Analysing Hands-on Workshops Resource

This blog is about how different workshops in SL are conducted and how each of them is addressing learning. To realize the difference between different workshops, I decided to attend more than two workshops to get the main points in conducting workshops in different areas related to SL.

The list of workshops where followings;

1. Basic SL building workshop (Tutor: Edwin Alter)
2. SL land owning workshop (Tutor: Protomas Ludwig)
3. Role-playing workshop (Tutor: Tammy Connolly)

Each one has its own way of addressing the main points and conducting the workshop. The difference where minimal in some stages but there was a visible difference related to the way in which the classroom was designed.

The first workshop was places somewhere high in the sky, flat open space covered with same rectangle tiles which created an invisible boundary for each participant. There were pillows placed over the tiles both for participants and tutor, to manage the place for building the objects without interrupting other participants.

For the second workshop, which was related to SL lands and mainly was focusing on the SL application, the workshop space was mostly following the structure of the RL classrooms with linked chairs, slide show presenter and tutor standing at the front.

Final workshop was designed completely in different way.  The workshop was being held in a medieval style designed house in an old village. Participants had to sit on the sofa round the room and tutor was standing at the top of the room.

Other than this visible difference within the design of the space, there were other differences in other aspects of the workshops mentioned below:

Planning and preparation:

Workshops were mostly structured and previously prepared.  The course materials were planned previously for the limited class time and tested to fit the participants’ level and the duration of the workshop. There were all free of charge but donation boxes were available in all three places.

Delivery of the instruction:

Workshops were mainly different in this aspect. First workshop was using only notecard and copy/paste of the instructions in the chat channel. For the second workshop, as the learning activity was mainly based on the SL application, the workshop was using slide show presentation to help participants learn how to use the application for buying land. The weak point of the workshop was again this delivery of materials via slides. As there was no notecards involved, the learning activity was only relaying on the classroom itself with no opportunity for later recall of them.

Follow up and evaluation:

 Only in case of last activity, there where formal evaluation linked to a web base questionnaire. Other activities where mainly focused on informal expressions of participants regarding the usefulness of the workshop. In the last workshop, tutor assigned homework for the participants which later she will give the feedback on it.

Activities for recalling and transferring learning

Except the first workshop, others provided web-base links for revision and further resources.  The last workshop gave a long list of web base pages which can help participants in gaining more knowledge about the main points presented in the workshop.

Conclusion:

Each workshop based on its nature, demands different kinds of design and presentation. From my observation workshops can be divided into three main categories, each having their own parameters.

Group one: building and scripting base workshop:

• Needs open space, good lightning, structure placement of participants
• Learning materials can be presented in a notecard
• No need for interactive or scripted objects

Group two: application base workshops:

• RL classroom design is suitable for this workshop
• Slide presentation is necessary to help create a visual memory of actions
• It can be used for any SL related activities such as land ownership, sky and environments controls and etc.
• It would be better if the materials are available in 2D using pictures other than normal notecard.

Group three: concept base workshops:

• This is suitable for workshops related to subjects like: role playing, religions, political subjects, and philosophical and psychological classes.
• Formal or informal places can be suitable for such workshops
• Workshop is mainly based on transfer of information using SL as only a tool
• Web base resources are playing an important role
• They are designed as a serious of workshops instead of single activity.

Followings are the analysis grid of first and last workshops that I attended by Edwin Alter and Tammy Connolly:

Workshop 1: Workshop design: planning and preparation

Spatial design and layout: How is the virtual physical space for delivering the workshop designed and utilized?

80% emulation of RL and 20% addressing pragmatics of SL environment: the environment was combination of different elements, class was classes on the top of very SL like building while the classroom itself was very realistically designed; simple tiles, no object for distraction. Tiles were about 10*10 and each participant was working a square, so although there were no visible boundaries each participant was feeling some sense of space.

Instructional design: To what extent are the learning objectives, outcomes and goals organized?

Structured: The objective was to help newbie’s to learn how to build basic things and change the texture. The process was completely organized with allocated time for each of the activities. Almost all throughout the workshop the next step was known but there were minor differences on the outcomes of the workshops. The reason for such differences was the chances that tutor gave students to try their own version of things which ended up having various versions of the same sofa.

Organisation of instructions and Discourse: To what extent are the instructions and discourse organized in advance?

90% Pre-prepared and 10% unorganized: most of the workshop was organized in the way to help participants learn how to build objects and modify them by experimenting in building a simple sofa. After finishing that sofa the tutor has the opportunity to create simple things which was quite unexpected and mostly informal.

Physical organisation of learning material:  In what form are the learning materials made available to the participants?

80% structured and 20% unstructured: the tutor was copy/pasting lines of structures on how to build things and change them. However most of the time there were questions raised by participants which would require real time response from the tutor.

Business model: What is the economic model for learner participation?

Free: the class was basically free, there was a donation box but nothing has been mentioned about donation (“like advertising for some donations or things like that”)

Maturity level | Development version: What is the maturity level of the workshop and its lifecycle?

