relationship feels. This could lead to people thinking outside the box on different things they can do to resolve the issues brought up be bear 71. I also think it can be educational for anyone who goes into a career to help an area of need. This will cause people to think about why they are having that need in the first place. This would be great for learners who are 15+. I think any younger than that and the consumer lacks some world knowledge and ability to look at stories from different sides. I think the ISTE standard that best aligns specifically for the creation of this story is 2.4.C which is using collaborative tools This standard talks specifically about real world learning. Bear 71 is a great example of technology giving students real world learning.

The biggest connection this story utilizes is connecting the "reader" to their own morals. It is just super depressing. The tangible lesson here is that basically humans just shouldn't meddle in their affairs which is simply never ever going to happen. This made it really hard for to be able to tell what type of story it was. It really felt like there wasn't much arc to the story, it felt down the whole time. Ohler does clearly tell us that sometimes the resolution can simply be that the problem is fully addressed. I fell like our story does a good job of that. In a way, this is a personal story. It is Bear 71's personal story. It is a story about not only a place in her life, but THE place in her life.