InTime Training

Working in Virtual Worlds and Education - Skoolaborate

Recently Chris Flesuras from Kyoto Gakuen school created the movies below (Part 1 and Part 2). Not much more than a year ago MLC school began our journey and were very unsure of how virtual worlds would work.  Since that time we have had many meetings, many trial activities, many failures and successes.  What Chris' videos say to me is that we have learnt plenty.  So watch both parts and enjoy.  Whilst it is only explaining one event within Skoolaborate I believe it clearly shows how our understanding on 'how to work with Education in Virtual worlds' has grown.

Skoolaborate - Jidaimatsuri (Part 1)


Skoolaborate - Jidaimatsuri (Part 2)

Sometimes they just make you smile

Another secret to success and it is around Collaboration.  We have seen two types of partners participation.  Some ask why things are not finished yet.  They get frustrated and leave having nothing to do.  Others ask what can be done, see a problem and work feverishly to fix it.  They have plenty to do and stay.

Yesterday I had Lucy, a student, visit me with a problem.  Lucy said that there was not enough going on 'in world'.  Yes, I said, "you have a problem".  "So what are  you going to do about it?"

 Lucy accepted the challenge and, after a brief discussion, got to work.  She agreed that we needed regular and purposeful events that matched our vision and that would attract students.  She picked awareness raising for cancer as it is almost November and we do a fund raising drive as part of the Movemeber initiative.

Lucy then sent an email (the content of this blog entry) and asked me what I thought.  My answer was that after reading her email I had a tear in my eye and a lump in my throat as she had demonstrated to me the best thing about teaching and learning here at MLC School - independent thought and confidence to take action. 

What  you have done, Lucy, is taken a small concept and expanded it to the point that it may just work. 

I read, from her text, a true understanding of how to build community,  how to think strategically and how to engage youth from cultures around the world in purposeful activity.

Thanks so much Lucy and keep at me to support you as best I can.  Exciting stuff, wish it was on some exam somewhere. Yes lets chat some more. 

I have included, within her text(in pink), the comments that show  you what I saw, I guess this is  what I would mark her on if the curriculum allowed me to test this stuff.

Hey Mr.Field,

Ok so here's what I've done. I have decided that the event (student matches vision of site and creates purposeful activity  - cancer awareness) should run for about 30 to 40 minutes, leaving it short and sweet. (strategic event planning awareness)

I'm going to run the even twice, once in the morning at about 7:30 and again in the afternoon at about 5:00 (in order to give all schools globally a chance to participate)(global awareness). I'm not sure how these time suit everyone though.

I was thinking the event could run on the 20th, that's a Thursday which would be good for you, right? (nice work, meeting the clients need - this is the time our partners have indicated, on our wiki, their best availability ) So during this time we will have someone (i guess it will be me?)(responsibility, although we could speak about delegation here) who will introduce and conclude the events and keep everyone focused (making it purposeful).

So we will stream the video of your ex-Aussie Idol guy through (use of multiple and appropriate technoliges) and that can go for about 10-15 minutes (strategic - catering for the audience - good music for all to enjoy).

I'm going to make a stall that gives out free prim moustaches so that every one can wear one (initiative and technical skills). All this would be located at the stage, I think this would be a better place than the beach because there's more room (strategic thinking).

So also what I was thinking is, my mum has lots of contacts and I could get someone who knows about Movember and Men's health (ability to network), I could interview them and stream that though or do you think that would be too boring? We do have to have some information about the Movember theme. We could also put up some information on boards.

The other thing I thought of that I think would be really fun and heaps of people would want to join in was a building comp. (pre conference planning) I thought we could make it start on the 1st and finish on the 20th, so then we can give out the prize and announce the winner at the Movember party. So I thought if we do, do it, people would have to register so we know how many people are evolved.

We can make a working space for each in the Sandbox. I don't know what the prize would be, I was thinking somewhere along the lines of, a box of scripts and textures...? Starting on the 1st doesn't give us much time but I think I can pull it off. I need to contact the other schools and let them know about it and also put up some posters in world. (Understanding of virtual worlds and global working)

So what do you think of all this, its all to be confirmed ofcourse. Im going to up load some of these ideas on the Wiki tonight (sharing vision and communication skills), also start to make posters and notifying other schools. By the way, what if the full name of the ex-aussie idol guy? We need to organise for him to come to school one day. (follow up and pro active behaviour) Do you still want me to come see you tomorrow?

Lucy

Lucy is 14 years old and doesn't always do brilliantly in 'normal' classes.

The last word on this from our Principal...

Hi Lucy,

What a great idea!

Never underestimate the power of one to get a good idea up and active!!

Congratulations.

Mrs Stone

Watch this space and let's see how she goes, must talk about  delegation but really, isn't this what education is all about?

Education Grid?

A recent article published in The Metaverse Journal suggested that Skoolaborate was becoming the elusive 'Education Grid'.  Whilst this is quite flattering it was never our intention to take over the planet.  We did intend to give students and teachers some experience in Virtual worlds as the research suggested that they will be the next iteration of the web. Getting used to the environment has given us a heads up on the understanding we will need as the web progresses into a new 3d Environment.

