Friday, January 31, 2020

2020 #VWEDU: OSCC: The MALET program and virtual (digital) residency


OSCC19 A GRADUATE SCHOOL RESIDENCY 
IN VIRTUAL REALITY
The SUNY Empire State College Master’s in Learning with Emerging Technology (MALET) program holds one-day immersive residencies in VR to introduce new students to the faculty and to give them look at programs and projects past and present. Here we report on conclusions derived from post event debriefings, and present evidence for continuing exploration and development.


Tuesday, January 28, 2020

2020 #DTA: #VWEDU: Learning the vocabulary with gamification and AI. Intelligent environment for routine instruction.


Learning the vocabulary with  gamification and AI.  
Intelligent environment for routine instruction.  
Gamification 

The intelligent scene (DTA) can manage an instructional game.  Here such a game is described as teaching vocabulary for learning a second language.  This article is explicitly licensed Public Domain (CC0).
Magnolia gardens

Vocabulary learning cases

  • Case 1 learning a second or subsequent language.
  • Case 2 learning specialized vocabulary.

A starting model for an AI vocabulary-learning environment

  • Scene design:
  • Gamification(after the break)
  • Solo task design and gamification (TBD)
  • Social task design and gamification (TBD)
  • Plans for evaluation of performance (TBD)
  • This model is written about learning nouns (objects) but can be extended to other parts of speech.

Monday, January 27, 2020

2020 #VWEDU: Rezmela(TM): Set App 4 Creating text posters, producing a whole scene


Rezmela: Set App 4 
Creating text posters, 
producing a whole scene.

A demonstration of how the Rezmela system can be used to provide many alternative scenes in the same area.  

  • An instructor could create a classroom or other teaching space.
  • Could clear the space for another scene.  
  • And recreate the classroom when needed.  
  • Thus one area could serve multiple classes.
  • More articles about Rezmela after the break

Sunday, January 26, 2020

2020 #DTA: #VWEDU: The Digital Teaching Assistant can encourage practice in metacognition. Thinking about thinking for learning about learning


The Digital Teaching Assistant can 
encourage practice in metacognition.  
Thinking about thinking for 
learning about learning
Metacognition is a big word for a simple concept: Thinking about the way you think (or learn) and how you can improve on that.  A Digital Teaching Assistant can present tasks that stimulate that kind of thinking as it works with students.  Those tasks can be presented as part of normal homework to get the student used the treating those tasks as a normal part of homework.


Fixed mindset

  • "I can't do XXX!"
  • Growth mindset: "I can't do XXX, yet"
  • Educators are familiar with the fixed mindset. 
  • We don't believe it, of course.  But how can we undo it?
  • We tell them they can do it.  They are too polite to challenge us on that.
  • "If you think I can do it, tell me how!"
  • "I tried to think, but nothing happened," Curly Howard.
  • We give them a booklet telling them how to study.  
  • We tell them to study that! 

How the DTA can nudge toward metacognition

  • After the break

Saturday, January 25, 2020

2020 BIZ: #DTA: #VWEDU: Agenda training for a project meeting by a self-managed group. Learning to plan in a group


Agenda training for a project meeting 
by a self-managed group.   
Learning to plan in a group


Project-based learning can go beyond content to give practice in how to work in a group--and to show students what they can do. 
Where is the agenda?

Agenda for project-based learning in groups

  • Any good meeting starts with an agenda.
  • If a meeting has a skilled leader, the leader will prepare an agenda.
  • A skilled leader will keep the group focused on the agenda.
  • The meeting will accomplish many of the things it set out to do.  
  • Things not accomplished will be assigned as action items.   
  • The participants can feel a sense of accomplishment. 
  • But how does this work out in project-based learning?

Project-based learning and self-managed teams

Friday, January 24, 2020

2020 #VWEDU: OSCC19 EUREKA WORLD AN ECOSYSTEM FOR LEARNING. School campuses in virtual worlds: teachers, students, mentors, developers.


OSCC19 EUREKA WORLD AN ECOSYSTEM FOR LEARNING. 
School campuses in virtual worlds: teachers, students, mentors, developers. 
Updated 1/28/2020

Eureka World’s platform is an interconnecting system in which educational resources such as teachers, students, mentors and developers are seamlessly work together. Eureka World unique platform integrates into classrooms’ ecosystem to give every person the opportunity to maximize their potential and create real lives full of satisfaction, value and happiness.

