Building in SL

It surprised me when I started this build how much I'd actually forgotten about just navigating my avatar around in SL. This in fact has helped me with the build in so much as the ability to 'see' it as a new visitor, and to test the ease of access to the information. I'm pleased with the look of the 'unit' (can't quite make my mind up as to what to call it yet), I need to build four more units, I'm sure that you must be able to select all of the individual parts and 'lock' them together just like you can in Publisher, and duplicate the unit as one?


My first attempts at locking the individual parts together went well, it was tricky with the smaller parts and I had to constantly change the camera view to enable me to select them. I think the most frustrating part of the build so far is trying to get the right camera angle! I know that with practice it will become easier but - aaaargh!


I've finally worked out how to duplicate! I had forgotton that you have to also hold down the left mouse button along with the shift key and drag the green arrow.

Even more design ideas

Having looked at various display desgin web sites and considered my target audience I have now decided to use a design simular to the above image. The idea being that the user can access the pod/display without too much navigation needed to get their avatar to the information. I will place a video (yet to be decided) on the back screen and place an interface with access to the International Office's web page on the smaller display screen.

More design ideas - images

The following collection of images show my initial investgation of conference hall/trade show design layouts:








These type of open layouts allow for ease of access to the information contained in the display.

Design Ideas - use of 'space'

Here is a collection of images I have gathered and found interesting for their use of space:








The simplistic design and minimalistic layout of the above rooms appear in their own way to invite the visitor in and as the Japanese design company Muji (est.1980) state that "simplicity is achieved through the complexity of thought and design". I have discovered this to be true and have started to look at my design approaches to this project.

References:

Muji [Online] Available at http://www.muji.eu/ accessed December 2010

Initial research of design concepts for the use of 'spaces'

Having researched the use of 'spaces', I have decided to focus on the design of spaces used in conference centre scenarios. I have looked at design images from the Olympia and other conference centre's that are held across the UK and have discovered that there are alot of factors to take into consideration before the actual design is implemented. The key factors that I have found to consider are:

• Keep in mind your target audience
• Avoid unnecessary physical barriers – you want visitors to access your stand/display/pod easily and to feel comfortable
  
• Demonstrations and presentations create movement – and movement attracts visitors
• Be aware of the physiological effects of colour

Who are my target audience?

My primary target audience will be prospective overseas students who will be visiting the London Metropolitan University Island in Second Life for course information (I'm only focusing on course information for this project, though there is scope to cover all aspects of the International Office).

Physical barriers

As previously mentioned in my rationale for this project I was keen to stay away from the initial default metaphors associated with virtual learning worlds. I thought about necessity over pragmatism in that SL is a virtual world, where rooms are not necessary to the avatars - they simply act as spaces that the end-user can relate to in our real world. I wanted to create spaces that would work within the context of sharing and interaction but without using the "room" paradigm. This would also aid a new user to SL who may initially find it difficult to navigate their avatar.

Movement

Research has shown that in RL (Real Life) demonstrations and presentations create movement which in turn attracts visitors. Within SL one could use Pandorabots to create to the effect of movement within the display area.

Understanding Colour

This is an area that I had previously not thought of in any depth before undertaking this project. Even though the project is based in a virtual world I think the priciples of colour still apply as it not only aids visually but also gains an emotive response.

The great 19th-century writer and critic John Ruskin said, "Color is the most sacred element in all visual things." Designers agree that colour is most vital and expressive of the elements of design.

Of all the forms of non-verbal communication, colour is the most instantaneous method of revealing messages and meanings. Colour stimulates and works synergistically with all of the senses, symbolizes abstract concepts and thoughts.

Signs and Displays

Signs and displays should be placed high as visitors tend to look at eye level and above. Text within any graphic should be kept to a minimum – pictures and visual imagery work best with succinct and punchy text. One also has to consider colour and style of the font used as these also need to be succinct and clear, taking into consideration those who may have Dyslexia and/or learning difficulties.

It is my intention to create four individual display pods that clearly state the information that can be accessed and how to access that information.

References:

Educause 2010 [Online] Available at http://www.educause.edu/ELI/LearningPrinciplesandPractices/LearningSpaceDesign/5521?bhcp=1 accessed December 2010

JISC Designing Spaces for Effective Learning 2010 [Online] Available at http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/infokits/learning-space-design/dsel accessed December 2010

The Glass House [Online] available at http://www.theglasshouse.org.uk/index.php?pg_id=36 accessed December 2010

Design Theories [Online] Available at http://www.noupe.com/design/graphic-design-theory-50-resources-and-articles.html accessed December 2010

Exhibitions UK [Online] Available at http://exhibitionsuk.blogspot.com/ accessed December 2010

John Maeda Laws of Simplicity [Online] Availabe at http://lawsofsimplicity.com/ accessed December 2010

Nouveau Productions [Online] available at http://www.nvp.com.au/exhibition_design_tips.html accessed December 2010

RSA Animate - Changing Educational Paradigms

The following video was adapted from Sir Ken Robinson's talk at the RSA.