Fully tested: I believe that it was fully tested (maybe by trial and error), because the tutor has long history of teaching beginners how to build in SL.

Workshop implementation: delivery of instruction

Assessment of prior/required knowledge: Is prior knowledge assessed? If so, how is prior it is assessed?

None: There was nothing needed before attending the class, it started from how to click on the ground and select things from the pie chart.

Pre-prepared activities to met the knowledge requirements: What type of pre-workshop activities has been planned to meet the knowledge requirements?

None: Class started from scratch, explaining how to click on the ground and build things and how to use zoom and POV.

Prior knowledge: How is prior knowledge recalled and connected to the workshop activities?

Systematically recalled and connected: the workshop started with a short overview of things that was necessary for workshop.

Preparation of user interface and viewing controls: To what extent are the instructions for organizing the client user interface and camera controls given?

Combination of both: is some points the camera controls were given in a very detailed way but in some stages, the main goal was to let uses experience things in their own way.

Technical preparation of participants: What technical advice and background information are provided?

No instructions: There were not many instructions as the workshop was in a very basic level but there were some instructions regarding the landmarks and lag.

Conversational flow: How is the conversational flow structured between tutor and learners?

Ordered and controlled progressively by behavioral rules, interaction policies, textual codes, scripted objects and communication tools

Communication dynamics: What are the dominant communication dynamics during the workshop?

Tutor → Learner

Movement of learners and teachers: How are the movements of participating avatars in the learning space?

Free: there were no specific sits which would limit the avatars, however, the classroom had big rectangle tiles which created a psychological space.

Presentation of outputs and results: How are the expected outputs and results presented?

Illustrated at varying of stages of development: the object being made at the time was being built at the same time by the tutor.

Delivery of learning material: How are the learning materials given to learners?

Progressively: the tutor was sending the instructions and learning materials on the chat channel by copy pasting the material from a note card. At the end of the class, tutor sends a notecard containing the notes of structured parts of the workshop.

Use of tools to deliver both content Instruction: What tools are used to deliver to content instruction to learners?

Basic SL chat facility: there was no need for any other tools for such basic workshop mostly for beginners.

Use of media to enhance teaching: What types of media are used to enhance/enrich the teaching/learning experience?

Basic use of SL text chat and sense of virtual embodiment

Concurrent learner activity: What type of concurrent learner activity is promoted?

Activity exclusively centered within the 3D world

Personalization of learning: What types of activities are implemented to individualize the learning experience?

Adaptive pathways: although there were structures on how to create things with even details of parameters but the users were able to first do what was asked and then individualize it to create their own person of the sofa.

Pedagogical approach: What are the relevant aspects of the learning and teaching approach?

Directive: the learning process was straight forward with insuring similar level of learning within the participants.

70% Focused on rules and procedures and 30% focused on concept:  the workshop had two different focuses main based on rules and procedures related to how to make a sofa and how to modify simple objects. However, the workshop covered concepts related to how SL application in general can process things specially highlighting some limitation related 3d designs and how to manage them.

60% result oriented and 40% process oriented: most of the learning was focus on how to build something in SL, in this case a sofa. This was focusing on the result which may or may not having the same shape or procedures to create it. However, because the workshop was structured, the process was playing an important rule and tutor was making sure that participants are able to follow them.

Implementation of the workshop: follow up and evaluation

Provision of guidance, support and feedback: How does the tutor provide support and feedback to the learners?

On demand via main or back channels

Monitoring of student progress: In what from does the tutor monitor student progress?

Gathering of informal feedback: this was mainly based on the discussion after the workshop where participants were expressing their experience.

Quality of feedback: What is the nature of the feedback?

Informative

Assessment model: What is the assessment model?

Informal assessment

Implementation of the workshop: recall and transfer of learning

Recapiltulation: In what form is the revision of key concepts and procedures addressed?

None:  however, there where websites and links mentioned which will help participants to recall things that they have learnt in the workshop or even expand their learning.

After session resources: What kinds of resources are made available at the end of the session?

Combination of all: other then getting to know each other and using networking to develop some skill in later stages, other websites and linked has been mentioned to help participants.

After session activities: What type of post workshop activity has been planned?

None

 

Workshop 3: Workshop design: planning and preparation

Spatial design and layout: How is the virtual physical space for delivering the workshop designed and utilized?

40% emulation of RL and 60% addressing pragmatics of SL environment: it was designed to meet the role playing of medieval time. Although there are characters of RL but none of them where presenting the current real life design.

Instructional design: To what extent are the learning objectives, outcomes and goals organized?

Semi-structured: The objective was to help people to learn about role playing in SL, introducing different existing characters, classes and jobs. However, the decisions about choosing the characters and learning about them was up to the participants.

Organisation of instructions and Discourse: To what extent are the instructions and discourse organized in advance?