Eureka World's ecosystem

Tuesday, January 21, 2020

Monday, January 20, 2020

2020 #VWEDU: Volunteer Virtual Classroom Speaker. A potential use for virtual worlds? Let's think about it.


Volunteer Virtual Classroom Speaker.  
A potential use for virtual worlds?   
Let's think about it.
One company is offering to match the experience of virtual visitors with the needs of classes.  
The Empty Classroom

If they must be in a classroom

  • Virtual visits to classrooms? 
  • Already on offer from Nepris
  • Not via virtual worlds, but online by camera.
  • With all the advantages of online.  
  • "Without leaving your home or office, you can connect with students..."
  • For professionals
  • For educators

Sunday, January 19, 2020

2020 LandM: #VWEDU: Belle Terre, a place of many destinations and many teleport gates. Home of Freda Frostbite


Belle Terre, a place of many destinations 
and many teleport gates.
Home of Freda Frostbite

Belle Terre is home to The Belles Dancers and Freda Frostbite in opensim. Here, we feature distinct programs:  art, music, dance and literature. We hope you will come for our shows and stay to explore (or vice versa). Ballroom, forest, maze, treehouse, beach, naughty fairy cottage,surfing, spa, tarot, sailing....
Arrival point overview
Click image to enlarge
  • Those little signs to the right are teleports: right click and choose teleport.
  • You can get teleports on Kitely Market by searching for teleports.

Go there

Saturday, January 18, 2020

2020 #VWEDU: #BIZ: Can virtual worlds meet network security requirements? Some can and some still have problems.


Can virtual worlds meet network security requirements?   
Some can and some still have problems.

A simplified look at the issues of secure communication in educational use of virtual worlds.
  • Even education has security requirements: FERPA
  • Business and government units have even stronger needs.
  • How well do virtual worlds fit these needs?
  • OpenSimulator: not at all
  • CybaLOUNGE:  Completely and certainly.
  • 3DWebWorldz: It probably does and certainly can.

Friday, January 17, 2020

Learning the vocabulary with AI. Two major cases. The DTA can provide an intelligent environment


Learning the vocabulary with AI. 
Two major cases.  
The DTA can provide an intelligent environment  

The intelligent scene: the things talk to you.  They tell their names. Even tell you aloud.  You have quests.  Just as in a game.  And you learn skills while playing.  The difference here is that the skills you learn in this game have long-lasting value. This article is explicitly licensed Public Domain (CC0).
Magnolia gardens

Two cases? 

Case 1

  • There are many instances of learning a second or subsequent language.
  • The objective is always the same: 
  • Get able to use the language in effective communication with native speakers.
  • Instructional procedures are well understood.  The only problem: it takes practice.
  • Practice takes time.  

Case 2

  • A less obvious case occurs when students prepare to study a specialized subject.
  • Here they do not  learn a whole new language but only a specialized vocabulary.
  • Some of the words are familiar to them, but the meaning is specialized.
  • And some of the things mentioned may be dangerous or inaccessible.
  • Example: anatomy, surgical tools.

Tuesday, January 14, 2020

2020 #DTA: #VWEDU: WRITE: Would you use a virtual world to teach creative writing? Imaginary worlds are another kind of virtual worlds.


Would you use a virtual world to teach creative writing? 
Imaginary worlds are another kind of virtual worlds.

Suggestions about how to use virtual world resources to teach creative writing: Writing in the scene, working together apart, scenes as prompts. role-play, cold reads.
  • Indeed, all virtual worlds were initially imagined.
  • One reason we like virtual worlds is that we can create the worlds we imagine.
  • And we can share that imagined world with others.
  • Articles in this blog about writing

How would a DTA use virtual worlds to teach creative writing?

Monday, January 13, 2020

2020 #VWEDU: A campus grid for a graduate school. An independent grid using the Kitely organization system


A campus grid for a graduate school.  
An independent grid using the Kitely organization system.

