ImmersED in virtual worlds

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Virtual worlds for
education: ImmersED

KerryJ /
Pandora Kurrajong

Hi everyone! I'm KerryJ, a Senior Education Officer with Education Services Australia.

A bit of background on who I am and who I work for.

I am a Senior Education Officer with an Australian government owned agency called Education Services Australia. Our role is to promote the use of technology in education and support educators across the sectors to do so with online resources, communities, research and advice to policy makers.

We also build web sites and online technology solutions (the backend stuff), advise on metadata and interoperability and share knowledge wherever we can.

I'll be presenting on a build created in OpenSim designed to help educators understand virtual worlds by getting in and using them.

Tell me and I'll forget;
show me and I may remember;
involve me and I'll understand.

Chinese Proverb

This was my guiding principle:

Tell me and I'll forgetShow me and I may rememberInvolve me and I'll understand.

From the outside in:Getting virtual worlds

I'd first heard of using virtual worlds for education in 2006 while interviewing two educators Joanna McKay of Jokaydia and Lindy McEown of Terra Icognita for a podcast I was producing.

Both insisted I create an account and come into Second Life to experience it if I were to interview them. So I did.

I wish I could say I created my account and never looked back.

The truth is that I created my account, did my interviews and spent the next 9 months not getting virtual worlds at all.

Looking back, I think it was because I was an outsider looking in. I didn't build. I didn't join a community. I didn't try anything and I was always on my own.

The event in the bottom right corner changed that. It was a PD event involving international speakers, some of whom I'd met before.

Afterwards, we danced and socialised.

I came away from the event feeling that I'd actually attended a conference and the lightbulb went on.

What was YOUR AHA moment? Or have you had it yet?

From the outside in:The AHA

I ended up renting space on Jokdaydia and as a resident, my first involvement in virtual worlds as education tools lay in attending.

I then started working some educational events and unconferences .

I presented and wrote about my experiences but realised that using text and 2D tools to try to foster an understanding of 3D environments just wasn't doing the job.

If people who weren't active in games and had never been in a virtual environment they didn't get it.

So my next step was to set up and run tours in Second Life for educators.

This worked much better. The synchronous interaction across distance and interactions helped them to feel the sense of co-presence..

But touring empty classrooms or even classrooms with people in it still meant they were outsiders.

I wanted to provide a learning environments ABOUT immersive environments by immersing learners in one.

I got a green light on this concept and asked to build a prototype.

ImmersED Estate

ReactionGrid

Thee result is ImmersED Estate. Built in OpenSim and hosted on the Reaction Grid.

As part of the exploration of a range of virtual world platforms, I came upon OpenSim and was amazed at its potential.

However, I still wanted us to use Second Life because of its critical mass of users and assets and because I knew how to use it and had limited time.

From Flickrthe boy on the bikehttp://bit.ly/ctb5J3

CC (by) (nc) (sa)http://bit.ly/UMa9

I want to explain a bit about Open Sim as a platform and what a grid is but first a disclaimer.

Unlike the LOLcat above, I am NOT from tech support.

I'd classify myself as a reasonably cluey end user.

What is OpenSim?

Application Platform/Environment:
a framework for software programs to runi.e. Apache Server, computer OS

Derived FROM source code to Second Life's viewer but radically different internally to allow for non-SL style worlds.Open Source and in pre-Beta stage

http://bit.ly/hjMrv

An Application Platform/environment is a framework/base that defines the relationships
between and the way in which programs will run.

Operating systems and web browsers are examples of software platforms.

Open Simulator was derived FROM source code to the SL viewer but is radically different to allow for non-SL styled worlds.

Since the source code went out into the wild, OpenSim has apparently deviated quite a lot.

I found an article that explains all this better than I could at : http://bit.ly/hjMrv

Why OpenSim?

Flexibility

FOSS

Affordability

Australian educational jurisdiction policy

Accessibility issues

Vocational education / highschool transition age boundaries

As part of the exploration of a range of virtual world platforms, I came upon OpenSim and was amazed at its potential.

However, I still wanted us to use Second Life because of its critical mass of users and assets and because I knew how to use it and had limited time.

My colleagues pushed for a solution that would address the issues facing educators in the field.

The need for a service/platform that would span the teen/early 20s age bracket of the Vocational Education and Training and highschool transitions cohort

Not tied to a single hosting provider as jurisdictions require that student work be stored on their servers.

Something that could potentially overcome the bandwidth issues

Affordable so that the digital divide doesn't widen

And if possible, free and open source.

