Entries from February 2008
Mae’s Coffee Bar
I am currently enrolled in a Distance Education (DE) class and we use an educational management system called ‘Moodle’*. We participate by typing into discussion threads, and even though attempts are made to reproduce a f2f (face to face) class, I miss Real Life (RL) coffee breaks!
Coffee breaks are a low key, casual time with no supervisor leaning over your shoulder. People are often more honest and open than in class, and though they might use the opportunity to grumble or moan about the class etc, they share lots of information with each other. The assignments get clarification, and tips and resources are shared. And yes, the various quirks of the instructor are analyzed as students look for clues to help them produce pleasing papers! All these dynamics contribute to the learning process of the class, and though less important than the class itself, they are an important component.
Pacific Coffee on Hong Kong Island
My question is how to recreate a ‘coffee break’ experience in DE with students scattered across the landscape? I found an article on Eurogates: Netherlands Educational Portal that suggests to me virtual coffee breaks in Second Life are possible and could provide this missing experience in DE.
Quote taken from Eurogates:
Rebecca Nesson, an instructor at Harvard who brought her Legal Studies class to Second Life in the second half of 2006.
“Normally, no matter how good a distance-learning class is, an inherent distance does still exist between you and your students,” she says. “Second Life has really bridged that gap. There is just more unofficial time that we spend together outside of the typical class session.”
Joe Sanchez, a researcher at the University of Texas at Austin evaluated the use of Second Life in education in an interactive qualitative analysis, finding that once students overcome the technical and interface difficulties with Second Life. They “indicate a preference to social learning activities and find it enjoyable to interact with other avatars while learning in this space”.
Pacific Coffee on Hong Kong Island
Pearly Gates Coffee Shop
*There is a Second Life version of this for educators who are already delivering classes from within Second Life. This version is called SLoodle
Categories: Education in Virtual Worlds: Blogs
Tagged: Coffee, Distance Education, Second Life, Virtual Coffee Breaks
Viewing the heavens
Just How Big is the ‘The Net?’
The Internet, World Wide Web and virtual reality programs have developed from our wish to share information and knowledge. Internet World Stats put the number of people using the internet in December, 2007 at 1,319,872,109. All these people are now able to communicate and access information or generate data and post it out onto the internet. This blog is just ‘another drop in the ocean’.
The EMC Corporation, an information infrastructure solutions business found in 2006 ‘ the digital universe was 161 billion gigabytes, or 161 exabytes, in size, and a six-fold growth to 988 exabytes was predicted by 2010… “This digital universe equals approximately three million times the information in all the books ever written – or the equivalent of 12 stacks of books, each extending more than 93 million miles from the earth to the sun.”
I wonder if the digital universe could eventually be filled to the brim with words?
Blog Rockets?
♥
Categories: cyberspace
Tagged: Blogs, Digital universe, How big is the internet?
“…for no man lives in the external truth among salts and acids, but in the warm, phantasmagoric chamber of his brain, with the painted windows and the storied wall.”( Robert Louis Stevenson)
DarkDharma – Haunted Manor
“There was something awesome in the thought of the solitary mortal standing by the open window and summoning in from the gloom outside the spirits of the nether world.” (Arthur Conan Doyle)
Caledon-on-Sea. View from Botanical House
“We all need to have a creative outlet – a window, a space – so we don’t lose track of ourselves.” (Norman Fischer)
The Lost Gardens of Apollo window
“This life’s dim windows of the soul
Distorts the heavens from pole to pole
And leads you to believe a lie
When you see with, not through, the eye.” (William Blake)
How intriguing to gaze out of a window when inside a virtual room. What can I see? An imagined view created by computer script! Another world within the virtual world? Perhaps other worlds are stacked up in layers like some kind of abstract sedimentary rock? Now the question is: how to permeate the layers of possibility?
♥
Categories: cyberloom
Tagged: Second Life
“An estimated 70 percent of adult learning is self-directed learning (Cross 1981). Self-directed learning has been described as “a process in which individuals take the initiative, with or without the help of others,” to diagnose their learning needs, formulate learning goals, identify resources for learning, select and implement learning strategies, and evaluate learning outcomes (Knowles 1975).” http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/89dig.htm
Looks like I have got the hang of this flying thing
The truth, just sitting on the roof
“The literature on SDL (Self Directed Learning) asserts that self-directed learners demonstrate a greater awareness of their responsibility in making learning meaningful and monitoring themselves (Garrison, 1997). They are curious and willing to try new things (Lyman, 1997), view problems as challenges, desire change, and enjoy learning (Taylor, 1995). Taylor also found them to be motivated and persistent, independent, self-disciplined, self-confident and goal-oriented.” http://www.indiana.edu/~reading/ieo/digests/d169.html
OK… this is what really happened:
Flying upside down
Free-fall: I forgot to fasten my seat belt
“As the term suggests, SDL views learners as responsible owners and managers of their own learning process. SDL integrates self-management (management of the context, including the social setting, resources, and actions) with self-monitoring (the process whereby the learners monitor, evaluate and regulate their cognitive learning strategies) (Bolhuis, 1996; Garrison, 1997).” http://www.ericdigests.org/2002-3/self.htm
Underwater runway better than taking off from the roof
Turning a corner
“SDL recognizes the significant role of motivation and volition in initiating and maintaining learners’ efforts. Motivation drives the decision to participate, and volition sustains the will to see a task through to the end so that goals are achieved (Corno, 1992; Garrison, 1997).” http://www.ericdigests.org/2002-3/self.htm
Where is the horizon I wonder?