90% Pre-prepared and 10% unorganized: most of the workshop was organized but after covering each subsection, the tutor was asking whether anyone has any question till that point which was leading to some discussions that might have not been organized.

Physical organisation of learning material:  In what form are the learning materials made available to the participants?

80% structured and 20% unstructured: the tutor was copy/pasting text most of the time, however there were questions raised by participants which would require real time response from the tutor.

Business model: What is the economic model for learner participation?

Free: the class was basically free, there was a donation box but nothing has been mentioned about donation.

Maturity level | Development version: What is the maturity level of the workshop and its lifecycle?

Fully tested: I believe that it was fully tested (maybe by trial and error).

Workshop implementation: delivery of instruction

Assessment of prior/required knowledge: Is prior knowledge assessed? If so, how is prior it is assessed?

None: There was nothing needed before attending the class.

Pre-prepared activities to met the knowledge requirements: What type of pre-workshop activities has been planned to meet the knowledge requirements?

None: class was considering that participant have normal avatar abilities such as sitting, changing of the profile and cloths, chatting, and dealing with basic scripts.

Prior knowledge: How is prior knowledge recalled and connected to the workshop activities?

Not recalled: the workshop was started like story telling about role-playing activities. Mainly there was no need for even for recalling things. 

Preparation of user interface and viewing controls: To what extent are the instructions for organizing the client user interface and camera controls given?

No instructions: No need for camera control or organizing the client user interface.

Technical preparation of participants: What technical advice and background information are provided?

No instructions: There were not many instructions as the workshop was in a very basic level.

Conversational flow: How is the conversational flow structured between tutor and learners?

Free and improvised: learners were free to ask question and stop the workshop at any point, if it was regarding the workshop.

Communication dynamics: What are the dominant communication dynamics during the workshop?

Tutor ↔ Learner and Learner ↔ Learner

Movement of learners and teachers: How are the movements of participating avatars in the learning space?

Constrained sit/position for learners and free movement for teacher: although there was nothing mentioned in the case, but I assume that this was the role as the tutor invited us to sit when we just arrived to the class.

Presentation of outputs and results: How are the expected outputs and results presented?

Not presented: there was no need for presentation as the results were only adding to knowledge and not visible as physical objects.

Delivery of learning material: How are the learning materials given to learners?

Progressively: the tutor was sending the instructions and learning materials on the chat channel by copy pasting the material from a note card. At the beginning of the class, tutor asked us to touch an object to get the notecard containing the notes of structured parts of the workshop.

Use of tools to deliver both content Instruction: What tools are used to deliver to content instruction to learners?

Basic SL chat facility: although it would be better is they could use presentation tools.

Use of media to enhance teaching: What types of media are used to enhance/enrich the teaching/learning experience?

Basic use of SL text chat and sense of virtual embodiment

Concurrent learner activity: What type of concurrent learner activity is promoted?

Parallel activity within 2D environment: links where provided to internet resources for background reading and information.

Personalization of learning: What types of activities are implemented to individualize the learning experience?

None: at that stage only information was provided to the learners, and individualization was part of homework for the next week activities.

Pedagogical approach: What are the relevant aspects of the learning and teaching approach?

Directive: the learning process was straight forward with providing information and links to what participants need to know.

Focused on concept: the main goal was to teach everyone information about the concepts of role playing.

Result oriented: without considering the process, the main reason was to assure that participants can play role and choose their characters as the results of the workshop. 

Implementation of the workshop: follow up and evaluation

Provision of guidance, support and feedback: How does the tutor provide support and feedback to the learners?

On demand via main or back channels

Monitoring of student progress: In what from does the tutor monitor student progress?

50% gathering of informal feedback and 50% structured monitoring: tutor was asking questions making sure that the participants understood the points. Moreover, the tutor assigned homework for next week activities which she will give a feedback on it.

Quality of feedback: What is the nature of the feedback?

Formative

Assessment model: What is the assessment model?

Informal and Formal assessment: depending on the situation

Implementation of the workshop: recall and transfer of learning

Recapiltulation: In what form is the revision of key concepts and procedures addressed?

Systematic: by referring to the links provided in teaching materials.

After session resources: What kinds of resources are made available at the end of the session?

Combination of all: other then getting to know each other and using networking to develop some skill in later stages, other websites and linked has been mentioned to help participants.

After session activities: What type of post workshop activity has been planned?

Individual activity: a homework to creating profile related to knowledge gained in the workshop for next week class.

The Hypnotree

Basically it happened…

We were going to have MUVEnation fashion show (“MUVEshow as I call it”), so I bought a dress designed by Nicky Ree which was absolutely fantastic. In matter of seconds I fell in love with its wonderful texture and for a while that was all I could think about. After some days I realized that the dress is modifiable, meaning that I can make something out of the pieces of the dress but I would not have the textures that I loved so much….

I thought to myself “why not?, I have already worn that dress, so better to create something new out of it” (recycling J). But even thinking what will be possible to make with such texture was hard….