Open sim ticked all those boxes and was similar enough to Second Life that there was no learning curve for me or so I thought!

What is a grid? Why Reaction Grid?

http://reactiongrid.com

A grid is an instance of a virtual world platform.

As described before, OpenSim can be hosted on a public server, you can get your own server or even run it on your computer.

ReactionGrid is a hosting company based in Florida but with support staff in the UK and Germany.

It has around 218 regions and 4200 users.

I chose it because it is dedicated to being PG/PG 13 rated and focuses on being a place where educators, artists and small businesses can experiment.

Companies like MS and Intel work with Reaction Grid. Another good sign.

Owner Kyle Gomboy says education a market of interest, his goal not to be a hosting service but to support others.

Could get a WHOLE island for $25 per month!

The original concept

Immersive learningProgressively more sophisticated activitiesBuild skills, build confidenceEncourage trials, use

A Learning Trail

My original concept was to build a learning trail, to harness what games do well.

Lots of quick wins, build skills and confidence, etc.

Participants would learn more and more about how to do things in virtual worlds.

This, I thought, might inspire them to try out virtual worlds in their teaching once they felt comfy.

The original concept

Immersive learningProgressively more sophisticated activitiesBuild skills, build confidenceEncourage trials, use

A Learning Trail

Answering the wrong questions!

Why I scrapped that concept:

People need to be motivated to learn how to do something.

I was giving them no real reason to learn about virtual worlds.

That concept didn't answer the question WHY?

New concept

Immersive experience

Activities relevant to teaching and learning

Affordances/features of environment supporting,
not lead role

Nuts and bolts on a need to know basis

The new concept puts, I hope, the reason why at the forefront.

The sim is an attempt to showcase the affordances of virtual worlds by creating learning activities to allow educators to experience them.

The activities don't focus on preparing participants for proficiency in virtual worlds.

The how-tos are available on a need to know basis.

Welcome centre

Primary considerations:

Immersion AccessibilityInteractionRelevant support

So here is a rough mud map of the island and the activities.

The primary considerations were immersion, interaction, accessibility and support tools that were immediate and relevant.

The island consists of a mix of resources and activities.

All are available for educators to use with a colleague and/or use with learners.

Welcome Centre

Think 2D web home page

Overview, links, events

N00bies area 1st floor

The welcome centre is the home page.

It has an overview of all the activities and direct links to them.

There is also an events board and an area for meeting.

The first floor has a N00bies area that houses all the support materials from the activity areas.

But these materials are also available at the site of the activities.

It also has a customer service agent alert, so people can engage with us right away.

And I've used avatars to act as amabassadors.

QUICK SIDEBAR:Customer service, IP, identity and the fictitious Mr. Tessie Tester

Okay, a quick sidebar on our customer service avatars.

My organisation owns all of the intellectual property I create for them.

Thus they own everything I've created for them on ImmersED estate and the topography of the island itself.

What they don't own is my avatar, profile, network and reputation.

If I were to leave the organisation and my avatar were the main representative, that would leave a hole.

I'm not giving Pandora away, she has been an extension of me since 2006. And I was in Open Sim first.

Tessie short for Tesla Tester graduated from my test avatar to a customer service av/male model to provide a generic avvie for us to use.

How does your organisation deal with these issues?

Resource centre

Ground floor research,
suggestion box, graffiti wall

First floor freebies, links, case studies

The resource centre has informational posters, self-run slide shows and a video on research around the use of virtual worlds in education.

But it also has the ability for visitors to provide feedback.

We have a suggestion box for long-form feedback and a graffiti board for quips.

The first floor has freebies of all the items I've created for the island and know that I can safely give away.

Future content will include links to other educational sims on ReactionGrid and case studies.

Role Play Activity

Job interview role play for 2

All support materials duplicated on Moodle site

The good stuff the first activity.

Role play is one of the most effective uses of a virtual world in my opinion second only to PD events like we're experiencing this weekend.

It provides that sense of co-presence that web conferences can't provide

It allows you to create a customised, immersive environment for little to no cost

It can mediate what can be a daunting experience.

There are several instances where using virtual worlds for roleplay have actually been found to be MORE effective than in real life

including teacher PD, shyer students or

complicated activities that can't be reproduced well in a classroom

I decided on a scenario involving a job interview in an office setting because although we provide a fictitious company and job

Participants could substitute a real company and job and still use the rest of our resources

Role Play Activity

Choose the right hair and clothing for the job

The role play area includes a place for participants to get a complete avatar and learn how to customise their look.