A separate grid.  Managed by an organization.  Separate login page, with information about the organization, not about a grid.  But all the tech work is handled by Kitely.  And it has some places open to the Hypergrid. 
Online people attend a presentation

Sunday, January 12, 2020

2019 #VWEDU: Scenegate improvements: onboarding, accessibility, performance, usability


Scenegate improvements: 
onboarding, accessibility, 
performance, usability
Updated 1/25/2020

Scenegate is a new viewer for OpenSimulator grids, directed at the needs of newcomers and particularly newcomers entering to take classes or to attend meetings. It offers a simplified screen with few options--just those needed for classes and meetings. This article is explicitly licensed Public Domain (CC0).
Meeting at IMA Alpha

Contents

  • Onboarding
  • Accessibility
  • Performance
  • Usability

Saturday, January 11, 2020

2020 HG: People: Hypergridders: We may be able to use Discord for event notices much as we have been using inworld groups.


We may be able to use Discord for event notices 
much as we have been using inworld groups.


Communities on the Hypergrid need a grid-independent way to announce and promote events.  They especially need a way to send Just-In-Time(JIT) alerts near the start time of an event.  Discord has features that can support JIT notices.  Friendica may have such features in the future.
Event in a virtual world
  • Inworld groups can send notices to everyone in the group.
  • We use that feature to notify group members of an upcoming event.
  • Often all group members get the notice.
  • They don't mind the notices because that's why they are in the group.
  • But these notices at best only work for those who are inworld on the hypergrid.
  • Many of us also use a web-world or a closed grid.
  • And inworld notices reach no one not already in OpenSim.

Can we extend our reach to the outworld?

  • We  do use social media for announcements that travel the web/
  • But we would like to send notices shortly before the event.
  • Discord may be able to do that .


Friday, January 10, 2020

2020 #VWEDU: You don't have to build to create scenes in OpenSimulator. RezMela can do most of the building for you


You don't have to build to create scenes in OpenSimulator.  
RezMela can do most of the building for you

An overview of the RezMela system:  components and how they are used

Using a virtual world


Tuesday, January 7, 2020

2020 #VWEDU: Affordances of virtual worlds can make a more effective presentation. From OpenSim Community Conference (OSCC)


How to use the affordances of virtual worlds 
to make a more effective presentation.  
From OpenSim Community Conference (OSCC)

Lessons learned while developing a new virtual world product. And a demonstration of how presentations can be improved by using the capabilities of virtual worlds.


Monday, January 6, 2020

2020 #DTA: #VWEDU: Who is building a digital teaching assistant? Can just anybody make one?


Who is building a digital teaching assistant?  
Can just anybody make a DTA?

Many people are building DTA components.  Under the name Learning Management System (LMS) the technology is widespread.  In a virtual world, the DTA could be represented as an avatar or animated object, possibly fostering a more personal relationship with the students.  
DTA1 (left)

Who is building a DTA?

Sunday, January 5, 2020

2020 ART: #VWEDU: Nuna art gallery in OpenSim, 3rd rock grid. A great addition to art and education in virtual worlds (Part 1)


Nuna art gallery in OpenSim, 3rd rock grid.  
A great addition to art and education in virtual worlds
(Part 1)


An extensive and well-curated art museum in OpenSim, organized to fit art education and with informative content nearby.  This article introduces the gallery and tells about art reproductions and copyright.  Subsequent articles will deal with exhibits and themes.
The Nuna Gallery

Go there

Saturday, January 4, 2020

2019 #DTA #VWEDU: WRITE: Write on site. The scene as a story prompt. Mystery Manor as a story source


Write on site.  
The scene as a story prompt.  
Mystery Manor as a  story source

How a Digital Teaching Assistant (DTA) can manage assignments for a class in creative writing where the writing is prompted by a 3D scene. 
Does this desk suggest a story? 

  • DTA: Do you see a story here?
  • Me: Not one.  Several.  An old quill pen tells the era.  An ancient scroll--what secrets does it hold? Maps--maps tell many stories about travels.
  • DTA: Think of a character who fits one of the stories you thought of.
  • So begins one scenario of the DTA as writing coach.

The DTA as a writing coach on site

  • In a virtual world you write in a place. The place is a prompt.  
  • Here are illustrations of how the DTA can use the place to trigger writing practice. 
  • This model would work best in groups.
  • Writing is only a solitary task if you don't want readers.