In the following week, for MUVEnation, I saw a highlight of an in-world session to make trees for near future and that was the trigger for me to make a tree out of the pieces of cloths that I had.

So I started delinking the dress into pieces and change their shape to get the best look of the textures as I could not access the texture itself. Anyway, after long long hours of struggling with both transparent and flexible objects I ended up creating my first ever tree….

I have to admit I am really PROUD of myself…..

I put one in MUVEnation Island but somehow tree was not in harmony with the environment, so I though I can make something for that… went back to Surrey Island and made what I called it as “Fantasy Cube” in dark navy blue colour and that was the time that I really felt everything is all right.

Then it was time to find a name for the tree…. my first feeling about the texture was “water lily” to me and I was thinking to name it like that but then I thought my tree is not looking like a Lotus, so why name it that and next minute I myself building one. After 2 hours wondering how to make best of features, I have my water lilies which could serve even as seats to complete the glory of the fantasy Cube.

Now everything was getting together, the tree, its cube, water lily seats, ghost lights, but still something missing to make this place prefect…. MUSIC…. as I didn’t have the mode to deal with that one I just bought some of the ready in-world and add them to the combination of the items in fantasy cube.

For a day or two that place was only a personal experience to me until friends are started commenting about it J I was really thrilled when people were telling me that “we come to that place to distress ourselves” and “it makes me feel relaxed and happy”. Other than the comments, design of this tree brought me the Title of “Virtaul Designer”; something that I was dreaming about it for a long time J

However, days passed and the tree was only “the tree” for me and others until, my friend Cvetta Nacht put the picture of the pink version of the tree writing the following lines:

“I’m obviously obsessed with this tree…. so much so that I found myself floating among the layers leaves of its fuchsia version. ”

And that was the time when i came up  with the idea of “hypnosis” and been conformed by Cvetta as:

                                 “The Hypntree”

As its put people in a position that they find themselves even not believing the feeling that a simple tree can create within them

So now the tree has a name and a home: you can visit “the hypnotree” and “fantasy cube” in Surrey Island

Not Possible in Second Life

 

I am sure does of you who have some experience in building or scripting have long list of things that is impossible in Second Life.

I usually face such problems, but sometimes I try to convince myself that is my lack of knowledge in SL and not the fact that it is impossible to do it.

You may ask: “what happened that you start nagging again?”

To be honest, you will see me nagging a lot but the reason that this time I’m nagging about this particulate thing is the incident I faced two days ago with I was trying to build a very simple stupid thing (the one that you can see in the picture).

Two days ago, I had this vision of merry-go-round and how it would be possible to build such a thing. As I had no time for playing around as I usually do, I decided to build a version of it that can be used as an advertising kind of stand in the middle of my newly built place (actually modification from another building).

First I broke down the steps; (1) building the base which should rotate (2) cover of the book we need to advertise (3) sticks to link books to the base. There was no need for the sticks to be there but as long as i wanted to create something which would resemble to the RL object, I tried to make it realistic. After building the whole thing it was time to play with some of the variable to make my objects flexible so that they would move outward as the base starts to rotate, just like merry-go-around.

The first thing came to my mind was to play with gravity and wind and tension and the rest of the parameters but that was where I realized there is a problem and this is it:

“there is no way you can have you objects linked with the same flex center so that one will follow the other”

By this I mean, the books that I was trying to link to the flexi stick will not be linked to the end of the sticks as it would be in merry-go-round. I have tried almost everything that i would thing it might work, like putting both as flexi prims, only put one and the change the other one to see how it works but i have to tell u this, i didn’t find any way to give the same visual expression that i really want.

I’m still not sure whether there is any way to do it or not, but it there is please let me know. But what is related to that book on the stick thing…. I’m ganna keep it for a while and see what will happen.

And until finding the solution for that, this effect is “not possible in Second Life” for me.

A Braclet to Embrace SL tools ;)

 

When educators enter SL there are usually wondering where they should go or what tools they should use for their educational purposes, better to say, “where the hell should I start” kind of sentences. As part of MUVEnation we have been asked to design a tour guide for tools that can be used for education so this is what I designed and the reasoning behind WHY is done so…

Based on my experiences after a year of living my SL, everyone has its own ideas and dreams from joining SL and although they might share the same tools and places they take different approach in using them. As I’m completely against limiting human mind, I decided not to explain the tools and abilities that they might have in details as I believe it will stop peoples’ mind to think of creative ways to use those tools, moreover, there are things that might not be defined as tools but still be used for educational purposes.

After a long long challenge between Anna’s’ logic, MUVEnation’s description and Viki’s imaginative brain, the decision has been made to create something in the middle… let’s say kind of “Treasure hunting thing” but with a different approach. Basically it will give you the guide to the places where the treasures are and show you everything there but then you have to choose whether or not what you see is a treasure.