Landing attempt 1
Hum… I might need a little more practice…
♥
Categories: Education in Virtual Worlds: Blogs
Tagged: Flying in Second Life, Self Directed Learning
I thought it was time to be a little more adventurous in my virtual world and so I purchased a DIY plane kit for L$1 (1 Linden Dollar). I assembled the plane in a virtual house:
DIY plane kit
First of all, I opened the box that contained my plane kit and then I ‘rezzed’ all the pieces on the carpet.
‘Rezzing’ means waiting for something to appear clearly in Second Life. (Note: When you ‘tp’ (teleport) around the virtual world you sometimes materialise with no hair and no clothing and you must wait while your hair grows back and the environment around you ‘rezzes’.)
Dearie me! Something wrong with this picture…
I never read directions and I began to assemble my aircraft eagerly… However, as inevitably happens, I had to admit to myself that my plane simply was not going to fly. I conceded defeat and began to follow the instruction sheet.
Lifting wing into position
Look no hands, glue or nails! I carefully assembled my plane using my 3D tools (and instructions) and I barely broke into a sweat!
One completed plane but with no scripting
There! One plane created! The next stage is to make it fly (minor detail) this involves copying and placing scripts into the seats of the plane. I promise I followed my instructions at this stage but I could not manage to insert the scripting language. I have left the plane in the living room for now (it is dripping a little virtual oil on the carpet but it’s not too bad) I will return when I am more awake and see if I can solve my scripting problem. Then, I can teach myself how to fly!
♥
Categories: cyberloom
Tagged: Building a plane, Second Life, Self Directed Learning
Dragon Avatar profile at sunset. (Avatar created by Malathar Xavier)
Metal dragon meets your eye. (Avatar created by Malathar Xavier)
Metal dragon with jet pack. (Avatar created by Malathar Xavier)
Metal dragon. (Avatar created by Malathar Xavier)
Post Update 21st May, 2008
This post has had many visits! I am updating it to provide more information about this superb avatar. I found the avatar in Second Life and it was completely free! The creator Malathar Xavier wrote: “This is an AV I created for all any new people for SecondLIfe that would like a dragon type scripted av to wear. This is a dragon robot trooper, it has beams 2 types of beams that can shoot from the eyes. They don’t do any damage and are for looks only…. The av also has a jet pack that fires up and jets out particles as you fly.. it doesn’t provide any thrust and like the eyes.. is only for looks”
Please link to this post if you use these photographs then people can learn more about Malathar and his dragon.
See Thunder-breath dragon blog for Pelagic Sea Dragon by Flea Bussy.
♥
Categories: avatars
Tagged: avatars, cyberloom, Second Life
February 3, 2008 · 1 Comment
For those who might be new to virtual worlds an avatar is your representation of yourself, or it is a character you create and control as you interact with the virtual world. You build your avatar when you first establish an account. In Second Life you can adjust its appearance to make it look as close as possible to how you really look, or you can go in the opposite direction and make your avatar look totally different.
The Reuters Second Life News Center (yes, Reuters reports from Second Life) has published information based on a recent survey of adults asking them how they would approach creating a virtual you for a virtual world. KZERO took a look at the Reuters report, and the same survey by US. Congressional Internet Caucus Advisory Committee, and created some big, colourful graphs analyzing the information. They also took another step by asking the question:Augmentalists vs Immersionalists. Which one are you? “ ‘Augmentalists’ – people who view their avatar as an extension of their real world persona. …‘Immersionalists’ – those who view their virtual world presence as mutually exclusive from the real world. Augmentalists typically choose to customise their avatar to closely resemble their real world appearance, whereas Immersionalists do not.”
Its important to point out that the survey does not say how many of the 3,585 adults questioned have any experience of virtual worlds. My view is that it is very difficult to make an avatar look like yourself. (Take a look at Milton Broome’s blog to see just how complicated it is to make a realistic representation of yourself.)
Perhaps, if you are thinking of setting up in a virtual world you will start out (as I did) by trying to create a realistic mobile self image? (All I managed to accomplish is my pale skin and a pretty good likeness of my profile.) I eventually thought who cares about this except me? I now have an avatar that has acquired a life and look of its own. I can also turn my avatar into a giant spider, a green robot dragon (with a jet pack) a plump orange fairy and a beautiful blue scorpion! This makes me an augmentalist turned immersionalist.
If you are already a Second Life user reading this blog what would you say about yourself and your avatar? Are you an Augmentalist or Immersionalist?
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Categories: avatars
Tagged: avatars, virtual world identity