Exploration into the use of Pandorabots

What is a Pandorabot ?

A Pandorabot is a scripted Second Life object that responds to local chat, greets new arrivals, and can be used to deliver notecards and landmarks. Depending on the phrase, a Pandorabot will query Wikipedia for an appropriate response, use its AIML (Artificial Intelligence Markup Language) programmed context sensitive artificial intelligence, check your spelling using Yahoo's spellcheck API, or send an email to any specified email address. Pandorabots can also be used to greet new arrivals and send notecards and landmarks, as well as answer questions. This may be very useful in my project with the International Office, it may enable emails to be sent to perspective learners asking if they are interested in specific course information.

Pandorabots can be on hand to greet and inform or entertain guests on your parcel even when you are offline. A properly customized Pandorabot can act effectively as a personal or business assistant, directing and informing your visitors to products, services, or personal whereabouts. Once deployed a Pandorabot is not a static feature of the parcel but continues to evolve as responses to additional matching words, phrases, questions, and comments
are programmed or learned.

The Pandorabot is the only chat bot in Second Life that supports multiple bot deployment. That is, you can place two or more Pandorabots in your store (e.g. each responding to queries for a particular product or service) and they will ignore each other avoiding the infinite chat loop other chat bots enter. Pandorabots can also be used to check spelling, deliver notecards/landmarks, or greet new arrivals.

Pandorabots are available in female and male human form, wearable parrot or bear, rotating head with the face of Bob Dobbs & Steven Colbert, or a 3D sculpted perched parrot. Pandorabot V3 can also be configured to speak using either male or female speech synthesis.

Changing A Pandorabot's Look

Pandorabots are available in a wide variety of preconfigured appearances. These include a female in business attire, male, female club go-er, parrot, bear, rotating head, and 3D sculpted parrot (wearable or perched). Most include a dialog menu option allowing the owner to easily and quickly select one of the preconfigured Pandorabot appearances. Simply click your active Pandorabot and select "Gender" from the dialog menu. You can always return to the factory default (plus any Configuration notecard changes you have made) by either clicking "Reset" in the dialog menu or "Tools -> Reset scripts in selection" from the viewer menu.

It is also possible to add custom textures to the Pandorabot. Create the texture you wish to use, drop it in your Pandorabot object's Contents, and add a line to the top of the Configuration notecard:

TEXTURE = name_of_your_texture

When changing the default Pandorabot texture you may also wish to change the default Pandorabot name to suit your new texture. To do so, edit the Configuration notecard adding lines at the top:

FIRST_NAME = Your_New_Pandorabot_First_Name

LAST_NAME = Your_New_Pandorabot_Last_Name

If you are using Pandorabot V3 or later you may also wish to change the default voice. To do so, edit the Configuration notecard:

VOICE = male

VOICE = female

VOICE = none

Finally, it is possible to move the Pandorabot's contents to any object for which you have modify rights. Edit the Pandorabot, open the Contents tab, select all of the contents items, drag them to a folder, and close the edit window. Edit your modifiable object, open the Contents tab, select all of the Pandorabot files you dragged to a folder, drag them to your new object's contents, and close the edit window. Note, your original Pandorabot will no longer function. You can restore it by reversing this process and dragging the files back to the original Pandorabot.






An example of a Pandorabot:



References

http://www.pandorabots.com

http://www.alicebot.org/documentation/ accessed December 2010

https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Pandorabot-V2-female-WikipediaChatGreetEmailSpellcheckGUI/1479613?id=1479613&slug=Pandorabot-V2-female-WikipediaChatGreetEmailSpellcheckGUI accessed December 2010

International Office - Rationale for building project in SL

The rationale for this project derived from informal discussions with the International Office and their Marketing representive. From this discussion a need was identified to raise the profile for the international office, and inform overseas students as to how they could enage with their studies in a more academic and collaborative way, utilising a network infrastructure and using future proof tools such as Second Life.
Initially, there were some questions/ enquiry about SL in general; the capabilties of the platform aligned with the IT levels of International Students would make it the tool of a technically savvy student (which, of course, all students are not), however, it was deemed that given the amount of learning material on the LMU website and the Internet generally, this would not become a barrier to learning.
I was keen to stay away from the initial default metaphors associated with virtual learning worlds; within this project I saw an opportunity to innovate, take chances and mould something specific to myself through thinking of other ways for people to inhabit "spaces". I thought about necessity over pragmatism in that SL is a virtual world, where rooms are not necessary to the avatars- they simply act as spaces that the end-user can relate to in our real world. This became the starting point for my project. I wanted to create spaces that would work within the context of sharing and interaction but without using the "room" paradigm.
The culmination of this thinking has lead me to research user-hotspots which dynamically link to each other through their position within this world (QTVR, exisiting exhibit spaces pods etc.)
I had originally thought about a hologram idea which wasn't technically possible for me at this moment given the limitations of the SL software.
At this current time, when building is completed, I will be beta testing the pod concept with a focus group to observe the ways they respond to spaces that occupy themselves, and are not dependent on rooms/structures to define their purpose.