Picuter: Eyem Beck

Based on that I designed a sample of tour guide in a shape of unisex bracelet which will accompany people to different island that are offering education tools, where there are tours within the island that will show all the opportunities within the islands. This object is very easy to use, it communicates only with owner so it will not bother others and it exchanges dialog best on triggered command from user which will give time to them to take their time and explore things.This sample will cover three islands that are designed for different proposes but tools within them can be used for education.

1. IBM business centres: for computer and business related subjects
2. Boracay: educational island, mainly focusing on self-governed learning
3. Science Friday: for science related subjects

Although each of the island takes a specific approach but there are common shared tools within them, items below mentions some of those tools with a short description about them.

But before reading that let me first clarify “what an educational tool is?” based on my opinion: education tool can be anything that will add a value of knowledge to person or help them in learning things.

• Places for meetings, gatherings, socialization: this places are consider as one of the main tool for informal and colborative learning where people with same or different ideas can get to gather and exchange experience, information and knowledge.
• Lecture rooms, conference rooms and amphitheatres: for one way knowledge transformation or mmore formal discussions these places are the best tools to be used to meet those purposes.
• Objects to show Pictures, slides, audio and video: some of them are one way knowledge transfer which can be used without presence of educator. This is the good way to engage students and provide them with resources that can be helpful. On the other hand, such tools can be used for group activates with both students themselves or in the presence of the educator, as tool to facilitate the discussions about different topics in real time.
• Books, projects and newspapers: these tools can be either interactive or one way communicators. In some of these islands like IBM innovation pod, projects are linked to news on the web as addition source for student’s information and in Boracay some student projects are available (rez on demand) both as resources and group decisions.
• IBM provides meeting with authors that is a unique opportunity for students to discuss with authors of the books, ask their questions and learn from others ideas.
• Boracay provides interactive objects with research background such as design centre and the audio room. Moreover, it provides educators with whiteboards, a chat recorder that will email a transcript to you every few minutes and in the case of people’s consent recording the meeting.
• Science Friday is providing in- world meeting for their Friday radio broadcasts which will allow people to discuss about the subject and share their ideas which is good example of informal learning.

MUVEshow

 7 Dec 2008

Emerge Island, Second Life

there is no word that can descripte that night… GLORY is all i can say…

we had everything that can make a fashion show interesting

• sexy purple cat
• Gold fingre
• pixie
• winter flames
• snow queen
• lady in red
• santa clues
• and so much more

Best thing about the show was you could were whatever you wished and we dances alot after the event….

those who weren’t there… basically you MISSED a lot

below are some glimps of that amazing night

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Pyramid Portrait Gallery

This week was all about identity and an art gallery to present what we took out of the experince we had this week, the answers to… who you are? how you look? why you look like that? and all other questions which can claify the reality behind each avatar.

So this is what I have to say about what was this week all about for me…

Questions about “who you are” is hard to answer in SL, however it’s not impossible. So many people believe that you can be “who you want” and “what you want” in SL but I might stand there alone and saying NO…

NO, you can’t be who you want to be… and NO you can’t be what you want to be… You are only who you already are… being who you are might not be physically apparent but mental status. Let’s give an example….

I can’t be Dana Summer… I don’t have the voice

I can’t be Einstein … I don’t have the intelligence

I can’t be Rafaela … I don’t have the talent

So I believe SL is the place to show who you are inside … that appearance can each time reveal a part of your inside…

Second Life look is more about “who you are” than our Real Life because then you don’t have limitation… some will say look at her, she is overweighted in RL but she looks like Madonna in SL… But does anyone asked her what you how you would like to look when she born? What about the guy who has Patrick Dempsey’s hair in SL but actually bald in RL?

I believe SL identity is more REAL that real life, that is why I created the Pyramid Portrait Gallery in SL (muvenation island). A black small pyramid that you can’t see anything unless you go through it and look inside…. Just like our personality… you can’t see anything unless you look through someone and see his/her inside beauty.

Why black?…from outside it is a blocky black pyramid… that is how close minded judgmental people see others, but if someone is brave enough to walk through, they can see the inside beauties. There is no description inside… no names… no identity… it’s up to you want you wanna see… it’s up to your mind to find out the mystery behind each Portrait.

There is a cushion on the ground, a key to see things better, lets call it the  WISE EYE, something that will help you see things better…it goes round and round like life and brings you back to the place you were, to give you another change to make the best perception.

If you have time, go there, Viki is standing there ready to great you.

see you there (MUVEnation, 131,121,201)

Interview with Viki Silvansky

 

Greetings everyone!

Today we are interviewing special guest from MUVEnation program in which we are going to ask her questions about herself and what motivated her to become who she is today.

Hello, and welcome to this program.  I’m sure our readers will be very interested to know the background behind this blue head avatar.

 

Q: Tell us why “Viki”?

A: the inspiration behind my name came from Isaac Asimov’s fictional computer introduces in “I, robot” which stands for Virtual interactive Kinetic Intelligence (VIKI). In that book she was a central positronic brain which served as a central computer for robots to provide them with a form of “consciousness” recognizable to humans and develops an interpretation of the “three laws of robotics”. 