Role Play Activity

I worked with the career professionals at the myfuture.edu.au service

For the interviewer, they provided questions but more importantly the rationale behind the questions.

As well, they provided links for interviewers who want to learn more about interviewing well.

For job searchers they provide an excellent overview of the search process and links to tutorials.

We also provide the fictitious job and I created a ficititous company with web site.

Role Play Activity

Role Play Activity

The office provides an immersive environment specific to the role play.

The interview can take place at the main desk or sofas to the side.

The back wall is solid on the inside, but transparent from the other should users wish to record machinima.

It is my hope that this activity will allow educators to:

get virtual worlds for role play, experience the sense of co-presence they offer,understand that environments in a virtual world can be customised to their unique needs
feel the immersion

3D Safari

MUST be completed with 2 Avatars

Apply knowledge, analyse 3 educational sims

Take photos, submit your insights

The 3D Safari activity asks participants to put knowledge into action by analysing educational sims with a partner.

They are given notecards with Landmarks and some questions to answer.

They are asked to enlist an interested colleague preferably not in the same building.

Visit three sims, answer the thought-starter questions, take photos, submit your answers.

3D Safari

The just in time poster tutorials are on site as well as available via our supporting Moodle web site.

I hope that this activity will provide participants with:

The opportunity to put information about virtual worlds to the test by actively analysing implementations

The chance to connect with a simulation relevant to their teaching practice

Exposure to the mad and wonderful variety of ways people create educational environments

The sense of co-presence that exploring with another gives to distance learners

Please test it and let me know what you think.

Build your ideal 21st Century learning space

Two teams 1 of teachers, 1 of students

Model your ideal learning space

What would it look like? What would it have in it?

Next release is the 21st Century learning space

Concept is to get two teams one of teachers, one of students

Each team builds their ideal learning space

Did some searching on the web and found a web site by Irish middle school students with their ideas.

A swimming pool, dance floor and games are a few of their ideas.

I'm looking for more from learners aged 12 to 16.

My email is [email protected]

How many of you know what the Simulation-Linked, Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment or SLOODLE is?

Free, open source project that links Second Life with Moodle.

They have an island on ReactionGrid (another reason for me to choose it) and are working on it working with OpenSim.

Activities done in-world can feed back into the Moodle interface assignment drop notifications, chat, quizzes/assessment.

If you'd like to come play with it in Reaction Grid, let me know.

In Second Life Fire Centaur is your man for SLOODLE.

Challenges

AssetsLimited portability even with Second Inventory & MeerkatScripts do not behave the sameNot a critical mass of creators had to build from scratchIntellectual property/copyright as a government-owned agencyNo in-world economy on ReactionGrid

Platform stability/reliabilityHas improved immensely since September 2009Still in pre-Beta releaseFunctionality depends on hosting service back-end

Rich media performanceVoice just working on my plot but haven't tested it fullyVideo/audio slows down performance considerably

It isn't all beer and skittles when it comes to using pre-Beta environments

The challenges were and remain around the lack of assets available to me

The stability and performance of the platform

And rich media performance.

Opportunities

FlexibilityHippo OpenSim browser + OpenSim = mega prims (and they don't crash servers!)Can host yourself, on a LAN, on a computer and even off a USBCan connect to other grids

AccessibilityLocal hosting means bandwidth issues vanish

CustomisableHosts can choose to support certain functionality or notCan whitelist your entire gridCan back up and store all your assets locally

AffordabilityYour own 4-island grid can cost as little as $US75 per monthYour own island on public grid only $US25 per month on ReactionGrid

The opportunities for educators and us as an organisation are

The Flexibility when it comes to hosting

The fact that we can help overcome a major barrier for remote schools and schools with bandwidth issues

The ability to customise access and functionality

The affordability it's hard to beat FREE if you host it yourself or $25 per month for a supported island of your own

http://immersed.net.au

http://twitter.com/immersednetau

http://blogs.educationau.edu.au/kjohnson

Our support site is built in a multi-user instance of Moodle and is located at htpt://immersed.net.au

All the learning materials, overviews of the activities, resource centre research links are there.

It's designed for all users of the island. All materials are free to view.

If people want to join it's free and gives them rights to add to the wikis and participate in the forums.

To follow the ImmersED project on Twitter, we're immersednetau

I also blog about it on my company blog - http://blogs.educationau.edu.au