Transforming Assessment Island

Transforming Assessment is an Australian Learning and Teaching Council Fellowship specifically looking at the use of e-assessment within online learning environments, particularly those using one or more Web 2.0 or virtual world technologies.

Second Life is completely user-generated 3D environment that comes with relatively easy-to-use building and scripting tools that anyone can learn. This makes it an ideal platform for engaging students in creating their own learning activities, experiences and environments, and not just be passive consumers of learning.

An island in Second Life has been developed to showcase examples of e-assessment in this virtual world.

Reference:

Transforming Assessment Island [SLURL] Available at http://slurl.com/secondlife/transforming%20assessment/254/254/23/

Assessment in Virtual Worlds using Sloodle

I attended an early morning webinar which was hosted by the University of Adelaide, Australia and presented by Daniel Jack Livingstone (University of the West of Scotland, Paisley, Scotland, UK) on "Transforming Assessment".

SLOODLE (Simulation Linked Object Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment) integrates 3D virtual worlds such as Second Life and OpenSim with the open source Moodle learning-management system (LMS) to facilitate student interactions in the 3D world whilst maintaining the affordances of an LMS for tracking and assessing student actions and responses. The session looked at how Sloodle can be used to develop interactive educational activities by using the various assessment tools that are available. The following is a list of just a few SLOODLE tools:

• Web-intercom - A chat-room that brings Moodle chatroom and Second Life chats together. Students can participate in chats in Second Life using the accessible Moodle chatroom. Discussions can be archived securely in a Moodle database.
• Registration booth - Identity management for Second Life and Moodle. Link students’ avatars to their Moodle user accounts.
• Quiz tool and 3D Drop Box - Assess in Second Life – grade in Moodle. Set quizzes or 3D modelling tasks in an engaging 3D environment. Review grades quickly and easily in the standard Moodle gradebook.
• Choice tool - Allow students to vote (and see results) in Second Life as well as in Moodle.
• Multi-function SLOODLE Toolbar - Enhances the Second Life user interface. Use a range of classroom gestures, quickly get a list of the Moodle user names of the avatars around or write notes directly into to your Moodle blog from Second Life.
• Presenter - Quickly author Second Life presentations of slides and/or web-pages on Moodle. Present in Second Life without having go through lengthy processes to convert or upload images.

References:

SLOODLE [Online] Available at http://www.sloodle.org/blog/?page_id=2 accessed November 2010

International Office Project in SL - initial thoughts

I have researched briefly into a few of the projects that are available to us, and I have decided that I would like to build an international office for oversees staff to communicate with London, plus give out information for international students and agents in India, with the possibility of using Ustream as the communication tool.

My initial research into using Ustream is that it is a "live interactive broadcast platform that enables anyone with an Internet connection and a camera to engage their audience in a meaningful, immediate way. Unlike previous webcasting technology, Ustream uses a one-to-many model, which means that the user can broadcast to an audience of unlimited size. Ustream's platform has been used to broadcast everything from high school sporting events to Hollywood movie premieres, and people are finding new and innovative uses for it every day" (http://www.ustream.tv/about). I could create a meeting place and have a Ustream screen available for use - is that possible? More research definately needed.


Other possibilites are perhaps the creation of a Machinima based DVD advertising the International Office and what it can be accessed from there online. Again more research needed at this point.

The main things to consider are what the content should be. Realistically in the time limit that I have I don't think I'll be able to build a very large and extensive virtual international office, so I need to narrow it down and concentrate on perhaps course information. The problem at the moment is that I have to wait till the 17th November to meet with the key people from who design and run the International Office at London Met to be able to discuss what they would like the content to cover.

My other concern is that how can I embedd a pedagogical structure to this build? Basically it will be an information hub, but Eitienne Wengar comes to mind, as in would this build create a virtual Community of Practice?


References

http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/international/

http://www.ustream.tv/

http://www.machinima.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machinima

More research into the educational value of Second Life

"Virtually all college students have had experience with games. Games represent active, immersive learning environments where users integrate information to solve a problem. Learning in this manner incorporates discovery, analysis, interpretation, and performance as well as physical and mental activity. An increasing number of colleges and universities are exploring the use of games to enhance learning. The ELI's interest in games and simulations is to gain a fresh view of cognition and learning by looking at games as the intersection of play, pedagogy, and technology."

(EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI) 2008)


Learning Theory - Constructivist

Learners cannot be passive in a game or simulation environment. Those learners that are engaged in educational games and simulations are interpreting, analyzing, discovering, evaluating, acting, and problem solving. This approach to learning is much more consistent with constructivist learning, where knowledge is constructed by the learners as they are actively problem solving in an authentic context, than with traditional based learning.

	Constructivist	Traditional
Knowledge	Constructed, emergent, situated in action or experience, distributed	Transmitted, external to knower, objective, stable, fixed, decontextualized
Reality	Product of mind	External to the knower
Meaning	Reflects perceptions and understanding of experiences	Reflects external world
Symbols	Tools for constructing reality	Represents world
Learning	Knowledge construction, interpreting world, constructing meaning, ill-structured, authentic-experiential, articulation-refection, process-oriented	Knowledge transmission, reflecting what teacher knows, well-structured, abstract-symbolic, encoding-retention-retrieval, product-oriented
Instruction	Reflecting multiple perspectives, increasing complexity, diversity, bottom-up, inductive, apprenticeship, modeling, coaching, exploration, learner-generated	Simplify knowledge, abstract rules, basics first, top-down, deductive, application of symbols (rules, principles), lecturing, tutoring, instructor derived and controlled, individual, competitive

From: Jonassen, D. H., Peck, K. L., & Wilson, B. G. (1999). Learning with Technology: A Constructivist Perspective. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill.

Social Experience

Collaboration is important in constructivist learning, as knowledge is socially constructed. One common misconception of gaming is of a lone player, secluded in front of his or her computer. With modern computer games and a good Internet broadband connection this is not the reality. Most games have a community of players who interact socially to not only discuss strategies but share experiences, and provide encouragement via websites, discussion boards, blogs, and wikis. In my opinion this can be directly linked to Etienne Wengar's thoery of "Community of Practice" (2006).

"Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly"

The following table is based on Wengar's Community of Practice and what it should look like. I have adapted the structure to suit SL virtual environment.

Problem solving	"Can we work on this build together and generate some ideas; I'm not clear on it."
Requests for information	"Where can I find the script to switch the lights on and off?"
Seeking experience	"Has anyone used u-Stream before?"
Reusing assets	"I have a RLO that I designed last year. I can send it to you and you can work through it."
Coordination and synergy	"Can we combine our Linden Dollars to purchase land, build a shopping mall and open shops for trading?"
Discussing developments	"What do you think of the new beta2 viewer? Does it really help with building and ease navigation?"
Documentation projects	"We have come across this issue before. Let us write it down once and for all."
Visits	"Can we come and see your interactive meeting centre? We need to establish one on our land."
Mapping knowledge and identifying gaps	"Who knows what, and what are we missing? What other groups should we connect with?"

Communities of Practice can be linked to the virtual learning environment as they are not governed by any formal structure, indiviuals and/or groups of people can and do make connections with each other where before there would of been organisational and geographical boundries.

Multiplayer Gaming

SL is a multiplayer game ,and in multiplayer games several people can play the game at the same time by using networked and Internet technologies, this can provide additional social experiences as you can play the game with others, against others, or both.

This significantly changes the nature of a computer game. In SL, users can create (construct) their own world, they can create complex objects, such as a spaceship, house or motorcycle, by combining simpler objects, such as a cube or sphere - called primitives or prims. Also, objects can be programmed for action using a scripting language (Linden Scripting). In SL, the door on your house can open when you touch it, or you can script a "ghost" door which would allow an avatar to walk through it, and you could also sit on and race the motorcycle you designed and built.

SL does go beyond the remit of a multiplayer game, where players make moves and receive outcomes. It is a virtual world, created by and inhabited by its users. This then leads into the use of SL for educational purposes...

References

John Seely Brown, "New Learning Environments in the 21st Century: Exploring the Edge," Forum Futures 2006 (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Forum for the Future of Higher Education, 2006).

Richard Van Eck, "Digital Game-Based Learning: It's Not Just the Digital Natives Who Are Restless," EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 41, no. 2 (March/April 2006), pp. 17–30.

Len Annetta, Marshall Murray, Shelby Gull Laird, Stephanie Bohr, and John Park, "Serious Games: Incorporating Video games in the Classroom," EDUCAUSE Quarterly, vol. 29, no. 3, (August/September 2006).

Diana Oblinger, Simulations, Games, and Learning, ELI White Paper, May 2006.

Joel Foreman, "Game-Based Learning: How to Delight and Instruct in the 21st Century," EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 39, no. 5 (September/October 2004), pp. 51–66.

Wengar, E. "Communities of Practice" http://www.ewenger.com/theory/ accessed 11th November 2010.

http://www.educause.edu/ELI/LearningTechnologies/GamesSimulationsandVirtualWorl/11263 accessed 11th November 2010.