 

Q: that’s an interesting name. I would guess you wanted to have Vicky as your name but you couldn’t get it so you put it as Viki. What about the family name?

A: my family name is “Silvansky”, this is because I understand Russian I to me it sounds like Russian which makes me feel comfortable with.  On the other hand, it was in kind of harmony with the name.

 

Q: Can you explain a bit about your history?

A: yes of course, I am an ordinary girl born last year in the cold winter day.  As everybody else, my first days of live were not that easy.  I had to struggle to learn how to walk, or talk, or even sit.  But after a while things started to get better, are starting to find friends and you places which would help me to feel comfortable.  Going shopping those days was one of the most interesting things for me.  But that didn’t last long; I started finding building of objects as a fascinating activity and decided to spend more time on it.

 

Q: what was your main motivation behind your existence?

A: it is a long story, and quite hard to explain.  When I born for the first time I had a predefined responsibility to serve which was exactly related to the name I choose for myself.  My activities started to serve the same purpose too, finding ways to control autonomous machines and I had to admit I was good in what I was doing.  But i was a bit depressing, i was spending hours and hours in one place trying to make things work, without anyone passing around or interaction with any other object. After a while, I started to think what I would like to do next so I would not feel like I’m “Tom Hanks” in “Cast away”. On the other hand, i didn’t want to do only one thing in my whole life and neither what to party every day, so I started to look for around for interesting things.  Some of those interesting things were how to learn some skills to connect my world to the others world and how I can help people to learn from what I already know. That would give me the possibly to interact with others and enjoy my life.

 

Q: That’s interesting!  I’m sure none of our readers would know these things about you. After living such a life what characteristics do you see in yourself that differentiates Viki Silvansky from others?

A:  wow, difficult question to answer actually.  hmmmmm…. I have blue hair as you can see, I love high heels,  I’m quite honest most of the times, You’ll see me nagging a lot and I can get easily get angry over close minded people, I’m a bit risky person, I enjoy teaching and I really love helping newbies.  I think that’s it

 

Q: good to know these, but you usually give a wrong first impression, did u know that? Most people were thinking that you are a selfish, cold blooded, bossy, showoff person. I’m asking this because as I know in your world you can be whatever you wish to be, so how did you build yourself in relation of the effects you’d like to produce?

A: LOL, they might not be wrong fortunately we are in the world that we can be whoever and whatever we wish to be which empowers you in a way. Looking cold blooded may be because of my hair and eyes which will keep judgmental people away. I think that’s kind of good thing because if will end up with real friends who would like me for who I am inside. And yes I can be a bit bossy, and I happy that my look reflects that… if I’m sure about something then I would love them to be the way I know and that’s the time that I will try to convince others as well. But the results are usually on the favor of them too and I would not the only one to abuse others so I can get what I want.

 

Q: what are your main activities here?

A: I usually build things mostly on Surrey Island, that’s where I work.  Sometimes I do scripting as well but not every day. If I have some free time I would usually go to other educational island such as University of Idaho which I have a lots of friends there. Sometimes I attend conferences as well where I can learn new stuff and get to know new people.  Every once in a while I go to Frank’s Jazz palace because I love the music there and I miss wearing beautiful dresses and many other things

 

Q: so you have long list of activities here, but your profile is empty… why?

A: good question, I decided to keep it empty till I know who really I am. Its hard to know everythings in few months, so i thought it would be better to not have things there untill i will sort out my philosophy of existance and then write thing there. I’m almost reaching that point and hopefully I would change it in few months.

 

Q: thank you very much Viki for you time and honest answers. I wish you the best for your journey through your life.

A: thank you for best wishes Anna and thanks for asking interesting question. I hope I answered to the questions that your readers would like to know. But if know they can always comment on your blog and I would be happy to answer that.

 

Q: that would be great. So, dear readers feel free to ask her any question take care and good bye

A: good night

The professional avatar? haha

 

SL is providing the opportunity to use 3 dimensional representations of data and one of these representations is clothing and appearances. I divide different perspective of professional avatars to 4 main groups:

1. Those who believe they “don’t need”: because they just what to focus in the content of their interaction such as those educators that you will see with newbies cloths after a year
2. Those who think “SL is Real life”: they think that they should look like them self’s or professional,  having the same values as RL
3. Those who would like to stay in “moderation”: believing that SL in not RL and they can be as creative as they want but considering being tolerable by other people they interact with.
4. Those who believe that “what you see is just lines of code not me standing naked”: how can possible do anything they wish.

You may wonder which group I belong… the answer is GROUP 3

I have tried different ways to deal with students as professional avatar and I found that it’s important to know the audience. Based on the students I would look different so that they will be comfortable with their teacher. I examined what I’ve learnt in two different scenarios which both were a success for me.