The recent release from Exit Reality indicates that we are not that far away and I am confident that my students at MLC School and the students of our Skoolaborate partners certainly have a head start.  It seems like we might have been onto something - take a look at this (click the graphic ).

What we recognized early was that the success of these environments depended on community.  And community is what we have been building.  We are not a complete site at this stage and don't have a thousand completed units of work to display but what we are quickly gathering is that community. The richness is in the battle of not knowing what to do and not being as good as we want to be yet.  It is just so inspiring seeing the students taking the lead as partners with teachers in this journey.

Epstein says . 'this partnership should bring together a rich and diverse mix of folks, students and educators, which should create a varied, stimulating environment in which to learn'.

And this is what is happening.  Recently we have had Chile, Portugal, the UK and several new organisations join our ranks, all motivated and ready to go.  My next few blog entries (coming soon) will demonstrate some of the planning that has taken place and the progress we have made. 

For me the interesting point is when I describe who has done the work. 
For example to list who contributed to the Welcome tower (an orientation model) I would say, Mike, Chris F, Francesca, Lucinda, Zac, Karl, Westley and Chris P.  What is more impressive is when I say they are from Japan, Australia, USA, UK and New Zealand and they are 4 students and 4 teachers.  They just meet and do it.

 

Epstein gives us credit as 'now the world’s largest virtual environment project, designed for kids of junior high school age' but then poses the question 'will the Teen Second Life Grid remain active for long enough for any of their goals to come to fruition?'

My answer would be that our goals exist well beyond Teen Second Life.  Whilst I believe the Lindens are out in front at present (and may continue) there are hundreds of Virtual Worlds in development.

Our goals lie within Global Understanding.  Our success relies on our ability to become a community.  If we are successful in that we will live beyond any software.  If it fell over today, we still would have won.

Want a little glimpse?  Check out the Debney Park students latest taster.

Beginner Guide to Web 2.0

Sometimes you forget that what has become natural to you is so foreign to others.  I was contemplating what sort of Machinima I was going to submit to the SLEDcc2008 conference when a colleague asked what is a Machinima.  So for you out there who are keen on understanding this Web 2.0 thing I thought I should share this link on CNN.  Spend a bit of time there and you will learn all you need to know - well for this week anyway. Back to working at my web 2.0 School!

Poetry in motion

Another  puts his 'business card' out for all the world to see and kick starts a brilliant career. 

This piece from a young film maker and composer Robbie Dingo.  For me this provides many answers to those who still doubt the educational rigour behind virtual worlds.  If you can't see learning here you need to retire.

Watch the Math grow infront of you, witness the Geography be born and mature, problem solving everywhere and a million design,art and creativity outcomes to boot.  You have to love the genius behind his diorama. I really don't need to say much more but enjoy the magic of Robbie Dingo. Now to get the MLC girls going.

What is happening in Virtual Worlds?

This is a post from Skoolaborate. Certainly links to 21st Century learning.  You can see the learning take place here - both for adults and students.  I can only show you a glimpse but the reality was sooooo much more.  Our young and dynamic virtual architect Mike Dennenny teamed up with innovative real world architect Ed Lippman to begin construction of a virtual version of MLC Schools' new Junior School. 

We knew Mike had the skill and Ed the talent but what would happen when we put them together?  Would they clash?  Would the teenager be lost in the commercial world?  Could Ed have the same faith we had in Mike?

Well it was fantastic.  The amount of learning between these two was incredible.  Mike had to construct a real building converting real plans to a virtual floor plan, Ed had the opportunity to see his building appear before him and could change walls or doors at the blink of an eye- "I don't usually see this detail" he said.

Throughout the entire conversation both Mike and Ed shared plenty about architectural knowledge and design principles.  There was  problem solving, collaboration, co operative planning, compromise and more.  It was like two kids in a lolly shop.  It was also like two colleagues hard at work - no age divsion in sight. 

These two will learn plenty more from each other but the great, great thing is that our Mike has made one more bold step towards his destiny. Second Life is proving quite an amazing learning tool.

The other great thing is to watch the students gather from around the island to watch the progress, then return to another part of Skoolaborate to experiment and imitate.

A big thanks to MLC Principal Ms Barbara Stone for having the vision and ability to see an opportunity and to allow us to act and take advantage.  Enjoy the small sample below, I will post more as the building gets closer to completion.

 

Adopting a new Technology?

Many struggle when introducing a 'bleeding edge' technology.  Doubts can creep into your mind - Am I  getting in to early? Will it catch on?  Is the bad press true?  Remember these arguments with the internet? -

Recently (at least in Australia) there has been a lot of negative press about 'Virtual Worlds' or 'Social Technologies' and there value for education or business.  So should you adopt or give up? Should we be doing this at our school?

