Reflections from the Farm
Posted on August 5, 2007
Filed under Reflections, Research
In SLRL, the Second Life Research Listserv, I was happy to see an insightful conversation about the abundance of brick and mortar emulations of institutions (and their concepts) in an environment that has the potential to be more.
There were two distinct voices in this conversation. One pointed to the land grab mentality. Akin to the movement west as result of the Homestead Act of 1862, many “headed out” with no idea what they’d do, or what could be done, once they arrived. I completely agree with the author, and in particular with his point that this current trend suggests we’ve not yet begun with innovation in SL. This is precisely what the Farm is about and why it’s annexed to the SDSU brick and mortar campus. More on that shortly.
The other voice in this conversation pointed out tha new immigrants often attach themselves to pre-existing infrastructures as a way of anchoring themselves in their new lives. Many of us are new immigrants in SL, particularly those of us coming from academia. From a communities of practice standpoint, or from an instructional design standpoint, novices or noobs (SL language for Newbies) require the same infrastructures immigrants would. We annexed the farm to the SDSU campus because it provides such an infrastructure. The Farm, on the other hand, aims to break away from this model. For example, we have a Sky Meadow, 300 meters above the Farm where you initially arrive on. You can teleport to it. I think you can fly to it as well. Anyway…
A significant portion of my time over the next 6 months will be spent connecting with the communities pursuing innovations and hopefully developing some.At a basic conceptual and technological level, SL is a simulation. One of the questions we explore with simulations is: What would happen if ….?. This kind of question can be asked in any discipline and at many levels of expertise in a knowledge domain. Designing a complex sim is time intensive however. So part of my goal is to explore sims. Has anyone designed a sim where learners embody an avatar whose gender, ethnicity, race or age is different than in RL? Then in a instructor-designed scenario or perhaps out and about in SL, learners face tasks and activities in which they experience the viewpoint of the Other? SL has a server-side physics simulation, which means that objects fall, bounce and collide correctly. Using scripts, a designer can change how the built-in physics affect an object. How is this capability being used for learning sims?
Suzanne
SL Aurili Oh
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Instead of focusing specifically on educational sims please take the time to explore some of the role-playing ones. If you wish to see “learners embody an avatar whose gender, ethnicity, race or age is different than in RL” inside complex, physics defined simulations, then you will be hard pressed to find more worthy examples than in the rpg genre. While not overtly instructional the learning that occurs in such communities is apparent just in general observation and has been the subject of some research (see Pleasure, Play, Participation and Promise, Dr Angela Thomas, 2007 and Virtual Worlds, Real Leaders, IBM and Seriosity Inc ).
Education at times appears to have ignored to a large extent what is in front of their eyes in Second Life. Well not quite in front because you have to go looking, be involved; you can’t really observe these communitites just from the outside. Not only are they already actively involved in simulated environments, along with narratives, histories, etc., in many instances they have built and scripted these environments as well, with all the skills that doing so requires.
I’d suggest being a little more explorative, spreading your time across multiple sim types and not just educational. You might find some of the pedagogical systems for virtual education already exist there.
Regards
Aaron/SL: Isa Goodman
Isa’s SL Blog
Thanks Aaron for the wonderful comment!