Experience 1: last year I had to present SL to some of university lecturers and staff most of them never played computer games or SL. for them seeing some bit odd could force them to thing this is a stupid gave and never try it back again. At that time, i decided to make Viki not exactly look like Anna but have some kind of relation between them. I decided to wear jeans with boots in RL and even designed a university T-shirt with Viki’s big picture at the back. On the other hand, Viki had the same style black hair, the same T-shirt, jeans and boots. Everyone was almost amazed by the similarities that they could see, that this is not a “world of warcraft” kind of thing and everyone was feeling OK with Viki. after a while when they got used to Viki, the whole story changes and that was when I started triggering the excitement part of discovering what you can be within their minds so I changes things to be different from me but still pleasant.

Experience 2: on the other hand, for teaching those who are in-world only or those how have some ideas about computer games but not much of an interest in SL, I decided not to look like myself and show them something that they say “wow” or even “interesting”. The main key for teaching them was to show “what more I can do here” and motivate them to continue using SL. for that reason, Viki ended up being Barbie like girl with a blue hair, kind of cold face, natural skin girl. For them feeling that you can still be acceptable with blue hair and a cold face as a friendly person were a big step and a motivation to explore what else can be there.

Considering that I usually deal with newbies, while the approach might be different but there are some points that will stay as principles for all sections such as:

• Viki wouldn’t look like her best so that they will not feel bad and being in a reachable step for them to have as goal.
• She would be as human like avatars because it a far too much for a newbies to be comfortable with a bunny or a dragon
• She would refer to her first step to comfort others about the things that might not go well in first steps
• She would not wear things or attach scripted things to her that might distract students (there is already enough distraction in SL)

There is something regarding teaching in SL which i thing is REALLY REALLY IMPORTANT:

Before you start teaching things in SL you should teach them first about the reality of living a second life if they don’t already know it…

I have faced many people that are trying to make a RL out of SL but that is not going to work. Keeping things real in educational environments will misguide them to the idea that whole SL is like that… NO, thats not the reality… reality is that you will see dragons, rabbits and naked people…

If teachers are not going to make sure that students know all the facts about the environment that they are going to use, students might end up confused even disgusted from what they will see in SL specially with articles being published in BBC and other newspapers these days.

 

Some Q & A:

Q: Do you think avatar appearance is an important aspect of educational activities that are being undertaken in Second Life?

A: yes, it is an important aspects because in most of the cases that what others will see as the person. This can come to help to increase the relationships however it should not become as the major problem or a standard way to dress up for professional purposes.

 

Q: What does appearance say about us in a teaching situation in Second Life – to what degree is it the same as real-life?

A: I believe it reveals about thier creativity first and sometimes even it reveals how risky people they are while likes it back to not being affiar of trying new things even if they might be rejected

 

Q: What is an appropriate professional avatar appearance for education?

A: For me, there is no such a concept as “professional appearance”, you might be more effecting in a red ballroom dress than in a gray suit.

 

Q: Does your avatar have a professional appearance for educational contexts? Yes, no? Why?

A: NO, because i believe in it but that doesn’t mean that I will not consider my students and what will make them feel good (but I’m sure wearing a gray suit will not even make Viki feel OK)

 

Q: Is there any appearance you would never use to teach in Second Life and why?

A: I will prefer not to teach naked, because of don’t have people to get divorce 

 

Q: The ability to change avatar appearance could be described as an affordance of Second Life. How can the ability to alter avatar appearance be used as a teaching tool?

A: changing appearances can help teachers to express their ideas, viewpoints and even imaginations. It can help them to make a point of things with wearing the right thing and most important of all motivate their students.

Designing a micro-learning session

Activity 8

In the last blog I mentioned about my view of you in-world orientation places and how they use different approaches for helping newbeis. In this blog, the focus will be on out-world source called “Global Kids Curriculum (GKCx)“ and the method it use to motivated users to try and learn new things so that  I will finally be able to come up with I own learning environment in-world used GKCx methods. The curriculum is divided into 9 main levels, each including some related modules with predefined missions for students to carry out. I’ve been asked to choose one modules out of 4 modules (appearance, walking and flying, talk a close look and chat) within level one as part of my weekly activity and develop my own environment based on that.

I read through all of these modules and have look at the others and realized that appearance is one of the most complicated actions with level one and this module is being followed by level two “avatar: cloth“ module. Moreover, from my personal experience of teaching students how to use SL, I realized that they will prefer to fix they look before they want to do anything else (specially management and politic students) which give them a sense of ownership (at first stage) over their avatar and reflects them more than default avatars. This usually gives them the confidence to interactive with other avatars; not feeling that they are different.

Based on these points, I decided to design my environment based on “appearances“ to that I will be able to adopt it for “cloths“ as well. But the main point considered in the design and development should be following points:

• Allows the development of the Mission’s Powers
• It’s engaging and playful
• Complies with the list of principles for an effective design of an orientation session.