Gartner describes Hype Cycles being a graphic representation of 'the maturity, adoption and business application of specific technologies'.  They use their model of 'Hype Cycles' to characterize the over-enthusiasm or "hype" and subsequent disappointment that typically happens with the introduction of new technologies such as Virtual Worlds.

The graphic that excited me the most is the one below: (source Gartner July 07)

As you read about the model you will find that these stages are quite normal for new technologies.  In particular look at Phases 3 and 4:

Phase 3. "Trough of Disillusionment"
Technologies enter the "trough of disillusionment" because they fail to meet expectations and quickly become unfashionable. Consequently, the press usually abandons the topic and the technology.

Phase 4. "Slope of Enlightenment"
Although the press may have stopped covering the technology, some businesses
continue through the "slope of enlightenment" and experiment to understand
the benefits and practical application of the technology.

In my opinion, from all the indicators, the adoption of Virtual Worlds is somewhere down the 'trough of Disillusionment'.  This appears to be the best time to strike. Social Technologies are similar, although a little further down the track.

Ofcourse we need to be real about what is possible, identify what it is we want to achieve and how we think we can do it, but stick to what I believe will be a transformational technology.

Recently I posted about the NMC report 'Future Horizons' that put virtual world adoption to mainstream within the next two years, social technologies within the year - certainly less than 2 years.  Keep this in mind as you glance through Gartners' work.  Let me add one more graphic from the report.

From this diagram it seems that we should be at least at the 'conservative investment' level for Virtual Worlds and 'agressive investment' for social technologies.  I hope this work helps you to plan adoption of a new technology that you are considering. Meanwhile we will give it a go at MLC.

That internet thing will never catch on!

So once again I here of another news report presenting Virtual Worlds such as Second Life as a playground for evil doings.  I have to wonder 'what price for a story?'  These so called journalists never mention improved learning outcomes or student engagement. 

News flash to all media journalists - we are human! There are good people and not so good.  In all areas of our lives we have access to both.  But just as in other areas, to find these things you need to go looking.  For example there are nasty areas in news stores (usually down the back if you look). Also there are movie stores that don't sell PG only, there are religions, toy shops and more, that are not so innocent.  That is the market.  We know that sex and perversion are present and the more we advertise it, the more we make news reports and new articles on it, the more it will be there (note I didn't provide links to that riduculous story)

Virtual worlds will also be around.  They will be the next Internet.  They will be as common as Google is today.  Very few struggle to conceptualise how the Internet works (unless they have had their head buried in the sand somewhere) but how will 3D worlds work?.

My message is simple.  Don't be scarred off by the soothsayers but  rather create the world that you want to see.  If you have a problem with the terrible things that are happening, go out and make good things happen.

I want to share two you tube movies with you that show how Virtual worlds will soon replace the Internet as we know it (movie 1) and also how easy they will be to build and become a part of what we do (movie 2).

Look into the future

  Sean Fitzgerald is a gifted Educator with a terrific blog.  I have included a sample of Sean's blog below, as it is important.  Click on the links and find out how big this new shift is.  3D worlds are not a fad.  They will be second nature, just like google, within a couple of years.  I urge you all to get involved now.  Sean....

We will all have/be avatars soon

Posted by Sean FitzGerald on October 23rd, 2007

In an article in yesterday’s Melbourne Age about the futurist Ray Hammond - “The future is here right now, if you can read the signs” -  is this quote:

It is only a matter of time, he says, before every major business in the world is conducting meetings and transactions in a space like Second Life.

A similar quote I have been using in my presentations on virtual worlds comes from Gartner Research in April:

By the end of 2011, 80 percent of active Internet users (and Fortune 500 enterprises) will have a “second life”, but not necessarily in Second Life.

In June, I gave a presentation on why educators need to pay attention to virtual worlds for the AFLF’S E-learning Networks in which I made something like the following prediction:

If I had said to you 15 years ago that today we would all have at least two email addresses - a personal one and one for work - and that most organisations would have some form of presence on the World Wide Web, you would probably have said that I was mad.

Today I will make a similar prediction… that within ten years we will all have at least two avatars - a personal one for socialising, and one for work, and that most organisations will have a presence in a virtual world.

Let’s see how crazy that sounds in ten years time!

In fact, when you consider the number of virtual worlds that exist or are under development, the activity at the Fall Virtual Worlds Conference which points to a virtual worlds boom, and the news that companies have spent $1 billion dollars in 35 virtual worlds over the past year, I’m starting to think that ten years was a bit conservative!

And the “be” avatars mentioned in the title of this post?

Well, it will just be interesting to see how having an avatar (or two) will affect our identities and the boundaries between the virtual and the real.

Future thinking to the Horizon

I just finished a canoe trip under the Sydney Harbour Bridge with Alan Levine from the New Media Consortium.  Alan was telling me about the Horizon Project and in particular the 2007 Horizon report.  Just the first page was enough for me to realise that this is an important document. 

I urge you all to take a look at what it has to say and check that your strategy documents have it covered.  At MLC School we continually check these types of resources to inform strategic directions and so fare we seem to be on the money.