Exploring hands-on workshops 2

The second workshop I attended, was a normal Hands-on workshop. The scene comprised a number of seats around a platform for the teacher and two whiteboards. Subject was NCI's Textures 3 - Water Effects.
In the first part of the class, the teacher gave an explanation on water textures, problems that arise when creating (more like suggesting, really) a body of water, a stream etc. In the second part students were guided through the creation of a basin-with-fountain.
Prerequisite textures, scripts, animations were given after clicking a cube announcing it's purpose.
Required knowledge was mentioned, leaving it up to you to decide whether it was worth staying or not. I did notice empty seats that had been occupied in the beginning of the class: building in SL is a complex matter, I suppose. Still, a word is enough, both to the wise and to the willing to achieve something, the teacher must have thought. He kept an attentive eye on workpieces, so as to notice who was still following and who was at blank. Not having too many students in class, certainly did prove to be an asset. I did feel supported in my attempts to create the basin-with-fountain.

Exploring hands-on workshops 1

The first workshop I attended, was somewhat different than the workshops commented on by my fellows in this program. I am not sure whether it qualifies as a hands-on workshop; it was interesting anyway.

The scripting class took place in a shop, selling all kinds of things. A panel on the wall invites you to take the class: you simply click on the panel, the device loads the chapters concerned, previous/next buttons appear on the side and on you go: the lesson on scripting for beginners. No classic setting of a class with teacher and students. Text and graphics on the screen accompany the teachings in form of a conversation sent to you. You can press the next-button alongside the screen, whenever you feel ready for new instructions and a new slide on the screen.

One fellow-student was standing next to me. Obviously (?), she saw something different than I on the screen: a few slides/chapters ahead, I suppose. Looking around a bit, afterwards, I noticed the ad’s on the wall: you can buy next and previous classes on the subject of scripting and building.

Starting the class, the tutor told about previous classes and what will come next. Then inviting you to rez your first prim, followed the explanations on scripting and building. I did not see any way to ask/send questions to the teacher (though the instructions mentioned “you can send questions to ..., after I did all the explanations”). The instruction-text did not contain an explanation on how to navigate through pages or on further considerations you might have, following a web course.
Motivation to learn is something you bring along with you in the course: no difference with RL web courses. The course is built “result oriented” so you can judge easily if your result is the result you should have. Also, focus is on rules and procedures: no place for an argument on procedural matters. Yours is the decision on how fast you learn. You can go back a few lines; no worries about missing something because the class goes on. Revision of key concepts and procedures is as easy as reading the (log of the) conversation again.

This class seems to me a more or less gallant way to organise asynchronous learning.

Learning Kiosks

Thursday, I visited the Ohio University Second Life Campus Learning Kiosks the http://sleducation.wikispaces.com/educationaluses#visualisations presented me. Those kiosks are tools to bring video, text etc. to anyone who consults them. They also allow a user to send text to a central person/administrator.
Setting up learning kiosks are a way to bring content (be it learning content or other) to a passer by. What is being presented is more like the essence of the message you are bringing as a teacher, than any speech in a classroom-like SL surrounding. Reason for that is, of course, that text/video in SL is no different to other means of presenting text/video. SL, it would seem, brings no better way to bring the message, than classroom teaching or books or video at school.
On the other hand, SL does present a stronger feeling of concern to the user: social interaction motivating him to bring a good show. That is a good thing for exercises or for learning content the student already knows about. The student can shift his focus to something else then: practice, for instance.
The Ohio University Second Life Campus Learning Kiosks, for me, stresses the fact that a learning experience in SL, to be any good (no waste of time and energy of teacher and student), should be a mix of bringing content and using social interaction, in a way to ask a student to actually do something with the message being taught.

teaching tools

Yesterday evening I went about a bit, looking for teaching environments in SL. How to bring asynchronous teaching, has been on my mind for the last few weeks now. Training, not bringing theory, is a posibility, I suppose. Also, letting students interact between them, synchronous, can do the thing. That of course may be a solution for adults, not perhaps for children.
Looking for places that provide training in Second Life, I came across the Starboards Yacht Club. I overheard some 20 minutes training of 5 to 7 people. Setting was a teacher in front of a class, slides illustrating the story of his teaching. Subject was SL sailing: you can buy yourself a boat, go sailing: from leisure sailing up to regular regatta’s. You make use of an object called sailing boat. The boat comes with a HUD (HeadUpDisplay) supplying you with data of wind angle, speed to the water, wind speed, ... I could not make out if you really set parameters for operating (sailing) your boat (helm, sails, .. ) with the HUD as well. Finding that out would be subject for further investigation.
Teaching practical skills needs little theory and a lot of practical exercises: the student learning to master the equipment, the tool ... Even mastering lines available for a proper reply, can be a matter for training. In any of these cases a HUD can be part of the training. If you can bring mastering the equipment down to combining a proper set of parameters, these can be displayed on the HUD. Every new setting by the student can trigger an algorithm recalculating the remaining values. If not an algorithm reacts to the students' behaviour, more like another person or another object, the HUD can serve as cheat sheet helping in the task. In this way an exercise can be set up as a dialogue between the student and ( part of) the tool and natural surroundings that the teacher wants to confront this student with.
Also, I was at MUVEnation island, trying out Anna Begonia’s (RL:Antonella Berriolo) and Carolrb Roux’s letter cubes. Knee high cubes with an alphabetical letter on it; you can drag and turn to make words. It made me think that a student doing easy things (like manipulating letter cubes) while thinking about more serious matters (like grammar) is an neat way to spoon in rules that need to come to mind ‘just like that’. Being busy on the matter long enough, in an uncomplicated way, does the thing. That is what needs to be introduced in our SL teaching tool exercises.