So this is my design scenario J  how much it fits the following characteristics you can judge…

“ An avatars will come to the orientation place, and what they will see is a notice board asking “this is a game that you can choose to look like either Merlin Monroe or G.W. Bush at the end of them, decision is put to you… follow the light and click on them to guild you through”. So basically at that point avatars will start a game with a mission to look like someone and now they have to start follow the lights.

The lights are sequential so you should pass to activate the other one so in each stage users don’t know exactly what is waiting for them.  Lights are standpoints which users will click on them and get the position of changing appearance. By users click and stand a notice board will appear with information in each stage to help them change their appearance such as the shape, skin, hair and …

Choosing different genders can even help users to learn how to switch between different avatars as well and later the chooses can be changed or even for advanced avatars become randomized. At the end of the path, there can be a mirror to show them how they look and a notice board of how they can take a picture of that they created and compare with this what they decided to look at first place.

This is not only an individual design but also can be used for group learning. As long as most of the objects are invisible until the user reaches there so basically they don’t need much of a pre-designed space. They can be copied so there will be some number of them to go through and finally other student or course constructors can judge who the winner of the game is.”

This is the best activity I have done so far…i love thinking about the next interesting idea to develop. I’m not sure how successful this idea will be but I think this would a nice experience for newbies and I would try to develop it in SL but the main challenge for me will be scripting them as long as I’m lazy (really lazy) when it comes to scripting and possibility it will take some time to finish it. 

So dear readers feel free to contact me if you are interested in this project and I’m sure we will enjoy it more if we work together.

Orientation Spaces

 

Activity 7

Today I went to visit some orientation island to analyse how they approach new users (newbies) and what tools they use help them learn better. I spend some time mainly in two places:

• Orientation partly interactive, Virtual Ability (135,124,23)
• NMC Orientation (107,114, 39)

I went to see these places as I’m playing the role of newbies with following basic characteristics:

• I don’t know how to control my avatar  
• I don’t know how to fly
• I don’t know how to change my camera view

I first went to “orientation partly interactive“ and find myself in a big circle highlighting how to control my avatar for moving around… As a person who likes smart design, i have to admit that I loved that place. They had very big notice boards which will give you the ability to read easily with a wooden flat surface to walk, highlighted with green big arrows. The path was so clear that there was no chance of missing them. Moreover the side walk was designed in a way that avatars will stay in the boundaries. Notices there are all a new comer need to know with an actual exercise next to it, to make sure they will learn before they leave, such as dancing floor and bon fine place to sit. They have extended this approach for appearance as well on how to handle boxed of cloths and cloths them self with providing users with examples and freebies.

In the midway a lady which was a mentor there approached me asking whether or not I need some help. I asked her “what is the most difficult thing here?“ and she replied that “for most people, getting this long list of activities in the one session is a bit difficult, not because of the design but the understanding and remembering the actions themselves“. I was lucky to meet an avatar there and ask him for his view on the island. He was so happy with his progress based on the design of the whole session and felt that now he has the ability to handle the avatar. However, I find some miner design problems that I even mention it to the mentor. One of them was related to the flying experience where they put boundaries for users to fly within but there were a big chance that in one or two moments the camera will roll out because of the limited space. The other problem that I faced was the narrow door entrances for whole who still don’t know how to control their avatar perfectly. Other than that everything was perfect J

After that I went to see NMC and from the first moment I realized that the island is more advanced in comparison to previous one, this in not only on the design side but avatars abilities as well. The information provided there could vary from very basic steps to a bit more advances situations. Although, there where different sections to provide what avatars might need even in later stages of their SL but I didn’t quite liked the place as an island for complete newbies. These are lots of things that can be changed to help avatars in learning. Notice boards were added with pictures that would help a lot to know how to handle but at the same time they were positioned higher than normal notice boards which avatars might need to have a step back in order to be about to read. This might then effect the ability to read all the details for some avatars. On the other hand, each notice was places in a office (kind of) place which avatars should go through it, for that each time an avatar should walk straight, then turn left/ right, move a bit closer to the board and again come back the same way, turn and again move straight, and all of these to just see a slide. There was a train kind of thing that will move avatars from one side to the other, but it would not stop at the end, which means if avatars don’t know that they should click on “stand up“ they will be in a loop.

I found some time to have a look at two are places as well like:

• RL student orientation area, Campus (172, 90, 24) and
• Orientation Station, Dore (32, 99)

When I reached the “RL student area“ there was a notice board with a message to give a notecard which I though this might be a bit advance for new people and I was right. I find it more difficult to go through the area trying to act like newbies. Later on, I went to “orientation station“ which was more challenging for that others which Without camera controls and right avatar movements there was no way to go around. The island was designed based on different rooms for each area which will limit the place and with a wrong avatar move the view would be in complete different place. There were a lot of stairs as well which don’t have any edges to prevent avatars from falling down either.

Visiting all of these places made me realize how different approaches can help new people with different bacjgrounds go through learning curve smoothly and if I have to rank them based on how helpful they will be for very new avatars, I will announce the “Orientation partly interactive“ the WINNER.