Changing (Keeping up ?) appearances

True enough: one does not want to make a poor impression. This assignment was a good excuse for setting myself to the task of changing my avatar's appearances. At first I felt happy to go fidgeting over sliders and all, to change my weight, noselength, hairstyle .. In the end I felt annoyance in having to find the right combination of parameter values, so as to make myself look somewhat presentable. It is like painting yourself/someone else/anything: you can go changing shape and color endlessly, but the best thing that can happen is that you stumble upon a neat set of parameters that does very well (not to make a dazzling appearance, perhaps, but know when to stop trying again: don't push your luck). Best trust the feeling in my guts.
Learning the skill to change yourself is good preparation to further building in SL (I hope there will be some parallel). Feeling happy (amused even), in your skin, also makes for a large part your involvement in your second life. Why not experience this involvement to its maximum since involvement is the feeling we want to provoke in our pupils/students by making neat learing objects.
On we go, shopping for gadgets and things... I do not have a big taste for shopping.

My first hours in second life

Creating a Second Life account, I did a few weeks ago: I had not yet applied to the MUVEnation project. I attended a lecture by Marga on second life. That is how I decided to have a try.
Giving birth to Achilles Lefevre did not take long and difficult labor. I named him after a hero of my childhood years. The surname is still being used in France, so I decided on a fitting family name.
I was not aware of Orientation Island being an artificial meeting place for newbies, so I took care not to show too clearly that I was one, myself. I exchanged a few lines of speech with other avatars, bumped in to a few people, walked around a bit. I then posted myself in the shade of a tree, out of the way and quitted second life.
I had another go at it half a week later. Armed with advice from colleagues, a little booklet-manual on how to live in second life and a determination not to give up, I logged on. I looked around and saw ... nobody. Orientation Island was as before, but apart from being less tropical, I could have landed on Robinson Crusoe's island. I practised the "moving about" controls a bit: empty pathways with empty park benches alongside. It took me some browsing of the manual pages before I could teleport myself away, to far and distant lands.
The owner of an aquarelle picture-gallery island explained me about groups. I went to find a money tree (did find one but did not get rich). I was glad to come home to MUVEnation Island, where I could meet people dying with enthusiasm to find new worlds, seek out new lands, boldly go for new experiences in teaching with MUVE's.
What will be next now? What course can we steer in setting up asynchronous virtual environments for learning. Other people's enthusiasm rubs off on more moderate minds. This second life is a fascinating experience !!

Self-Diagnostic exercise

• I am your friend. I don’t work in education. You are talking to me about the idea that we all learn from each other, in all kinds of contexts, and that this can often be richer than more formal classroom based learning. I am sceptical. Tell me about an informal learning experience you have had online in which collaboration was involved, show me a concrete example to help me to see what you mean.

  It is organisation policy to start using electronic means to store knowledge. Unlike a department of education, the organisation I work for, can force it's employees to follow in this line of thought (or can try to, anyway).
  Last year we began developing new web courses to teach the Microsoft Office 2007 software. For the first time, an on-paper syllabus was to be derived from the on-web course. Instructors throughout the country worked together on a centrally stored copy of the web course. Every one of us had access over the web to the authoring tool. We could al write our part of course.
  This way of working together was wonderful, only, we found that the need of communication was tremendous. In the end, mailing was not enough any more and we fell back to the old way of periodically organising meetings.
  

  
  
• We all explore new technologies, some grab our attention more than others, some seem revolutionary, others simply bore us. Tell us about that new tool, or set of tools, you have just discovered that really excites you, talk about the potential it has to change your work. What do you want to do with it?

  Second Life fills up my mind, right now. It makes me all excited to think of a virtual world, peopled with plenty of (real world) individuals in search for what is in this world for them. Nothing new in that, of course, we actually live in a world like that. Nevertheless, new laws are in force in this virtual world and the new communication possibilities are the first to come to my mind. These extra possibilities have an air of magic about them.
  A more realistic view on the matter will probably downsize my great expectations, but finding out what is in second life for us, the teaching class of mankind, is something I want to do. I hope this MUVEnation program will prove to be a good way to find that out.
  

• Do you see yourself as a pioneer? Do you think you are more innovative than others in your organisation? Do you think your organisation is lagging behind? Tell us how you feel about this?

  I do not want to consider myself a pioneer in my organisation. I just want to keep an open mind and not be afraid to try new things. True enough, I do feel excited when trying new things and seeing that they work for me. I can not boast a particular sharp sense of finding out how things work, but with a little patience ...
  Some people in my organisation are definitely lagging behind in "new ways of the world", but I can not blame them. It is common to cling on to the things you know and save your energy for what matters more in your life. Some people have energy to spare, though.